Garmin Vivosmart 5 review: Aces the software, fails design

I’m normally the primary to name out firms that appear to disregard design, or put it approach down the record of significance when making a brand new wearable. I believe it’s essential {that a} product we placed on our our bodies be a minimum of vaguely engaging. However I’m prepared to go straightforward on Garmin, as though the Vivosmart 5 health tracker is extremely generic to have a look at, it will get the opposite most vital side of wearables — the app — precisely proper. Let’s discuss how an excellent person expertise saves the Vivosmart 5 from being handed by.

Design

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is purposeful, not lovely. The dimpled silicone strap comprises the Vivosmart 5’s major module, which has a small monochrome OLED display and a single bodily button on it. My evaluate mannequin is black, however you may get different colours to brighten it up, plus the polycarbonate module will be simply faraway from the band and swapped with one of many replacements Garmin sells for $30.

It’s as easy and nondescript as they arrive, particularly in boring black. I need to cover it below my cuff, however as a result of the case is sort of bulbous, it by no means matches below it comfortably. An oddly particular subject with consolation which will solely have an effect on me is that the keeper doesn’t need to let go of the strap when attempting to take the Vivosmart 5 off, and it insists on painfully grabbing my arm hair in a bid to cease me from abandoning it. It makes me rip it off like a Band-Assist.

The small OLED display has an acrylic lens over it and a fundamental 154 x 88 pixel decision. It’s vivid sufficient to be seen in daylight, and the touchscreen is delicate and dependable. The bodily button will please those that didn’t just like the haptic button on the Vivosmart 4, however it does age the brand new mannequin’s design. I’ll take that trade-off right here although, as a result of it makes utilizing the Vivosmart 5 really easy, with a fast press to pick out options and an extended urgent to finish a exercise.

Garmin presents the Vivosmart 5 tracker in two totally different sizes, one for small-to-medium wrists and the opposite for big wrists. There’s a slight variation in weight, however at 26 grams at its heaviest, there’s no fatigue from carrying it on a regular basis. For reference, I’m carrying the big measurement on my 6.5-inch wrist and have the buckle on the sixth gap, leaving 14 out there, so there’s tons of adjustment.

Health trackers are not often lovely, however for individuals who care about design, it’s attainable to seek out one that appears good. Garmin itself has the Vivomove Sport should you want a watch-style look, or there’s the Fitbit Luxe if the health tracker type is extra for you. The Vivosmart 5 dangers being ignored as a result of its fundamental design, and as we’ll see, that’s a disgrace.

Well being monitoring

The Vivosmart 5 has a complete sensor array to measure your coronary heart fee each second and be careful for irregular adjustments, plus it measures your blood oxygen ranges and tracks stress and sleep. All the knowledge out of your each day actions, exercises, and sleep are collated within the Garmin Join app, out there for iOS and Android. I’ve been utilizing the Vivosmart 5 linked to an iPhone 13 Professional.

Garmin Join is good. It’s the rationale you need to be contemplating the Vivosmart 5. It’s throughly complete and data-packed, offering deep perception into your physique’s state and efficiency. It does all this without cost — there’s no subscription mannequin to entry particular options or historic knowledge right here — which is a giant bonus over the competitors from Fitbit. Sure, it’s just a little intense when it comes to the quantity of knowledge out there, however I’d relatively have an excessive amount of than not sufficient.

Monitoring a 50-minute stroll gives tempo, velocity, timing, and coronary heart fee knowledge, plus energy burned, common temperature, and exercise depth data. The Vivosmart 5 doesn’t have its personal GPS and depends in your telephone’s GPS for location knowledge. It linked to my iPhone, however it requires opening the app first should you don’t permit it to have entry to your location on a regular basis. As soon as the GPS linked, I may put my telephone again in my pocket. The map plotted afterward provides tempo data, a breakdown of laps, ambient temperature, and elevation to the general image of your exercise.

There’s actually all the pieces you may need or want. Actually for me, an off-the-cuff exerciser, it’s complete overkill. I take this to imply the extra devoted individual will discover all the knowledge they may need. Along with strolling, the Vivosmart 5 has operating, cardio, power, biking, pool swimming, HIIT, and quite a lot of different workout-tracking modes.

Objectives will be set manually, however by default the platform mechanically provides targets so that you can meet. They’re set fairly low, and altering them means digging by way of numerous menus to seek out the choice. Join will be fairly complicated to navigate and there are numerous methods to seek out the identical knowledge, making it really feel busier than it truly is.

My favourite stat is Garmin’s intelligent Physique Battery. It takes stress, sleep, and coronary heart fee variability into consideration to assist gauge your vitality reserves for the day, and to raised perceive how a lot effort you’ve put into your exercises. It’s informative and easy to know, and helps make sense of information that in any other case can get glossed over or ignored.

The one draw back is there isn’t a lot motivational suggestions, and whereas there’s lots of explanatory textual content about what all the information means, you do need to actively go on the lookout for it.

