@@RodIlagan Yep, you'll need to use the desktop app or mobile app to move downloaded music files into your watch. I don't use the feature much but it does work! I believe there are apps/widgets for the watch to toggle your music player on your phone if you have your mp3s stored there.
Wow, 300+ mile ride!! Kudos. I used to own the Vivoactive 3, and I loved the battery life, it was perfect for my active lifestyle. Then I swapped it out for the Apple Watch 3. The only advantage in my opinion that the Apple Watch has was the screen resolution. I just purchased the Vivoactive 4s and I’m looking forward to getting rid of my Apple Watch.
Thanks for that! I've started stepping up my bike trips in order to prepare for a 450 mile trip this summer from Copenhagen to Oslo, which is one of the reasons why I will use the Instinct 2 Solar. How do you like the vivoactive compared to Apple watch?
How have you found the switch? I just switched from Galaxy Watch 2 to the Vivoactive 4. Seems like even though the tech is out of date it was ahead enough at the time it still works well for my uses. The software display and arrangements of things do seem outdated, but functional.
You have to set the watch to broadcast heart rate via ant+ to a paired device. You can set it to broadcast automatically anytime an activity is started or you can manually start it.
This seems to be the best option for what I am looking for. Downloading music from my pc to the watch so I don`t need my phone with me when I go to the gym or for a run. And for the price it is going for now at $179 it can`t be beat. I do not pay for any music service`s. I am using an old Tom Tom fitness watch now that I bought years ago because it was one of the few at the time I could load my music from my pc. It still works but very inaccurate.
Ive had mine for nearly 2 years and mainly use for walking and swimming, pretty happy so far. Just wish the battery life was longer. Need to charge every 4 days or so, after 2 years...
@@hmuller Aren’t you looking into the Fenix 7 line of watches? They look pretty interesting to me now that they have a touchscreen. Its alsp not that much bigger
@@mikem2k6 Actually that's what I have planned after reviewing the Instinct 2 Solar. Hopefully I will get the chance to get both the 7 Solar and 7S solar sometimes as early as this summer.
@@hmuller Sounds good. I have my eyes on them as well. But honestly I like the look of the Tactix 7 more, just not the price tag. Are the shipping times that long that you need to wait until summer?
Yeah, the Tactix does indeed look quite good! No if I wanted to get the Fenix 7 I could get it tomorrow if i ordered it online. I have planned a long term review of the instinct 2 Solar. Really curious to test out its outdoor capabilities, such as climbing, bouldering, hiking, biking on a few long trips. Ideally I have thought a combination of the instinct 2 and vivoactie 4 would be the best fit for diffferent usecases. But I amm however quite intrigued by the idea of one watch "to rule them all".
I have had my Vivoactive 4, for three years now and am awaiting my upgrade (Fenix 7X Pro Solar). Still a great watch but battery is draining significantly after many years of heavy usage. My 4 1/2 hour run on Tuesday drained 41%. Looking forward to less frequent charging with help from the solar glass.
I feel a bit silly but I can't seem to figure out how to track hiking on my vivoactiv 4s. I have been using the walking feature but as the GPS is on 24/7 my watch dies after a 4 hour activity. Is there a specific hiking centered activity? I could not find one included in the "more activities" from Garmin.
I think I did the same. I got about 7-8 hours, but it also depends on the health of your battery life as well. There might be some battery saving features within the menu you can look for.
The Vivoactive 4 is using a memory in pixel display that more or less does not consume battery when on. There are watchfaces that can serve almost the same purpose you are sugesting if you want the screen to go black or be less visible. I have set my screen brightness to the lowest because I really do not need the light unless I am in a dark environment. By deafault the backlight uses its motion sensor to detect when you take a glalnce a t the watch and look at it. I have turned that off.
As far as I can tell it does. But I have always used that kind of data as indicatordata, due to discussion about the very accuracy of it. Same thing with sleep tracking on Garmin devices.
Curious to see if you have found a more accurate way to track TDEE accurately? Currently I pair my Vivoactive 3 activities to Chronometer to track consumption and TDEE. Chronometer (which uses BMR metrics) seems fairly accurate/consistent, definitely more accurate than the Garmin Connect data. But I'm always looking for something better.
Sorry I haven't tried that with outdoor running. With treadmill runninf I have seen about 500 meters off when tracking with that as an activity. Edit : 500 meters off the distance the treadmill showed.
