The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is one in every of Garmin’s most inexpensive health trackers. It’s a band, not a big-faced watch, so it’s appropriate for individuals searching for one thing small, gentle and unobtrusive that they will put on alongside a watch with out wanting foolish.
Garmin Vivosmart 5
88 x 154 pixel OLED display
26.5g
5ATM water resistance
As much as 7 day battery life
Related GPS
Optical coronary heart price reader
SpO2 readings
Nonetheless, the Garmin Vivosmart 5 is just not among the many best possible health trackers, for a easy cause. Whereas it’s a breeze to make use of and pretty good at monitoring your coronary heart price throughout train, it’s a little costly for the tech and options it gives. It additionally doesn’t have its personal GPS, so it could’t be used for phone-free runs. And the interface is definitely barely much less efficient for fast each day stat checks than the higher-end Garmin watches.
As a lot as we’ve got loved utilizing the Vivosmart, the Fitbit Cost 5 throws some severe shade on it, providing hundreds extra superior options for comparable cash. The function set and design listed below are a bit of too near these of a less expensive tracker from a model like Xiaomi, even when it does beat these for coronary heart price accuracy.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Worth and launch date
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is one in every of Garmin’s least expensive trackers, however it isn’t in any respect low-cost by the requirements of this class. It prices $149/£129, roughly the identical because the Fitbit Cost 5.
Such a worth locations the Vivosmart on the larger finish of health bands, the place fashions just like the Xiaomi Sensible Band 6 can value lower than $50/£40.
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 arrived in April 2022, virtually 4 years after its predecessor the Vivosmart 4, which launched in September 2018.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Design and show
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is among the many smallest and lightest health trackers that Garmin makes, and its design is ultra-pragmatic too. The precise health monitoring mind is a plastic lozenge that slots right into a one piece rubbery strap, eradicating the necessity for fiddly fastening factors.
It’s water-proof to 5ATM, which means it’s wonderful within the swimming pool and the bathe. This additionally means you possibly can fortunately rinse it below a faucet if it will get dirty from weeks of salty sweat deposits.
The Vivosmart 5 display is rather a lot lower-end than loads of health trackers and watches you would purchase at this worth, nevertheless. It’s a 0.84-inch OLED panel (monochrome) with restricted 154 x 88 pixel decision. It’s not fancy, however it’s nonetheless miles higher than some funds shade health trackers screens as a result of it’s brilliant, and the brightness degree mechanically scales to go well with the atmosphere.
It appears clear if you exit for a run on a sunny day, which is essential. We have been much less happy by its ruggedization. The display’s high layer is plastic, which is way softer than toughened glass and due to this fact extra more likely to choose up scuffs and scrapes.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Options
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a straightforward tracker by Garmin requirements. You swipe on the touchscreen to maneuver between interface pages, whereas the button under the display usually takes you again to the watch face or to the menu the place you can begin a tracked exercise.
Garmin has virtually tried to duplicate the day-to-day expertise you’d get with one in every of its higher-end trackers with the Garmin Vivosmart 5. Flick up from the watch face and also you get to pages of each day stats, like your step rely, energy burned and so forth. Nonetheless, because of the watch’s tiny display, you must wait virtually three seconds for these stats to look, as the outline of what every is scrolls by first. Whereas made for an off-the-cuff viewers, we expect a extra hardcore watch just like the Garmin Intuition 2 makes it rather a lot simpler to see each day stats like your step rely rapidly.
Fortunately, nevertheless, a number of of the Garmin Vivosmart 5’s 12 watch faces present your step rely. A couple of show your coronary heart price and step rely too. Web page transitions are accompanied by smooth-looking animations, however the software program in the end feels a bit of stiff as its construction is so rigidly paginated.
All through the day, this health tracker data your coronary heart price, your steps and estimates your stress and respiratory price. It screens your sleep in a single day and it could additionally have a look at your blood oxygenation. This function, referred to as Pulse Ox, is turned off by default because it’s a battery drainer, however you possibly can set it to file in a single day or all day.
There are two key lacking options within the Garmin Vivosmart 5; it doesn’t have GPS or an altimeter. GPS is what lets a health tracker create maps of your walks and runs, and precisely work out distances traveled. The Vivosmart 5 can connect with your telephone to get this knowledge, however this tracker is in the end fairly dear to depend on this system, often known as related GPS.
