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It’s been a big year for Garmin; they’ve already launched two flagship products, Phoenix 7 and Epitaxy 2 and the popular Garmin Instinct 2. They are also thought to have the Forerunner 255 and 255s coming soon, followed by the Forerunner 955, Venu Sq 2, Vivomove Trend, Austin and Instinct Analog.
First up is the Garmin Vivosmart 5, which was launched yesterday. It’s been a long time. The Vivosmart 4 was launched about 4 years ago. During this period, many competing products were launched, and many companies adopted an annual cycle. You’d expect the Vivosmart 5 to be a major upgrade over the Vivosmart 4, but that’s not the case, and the Vivosmart 5 is a tough sell when you look at the competition.
Garmin Vivosmart 5 and Vivosmart 4 Specs and Features – What’s New?
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 takes the Vivosmart 4 and adds many new features. One exception though, Garmin removed the barometric altimeter for some reason, which means there is no stair tracking now. The stair tracking on my Fenix 6 Pro seems to be completely random, so I wouldn’t say you’re missing too much here. The spec sheet also states that the Vivosmart 5 cannot be used as a VIRB camera remote.
The physical design has changed modestly. The displays are now 10.5mm x 18.5mm and 6.6mm x 17.7mm, a 66 percent increase, with improved resolutions of 88 x 154 pixels and 48 x 128 pixels. The larger display also increases the overall size, with the width of the large screen increasing by 30% from 15mm to 19.5mm.
The Vivosmart 5 now has replaceable bands instead of built-in ones, which is the most likely thing to fail with these fitness bands.
One big improvement I can see is the inclusion of LiveTrack and event detection. I became a huge LiveTrack fan after supporting my partner at the Manchester Marathon. Although this may not be of much use to people using fitness trackers.
Neither fitness band has built-in GPS, and they both rely on assisted GPS connected to your phone.
The band can also broadcast your heart rate to other devices. This works great with a Peloton or Zwift, but it’s best to use a proper chest strap.
You can now get several new activity profiles, including breathing training, HIIT, Pilates, treadmill and indoor rowing.
It will now give you an on-device sleep score and morning wakeup report.
It can also track your breathing rate.
Similar to the flagship Fenix 7/Epix 2, the Vivosmart 5 has live settings synced with the Garmin Connect app, which means you can change all settings on the app and sync it with the device.
Finally, the battery life is the same, but Garmin has now switched to the standard Garmin charger used on the watch.
Overall, in my opinion, there aren’t too many changes and nothing to justify an upgrade.
Unfortunately, the Garmin Vivosmart 5 doesn’t look all that appealing when you watch the game. I would say the only reason to get it is that you are committed to the Garmin ecosystem.
Alternatives – Garmin Vivosmart 5 vs Fitbit Charge 5 vs Huawei Band 6
The biggest stumbling block for the Garmin Vivosmart 5 is the £129.99 price tag.
First off, you can get the Vivosmart 4 for just £80, I don’t think there’s enough difference to justify £50.this Garmin Forerunner 45 Also at the same price as the Vivosmart 5, it’s a noticeably better device, but the Vivosmart 5 has a more discrete design.
For competing brands, at a similar price, you have the Fitbit Charge 5. Garmin has been keen to point out that the Vivosmart 5 lacks any subscription service, and Fitbit annoyingly segregates some features into the premium plan.
However Fitbit charging 5 Has significantly superior properties, including:
- Color display with excellent resolution
- Built-in GPS
- EDA scan app/ECG scan
- Fitbit payment
I would say it also looks more attractive.
Alternatively, there is Honor Band 6 Or Huawei Huawei Band 6. Both have great colour displays and most of the Vivosmart 5’s features, but are almost £100 cheaper!