When is the best battery percentage to recharge the Vivoactive 4? I've charged it from 25% last Tuesday (Dec 27th) and I'm at 20% now. I haven't seen any mention of when to charge it from Garmin or users, but I know you're not supposed to let li-ion (and probably not li-polymer) batteries drain to zero. With phones and likely laptops, it's usually best to keep them between 40-80%.
many people do not understand the charging Cycles of batteries. Charging devices at 10% destroys batteries , gives you less Charging Cycles and decreases battery lifespan . Charging devices at 70-80% it is very healthy for a battery. Try to do not deep drain the battery completely . If you have the chance to charge it at 80% do it.
Thanks for this informative 2 years on review. How have you found the screen brightness on the vivoactive? Has it become dim over the two years? I am looking to replace my Fitbit, which has become difficult to see in bright sunlight.
The screen brightness is as good as it was when I got it. And with the memory in display technology it is at its most visible in direct sunlight. If it is important for you, I would get a hight contrast watch face to furter enhance readability.
Hi, thanks for your review. Unfortunately my garmin battery only lasted about two hours every time I use GPS. I have it just over two years now and full charge is not even lasting a full days usage at this stage. The most I ever got was three days. . I think the battery has never been good. It has been bad from the start. Other than that, I love the watch and the app. I should have utilised the warranty during the first year because of the battery problem. Unfortunately I didn’t. Do you know whether the battery can replaced?
Sorry to hear that. I have read from the Garmin subreddit that Garmin customer service is pretty nice in terms of both repairing and even giving you a new device if yours is faulty as it sound like it is.
Hi there, thank you for your amazing video! I got a question about the battery: as it claimed 8 days battery life, is it still the case even after 2 year use? Or do you feel the battery has a big decline of performance after 2 years? Thank you so much!
Thanks! I think lost about 2 days of batterylife after two years. But it depends on how often you track activities, and the pulse oximeter is turned on or off, hence how often you need to charge it. Most batteriea these days can do about 300-400charging cycles before they start degrading. With my fenix 7, I charge the watch about once a week and every three days with heavy usage.
I had the Vivoactive 4s for FOUR YEARS. It's not even broken, the battery life is weaker, but it literally works the same as yesterday. I'm a lifelong Garmin customer, fuck Fitbit lol
I now have a Fenix 7, but I still get new software features that newer models get, and can really vouch for Garmins longevity-support. I will keep this for years- unless the Fenix 8 brings a killer feature such as Iridium satelite support.
In my experiance the tpu straps are safe for daily driving, and I use the nylon strap on my Fenix as well as a daily driver. But I have heard the cheap nylon straps can break. But the leather and steel straps are good for using every how and then.
Might find the reddit more active for support, but I have no issues with an android. You can respond to calls and texts w answering or canned messages. You can't start a text like a Pebble can.
It interacts as a full fledged smart watch, but you cannot talk directly to it, use a voice assistant, nor hear anyhing, as it does not have a microphone nor speaker. Besides that you get any other notifications on as you get on your phone. You can answer the calls through the watch, but have to use either the phone or a hansfree. You can hang up upcomming calls with premade texts, as well incomming messages. Not surer how manu messaging apps that are supported for this though.
@@helgemathisen7849 thank you for the answer. Is it still worth to buy the Vivoactive 4S in 2022? What do you think? Also, do you know anything about connecting to apple? Like, can I use the watch with a newer iPhone like the 13 mini?
I did figure it out eventually, so it works with the vivoactive as well. The clue was finding the right number with all of the rest of the indoor bikes.
did the watch start to lag/slow down or get buggy as it's gotten older? also in a normal week, how many days is the battery lasting you now after depreciation?
I havent noticed any lag in the user interface over time, and Garmin sends out frequent softwareupdates. I am at version 6.5 at the moment. I have been wondering about the same thing regarding the battery life. Given how a regular lithium-ion battery performs worse after about 300-500 charge cycles, I guess my batterylife has gotten worse over the years. I do a lot of trackings everyday, from the gym, on my bike commute or walking. I also keep all of the sensors on at all time, and this results in having to charge it every second or third day. I am thinking about getting the instinct solar for hiking and biking just in order to not having do deal with with worrying about battery life. Hope this response was helpful!
The vivoactiveis still a good watch. and it looks quite good as well. Have you been experiancing any GPS-drifting while tracking? Or perhaps it has been sorted out by a software update?
That is an intersting question! I can check if it possible to load trails on it, but I hightly doubt it. But there seems to be some third party apps in the Connect IQ store such as Locus Map that brings outdoor navigation an mapping to the vivoactive 4.
Thank you for the review, how much did the battery last when it was brand new? Do you think it is enough durable for outdoor sports like mountain biking?