The opposite lacking piece, an altimeter, is used to rely the variety of stairs you climb every day, and it’s the most effective add-on instruments for passive health monitoring. The Vivosmart 4 had an altimeter, this band doesn’t — a disappointing downgrade.
The variety of train monitoring modes will sound restricted too. The Garmin Vivosmart 5 helps 14 modes, and 10 could be current on the band at anybody time. You add them utilizing the Garmin Join app in your telephone.
This sounds tremendous stripped again, however there’s really extra value right here than some funds trackers which have a number of instances this quantity. Garmin tries, every time it probably can, to make these modes distinct. For instance, within the Yoga mode the Vivosmart 5 enables you to file if you swap poses, and measures your respiratory price and stress.
The energy mode has non-compulsory reps and units counters, whereas different smartwatches would make each of those yoga and weight lifting modes totally generic and primary, recording little greater than time and coronary heart price. Garmin at all times tries to make its monitoring modes really matter — it’s the most effective issues concerning the firm’s gadgets, and this explicit one.
Nonetheless, does this excuse the {hardware} shortcomings? The Fitbit Cost 5 has GPS, plus an ECG sensor and an EDA stress sensor — in our opinion, heaps extra.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Efficiency
The Vivosmart 5 seems to make use of Garmin’s last-generation monitoring {hardware} — you possibly can inform by a fast have a look at the form of the center price sensor on the again. Nonetheless, this isn’t a nasty factor when you think about the as soon as top-end Garmin Fenix 6X used comparable tech.
We’ve undertaken a handful of lengthy exercises with the Vivosmart 5 on one arm and the Garmin Enduro 2 on the opposite, to see what we’re lacking. Every time, each watches recorded the very same most coronary heart price, and every time there was a slight disparity within the common coronary heart price throughout the session, by a margin of 1-2 bpm. The Vivosmart 5 studying was virtually at all times the upper of the 2. After overlaying the 2 watches’ graphs on high of one another, there’s no apparent cause for this. The graph strains look extraordinarily comparable, displaying that it by no means actually loses the plot.
The Vivosmart 5 seems to have one of many higher coronary heart price sensors you will get in an informal health tracker, and it’s higher than the likes of the Fitbit Versa 4’s.
We will’t actually decide the band’s location monitoring, although, as a result of that’s going to depend on the GPS of your telephone. Nonetheless, in all our tracked exercises there have been no sudden drop-outs resulting in Garmin having to “make up” the route part-way by.
The Vivosmart 5’s step counts appear wonderful and the stress monitoring function is sweet — though stress graphs are a lot better seen within the Join app in your telephone than the band’s personal tiny display.
This watch will present you your VO2 Max, which is a good approach to monitor beneficial properties in cardiovascular health over the months. And the Vivosmart 5 can broadcast your coronary heart price studying to different gadgets utilizing Bluetooth or ANT+. This might be useful for indoor cyclists who use apps like Zwift or Trainerroad.
Garmin says the Vivosmart 5’s battery ought to final for per week between fees. And as there aren’t any significantly battery-sapping options like GPS or an always-on display, battery life ought to keep constant. We discovered it lasted round 5 days with numerous display checks for notifications and mid-workout stats, however six to seven days is totally possible too.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: Verdict
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is an efficient health monitoring band that gives higher monitoring accuracy and extra considerate software program than the overwhelming majority of trackers of this model. Its coronary heart price outcomes are sound and Garmin makes every of its train modes rely.
Nonetheless, the Vivosmart 5 feels fairly restricted contemplating it isn’t precisely low-cost. There’s no stair-counting altimeter or GPS, which means all the information is derived out of your coronary heart price and blood oxygenation.
This being stated, Garmin weaves fairly the tapestry out of this restricted data, and its coronary heart price accuracy is a lot better than that of most health bands. Nonetheless, extra cost-conscious consumers could wish to look forward to a sale.
Garmin Vivosmart 5: If this is not for you
Should you’re not postpone by the shortage of GPS and are searching for a breezy passive health tracker, there are many methods to spend significantly much less. The Huawei Band 7, Xiaomi Sensible Band 7 and Amazfit Band 5 all have extra poppy-looking shade shows and value rather a lot much less.
Wish to keep premium? The Fitbit Cost 5 gives extra options for a similar amount of cash, and the Fitbit Encourage 3 will carry out the identical fundamentals for much less cash, with a daring shade display.