Garmin Vivoactive 5 Full Smartwatch Specifications, Features and Price

Description

After a long wait, Garmin decided to release the Vivoactive 5 which succeeded the Vivoactive 4. And like its predecessor, it’s fitness-focused and comes in a circular shape but now welcomes a more colorful AMOLED display and more health-tracking features. However, Garmin, perhaps in a bid to upsell the higher-end Venu 3, has removed the barometric altimeter from the Vivoactive 5. As a result, it lacks the ability to count floors climbed which is surprisingly possible with the Vivoactive 4.

Meanwhile, the Vivoactive 5 is still a fantastic watch with a remarkable design that’s not just durable but also well-equipped to track your daily activities.

Unlike the Vivoactive 4, the Vivoactive 5 comes in a single 42mm case size. It’s a very compact and lightweight watch weighing just 36 grams (including straps). The frame is made of a fiber-polymer material, the bezel is aluminum and the display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Meanwhile, the bands come in a silicone material that can be swapped with a 20mm wide straps. The watch is also swim-proof, thanks to the 5ATM rating. You will find the Vivoactive 5 in four different colors which include, black, orchid, ivory and navy blue colors.

One of the finest additions to the Vivoactive 5 is its more colorful AMOLED display which is a step up from the MIP display that powers older Vivoactive series. The watch has a decent 1.2 inches display size that is very legible in any light condition, and it also comes with loads of interesting watch faces.

Despite being new, the Vivoactive 5 is equipped with the older Elevate V4 sensor, an accelerometer and blood oxygen sensors that enable it to track your calories, steps, stress, blood oxygen, sleep and of course your heart rate. The watch also has an inbuilt GPS that enables it to map your routes and locations during an outdoor workout.

The Vivoactive 5 will help you manage the notifications you receive on your phone. You can enable notifications for your preferred apps and when there there is a new message on your phone, you will get an alert on the watch. You will have the option to reply to messages using preset quick replies (not supported with iPhone).

In the battery department, the Vivoactive 5 will let you go multiple days from a single charge. Garmin claims the Vivoactive 5 can go up to 11 days in typical usage and with always-on enabled, it’s up to 5 days.

Garmin Vivoactive 5 Features

• It comes with a 1.2 inches AMOLED display that is very colorful and also easy to read outdoors. Navigation is via two physical buttons and touchscreen.
• The frame is made of fiber-polymer and the bands come in silicone while Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the display.
• The 20mm wide band is changeable, thanks to the quick release feature.
• Clock features include time/date, GPS time sync, auto daylight saving, alarm, timer and stopwatch.
• The Garmin Connect IQ store is onboard the watch, it will allow you to easily download apps, watch faces, widgets and data fields.
• Vivoactive 5 is equipped with 4GB storage capacity that will allow you to add music to the watch which you can listen to offline. Supported music streaming services include Amazon Music, Deezer and Spotify.
• The Vivoactive 5 will allow you to reject calls with text responses using quick replies (Android only).
• Features Find my phone, Find my watch, remote music control and remote camera control.
• With notifications enabled, the watch will keep you connected to all that matters to you so you never get to miss important updates. NEW: You can now view images from notifications directly on the watch.
• The Vivoactive 5 is rated 5ATM which means it can withstand water pressure up to 50 meters.
• Features Garmin Pay, a non-contactless payment system that will allow you to make payments directly with the Vivoactive 5 (not available in every country).
• Compatible with both Android 7.0 and above and iOS devices 15.0 and above. Check if your device is compatible
• Sync and upload data from your watch to the Garmin Connect community – a thriving community of fitness enthusiasts where you can connect and share.

Garmin Vivoactive 5 Activity Tracking Features

1. Health monitoring features

Health monitoring features include heart rate monitoring with abnormal heart rate alerts. A body battery energy monitor gives you insight into your fitness level to help you know the best time to train. Also, fitness age shows your fitness status, while Pulse Ox. monitors blood oxygen saturation levels to support advanced sleep monitoring and altitude acclimation. Other health tracking features include sleep tracking, menstrual cycle tracking for women, hydration tracking, sleep coaching, nap detection, relaxation reminders, meditation, stress monitoring, and sedentary reminders.

Also available is the Health Snapshot feature that will allow you to record key stats, including heart rate, heart rate variability, Pulse Ox, respiration, and stress. You can then generate a report with those stats via the Garmin Connect™ app on your compatible smartphone to share.

2. Activity profiles

Gym activity profiles include strength, HIIT, cardio, elliptical training, stair stepping and indoor rowing. Cycling profiles include biking, indoor biking, eBiking, handcycling and indoor handcycling.

3. Safety and tracking features

Safety and tracking features include incidental fall detection, Assistance and LiveTrack

4. Activity tracking features

Activity tracking features include step counting, push tracker, sleep monitoring, calories burned, floors climbed, distance travelled, intensity minutes, TRUEUP and MOVE IQ.

5. Gym and fitness equipment

Gym and fitness equipment include cardio workouts, yoga workouts, strength workouts, HIIT workouts, pilates workouts, and automatic rep counting. Also features on-screen workout muscle maps – a detailed activity profile that shows what muscle groups you worked.

6. Heart rate tracking features

Heart rate tracking features include HR zones, HR alerts, HR calories, % HR max, and HR broadcast data to the paired device. Also features respiration rate during exercise.

7. Training, planning, and analysis features

Training, planning, and analysis features include interval training, customizable activity profiles, advanced workouts, VO2 max, GPS speed and distance, auto lap, and manual lap, Physio Trueup and shows activity history on watch.

8. Running features

Running features include GPS-based distance, time and pace, cadence (provides real-time steps per minute), run workouts and foot pod capable. Available run profiles include running, indoor track running, and treadmill running.

9. Golfing features

Golfing features include yardage to layups, measures shot distance, and stat tracking. Others include Garmin auto shot, pinpointer, hazards and course targets, digital scorecard, and round timer.

10. Outdoor recreational features

Outdoor recreational features include back to start, area calculation, sun and moon information and fish forecast.

11. Cycling features

Cycling features include alerts that trigger alarmsalarms when you reach goals including time, distance, heart rate or calories. Also compatible with Varia Lights and Varia radar.

12. Swim tracking features

Swim tracking features include Pool swim metrics which include lengths, distance, pace, stroke count, swim efficiency (SWOLF), and calories. Also tracks open water swim metrics like lengths, distance, pace, stroke count, SWOLF and calories. Stroke type detection includes freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly (pool swim only). Other features include a basic rest timer (up from 0) (pool swim only), auto rest (pool swim only), time and distance alerts and underwater heart rate tracking. Available swim profiles include pool swimming and open water swimming.

Pros

• Stylish, compact and lightweight design.
• A comprehensive activity tracker.
• Allows you to make payments on the go with Garmin Pay.
• 4GB onboard music storage.
• Up to 11 days long battery life

Cons

• Lacks microphone and loudspeaker.
• 4GB storage is somewhat small, especially for music lovers.