I have lost about 2-3 days on the battery since I strted using it. But the the drain from third party watchfaces were substantially heavier than on the vivoactve 3. I think it will be, but do consider this is one of the mmore delicate wathces of garmin. The vivoactive 4 withholds a lot but I have actively choses not to use it while boulderin or hiking.
Is it still relevant? It was when the video was made. Today? November 2022, it depends if the features from the newer generation HR sensor is a must have for you. If you use a chest strap and don't care for the new sleep tracking, HRV Status and other metrics from the Morning Report, and don't care about an amoled screen, and what you plan to do is covered by this watch, go for it.
I've had mine on my wrist nearly 16-24 hours every day for 3 years since Jan 2020. The battery lasts about 30-40% less as long. Maybe I get 2 1/2 days instead of 4 days of battery life now. I'd recommend it. My original watch bands did snap so those have been replaced after 3 years but they're only $5.
I bought it from a third party ebay store. I just searched for the millimeter width of the band and leather strap and picked the one that looked the best. When it arrived it had such a terribly strong leather smell I wasn´t able to use it the first week.
It does meassure vo2 max, but doesnt do training load nor resting time straight out of the box. The third party services Golden Chetah and Runalyze are able to read it out regardless given that it IS measured and contained in the FIT file. Apparently it is not available in Garmin Connect, nor in the watch.
Just in the sense pure answering or hangig up the call. It it quite usefull if you are already on a bluetooth headset. There is also the ability to hang up and send premade text messanges. But you cannot talk direktly through it.
I do not pay for any of the services. I use the free version og all the apps mentioned. I do not know How to control my data other than what Gsrmins user agreement states. That beeing said, I have set all my activities in Strava to private and the same for Garmin connect. Those I want to make public are easy to change før everyone to see.
I find the watch very inaccurate for walking which is my main use. The ViviHr is much better. Big disappointment so far. iPhone in my pocket is a better step/distance tracker.
Sometimes my Vivoactive is reaching the daily goal of steps if I am sittng with arm movement registering as steps. As far as distance is concerned, I feel at least with the aid of GPS, the results are fairly accurate. I did track a 1.5 kilometer cross countryski test-session and it tracked it as 6 kilomoters. The wierd thing about it was that it did not look like the GPS had drifted (like the Vioactive 3 sometimes did), nor had done any major misses. I did try tracking cross country skiing a couple times more, and it never seemed off.
Thanks for the video, very useful 👍 One piece of info before I upgrade to 4 - when it's locked and you tap it to see the time, does it obscure half the screen (and the bloody time!) with the lock icon? Such a stupid design on the otherwise great Vivoactive 3 😅
I think it is fairly acururate if you keep it a bit up on your arm and tighten it. Not uncomfortably tight, but tighter than casual wearing. I think on the higher pulse zones it is not as accurate, especially on zone 5.
Anyone got suggestions on whether the Garmin Vivoactive 4s GPS or Garmin Instinct Sports Watch is better? The watch would be used for running training mainly.
I av been reviewing the Instinct 2 Solar for 6 months and I can say that they are two quite different watches. If want a touch Screen a sleker device get the vivoactive 4s. If you want great battery life and a rugged body get the Instinct 2. The vivoactive 4s has more features such as built in music, touch screen and garmin pay, as the instinct 2 only had garmin pay in the Solar version. Are you comparing the the vivoactive 4s with the Instinct or instinct 2?
@@hmuller It'd be between the Instinct 1 or vivoactive 4 as both are on sale for the same price. I like the vivoactive for its features but feel it won't satisfy my running training with the touch screen and potential damage it may get with it's design. Then the instinct has more durability for running and better features for running but doesn't have much external features(from what i've seem). There my current thoughts. Cheers for the help btw
Thanks for the vid! I read that you cant pause activities for very long? is this true? I'd want to be able to pause a hike whilst I have some lunch but don't want it to save it after the 10mins or so i've heard. Also what hiking app do you use if so?
Good question! I think it was aviable for some time. I am sorry to inform that I do not have the time, nor resources to create captions to upload to youtube. Maybe in the future it will be alot more easier, when I get a team to help out with the edits and shooting.
I really do not think it does. If you pair it up with a metal band it looks quite elegant. But a lot of watches these days have the same look, så for some it might look generic.
It has gottenn worse since I got it. I have turned off pulse ox off during day and when it measures during nighttime and it has drawn 12 percent from 100% charge. I have set a rule of thumb to charge it every second day as I track a lot of activities as well. Becasuse of that, I am looking quite forward to get my hands on the Insintct 2 Solar.
