I needed a replacement for a Fitbit Versa 2. I had looked at Garmin in the past, but wasn't ready to buy a new watch. I bought this watch and will never go back to fitbit or any other smart watch. I haven't taken advantage of all the features, but so far it has exceeded my expectations! I have recommended it to friends and family.

I’ve had my vivoactive 5 watch for about a month now and absolutely love it! Comparing this watch to the Apple Watch I just had, it’s more accurate, lightweight, battery lasts for days and there’s so many challenges/ workout options on the app without having to pay! Way better than the Apple Watch, you won’t regret it!

I have had this a month now and it has been the best smartwatch I have had. I use to have Apple Watches and this is a huge improvement in comfort, fit, and health tracking. Plus it’s cheaper than all the watches minus the SE. I was really considering getting another Apple Watch but I mainly wanted a watch for health and sleep tracking. So it was between this and Oura. I can’t do the Oura because of my work. This has been way better in every way than I thought it would be. My only complaint is the casing of the watch is easily damaged. So if that bothers you I would get a cover.

I’ve had this watch for about 3 weeks and it’s a HUGE upgrade from the Suunto watch I had been using previously. It’s intuitively designed, light (some reviewers have described it as “cheap” feeling, but I see this as a feature, not a bug), and it’s quite responsive to activity. I barely notice it when it’s on and it seems to track sleep and activity quite well. I gave it a 9 strictly because it doesn’t seem to hang too well in the water, and I’d love to see a surf activity added, but it’s not a deal breaker. Also, the strength training mode is a little wonky, but there are workarounds for that. Overall, great experience so far, and I’m definitely happy I opted for this low profile, fitness focused watch in place of an Apple Watch. If you’re looking for something more triathlon or sport focused I’d upgrade to one of Garmin’s more premium watches but for daily wear I’m very happy with it!

I've had my Vivoactive 5 for a few weeks. The first charge lasted 10+ days and when I did have to recharge it went from 3% to 100% in 90 minutes. I moved from a different brand of smart watch and noticed the step counted seems to be more accurate than my old watch. But the main selling point for me was the disc golf app and how easily it interfaces with Udisc so I can keep score on the watch instead of fishing my phone out of the bag after every hole. I could type more, but my Garmin Vivoactive 5 just reminded me that it is time to get up and move to be more active.

I recently switched to Garmin, and although this isn't even one of the pricier models, I'm blown away at how many features it has! The learning curve was a touch steep, only because it offers so much. It took me a few days to discover all it had to offer. It keeps me moving with challenges and feedback on my activity and fitness. I did have two occasions where it didn't record sleep activity, and I'm not sure why, except that those were both days when I didn't go to bed until hours after my regular sleep time. It is accurate and holds a charge quite well. It offers something for just about any activity I could think of and I like that we can set up our own challenges with a connection, and also customize the activities. It also encourages me to keep hydrated, something I don't always pay enough attention to. I'm very happy with this!

I am thrilled with my new Garmon Vivoactive 5 and the Garmon Connect app. I find the sleep and nap tracking and heart rate very accurate. I bought this to replace my Fitbit after getting so frustrated with the update to the Fitbit app in late 2023 that I gave up. The Garmon Connect app is light years beyond what the Fitbit app ever was even before its horrible update. And the Garmon Connect app is free! I love that I can zoom in on the heart rate graph, and after I workout I can go into my workout on the Connect app and see my heart rate for the duration of my workout (simple things that Fitbit can't do even though they have this data).

I really like this watch. It’s fairly complex yet fairly simple to Program . I bought this one because I thought it would help me. Keep track of my sleep patterns and it does a good job of that. The other features, I’ve yet to use for the most part, but I do use the flashlight and alarm and a few others. I do like the fact that I can change the face background do something with nature showing!

The battery life, look, and feel are great. I like the HR, body battery, and activity tracking features. Sleep could be better though if they allowed you to look at the sleep report without having to choose the wake up feature first. I like to see the report to decide if I need to allow myself to sleep in more to meet my sleep requirements and you can’t do that today. So I have to start a nap and that negatively impacts my body battery score which seems like it shouldn’t. I also wish I could use android or Apple Pay on the watch. The Garmin Pay app and partners look both too clunky and too limited to work for me based on the research I’ve done. If I have to do research to figure out how something works. I’m not going to bother.

Extremely disappointed to learn this watch doesn't have the "Hike" activity - but has a bunch of other random activities like archery, disc golf, etc. For Garmin it should be a given that you have the "hike" activity. Furthermore - disappointing how much research it took to figure out why this is the case (because it doesn't have an "altimeter" in it) - which my partner found in other online threads versus Garmin's website.