vívoactive® 6 Health and Fitness GPS Smartwatch - AMOLED Display, Up to 11 Days Battery, Metallic Jasper Green with Matching Band

This is my first Garmin. I was a FitBit user and had four of them in 10 years. Last one was a Charge 6, which I loved, but I noticed the lifespan getting shorter with each device, and finally decided to ditch FitBit since it's become a google product. My first thought was to go to Apple Watch since I have an iPhone and other Apple devices. But after doing some research and seeing Vivoactive 6's battery life, price, and all the fitness tracking features that are important to me (as someone getting back into running in my 50s and also an avid hiker, walker, and occasional elliptical user), it seemed like a great choice. And it is! I've been wearing and using this watch 24/7 (except showering) for 3 weeks and love it. It's an awesome upgrade from the FitBit. It does all that my FitBit did and SO much more. It did take some time for me to figure out all the functions and settings, but I took my time and learned a few each day. During that process I found out how customizable this watch's screen and menus are - from color choices, to adding and removing features (you can just as easily get them back if you change your mind), to which features/menus you like to have readily accessible. You can even arrange them in the order you like best. On top of all the useful fitness stats and sensors (too many to list individually!), it shows the weather (current conditions, and forecast), has an old-school calculator (remember the calculator watches of the 80s?? me ✋🏼🤓), a nifty flashlight function with 3 levels of brightness, and my personal favorite - the compass, which doesn't need to be calibrated. It's accurate, and works independent of your phone. Very handy to have when I'm hiking. I wish it had an altimeter (available on some of Garmin's higher level smartwatches), but at this price point I do realize I can't have everything. There are many other functions with this watch - these are just the ones I find pretty useful to have, literally, on hand. For reference my wrist circumference is 6 inches. Highly recommend this watch if you want a quality and functional smartwatch where the emphasis is on fitness/health/workout tracking and stats, at a reasonable price.

EDIT: The music app seems to have been fixed recently. After having the watch for a few months and the music app working, Im very happy. The battery is still lasting about a week per charge. ORIGINAL: I've had this watch for almost 2 months. The battery life is great, I forgot my charger on vacation and the watch lasted 7 days without changing my usage. My biggest issue is with using the music/Spotify app; it has crashed every time Ive tried to use it, which is disappointing. Being able to listen to downloaded music while exercising without having to worry about my phone was a selling point for me. I've done lots of troubleshooting and have found others having the same unresolved issue online. Otherwise I like the watch. The menus are customizable so its easy to get what you want out of it. The GPS seems very accurate and easy to use. It is overall comfortable and small enough to not be overwhelming.

I haven't had my Garmin vivoactive 6 smart watch for very long, but the app is easy to use to set up the watch. I am still learning how to use big portions of it. I like the way it tells time, keeps track of steps, and reminds you to move when you have been sitting a while. I also love how this information is displayed on the watch face. It has so many features that I haven't explored yet. It also has a health checkup that you can do and can be saved to the app. It lists activities and you can keep track of outside walks by mapping and recording where you go. You can also set up an emergency number for you to call if you need help. I think the watch is great and I enjoy using it. The app is amazing and you can pick and chose what you want. There is also a way to share your information with others if you choose too.

Watch is great and has lots of features. It was easy to set up and sync with the Garmin app. The size of the watch is about the size of a silver dollar. It’s lightweight thing I don’t care for is the watchband that comes with the watch feels slippery. I love that. The watch tells me to get up and do something. I get two sidetracked and forget I need to get up and move after a certain amount of time. Battery life last a long time.

I had this for about a month and then then Venu 4 was released and I returned this one. But it was excellent while I had it. Loved the battery life. The heart and sleep monitor are some of my favorite features. It seems to sync pretty good, actually syncs better than the Venu but that's okay. A little pricey though ngl.

Got this watch for my wife to replace her galaxy Smart watch and she absolutely loves it. This watch is far more accurate for step counts and is much more comfortable on her wrist that she can wear it to sleep no issues. Battery life is also awesome, over a week in and haven't had to charge it yet! 10/10 recommend!