I would say it it pretty accurate. I do not follow it that much as I have yet to find any way to use the data as an indicatior for how I sleep. But the times I do not sleep as well, some quite interesting patterns shows up both terms of types of sleep and and the ammount of momemnth throughout the night. And it it fairyly accurate at detecting when I actually wake up at night if that does happen. The only time it sometimes misses if I am rnot beeing that active after 22.30, and it automaticly asumes I fell a sleep, as i set my bed time to that. In my opinion I do not think you will be disapointed with the sleeptracking capabilities of this one.
Sorry if the video was unclear about that. I think at the time of making the review that it was a very good entry for all round use if you are getting into biking, running, strenght training and even hiking. Now, theese days, I think I would recomnd either the forerunner 255 or 265 as they resemble the vivoactive 4 mostly. The Vivoactive 5 feels more like a downstripped version of the Venu 3.
I got one for Christmas, and it has pretty much confirmed my all suspicion about usefulness of smartwatches. Yea, I can use it at the gym, but do I really get anything useful out of it? Doubtful. The preset programs are completely useless, and the the best word for describing the sensors is "guesswork". So now I have a wristwatch, which needs to be recharged once a week. I know that smartwatches are all the hype, and they create all kinds of nice looking data. But how much any of us actually use it? Now, be honest.
Yeah, that's what I like about many of the Garmin watches that is sports, fitness and outdoor first and then the smartwatch capacity is really toned down compared to an Apple watch for example. I have heavily reduced all the noise of notifications on mine only letting thorough sms-texts, calls and updates from the the public transport app. I think the fitness and healthaspects are in general the strongest argument for getting one, but in many ways the data is indicator data. And as for the strength training I always have to go over it and change the types of reps after a workout. But it doesn't take any more time than what you would do if you brought pen and paper or do it in your notes app. For me the whole gamification the tracking and data provides the motivating dimention to my training. But that my preference and people have various use cases , expectations and need for their watch. Watches have come a far way and for example seeing how alcohol intake affects HRV has completely change my relationship to it.
You could try speaking more slowly as you slur so many words it is not easy to understand what you are saying. Even native speakers of English do not usually speak so fast.
I try to review products from a balanced point of view and try to figure out who this watch is aimed at. I used some stock video from various commercials for the purpose of visual illustration purposes only. I bought watch from my own money as well as the previous vivoactive 3. Hope that cleared things up :)
I'm still using it in 2024, it's still a very good smartwatch, it does everything I need.If it works it works, no need to change it 💯
Does it automatically detect activity?
@@rfrancoi yep it detects activity automatically. I've had mine for a year and a half, still going strong.
can you play offline music?
@@RodIlagan Yep, you'll need to use the desktop app or mobile app to move downloaded music files into your watch. I don't use the feature much but it does work!
I believe there are apps/widgets for the watch to toggle your music player on your phone if you have your mp3s stored there.
Wow, 300+ mile ride!! Kudos. I used to own the Vivoactive 3, and I loved the battery life, it was perfect for my active lifestyle. Then I swapped it out for the Apple Watch 3. The only advantage in my opinion that the Apple Watch has was the screen resolution. I just purchased the Vivoactive 4s and I’m looking forward to getting rid of my Apple Watch.
Thanks for that! I've started stepping up my bike trips in order to prepare for a 450 mile trip this summer from Copenhagen to Oslo, which is one of the reasons why I will use the Instinct 2 Solar.
How do you like the vivoactive compared to Apple watch?
How have you found the switch? I just switched from Galaxy Watch 2 to the Vivoactive 4. Seems like even though the tech is out of date it was ahead enough at the time it still works well for my uses. The software display and arrangements of things do seem outdated, but functional.
You have to set the watch to broadcast heart rate via ant+ to a paired device. You can set it to broadcast automatically anytime an activity is started or you can manually start it.
Thanks I'll try that! Got a spinning session coming up this week 🔥🔥
This seems to be the best option for what I am looking for. Downloading music from my pc to the watch so I don`t need my phone with me when I go to the gym or for a run. And for the price it is going for now at $179 it can`t be beat. I do not pay for any music service`s. I am using an old Tom Tom fitness watch now that I bought years ago because it was one of the few at the time I could load my music from my pc. It still works but very inaccurate.
Ive had mine for nearly 2 years and mainly use for walking and swimming, pretty happy so far. Just wish the battery life was longer. Need to charge every 4 days or so, after 2 years...
