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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. 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 grim. * '''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 the ability to display current [[Pace From A Footpod]] while getting all other data from GPS, the Vivoactive can't answer this question. * '''Where am I? '''The Vivoactive only as a "back to start" arrow, which is better than nothing, but not great. * '''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. See [[Best Running Watch#Watches for Ultrarunning| Watches for Ultrarunning]] for more details.
=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|]]