Garmin Vivoactive 4S Review
I am in love with my Garmin Vivoactive 4S watch.
Why:
One of my coaches asked me to start tracking my activity because my lifestyle is very inconsistent. I knew it was unrealistic for me to carry my phone everywhere to track my steps so I started looking into smart watch options.
Things I new I wanted:
Heart-rate monitor
Sleep monitoring
Steps
Phone message and alerts
Immediately, I knew that a lot of products were not going to be to the standard of what I needed. Apple watch would track general fitness but would have the highest phone options. A simple pedometer would get the job done for my coach but if I was committing I wanted something accurate and would help me in more than just my fitness.
After about 3 months of research I ended up with the Garmin Vivoactive 4S. I had been looking at the Garmin Fenix 6s for months and still went with the Vivoactive 4S because I had never worn a smart watch and don’t live near the mountains. The Vivoactive was more practical for my current life and if I still wanted the Fenix in the future I will upgrade. I got my Vivoactive 4s for $250 because I waited for a sale at REI.
Vivoactive 4S
$299 – No Monthly Subscription
Watch
App w/ data analysis
Heart rate monitor
Phone notifications
Text response only Andriod
GPS
Pedometer
Activity tracking including golf, hiking and snowboarding
Calendar
Pulse Ox
Stairs tracking
Water Tracking
Sleep Analysis
Body Battery – Recovery Analysis
Stress Monitoring
Fitness Tracking
Spotify Download
Apps
Changing Faces
Battery depends on GPS and music use, 2-7 days
Whoop Band
No Screen
Access to data w/ membership
Heart rate monitoring
Sleep Analysis
Recovery Analysis
5 day battery
Fitbit Ionic
Watch
App w/ data analysis
Heart rate monitor
Phone notifications
Text response only Andriod
GPS
Pedometer
Calendar
Stairs tracking
Sleep Analysis
Recovery Analysis
Fitness Tracking
Music Download
Apps
Changing Faces
Battery depends on GPS and music use, 1-6 days
Favorite Features
I ended up going with the Vivactive 4s because I knew I would use the GPS functioning for the different types of activities not just traditional fitness. I go hiking, i snowboard and play golf and I liked that i could could use my watch to show me where I had been. So fart the GPS function is great! When I am snowboarding i love that it shows me where I am on the hill and it automatically knows how many runs I have complete depending on what direction I am headed on the hill.
I originally was annoyed to find out that I was unable to respond to the text messages I was receiving on my watch all because I am a IOS user, and then I fell in love with this feature. I love that all i can do is see what the message says. this stops me from going to my phone to read the message and then i can see what the gist of the message and I can choose if it is critical and then i can go to my phone.
The next feature I have fallen in love with is the “Body Battery.” This feature is built for you to see how well you are recovering. I wasn’t so sure but this thing is a life saver. The premise is that if you do activities to bring your stress level down then your battery will charge (yoga, breathwork, sleep). At night when you are sleeping your battery “should” charge to 100%. I find that if I drink i will have bad sleep and when I wake up my battery might only be at 55%. Also if I work really hard in my physical job one day and then get little sleep then the next day my battery might not be charged and I might not be able to work as hard as the previous day. I use this to gauge how much i might workout or it allows me to communicate effectively with my family and friends if i am having an off day.
The last feature that I have fallen in love with is… the stress analysis. If the watch notices that I am in a situation that is more stressful than normal, it will recommend that I complete some breath-work. Not only will it notify me, it will walk me through the breathing exercises.
Overall, I love this device and I am very please with what it has brought to my life.