Yeah, the battery declining after two years of usage is something I notice more and more. Pretty exited for getting my hands on the instinct 2 solar.
@@hmuller Aren’t you looking into the Fenix 7 line of watches? They look pretty interesting to me now that they have a touchscreen. Its alsp not that much bigger
@@mikem2k6 Actually that's what I have planned after reviewing the Instinct 2 Solar. Hopefully I will get the chance to get both the 7 Solar and 7S solar sometimes as early as this summer.
@@hmuller Sounds good. I have my eyes on them as well. But honestly I like the look of the Tactix 7 more, just not the price tag. Are the shipping times that long that you need to wait until summer?
Yeah, the Tactix does indeed look quite good!
No if I wanted to get the Fenix 7 I could get it tomorrow if i ordered it online. I have planned a long term review of the instinct 2 Solar. Really curious to test out its outdoor capabilities, such as climbing, bouldering, hiking, biking on a few long trips.
Ideally I have thought a combination of the instinct 2 and vivoactie 4 would be the best fit for diffferent usecases.
But I amm however quite intrigued by the idea of one watch "to rule them all".
I have had my Vivoactive 4, for three years now and am awaiting my upgrade (Fenix 7X Pro Solar). Still a great watch but battery is draining significantly after many years of heavy usage. My 4 1/2 hour run on Tuesday drained 41%. Looking forward to less frequent charging with help from the solar glass.
Great review I have subscribed Very helpful and clear Thank you.
I feel a bit silly but I can't seem to figure out how to track hiking on my vivoactiv 4s. I have been using the walking feature but as the GPS is on 24/7 my watch dies after a 4 hour activity. Is there a specific hiking centered activity? I could not find one included in the "more activities" from Garmin.
I think I did the same. I got about 7-8 hours, but it also depends on the health of your battery life as well. There might be some battery saving features within the menu you can look for.
Possible to turn the display off instead of the always on feature ? Don't need to have the display on when I don't look at it.
The Vivoactive 4 is using a memory in pixel display that more or less does not consume battery when on. There are watchfaces that can serve almost the same purpose you are sugesting if you want the screen to go black or be less visible. I have set my screen brightness to the lowest because I really do not need the light unless I am in a dark environment. By deafault the backlight uses its motion sensor to detect when you take a glalnce a t the watch and look at it. I have turned that off.
Does this watch track your TDEE for resting and exercise essentially tracking your TDEE Per day.
As far as I can tell it does. But I have always used that kind of data as indicatordata, due to discussion about the very accuracy of it. Same thing with sleep tracking on Garmin devices.
Curious to see if you have found a more accurate way to track TDEE accurately? Currently I pair my Vivoactive 3 activities to Chronometer to track consumption and TDEE. Chronometer (which uses BMR metrics) seems fairly accurate/consistent, definitely more accurate than the Garmin Connect data. But I'm always looking for something better.
What watch face is installed at 0:46?
I think it is called Retro Quarz digital.
apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/0e755058-bfc3-472b-ad3e-58de54cace61
Great review.
fantastic video
Perfect watch for our dog. Pretty cheap when buying second hand😂
Does the vivoactive 4 have an activity specific for hiking.
No it does not, but there are apps in the iq store for it.
Still using mine, but if you use 24hr VO2 and other daily use. 1 week battery is never gonna happen. Maybe 2days of you're lucky, or it's new.
Hey guys questions how accurate is your running pace on vivoactive 4 without gps? Does it show you running faster off gps than on gps?
Sorry I haven't tried that with outdoor running. With treadmill runninf I have seen about 500 meters off when tracking with that as an activity.
Edit : 500 meters off the distance the treadmill showed.
When is the best battery percentage to recharge the Vivoactive 4? I've charged it from 25% last Tuesday (Dec 27th) and I'm at 20% now. I haven't seen any mention of when to charge it from Garmin or users, but I know you're not supposed to let li-ion (and probably not li-polymer) batteries drain to zero. With phones and likely laptops, it's usually best to keep them between 40-80%.
Have you pulse ox on or off?
@@hmuller Off. I know that one is a drainer. I even turned off vibration except for alarms.
Mine,.. after get system update, turn off randomly.. but if we charge .. shows 100%... dissappointing..
My garmin instinct solar is doing that now too. Did you find any fix for that?
many people do not understand the charging Cycles of batteries. Charging devices at 10% destroys batteries , gives you less Charging Cycles and decreases battery lifespan . Charging devices at 70-80% it is very healthy for a battery. Try to do not deep drain the battery completely . If you have the chance to charge it at 80% do it.
Good point. I do this with my Fenix 7 as well.
