Vivoactive HR: The fitness tracker for the sports enthusiast

The Vivoactive HR is a little large for this writers small wrist.

Garmin's Vivoactive HR comes with a big screen and lots of activity tracking options

It seems the hot new feature in most ­fitness bands this year is the heart rate monitor, as even the entry-level ones now come with it.

This includes the Garmin Vivoactive HR which has many of the ­features of the expensive Fenix 3 HR but with a more “sport band” plastic body and design.

It’s probably one of the most rectangular fitness bands I’ve ever seen, as the face is rather large and longish.

On smaller wrists the Vivoactive HR overhangs the wrist like a hotel infinity pool.

You could say that about most smartwatches and fitness bands but the Vivoactive HR is ­unusually elongated with only a slight curve at the corners so it’ll only really look good on ­someone with very big wrists (and not on my tiny wrists).

On the upside, you get a pretty large screen for a fitness band with easy to read characters.

Like the Fenix 3 HR, the Vivoactive HR comes with a transflective colour screen but unlike the pro fitness watch, the Vivoactive’s screen is touch ­sensitive.

The Vivoactive HR's relatively large screen can show quite a lot of data including graphs of your activities.

The 20.7 x 28.6mm screen has a resolution of 205 x 148 pixels and is readable under bright sunlight and is okay (though ­colour is a little washed out) for dimly lit areas as it has backlight.

You can swipe up or down to switch between different screens and tap on any screen to get a more detailed view. For example, the My Day screen gives you a summary of your step count for the day, calories burned and sports activities done.

Different touch

Like most bands, it has Bluetooth for connecting it to your smartphone so it can ­display notifications and ­weather information.

The Vivoactive HR has two buttons at the bottom of the screen – one serves as a back button and the other as a ­function button.

The charge/sync cable clips on to the back of the Vivoactive HR.

 

A quick press on the function button opens up the activity quick menu which lists multiple sports that you can engage in from running, biking, rowing, skiing, SUP (stand-up paddleboarding) and swimming.

With the touchscreen and simple two-button setup, the interface is a lot easier to use than the Fenix HR which only uses buttons and has no touchscreen.

While most of the important settings can be done on the watch itself, you will need the Garmin Connect app to add more widgets and reorder the screens.

You can also add more watch faces to the Vivoactive but I feel the default digital screen offers the best balance between ­information and readability.

Hit the gym

The extensive list of sporting activities that the Viovoactive tracks is a real advantage – on top of what has already been mentioned before you can also track golf (with yardage ­measurement and even a digital scorecard) and a host of indoor activities such as running on a treadmill or cycling on a ­stationary bike. 

Also, the Vivoactive HR is water resistant up to 50m so you can confidently take it into the pool for a swim without worrying about the electronics inside.

The device has a built-in ­lithium-ion battery and the charger is yet another one of Garmin’s proprietary models.

The charging cable terminates in a special clip that’s not ­compatible with any other Garmin fitness trackers or Fenix watches.

I really wish Garmin would find a way to standardise its chargers, as it will make things easier for those who own ­multiple Garmin devices such as its bicycle computer.

Garmin rates the Vivoactive HR battery life at up to eight days with the heart rate monitor running all day but without the GPS on. In use, I found the ­estimate to be pretty spot on.

With the GPS on for an hour every day and the heart rate on all the time, I got about five to six days of use before it needed a recharge.

Conclusion

The Vivoactive HR is a great device – the screen is large and easy to read and it has loads of features.

Like most Garmin devices, the sync cable on the Vivoactive HR is a proprietary clip which only fits the specific device.

Aesthetically, however, I’m not that enthused about it – I wouldn’t mind the size so much if Garmin had designed it as a bracelet with a curved screen that wraps around the wrist.

If you have bigger wrists, ­however, this is less of an issue and the device would look much better on you.

Looks aside, the Vivoactive HR has a solid feature set and very good battery life to boot so there’s little to complain about other than the price.

At RM1,199, you could get an Android Wear smartwatch that does more but may not be as good at tracking so many ­activities. So if fitness is your top priority then the Vivoactive HR will be the better choice.

Pros: Tracks a wide variety of sports; built-in heart rate monitor and GPS; large, easy-to-read screen.
Cons: A bit large for some wrists.

Vivoactive HR
(Garmin)
Smart wearable
Display: 1.29in (205 x 148 ­pixels) colour LCD
Specifications: GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, heart rate monitor
Other features: Water ­resistant up to 50m
Dimensions (W x D x H): 30.2 x 57.0 x 11mm
Weight: 47.6g
Website: www.aeco.com.my
Price: RM1,199 (inclusive of GST)
Rating: 4 stars
Review unit courtesy of Aeco Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd, [phone]