Exercise and sleep-tracking comparisons

Placing the Vivosmart 5 in opposition to the Apple Watch Collection 7 when monitoring a 40-minute stroll, I discovered that each matched on the typical coronary heart fee and complete energy burned, suggesting the accuracy throughout each units is sweet. Throughout different exercise sorts, the units normally matched up too, however it’s vital to have the Vivosmart 5 tightly in opposition to your wrist for exact coronary heart fee monitoring. If it’s even just a little unfastened, it might probably misinterpret, one thing that impacts blood oxygen readings and coronary heart fee in a single day.

Evaluating the Vivosmart 5’s sleep monitoring with the Oura Ring, the Garmin tracker recorded an extended interval of “sleep” than the Oura Ring, because it didn’t acknowledge once I was awake within the morning. Nevertheless, the Oura Ring continues to suppose I’m awake through the evening once I’m not, one thing the Garmin avoids.

The Garmin gave my 7-hour, 42-minute sleep a 95/100 sleep rating, whereas the Oura measured 7-hours, 21-minutes for an 83/100 rating. The center fee estimate was very totally different from the Oura, with the bottom recorded being 9 beats per minute, which appears unlikely, because the Oura Ring didn’t see something decrease than 47brpm. The sleep-tracking discrepancy would nearly definitely be cured by carrying the band extra tightly, however I discover this uncomfortable. Worn loosely, I didn’t discover the Vivosmart 5 in any respect at evening.

Working system and notifications

The Vivosmart 5 is managed utilizing a touchscreen and a single button on the entrance. Your present stats are all hidden below a branched menu, so you need to swipe and faucet a number of instances to see them. Press the button to entry the primary menu and discover exercises, in addition to the center fee measurement characteristic, a method to change the watch face, and set timers. It’s very responsive, and when you’re used to the structure, it’s quick to seek out what you’re on the lookout for.

Notifications have arrived reliably, however there’s no method to work together with them, and as a result of small display, the formatting is normally off. It means they’re high quality for a look, however not far more. Plus, they’ll’t be recalled, so should you miss the alert, you’ll be able to’t test to see what it was. Notifications are very a lot a secondary characteristic and don’t match the power supplied by a full smartwatch.

Battery

Garmin says the Vivosmart 5 provides you with as much as seven days of battery life. That is provided that you resolve to not activate blood oxygen monitoring and observe your sleep. If you happen to do observe them, then anticipate a relatively pitiful three days most with a single each day exercise lasting 30-to-50 minutes tracked. On common, the Vivosmart loses about 15% battery in a single day.

This can be a downside as a result of the Physique Battery characteristic, which I actually like and contemplate a giant a part of the Vivosmart 5’s attraction, takes your sleep into consideration. Additionally, blood oxygen ranges are useful for a lot of totally different facets of well being monitoring. Not utilizing both or each of them looks like a little bit of a waste. Put merely, Garmin’s seven-day battery estimate simply doesn’t apply to anybody really planning to make use of the Vivosmart 5 in the best way it’s meant.

It’s charged utilizing an included proprietary cable and takes a few hours to go from below 10% to full.

Worth and availability

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is available for purchase now by way of Garmin’s on-line retailer for $150, or 130 British kilos, no matter whether or not you get the small/medium or massive model. You’ll be able to select a black, white, or Cool Mint shade, and buy a substitute band for $30 or 25 kilos.

Our take

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is all in regards to the Garmin Join platform. The health tracker itself may be very plain to have a look at, however there’s magnificence within the knowledge it collects and presents within the app. The tracker has a simple-to-use touchscreen and button-controlled interface, and whereas the app is data-dense, it’s unlikely you’ll be left wanting extra from it.

It’s this depth of information that makes carrying the Vivosmart 5 worthwhile, even when the design doesn’t initially make you eager to strap it on. As a result of it’s so complete, there’s loads of scope for the long run ought to your health stage enhance and you end up desirous to do extra or strive new sports activities. That is additionally true for the {hardware} itself, which has all the correct sensors to maintain observe of your well being over time.

It’s straightforward to make use of and inconspicuous in your wrist, and I’ve discovered the insights it gives attention-grabbing and useful. It’s only a disgrace that the design is extremely generic, and that the battery life is just too brief once you make the most of its full potential.

Is there a greater various?

Sure, if design issues to you. The Vivosmart 5’s boring look places me off, and I’d relatively put on the Vivomove Sport smartwatch. It makes use of the Garmin Join platform so you have got entry to all the identical wonderful knowledge, plus it has the identical sensor array, all inside a much more engaging watch-style case. It’s solely just a little dearer at $180, or 150 kilos.

If you happen to’re set on a health band the Fitbit Luxe has related specs for a similar value, and the dearer Fitbit Cost 5 comes with onboard GPS, however you’ll have to pay the month-to-month subscription for entry to all of your knowledge. If you wish to spend much less cash on a health band, check out the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 or the Honor Band 6.

How lengthy will it final?

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is fabricated from polycarbonate and silicone, so it ought to show hardwearing, plus it’s swim-proof to be used within the pool. You shouldn’t have any downside with sturdiness. Offered the Garmin Join software program is supported long-term, which I think about it is going to be, the Vivosmart 5 ought to final for a few years.

Must you purchase it?

Sure. The Garmin Vivosmart 5 might not have a lot type, however the wonderful Garmin Join software program makes up for it, and also you’re not charged further to see all of your knowledge.

Editors’ Selection