Garmin Vivoactive

The Garmin Vivoactive is a sports-oriented smartwatch that has built-in GPS (unlike many smartwatches), which means you don’t need to take your phone with you on a run or cycle.

Design

Garmin has opted for a square design for the Vivoactive. We prefer the look of circular smartwatches but wouldn’t say that the Vivoactive is unattractive. It’s available in either black or white, and is thin at 8mm, though perhaps too large overall for those with dainty wrists.

Its display is 1.13x0.8in, and has a resolution of 205x148 pixels. It’s a full colour touchscreen that’s been designed with outdoor use in mind. It’s readable in sunlight too, which is handy if you want to check your stats while you are on a run.

There are interchangeable bands available for the Vivoactive watch, so you can pick a design that suits your style. With the band included, it weighs 38g.

You’ll pay between £139 and £199 depending on the colour and strap the user is walking, but also while running, cycling, golfing, swimming (it’s waterproof up to 50m), and more. It has the usual built-in accelerometer and pedometer in addition to compatibility with optional speed trackers and heart-rate monitors, too.

In addition to the fitness features, the Vivoactive can connect to an Android or iOS device to give you haptic and visual notifications, including incoming calls, texts, emails, calendar alerts, social media notifications and more, and of course, it can tell you the time.

You don’t need to have your smartphone with you all the time, though. As the GPS feature is built