Revision as of 10:43, 1 November 2017

It's early in my testing, but I'd avoid purchasing the Vivoactive 3 at this point. I'm still testing the Vivoactive 3, and normally I wait until I've completed my evaluation before writing anything up. This time I thought I'd publish my ongoing thoughts for those that are interested, and it should morph over time into a full review.

• I'm concerned that the VA3 might have the same hardware flaw that is causing so many issues for the Fenix 5 and Fenix 5S (but not the Garmin Fenix 5X)). This is a problem with connecting to sensors, and because it's a hardware issue, it's unlikely to get fixed.
  • I've had some problems with Footpods on the VA3. I've found that the MilestonePod and the Adidas Speed Cell (both Bluetooth) work fine, but I've can't get the Garmin Ant+ footpod to pair, nor can I get Stryd to pair over either Bluetooth or Ant+.
  • Strangely the Stryd Connect IQ app works fine (it doesn't require pairing.)
  • I can't get the RunScribe V3 footpods to connect to their Connect IQ application, though currently RunScribe is still in what I'd consider Alpha test, so it might not be an issue with the VA3. However, I get the data field to work with the original Vivoactive, the Fenix 3, and the Fenix 5X.
  • I've not had any issues with heart rate monitors such as the Garmin HRM, Suunto, or Polar H7. However, the location of a heart rate monitor positions it much closer to the watch, so distance might be an issue.
  • The previous firmware had some problems, but 2.60 seems to be worse (or it's intermittent and I've been unlucky.)
• I find the way that Garmin have intentionally crippled the VA3 to be rather mean spirited. They've gone beyond the typical limitations of not supporting all sensors and restricted the data that can be displayed while running. The first Vivoactive (and the Vivoactive HR) had some of this, with only a few screens of up to three fields, but this could be overcome by Connect IQ apps like "Single Field Run" that display lots of data by taking up the whole screen as a single field display (hence the name.) Garmin have made it far harder to use this type of data field by forcing all screens to have the same number of data fields. I think that's just nasty and petty.
• I'm not a big fan of touchscreens as they're tricky to use while running and even harder with gloves. Unlike the original Vivoactive which had four buttons and a touchscreen, the VA3 only has the single button. This makes the user interface far more challenging and complex. The touchscreen is nicely responsive, though it frequently does its own thing. It's like it detects taps or swipes when there are none.
• You record laps by double tapping the display, something that's cumbersome and easy to get wrong.
• The display is lovely, and it's really big given the form factor of the VA3. The display is the same as the Garmin Fenix 5X, but the watch itself is about half the volume. This move towards smaller bezels is something that's occurring on TVs, phones, laptops, and it's good to see it happening in watches.
• The Stryd support is quite limited. You can get the Stryd estimate of running power through the Connect IQ app, even if the sensor issues discussed above could be resolved you have to be in treadmill mode (no GPS) to get pace/distance from a Footpod.
• The battery life is worse than claimed. I got only 10 hours under optimal conditions, rather than 13 hours claimed. This is a little better than the previous firmware where I got only 8 hours, and it's unusual to see a company claiming longer than actually provided these days.
• It will take me a few weeks to gather enough data to evaluate GPS Accuracy, but initial results suggest it will be similar to the previous Garmin Vivoactive and Garmin Vivoactive HR, which is pretty poor.
• I've not gathered enough data to understand the accuracy of the Optical Heart Rate Monitoring, but superficially it seems no better than I'd expect.
• I've had some odd issues syncing the VA3, both via a PC and via iOS. This might be intermittent issues with the Garmin servers, but I'm not seeing any similar issues with the various other Garmin devices I'm syncing over a similar period.

(I'm testing with Firmware 2.60, and future updates may resolve some of the issues.)

1 Comparison Table

I evaluate running watches in three distinct ways. Firstly, you can use a watch on its own, without any kind of Footpod. This is probably the most common way runners use their watch, but you miss out on a lot. The second rating is with a standard Footpod that is available quite cheaply. These Footpod's can be reasonably accurate once the calibrated, but calibration is a little tedious. The final evaluation is with the Stryd Footpod, which is vastly more accurate than any other type of Footpod, or and more accurate than GPS. The table below looks at the score, and the value for money of each watch for each of the three conditions. (I’ve also tested the Apple Watch 3, but I’ve not included it in these tables as it’s not really a running watch.)

The score is the sum of how well each watch can answer the four basic questions (how far, how fast, where are you, what's your cadence), plus some bonus points.

1. The "How far you've run" will be based on GPS only for "without Footpod" and "with Standard Footpod", but based on Stryd if supported in the "with Stryd Footpod" table..
2. How fast you're running assumes you're using a Footpod if it's supported, otherwise the rating is 0-2 based on GPS accuracy.
3. The "Where are you?" is based on various navigation features such as back to start, breadcrumbs, and preloaded maps. For some watches, you have to turn GPS off to get the benefit of Stryd, so those watches have worse "where are you scores" with Stryd than without.
4. The cadence score uses 1 point for an internal cadence sensor, 2 points for footpod support, 1 point for support from chest strap cadence, and 1 point for cadence alerts.
5. I give 1-2 bonus points for application support, 1-2 bonus points for data upload, 1-2 bonus points for Optical Heart Rate Monitoring, and 0-1 bonus points for battery life.
6. Value for money is the score divided by the price (at the time I last updated the table.) Your needs may be different, so you might weight the different aspects of the watches differently, or be basing your decision on different criteria totally. Hopefully this table will give you a good starting point for your decision.

1.1 Score Breakdown without a Footpod

1.2 Score Breakdown with a Standard Footpod

1.3 Score Breakdown with a Stryd Footpod

1.4 Basic Features

2 Navigation Features

For "navigation":

• Color Maps gives you full color maps, rather like a smart phone, with roads and paths marked out.
• Track Outline is a display of where you've run, rather like a breadcrumb trail. If there are maps, the outline is superimposed otherwise this is just the outline on its own without any context.
• Course Outline is an outline of a route that can be downloaded. I've found this useful during ultras or in unfamiliar cities where I've needed to know where to go.
• Back To Start is a simple arrow point to your starting point, so it won't help you backtrack.
• Back To Waypoint returns you to a previously marked location using a simple arrow to point.
• Compass. A magnetic compass can help you orient yourself or the map. Without a magnetic compass you have to be moving for the GPS to give you a sense of direction.

(Older Reviews: Polar RC3 GPS, Soleus 1.0, Motorola Motoactv.)