Garmin Vivoactive HR – Product Review

This is a great GPS smart watch to get and it's by the makers of the world's most reliable GPS instruments. It's the latest GPS smart watch by Garmin and it's currently their top watch. I've been using it for a couple of months now and I'm definitely going to use it at NEWT 2017.

<img src="http://www.naktiv.net/file/pic/photo/2016/09/9ffe7c4a2179f96cbecf7f1dabc6f122_500.jpg">

It's a watch with many features. It's very useful for those of us who are interested in sports, particularly, hiking. I've used it on my runs and it charts the route you take using Garmin's precise GPS system. It tells you the gradient of the route, the speed at which you go, your heartbeat and all the different paces at which you go. It stores all the data on a personalised web log book which you can access any time you want for as long as you want. The watch also keeps a record of every step you take and your heartbeat throughout the day and night and when you're sleeping, it records your sleep, the hours and the precise time and the depth of your sleep. It also tells you when you are in REM sleep mode, etc.

You may think there is just too much detail but hey, you can access as little or as much data as you want. They're all your data accessible only to you. And the data are never deleted so you can access them and look through all your past data.

Like all other smart watches, this watch has other apps you can download for free. You can change the face of the watch. My wife doesn't like me to be seen with this watch because she thinks it looks childish so I changed the face to a respectable looking analogue watch but that still wasn't good enough for her. LOL.

I've only used it for a couple of months but I can't live without it now. When I'm out running, I sometimes get all kinds of messages, whether they're WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, Facebook messages or even a phone call. It's quite hard to look at the phone when I'm running. But with this smart watch, I just have to take a glance at the watch and I know if the message is important. It's particularly useful when I'm in a place where my phone has to be tucked away and in silent mode. If I get a message or a call, my watch will vibrate and it'll tell me instantly what the message is or who is calling me. I can programme it so that I'm alerted to every email but that would be too much to handle.

Now, I'll talk about some of the technical problems that you may have if you are not used to a smart watch. Yes, you have to charge the watch but this watch has a great battery. You only need to charge it perhaps once every 10 days. The real problem usually comes when you change your phone and you experience connectivity issues between your watch and your phone. I should know because I bought the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and it was recalled and I was given a temporary phone and subsequently, I was given the supposedly safe all-new Note 7 but again there were problems and this morning, Samsung gave me its wonderful Galaxy S7 Edge which is really as good as the Note 7 but without the stylus pen and without the potential explosiveness! LOL That means I would have used 4 new phones in the space of a couple of months. Connecting the watch to the phone is no problem but I always make the mistake of connecting my phone to the watch through the bluetooth settings in my phone. NEVER DO THAT!!! Rather, make the bluetooth connection in the app of the smart watch. If you have made the connection through the bluetooth settings of your phone, unpair the device and connect both the watch and the phone in the app itself. The internet is full of complaints by smart watch users who are tearing their hair out because of connectivity issues between their phone and watch. Just make the bluetooth connection through the app of the smart watch that you have downloaded in your phone and you're all set.

Come NEWT 2017 I will have all the data I'll ever need about the hikes right down to the rate of my heartbeat. See you there!

Leave a Comment

New Report

Close