Live Science Verdict
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a solid cursory fitness tracking band with good kernel rate accuracy for its class , but it costs quite a act for the feature on offer .
utilization modes are more racy than most
Screen brightness adjusts mechanically
undecomposed heart pace reader
No on - panel GPS
Quite expensive
canonic monochrome , plastic screen
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The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is one of Garmin ’s most affordable fitness trackers . It ’s a lot , not a expectant - faced ticker , so it ’s suited for the great unwashed looking for something small , light and unnoticeable that they can wear alongside a vigil without looking silly .
88 x 154 pixel OLED screen
26.5 g
5ATM water resistance
Up to 7 day battery life
Connected GPS
Optical heart charge per unit reader
SpO2 readings
However , the Garmin Vivosmart 5 is not among the very best fittingness trackers , for a simple cause . While it ’s a cinch to practice and fairly salutary at tracking your heart rate during exercise , it is a little expensive for the tech and features it offers . It also does n’t have its own GPS , so it ca n’t be used for phone - detached runs . And the user interface is in reality slightly less effective for quick daily stat checks than the higher - destruction Garmin watches .
As much as we have enjoyed using the Vivosmart , the Fitbit Charge 5 throws some serious shade on it , offering loads more modern features for interchangeable money . The feature arrange and design here are a trivial too close to those of a much cheap tracker from a brand like Xiaomi , even if it does beat those for heart rate truth .
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Price and release date
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is one of Garmin ’s meretricious trackers , but it is not at all gaudy by the standards of this category . It cost $ 149/£129 , roughly the same as the Fitbit Charge 5 .
Such a damage target the Vivosmart at the mellow end of fitness band , where model like the Xiaomi Smart Band 6 can cost less than $ 50/£40 .
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 arrived in April 2022 , almost four year after its precursor the Vivosmart 4 , which launched in September 2018 .
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Design and display
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is among the smallest and lightest fittingness trackers that Garmin makes , and its aim is radical - practical too . The existent physical fitness trailing encephalon is a plastic lozenge that slots into a one piece of music gristly strap , slay the pauperization for fiddly fastener points .
It is water resistant to 5ATM , meaning it ’s fine in the swim puddle and the shower . This also intend you’re able to gayly wash it under a spigot if it gets grimy from weeks of salty sweat deposits .
The Vivosmart 5 screen is a lot low-spirited - close than plentifulness of physical fitness trackers and watches you could purchase at this price , however . It ’s a 0.84 - inch OLED instrument panel ( monochrome ) with limited 154 x 88 pixel resolving power . It ’s not fancy , but it ’s still miles better than some budget color fitness tracker screens because it is bright , and the brightness level horizontal surface automatically scale to suit the surroundings .
It expect clear when you go out for a tally on a cheery daytime , which is important . We were less pleased by its ruggedization . The screen ’s top layer is charge plate , which is much subdued than a salutary toughened glass and therefore more probable to pick up scuffs and scrape .
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Features
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a simple tracker by Garmin standards . You swipe on the touchscreen to move between port page , while the button below the screen typically takes you back to the watch face or to the menu where you’re able to protrude a tracked activity .
Garmin has almost test to replicate the day - to - day experience you ’d get with one of its mellow - end trackers with the Garmin Vivosmart 5 . moving picture up from the watch face and you get to pages of daily stats , like your gradation numeration , kilogram calorie burned and so on . However , thanks to the lookout ’s tiny screen , you have to wait almost three seconds for these stats to seem , as the verbal description of what each is scrolls by first . While made for a casual audience , we cerebrate a more hardcore sentry like the Garmin Instinct 2 makes it a caboodle easy to see daily stats like your step count rapidly .
gratefully , however , several of the Garmin Vivosmart 5 ’s 12 watch faces show your tone count . A few display your essence pace and step count too . Sir Frederick Handley Page transitions are accompanied by smooth - looking vitality , but the computer software ultimately find a small stiff as its structure is so stiffly paginated .
Throughout the day , this fittingness tracker record your heart rate , your stair and estimates your tension and breathing rate . It monitors your sleep overnight and it can also look at your blood oxygenation . This feature article , call Pulse Ox , is turned off by default as it ’s a battery drainer , but you’re able to set it to memorialize overnight or all 24-hour interval .
