If it didn't need a battery upgrade for my Vivoactive 3, I wouldn't have purchased the Vivoactive 5. The watch and bright colorful screen look and feel cheap compared to the 3. Just like my smartphone and car, there is more junk on it than I need. I bike fairly seriously and play picklrball and walk at other times. I monitor those and my heartrate--that is all I need it for. I absolutely hate the interface and the new Garmin Connect program. Sometimes simpler is better. I also could pause my ride or walk for a pit stop or talk and restart on the 3. The 5 automatically times out and saves, so I have to restart the activity. Battery life in the 5 is great, but that is the best I can say. I also don't need inspirational message when I start my day! Very disappointed overall!

I really like the Garmin vivoactive 5's touch screen round design and vibrant colors. Changing the watch band is very easy. The sleep tracker is so easy to use! The heart rate measurements capabilities are well thought out. The battery lasts many times longer than my previous (other brand) smartwatch thus alleviating the stress of remembering to charge the watch. The charging time is minimal. The Garmin watch synchronizes nicely with Cronometer which I use for my food diary. I’m an IT person so I'm enjoying using the Garmin Express and Garmin Connect apps. They provide plenty of stats / graphical information thus allowing me to fine tune my health goals. I’ve only had this smartwatch a short time and I’m looking forward to learning more about it.

The watch performs well for the price point. The heart rate is within 1-3 bpm on average and the sleep score is very close as well. The display is vibrant and easy to read, although some apps are cut off on the edges as they were designed for larger watches in mind, but scaled back to work for this model. Where the watch lacks though is the distance algorithm for non gps runs. Sometimes it is dead on, other times, like on an indoor track, it will jump around from a 25 minute mile, to a 4 minute mile randomly. The watch display is great, but the physical glass is soft. I have multiple scratches on it after a few months of daily use. Not a big deal for me, but for those who would be bothered by it, I'm sure it's a deal breaker. Tldr; solid watch that performs well 80% of the time; build quality is lacking and a screen protector is recommended.

I have had to call Garmin for help at least four times, support was excellent. Even with the help I continue to struggle with the simple task of “ Power Off”. I find it very difficult to scroll down to get to Power Off. The manual is not helpful at all. I am fortunate that I only need the watch to monitor my vitals. That activity is working very well. Not sure what several of the functions are such as Body Battery. Overall all I am satisfied.

The watch seems thinner than my first Garmin and does everything I need for running, walking, golf scoring, and weight training. Being thinner allows me to wear it for sleep tracking. I have not used this model for inside treadmill use yet since the weather has been good for outdoor. Auto activity tracking seems pretty reliable as well as it’s fun to enable tracking in the golf course app so I can see how crazy of a game I played. The one big difference is this watch does not have the common “always on” Garmin display so you have to lift your wrist or touch the watch face to see current display.

I had a different brand of smartwatch that didn’t last 6 months they replaced it lasted 8 months. I looked on line for reviews of and the only complaint of vivoactive 4 was the company was too conservative and I thought that’s my watch. I beat it to death for the years I had it and it worked great but it a little scrtched up. So I really like the5 so far it’s been great.

There are a lot of good features on the Vivoactive 5, including the night mode with less activity that can disturb sleep, and the longer battery life. The big disappointment I have is it doesn't seem to track floors, which previous vivoactives do. I had switched from my Venu Squared back to the Vivoactive, hoping to regain that feature, as I wanted to do the step climbing challenges. My search engine had indicated the feature was on this watch, but it doesn't appear to be the case. Other than that, it seems to track my other activities, like swimming, walking, and biking very well. I also like how it talks through my phone when I hit lap milestones with my walks.

I am glad I bought this to update my vivo 4 after cataract surgery as amoled display was easy to read. My only complaint and if anyone can refuse I’ll listen is that screen stays on unless you swipe off. I have tried multiple settings. Otherwise would have been five stars

I was not impressed that when I tried to take it back to sports check In brandon Manitoba after I recieved it for Christmas when I wanted one you could talk into but they said no electronics is taken back and yet when my daughter and husband was ordering it asked them all these questions and was told you could bring it back . So having said that it kinda leaves a sour taste in your mouth . But having said that very much like my vivo active 3 the battery does not hold as well but still a lot better then my daughters Apple . All I wanted was my watch to charge with out fighting with it and I needed a new strap but on the one I had you had to get a new watch as it was all one , crazy I must say to make one like that . I like the looks of it stylish but had I been able to return I would have got the venu where you can talk into it but thanks to sports check couldn’t do that with out a hassle . Told me to phone garmin and I did but they said they couldn’t do anything so my take on it is I would not do business with sports check because it’s giving you garmin a bad rep

I was very excited about this watch I ordered and it worked great for the first couple of weeks. Unfortunately, without any adjustments on my side, the watch battery stopped holding a charge for more than a few hours before going completely dead. I will be looking at an alternative brand going forward.