Thanks for this informative 2 years on review. How have you found the screen brightness on the vivoactive? Has it become dim over the two years? I am looking to replace my Fitbit, which has become difficult to see in bright sunlight.
The screen brightness is as good as it was when I got it. And with the memory in display technology it is at its most visible in direct sunlight. If it is important for you, I would get a hight contrast watch face to furter enhance readability.
Hi, thanks for your review. Unfortunately my garmin battery only lasted about two hours every time I use GPS. I have it just over two years now and full charge is not even lasting a full days usage at this stage. The most I ever got was three days. . I think the battery has never been good. It has been bad from the start. Other than that, I love the watch and the app. I should have utilised the warranty during the first year because of the battery problem. Unfortunately I didn’t. Do you know whether the battery can replaced?
Sorry to hear that. I have read from the Garmin subreddit that Garmin customer service is pretty nice in terms of both repairing and even giving you a new device if yours is faulty as it sound like it is.
Hi there, thank you for your amazing video! I got a question about the battery: as it claimed 8 days battery life, is it still the case even after 2 year use? Or do you feel the battery has a big decline of performance after 2 years? Thank you so much!
Thanks!
I think lost about 2 days of batterylife after two years. But it depends on how often you track activities, and the pulse oximeter is turned on or off, hence how often you need to charge it. Most batteriea these days can do about 300-400charging cycles before they start degrading.
With my fenix 7, I charge the watch about once a week and every three days with heavy usage.
I did not notice any performace issues with the Vivoactive 4 when I used it.
@@hmuller Thank you so much!!!
I had the Vivoactive 4s for FOUR YEARS. It's not even broken, the battery life is weaker, but it literally works the same as yesterday. I'm a lifelong Garmin customer, fuck Fitbit lol
I now have a Fenix 7, but I still get new software features that newer models get, and can really vouch for Garmins longevity-support. I will keep this for years- unless the Fenix 8 brings a killer feature such as Iridium satelite support.
Hi, sry for late comment. Are these third party straps any good. I rarely dress formal but I'd like to have that option with this watch.
In my experiance the tpu straps are safe for daily driving, and I use the nylon strap on my Fenix as well as a daily driver. But I have heard the cheap nylon straps can break.
But the leather and steel straps are good for using every how and then.
Can you please tell me how it interacts with your phone? Notifications from messenger apps, calls, texts, reply’s and answering calls?
Might find the reddit more active for support, but I have no issues with an android. You can respond to calls and texts w answering or canned messages. You can't start a text like a Pebble can.
It interacts as a full fledged smart watch, but you cannot talk directly to it, use a voice assistant, nor hear anyhing, as it does not have a microphone nor speaker. Besides that you get any other notifications on as you get on your phone. You can answer the calls through the watch, but have to use either the phone or a hansfree.
You can hang up upcomming calls with premade texts, as well incomming messages. Not surer how manu messaging apps that are supported for this though.
Are you using an iPhone or android with the watch?
@@danielpatyi2483 I use it with an Android phone, the Galaxy note 10 regular version.
@@helgemathisen7849 thank you for the answer. Is it still worth to buy the Vivoactive 4S in 2022? What do you think?
Also, do you know anything about connecting to apple? Like, can I use the watch with a newer iPhone like the 13 mini?
No problem connecting ANT+ HR with my concept 2 rower.
I did figure it out eventually, so it works with the vivoactive as well. The clue was finding the right number with all of the rest of the indoor bikes.
Wait there is no app for this watch?
Yes there is:Garmin Connect.
did the watch start to lag/slow down or get buggy as it's gotten older? also in a normal week, how many days is the battery lasting you now after depreciation?
I havent noticed any lag in the user interface over time, and Garmin sends out frequent softwareupdates. I am at version 6.5 at the moment.
I have been wondering about the same thing regarding the battery life. Given how a regular lithium-ion battery performs worse after about 300-500 charge cycles, I guess my batterylife has gotten worse over the years. I do a lot of trackings everyday, from the gym, on my bike commute or walking. I also keep all of the sensors on at all time, and this results in having to charge it every second or third day. I am thinking about getting the instinct solar for hiking and biking just in order to not having do deal with with worrying about battery life.
Hope this response was helpful!
Mine doesn't last 12hrs now and I'm in year 3. Devastated.
That is were I am too, getting very disappointed in my watch as well, have to make sure there is a charger around after 9 hours! @@natalieengstrom2253
My vivoactive 3 still works fine. I did had to superglue the strap holders a couple of months ago. There was a cracked part in the plastic.