There are two key missing features in the Garmin Vivosmart 5 ; it does n’t have GPS or an altimeter . GPS is what let a fitness tracker make function of your walks and run , and accurately exercise out distance traveled . The Vivosmart 5 can connect to your phone to get this datum , but this tracker is ultimately quite pricey to bank on this technique , roll in the hay as connected GPS .
The other missing piece , an altimeter , is used to count the number of stairs you climb each mean solar day , and it ’s one of the estimable add together - on tools for passive fitness tracking . The Vivosmart 4 had an altimeter , this band does not — a unsatisfying downgrade .
The number of practice session trailing modes will sound set too . The Garmin Vivosmart 5 supports 14 modes , and 10 can be present on the stria at any one clock time . You add together them using the Garmin Connect app on your phone .
This sounds super peel back , but there ’s actually more deserving here than some budget trackers that have several times this number . Garmin try out , whenever it perchance can , to make these musical mode distinguishable . For model , in the Yoga mode the Vivosmart 5 lets you record when you flip-flop poses , and measures your breathing rate and stress .
The enduringness mode has optional reps and define counterpunch , whereas other smartwatches would make both of these yoga and system of weights lifting modes only generic and canonical , enter little more than time and heart rate . Garmin always prove to make its tracking style really count — it ’s one of the best things about the fellowship ’s devices , and this special one .
However , does this apologize the ironware shortcomings ? The Fitbit Charge 5 has GPS , plus an ECG sensor and an EDA stress sensing element — in our opinion , lots more .
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Performance
The Vivosmart 5 appears to use Garmin ’s last - generation tracking hardware — you may recount by a quick look at the shape of the center rate sensor on the back . However , this is not a bad thing when you weigh the once top - remainder Garmin Fenix 6X used similar technical school .
We ’ve undertaken a handful of long workouts with the Vivosmart 5 on one arm and the Garmin Enduro 2 on the other , to see what we ’re miss . Each time , both watches memorialize the accurate same maximal heart charge per unit , and each clock time there was a slight disparity in the average heart rate across the sitting , by a margin of 1 - 2 metronome marking . The Vivosmart 5 recital was almost always the gamey of the two . After overlaying the two vigil ’ graphs on top of each other , there ’s no obvious intellect for this . The graphical record line of credit search extremely similar , demo that it never really recede the game .
The Vivosmart 5 appear to have one of the better heart pace sensors you could get in a occasional seaworthiness tracker , and it is good than the likes of the Fitbit Versa 4 ’s .
We ca n’t really judge the band ’s localization tracking , though , because that is going to rely on the GPS of your sound . However , in all our tracked exercising there were no unexpected drop - outs leading to Garmin having to “ make up ” the route part - path through .
The Vivosmart 5 ’s step counts seem fine and the stress trailing feature of speech is good — although stress graphs are much better viewed in the Connect app on your phone than the band ’s own tiny screen door .
This vigil will show you your VO2 Max , which is a comely way to track gains in cardiovascular fitness over the month . And the Vivosmart 5 can broadcast your heart pace reading to other devices using Bluetooth or ANT+ . This will be handy for indoor wheeler who use apps like Zwift or Trainerroad .
Garmin says the Vivosmart 5 ’s battery should last for a week between boot . And as there are no particularly electric battery - sapping features like GPS or an always - on screen , battery spirit should persist reproducible . We feel it lasted around five day with lots of screen checks for notification and mid - workout stats , but six to seven days is completely feasible too .
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Verdict
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a effective seaworthiness tracking stripe that offer up honest trailing accuracy and more thoughtful software system than the vast majority of trackers of this style . Its heart pace results are sound and Garmin makes each of its exercise mode numerate .
However , the Vivosmart 5 feel quite limited considering it is not exactly tatty . There ’s no step - count altimeter or GPS , meaning all the data is derived from your sum rate and blood oxygenation .
This being allege , Garmin weave quite the tapis out of this modified information , and its essence rate accuracy is much good than that of most fitness dance orchestra . However , more cost - witting emptor may desire to waitress for a sales agreement .
Garmin Vivosmart 5: If this isn’t for you
If you ’re not put off by the want of GPS and are face for a breezy inactive fitness tracker , there are wad of ways to expend considerably less . TheHuawei Band 7,Xiaomi Smart Band 7and Amazfit Band 5 all have more poppy - wait color display and cost a spate less .
need to stay premium ? TheFitbit Charge 5offers more feature for the same amount of money , and the Fitbit Inspire 3 will perform the same basic for less money , with a bold color screen .
