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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Garmin Vivoactive Review}}
The {{Garmin Vivoactive}} is the cheapest watch to support Garmin's [[Connect IQ]], and the current pricing puts it into the [[Best Running Watch| budget category of running watches]]. I've got mixed feelings about the Vivoactive; it's a mixture of generally crippled functionality, poor [[GPS Accuracy]], no [[Pace From A Footpod]], but it's small, fairly cheap, has some surprising extra functionality, and it has a nice user interface. It's perhaps best thought of as a good activity monitor that can also act as a running watch. I found myself using it as my standard activity monitor, and using one of my many other watches for recording my runs. The small size and light weight of the Vivoactive make it far less intrusive than larger devices like the [[Garmin Fenix 3]]. Using the Vivoactive just as an activity monitor also helps with battery life, as the GPS chipset drains the battery disproportionately quickly. Combining the Vivoactive with a [[Stryd]] Footpod seems strange given that Stryd costs twice as much as the watch, but the combination is a small, attractive watch with good functionality and Stryd provides outstanding distance/pace accuracy. For a simple evaluation of a GPS watch, I look at how well it can answer some basic questions:* '''How far did I run?''' This is the most basic question, and the Vivoactive is rather grimunless you combine it with [[Stryd]]. That means turning off GPS, which may be a problem for some runners that want to know where they've run for their training log. * '''How fast am I running?''' Knowing how fast you're running can be a nice to know, or it can be vital for your training or race performance. Because of the nature of GPS, watches that rely on GPS signal alone tend to have serious problems with current pace. Without Again, this can be solved by combining the Vivoactive with the ability to display current [[Pace From A FootpodStryd]] while getting all other data from GPS, the Vivoactive can't answer this questionFootpod. * '''Where am I? '''The Vivoactive only as a "back to start" arrow, which is better than nothing, but not great. If you use [[Stryd]] you'll lose even that as you have to turn off GPS to get the accurate pace/distance that Stryd supports.
* '''What's my cadence? '''[[Cadence]]''' '''is one of the most critical and often overlooked aspects of running. If you get your Cadence right, many other things naturally fall into place. The Vivoactive supports [[Cadence]] via a [[Footpod]] or it can estimate Cadence from its internal accelerometer. It even has alerts for when your Cadence is too low.
For ultramarathon running the Vivoactive doesn't have the battery life, but it supports [[Charge On The Run]] surprisingly well. See [[Best Running Watch#Watches for Ultrarunning| Watches for Ultrarunning]] for more details. {{BuyAmazon|AZID=B00RE1UL52|AZN=Garmin Vivoactive}}=Vivoactive Pros=
* The Vivoactive has a reasonable size color display given its small dimensions, though the bezel is larger than you might expect from the latest watches. The resolution of 30K pixels makes it look sharp and clear. The colors are pretty good, and color does make a watch more appealing even if it doesn't add much to the functionality. The standard watch face is quite uninspiring; it makes me think Garmin intentionally set the bar low for developers of custom watch face apps.<br/>[[File:Vivoactive (6).JPG|none|thumb|300px|]]
* The Vivoactive supports Garmin's [[Connect IQ]] that allows for various apps to be installed, including this custom watch face called "Actiface". I love this display, which shows a lot of data in a small space. There is a graph of the last week's steps and calories, a circular progress bar for today's progress towards you step goal, plus some badges for things like hitting your step goal for four days in the last week. The Vivoactive supports Connect IQ for Watch faces, Apps, Widgets, and Data Fields. It includes most device profiles: Heat rate, footpod, temperature, cadence, speed, controls, and power meter. <br/>[[File:Vivoactive (2).JPG|none|thumb|300px|]]
* Sleep tracking with the Vivoactive works reasonably well. You can tell it when you've gone to sleep and woken up, but it does a mostly adequate job of working this out for itself. You don't get any sleep information on the watch itself, which is true of most activity monitors. Instead, you have to go to the mobile app or the website. The Vivoactive consistently indicated I got more sleep than the Basis, including more deep sleep. The Basis is one of the few sleep monitors that will estimate REM sleep. I tend to think the Basis is more accurate, but without a gold standard to compare against, it's hard to draw conclusions.<br/>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- valign="top"
|[[File:Basis Jan24.png|none|thumb|x300px|Sleep monitoring from the Basis]]
* There is simple "back to start" navigation on the Vivoactive, where it displays a directional arrow and distance to where you started the activity. The arrow is not a compass, so you need to be moving for it to point in the right direction.<br/>[[File:Vivoactive (22).JPG|none|thumb|300px|]]
* You can connect to Garmin Live Track, which will allow people to see your run as it progresses. This seems to work fine, and the Vivoactive will support Ant+ devices (HRM, etc.) while doing Live Track. I'm not entirely convinced by the usefulness of this; after all if you're carrying your smart phone, you could use that directly.<br/>[[File:livetrack.jpg|none|thumb|300px|]]
=Vivoactive Cons=
* The GPS accuracy of the Vivoactive is rather poor, though it's in line with more expensive watches that Garmin's produced. For some runners this inaccuracy will mean looking elsewhere, but for many others this may be acceptable. If all you're after is a rough estimate of training mileage, then it should be fine. If you're training more seriously, then the errors can mount up and cause knock on problems due to under or overestimating your training load and ability. <br/>[[File:Bridgevívoactive.jpg|none|thumb|500px|]]
* There's support for a [[Footpod]] but sadly no support for [[Pace From A Footpod]]. This means that you won't get an accurate idea of your current pace, though it's possible that Garman might and this in a future firmware release. <br/>[[File:Vivoactive (7).JPG|none|thumb|300px|]]
* You can control you phone's music playback. I prefer a dedicated music player, but I know many runners use their phone. <br/>[[File:Vivoactive (14).JPG|none|thumb|300px|]]
* You can access your smartphone's calendar, which some people might find useful. (I don't.)<br/>[[File:Vivoactive (15).JPG|none|thumb|300px|]]
=Comparison Table=
{{:Best Running Watch-table}}