The vivoactiveis still a good watch. and it looks quite good as well.
Have you been experiancing any GPS-drifting while tracking? Or perhaps it has been sorted out by a software update?
Just order a new watch band, that is what I had to do, twice get one from Garmin too, others are a bit too short!
Is it possible to hike and use the map with data off on the watch?
That is an intersting question! I can check if it possible to load trails on it, but I hightly doubt it. But there seems to be some third party apps in the Connect IQ store such as Locus Map that brings outdoor navigation an mapping to the vivoactive 4.
Thank you for the review, how much did the battery last when it was brand new?
Do you think it is enough durable for outdoor sports like mountain biking?
I have lost about 2-3 days on the battery since I strted using it. But the the drain from third party watchfaces were substantially heavier than on the vivoactve 3.
I think it will be, but do consider this is one of the mmore delicate wathces of garmin. The vivoactive 4 withholds a lot but I have actively choses not to use it while boulderin or hiking.
Is it still relevant? It was when the video was made. Today? November 2022, it depends if the features from the newer generation HR sensor is a must have for you. If you use a chest strap and don't care for the new sleep tracking, HRV Status and other metrics from the Morning Report, and don't care about an amoled screen, and what you plan to do is covered by this watch, go for it.
I've had mine on my wrist nearly 16-24 hours every day for 3 years since Jan 2020.
The battery lasts about 30-40% less as long.
Maybe I get 2 1/2 days instead of 4 days of battery life now.
I'd recommend it.
My original watch bands did snap so those have been replaced after 3 years but they're only $5.
Where did you get the leather strap from?
I bought it from a third party ebay store. I just searched for the millimeter width of the band and leather strap and picked the one that looked the best.
When it arrived it had such a terribly strong leather smell I wasn´t able to use it the first week.
Does it measures vo2max, training load, resting time etc?
It does meassure vo2 max, but doesnt do training load nor resting time straight out of the box.
The third party services Golden Chetah and Runalyze are able to read it out regardless given that it IS measured and contained in the FIT file. Apparently it is not available in Garmin Connect, nor in the watch.
@@hmuller ok thx sir..
CAn you answer calls and talk from the watch?
Just in the sense pure answering or hangig up the call. It it quite usefull if you are already on a bluetooth headset. There is also the ability to hang up and send premade text messanges. But you cannot talk direktly through it.
Hi, nice video.
Don't you have to pay any membership to see and control your data?
I do not pay for any of the services. I use the free version og all the apps mentioned.
I do not know How to control my data other than what Gsrmins user agreement states. That beeing said, I have set all my activities in Strava to private and the same for Garmin connect. Those I want to make public are easy to change før everyone to see.
I find the watch very inaccurate for walking which is my main use. The ViviHr is much better. Big disappointment so far. iPhone in my pocket is a better step/distance tracker.
Sometimes my Vivoactive is reaching the daily goal of steps if I am sittng with arm movement registering as steps. As far as distance is concerned, I feel at least with the aid of GPS, the results are fairly accurate.
I did track a 1.5 kilometer cross countryski test-session and it tracked it as 6 kilomoters. The wierd thing about it was that it did not look like the GPS had drifted (like the Vioactive 3 sometimes did), nor had done any major misses. I did try tracking cross country skiing a couple times more, and it never seemed off.
Thanks for the video, very useful 👍 One piece of info before I upgrade to 4 - when it's locked and you tap it to see the time, does it obscure half the screen (and the bloody time!) with the lock icon? Such a stupid design on the otherwise great Vivoactive 3 😅
Yeah, I it does. My fenix 7 does not.
What do you think about the accuracy of the heart rate data?
I think it is fairly acururate if you keep it a bit up on your arm and tighten it. Not uncomfortably tight, but tighter than casual wearing.
I think on the higher pulse zones it is not as accurate, especially on zone 5.
Anyone got suggestions on whether the Garmin Vivoactive 4s GPS or Garmin Instinct Sports Watch is better? The watch would be used for running training mainly.
I av been reviewing the Instinct 2 Solar for 6 months and I can say that they are two quite different watches. If want a touch Screen a sleker device get the vivoactive 4s. If you want great battery life and a rugged body get the Instinct 2.
The vivoactive 4s has more features such as built in music, touch screen and garmin pay, as the instinct 2 only had garmin pay in the Solar version. Are you comparing the the vivoactive 4s with the Instinct or instinct 2?