Garmin Vivosmart 5 and Vivosmart 4 specs
| Garmin Vivosmart 5 | Garmin Vivosmart 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Lens material | acrylic fiber | polycarbonate |
| case material | polycarbonate | aluminum |
| strap material | silicone | silicone |
| physical size | Small/Medium: 19.5 x 10.7 x 217 mm | Small/Medium: 15 x 10.5 x 197 mm |
| Fits wrists with a circumference of 122-188 mm | Fits wrists with a circumference of 122-188 mm | |
| Large: 19.5 x 10.7 x 255 mm | Large: 15 x 10.5 x 223 mm | |
| Fits wrists with a circumference of 148-228 mm | Fits wrists with a circumference of 148-215 mm | |
| Display size | 0.41″ x 0.73″ (10.5mm x 18.5mm) | 6.6mm x 17.7mm |
| display resolution | 88 x 154 pixels | 48 x 128 pixels |
| display type | OLED | OLED |
| weight | Small/Medium: 24.5 g | Small/Medium: 16.5 g |
| Large: 26.5 g | Large: 17.1 g | |
| Battery Life | Up to 7 days (excluding pulse cow sleep tracking) | Up to 7 days (excluding Pulse Ox sleep tracking) |
| water grade | swim | swim |
| memory/history | 7 timed activities, 14 days of activity tracking data | 7 timed activities, 14 days of activity tracking data |
| time/date | yes | yes |
| Automatic daylight saving time | yes | yes |
| Alarm clock | yes | yes |
| timer | yes | yes |
| stopwatch | yes | yes |
| health monitoring | yes | yes |
| Wrist-based heart rate (constant, per second) | yes | yes |
| daily resting heart rate | yes | yes |
| Abnormal Heart Rate Alert | yes (high and low) | yes (high and low) |
| Respiratory rate (24X7) | yes | Do not |
| pulse bovine oxygen saturation | Yes (spot check, during partial sleep and throughout the day) | Yes (spot check and optional in sleep) |
| fitness age | yes | yes (in app) |
| BODY BATTERY™ Energy Monitor | yes | yes |
| Stress tracking throughout the day | yes | yes |
| Relax reminder | yes | yes |
| Relax Breathing Timer | yes | yes |
| sleep | yes (advanced) | yes (advanced) |
| Sleep Score and Insights | yes | Yes (in Garmin Connect™) |
| Hydrate | yes | Yes (in Garmin Connect™) |
| women’s health | yes | yes |
| Garmin ELEVATE™ Wrist Heart Rate Monitor | yes | yes |
| barometric altimeter | Do not? | yes |
| Accelerometer | yes | yes |
| Ambient light sensor | yes | yes |
| Pulse Oxygen Saturation Monitor | yes | yes |
| Everyday Smart Features | yes | yes |
| connectivity | Bluetooth® Smart and ANT+® | Bluetooth® Smart and ANT+® |
| Smart notifications | yes | yes |
| Text reply/reject call with text (ANDROID™ only) | yes | yes |
| Connect GPS | yes | yes |
| calendar | yes | Do not? |
| weather | yes | yes |
| Live settings synced with Garmin CONNECT™ mobile devices | yes | Do not |
| Control smartphone music | yes | yes |
| find my phone | yes | yes |
| find my watch | yes | yes |
| VIRB® Camera Remote | Do not | yes |
| Smartphone Compatibility | iPhone®, Android™ | iPhone®, Android™ |
| Compatible with Garmin CONNECT™ mobile devices | yes | yes |
| live | yes | yes |
| Event detection during select events | yes | yes |
| help | yes | yes |
| Pedometer | yes | yes |
| Move bar (displayed on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a few minutes to reset it) | yes | yes |
| Auto Goals (learn your activity level and assign a daily step goal) | yes | yes |
| calories burned | yes | yes |
| Number of stairs | Do not | yes |
| travel distance | yes | yes |
| Intensity minutes | yes | yes |
| REAL™ | yes | yes |
| Mobile IQ™ | yes | yes |
| Fitness Equipment/Gym | yes | yes |
| Available gym activity profiles | Strength, HIIT, Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Indoor Rowing, Treadmill, Pilates and Yoga | Strength Training, Cardio Training, Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Yoga |
| Automatic rep count | yes | yes |
| Training, planning and analysis functions | yes | yes |
| Human resources area | yes | yes |
| HR Alert | yes | yes |
| HR Calories | yes | yes |
| % maximum heart rate | yes | yes |
| HR broadcast (broadcast HR data to paired devices via ANT+™) | yes | yes |
| GPS speed and distance | Yes (connected GPS only) | Yes (connected GPS only) |
| customizable screen | yes | yes |
| Customizable event profiles | yes | yes |
| interval training | yes | yes |
| Auto Lap® | yes | yes |
| VO2max (running) | yes | yes |
| Customizable Alerts | yes | yes |
| Available run profiles | running | running |
| Cadence (provides real-time steps per minute) | yes | yes |
| Available Bicycle Profiles | ride a bicycle | ride a bicycle |
| swimming function | yes | yes |
| Swimming profile available | Pool Swimming (Basic) | Pool Swimming (Basic) |
Last updated on April 21, 2022 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
