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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 5X]]. Using the Vivoactive just as an activity monitor also helps with battery life, as the GPS chipset drains the battery disproportionately quickly. You can use the Vivoactive with the [[Stryd]] footpod, though you have to run GPS off. 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. There is a version of Vivoactive if that includes an [[Optical Heart Rate MonitorMonitoring]], the [[Garmin Vivoactive HR]]; I'd generally recommend sticking with this version given the accuracy issues of OHRM. <br/>
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 unless 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.