@@hmuller It'd be between the Instinct 1 or vivoactive 4 as both are on sale for the same price. I like the vivoactive for its features but feel it won't satisfy my running training with the touch screen and potential damage it may get with it's design. Then the instinct has more durability for running and better features for running but doesn't have much external features(from what i've seem). There my current thoughts. Cheers for the help btw
@@edenmorgan7587 im in the same crap situation like you. any updates you heard, did you buy anything? thoughts
Do you own the 40mm version or the 45mm version? Great video!
I own the 45mm version.
Thanks for the vid! I read that you cant pause activities for very long? is this true? I'd want to be able to pause a hike whilst I have some lunch but don't want it to save it after the 10mins or so i've heard. Also what hiking app do you use if so?
Yeah thats true. I think you need to go for a forerunner, instinct år fenix in order to get the the "resume later" function.
@@hmuller Do any of the apps have resume? i heard hike2 or somethign does? could you look? Thanks for speedy reply! really helps!
why no captions??
Good question! I think it was aviable for some time. I am sorry to inform that I do not have the time, nor resources to create captions to upload to youtube. Maybe in the future it will be alot more easier, when I get a team to help out with the edits and shooting.
does it look cheap?
I really do not think it does. If you pair it up with a metal band it looks quite elegant. But a lot of watches these days have the same look, så for some it might look generic.
Will it stream Sirius XM?
Sorry, I do not know what that is?
@@hmuller Satellite radio. I found out that it does not have the function.
@@lensnart1303 Alright! Do you know if there are any other Garmin devices supporting that?
@@hmuller I don't know of any, but it would be a great feature if they did.
Great review... Has the battery life noticeably diminished?
It has gottenn worse since I got it. I have turned off pulse ox off during day and when it measures during nighttime and it has drawn 12 percent from 100% charge.
I have set a rule of thumb to charge it every second day as I track a lot of activities as well. Becasuse of that, I am looking quite forward to get my hands on the Insintct 2 Solar.
How does it do with sleep ?
I would say it it pretty accurate. I do not follow it that much as I have yet to find any way to use the data as an indicatior for how I sleep. But the times I do not sleep as well, some quite interesting patterns shows up both terms of types of sleep and and the ammount of momemnth throughout the night. And it it fairyly accurate at detecting when I actually wake up at night if that does happen.
The only time it sometimes misses if I am rnot beeing that active after 22.30, and it automaticly asumes I fell a sleep, as i set my bed time to that.
In my opinion I do not think you will be disapointed with the sleeptracking capabilities of this one.
so..this is just a voice over the garmin commercials? what is the use?!
Sorry if the video was unclear about that. I think at the time of making the review that it was a very good entry for all round use if you are getting into biking, running, strenght training and even hiking. Now, theese days, I think I would recomnd either the forerunner 255 or 265 as they resemble the vivoactive 4 mostly.
The Vivoactive 5 feels more like a downstripped version of the Venu 3.
I got one for Christmas, and it has pretty much confirmed my all suspicion about usefulness of smartwatches. Yea, I can use it at the gym, but do I really get anything useful out of it? Doubtful. The preset programs are completely useless, and the the best word for describing the sensors is "guesswork". So now I have a wristwatch, which needs to be recharged once a week. I know that smartwatches are all the hype, and they create all kinds of nice looking data. But how much any of us actually use it? Now, be honest.
Yeah, that's what I like about many of the Garmin watches that is sports, fitness and outdoor first and then the smartwatch capacity is really toned down compared to an Apple watch for example. I have heavily reduced all the noise of notifications on mine only letting thorough sms-texts, calls and updates from the the public transport app.
I think the fitness and healthaspects are in general the strongest argument for getting one, but in many ways the data is indicator data. And as for the strength training I always have to go over it and change the types of reps after a workout. But it doesn't take any more time than what you would do if you brought pen and paper or do it in your notes app.
For me the whole gamification the tracking and data provides the motivating dimention to my training. But that my preference and people have various use cases , expectations and need for their watch. Watches have come a far way and for example seeing how alcohol intake affects HRV has completely change my relationship to it.
Sub + comment 🎉😊
You could try speaking more slowly as you slur so many words it is not easy to understand what you are saying. Even native speakers of English do not usually speak so fast.
Thanks a lot for the feedback! I admit there is a lot of potential in improving the voiceover. Ill make sure to do that in future videos.
WARNING. This is not a review, this seems more like an advertisement and a paid reviewer.
I try to review products from a balanced point of view and try to figure out who this watch is aimed at. I used some stock video from various commercials for the purpose of visual illustration purposes only. I bought watch from my own money as well as the previous vivoactive 3. Hope that cleared things up :)