I have been using my Vivoactive 5 now for a little less than a month. I had previously purchased various cheap fitness watches to use as a step counter, but they all broke after a few months of wear. My Husband’s colleague suggested this watch, and so we both decided to give it a try. Overall, I would recommend this watch to anyone who is looking to get more from their health and wellbeing. Besides cheap fitness watches, I have not owned a watch to this caliber, so I can’t compare it to other watches of its kind, but here’s my overall thoughts: PROS - This watch does a great job at motivating me to MOVE. I’ve literally put off going to bed to make sure I reach my step count and find that I’m more active than ever before. - Being able to customize your strength training workouts through the watch is a game changer. I love that I don’t need to carry my phone around the gym to track what I’m doing. - I love that it’s waterproof and that I can track my laps while swimming. (See notes regarding swimming under cons, too). - The band is comfortable and isn’t distracting or anything (as opposed to previous watches I’ve had), and the lilac color is nice and not as stand out as a black band. - The body battery and sleep score are a nice touch – we’re constantly asking each other what the others is at. It’s also helped me realize how awful my body reacts and sleeps when I drink. CONS - When swimming, I’ve noticed that the tracking isn’t 100% perfect. If I’m swimming free style at a fast pace, it’s fine, but if I want to casually swim during a cool down it typically counts my meters as farther than I’ve gone. Not a total issue, just not a perfect forecast. Additionally, not being able to customize swim workouts is a bit of a bummer, but again not the end of the world. - As someone who’s not technologically advanced, I feel there could be better tutorials or deep dives into how to use it. I had a really hard time connecting my Spotify account, as well as understanding how to create a workout (once I figured it out it’s super easy, but my Husband and I both put our workouts in incorrectly at first because there isn’t much explanation about how to use it). Opportunity for Improvement - Would love to see an additional work out option for aerial yoga. - The challenges are great. I feel there’s an opportunity to make the weekly challenge for steps against others more competitive/like a game. I’m not sure that would be useful to all, but I feel like it would help incentivize me to walk event more! - Would highly recommend purchasing a screen protector for your watch as well, easy to scratch.

I have had this watch for a little over a year. It has been serviceable at best. Recently whenever I charge the watch, I will have to power it off and back on for it to register any activity once I put it back on my wrist. Disappointing for a watch I had high hopes for.

It gives me significantly more information than I need. My biggest challenge, at the age of 71, is learning how to utilize all it has to offer. I'm a former Pilot and have utilized Garmin's Aviation products. I do not believe that in either market, there are better products available. Having said that; Garmin needs to hire a "Normal" non-geek individuals to help them sort out user interface.

Got it for my birthday and am so enjoying it. It was a step up from my Vivoactive 3, which was a step up from my Forerunner 35. I have had Garmin smart watches for a number of years and have never had a problem, just wanted more features. Have never been disappointed with any of them. I am a slow runner but have improved with the coach programs. I love the vibrant colors and all of the great features of the vivoactive 5.

I've had this device for a couple of months now and have to say that I am loving it. It's incredibly light and the face choices are awesome! The activity capture appears to work very well and I really like the "morning report" that the device gives you. I've owned fitness trackers over the past 10+ years from another company that starts with F and this Garmin has it beat hands down!

My wife got me one for my birthday. I had charged it twice and the second time the metal ring around the charging pins broke. I call and it was replaced with no problems. The one I received in place of has been great and I have had no issues. Very good watch with many functions and abilities for a decent price

I got this for Christmas and have been using it every day. It's very good for workouts and tracking heart rate and steps. But I don't think it tracks sleep well. Also the screen now has a cracked in it and I have not dropped it or damaged it. I would probably not get this model again

Best fitness watch yet. Have a Forerunner 935 and wanted something simpler, button wise. The watch garners looks from people. Downloaded the popular face. Several people, including my wife who has been a fitbit aficionado, are telling me "hey what is that watch, I need to buy one".

Having 11 days of charge is amazing! I have always hated having to charge my watch every night... plus there is no way to get any sleep metrics if your watch is on the charger! :) The only issue I really have is the ConnectIQ app and installing the watch faces - it would be nice to know, before I download a watch face, if it costs money.

After extensive research my wife and I purchased the Garmin Vivoactive 5. It's now been a of couple months wearing them 24/7 and we are extremely pleased! The watch is a precision instrument that reliably measures so many body metrics as well as fun things like the weather, emails and text messages, that you can also respond to. The brilliant display is absolutely beautiful and battery life is stellar. We charge once a week on Sunday mornings and there is always 30% or more charge left so the manufacturer's claim of up to 11 days is pretty close. The GPS feature will drain the battery quicker, but that is only used on specific settings where distance and a tracking map is desired. We chose the Vivoactive 5 over the Garmin Venue 3 because it is thinner, lighter, and smaller, the soft band makes wearing it effortless. We did not need the microphone, speaker, and EKG feature on the Venue, also the heart rate sensor on the vivoactive 5, although not as elaborate as the Venue, is still state of the art and functions flawlessly. We are 100% glad we chose the vivoactive 5 over everything else we looked at. The health benefits of having this watch have been substantial for us. Being able to actually look at graphs and charts of sleep patterns, hydration, heart rate, stress, etc etc have given us great insight into adjusting our daily life. We really appreciate the technology, ease of use and the quality built-in by Garmin.