The Garmin Vivoactive 4 should be at the top of your list if you want a fitness tracker that is both stylish and useful. This GPS fitness tracker/smartwatch combination has a sleek appearance, more than 20 sports apps already installed, onboard audio storage, and Bluetooth headphones. It improves on its great predecessors by adding on-screen workout animations, support for Pilates and improved yoga metrics, pulse oximeter readings, tracking of breathing, and heart rate monitoring while swimming.
There are two sizes of the Vivoactive 4. The 40mm variant is called the Vivoactive 4S, which is a bit confusing. It fits wrists with a circumference of 4.3 to 6.8 inches and comes in gold/pink, rose gold/white, silver/gray, or slate/black colors. The 45mm Vivoactive 4 model fits wrists between 5.3 and 7.8 inches in circumference. It comes with silver/gray or slate/black.
Features:
- Respiration tracking
- Pulse oximeter readings
- On-screen workout animations
- Onboard music storage and support for Bluetooth headphones
- Underwater optical heart rate monitoring
- Pilates support
For this review, Garmin sent me the rose gold/white 4S, but I’ll call it the Vivoactive 4 since most of the variants are the same save for battery life, size, and weight. The screen on the 4 is 1.3 inches and it weighs 1.7 ounces. The screen on the 4S is 1.1 inches and it weighs 1.4 ounces. Garmin says that the Vivoactive 4 can be used for up to 8 days as a smartwatch, 6 hours as a GPS watch, or 18 hours as a GPS watch without audio.
The 4S may be used as a wristwatch for up to 7 days, as a GPS for 5 hours, or as a GPS without music for up to 15 hours. During tests, the battery only lost 23% of its power after 24 hours. During that period, I used the GPS on my phone to track a short run and a 55-minute yoga session. After almost three days of normal use, which included another run that was recorded by GPS, the battery had less than 20% left.
How to get Garmin Vivoactive 4 smartwatch?
The Vivoactive 4 has a color touch screen with a tough Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens, a pleasant textured silicone strap, a fiber-reinforced polymer shell and polymer back cover, and a stainless steel bezel. It has a water resistance rating of 5ATM, which means it can handle pressure equal to a depth of 164 feet. It has a screen that is constantly on, and you can tap it to turn on the backlight. With a dark background, predominantly white text, and colorful icons, the interface has a clean and straightforward aesthetic.