What I liked in the VA6: New UX Improvements Fully redesigned UI/UX that feels modern and premium — more in line with 2025 standards. Notification center with "Clear All" option (finally!). Control center similar to Android/iOS. Built-in Compass app. Revamped UI/UX for several existing apps. Smart alarm (haven’t tried it yet). Adjustable font size. Calendar app that shows all future events — unlike V3, which only shows today and tomorrow. Custom Workout Creation You can create fully custom workouts on VA6, which the V3 doesn’t support. Course/Route Syncing Ability to send training courses or routes directly to the watch. Improved Haptics The vibration motor feels noticeably better than the one in V3. Premium Strap The strap feels more refined and premium than what comes with the V3. ...and I’m sure there’s more I’ll uncover over time. One thing worth noting: although the watch has a UI that's quite feature-rich and visually heavy, I initially expected it to lag. But after using it for a week, I haven't experienced a single hiccup — it's been smooth throughout. The main reason I switched to Garmin is that Apple Watch—even the Ultra—doesn't really provide actionable health insights. What impressed me about Garmin is the level of actionable insights it offers without requiring a subscription. Some of the highlights: Sleep Score and Sleep Coach Stress tracking Body Battery Recovery insights Custom workouts and Garmin Coach ...and probably more features I’ll discover as I continue using the VA6. Most of the core health tracking features are similar to the Apple Watch, but Garmin seems to go a step further with its detailed insights. So overall, Garmin feels like a more complete fitness-focused smartwatch to me.

I have been using fitness trackers/smart watches from different vendors. I decided to switch because my last one was occasionally over-estimating my heart rate and sleep time. I pick Garmin because reviews are saying it is very good at tracking, even though lower end models including this one have Elevate Gen4 sensor, not gen5. And also, it has a good battery life and lightweight. This is my first Garmin. So what do I like about it: - it is extremely comfortable and lightweight indeed - both watch and braselet - tracking is very adequate except it sometimes over-estimate heart rate - see below - you do not need subscription to use it or see the history (but see below) - looks beautiful and stylish - the watch face I have found has day and night mode and in night mode it is very dim and drawn with thin lines - that is awesome! - buttons and navigation are nice So why only 4 starts? - charging cable is plug-in, not magnetic, and usb-c to usb-c - make sure you have a charger for it! - when it arrives, it needs software update. Do not even try software update from the phone - it downloads software for hours but does not update the watch in the end. Run updates from the watch. You might need multiple iterations. - faces it comes with are cheesy. Weirdly, you will need to install an additional phone app to install faces. Most of them are paid, but you can get some nice free ones. Watch out - some "free" faces will ask for money after a week of use. - there is a software bug in the app - you cannot add widgets like sleep to the main "at a glance" - only remove. You can still combine sleep from "in focus" with steps and heart rate from "in glance" but... This barely works. I mean, you can still find everything, but do you want to dig through the app every time you start it? "At a glance" is what we need, but config is broken. - the bracelet is too soft and it takes some effort to put the watch on a hand. First time I spent half a minute. Yes, it is really that tricky. Yet, you might not want to replace it because it is so soft and comfy once you put it on a hand! - the display is small. You might think it is as large as the watch face, but no, there are ridiculously wide dark borders around it. You can see it when you scroll the watch. The screen is still usable, but larger screen would be nice. After a month of use: Heart rate measurement is somewhat better than in 4x cheaper model from a different vendor, but not always accurate. Sleep monitoring is somewhat worse - there are both "false positives" and "false negatives" occasionally. As for steps counting - depends what do you need. If you need coarse counting - it can do it. If you need to walk 300 steps and do something and repeat - this overpriced toy absolutely cannot do it. For some reason, the steps number on the watch screen is updated every 70 steps or so, not in real time. So it absolutely cannot do some basic fitness tracker tasks. It still can show you time and heart rate and messages and can annoy you with some daily reports, so it is not completely useless. Much cheaper trackers from different vendors can show you steps in real time. But if accurate real-time steps counting is not needed - it is Ok tracker (though, very overpriced for the functionality it offers). I also added my workouts through the web site and tried to use the Vivoactive for workout. I gave up on the watch interface (no way to stop exercise without deleting, not stopping when it should, etc - very confusing). It also does not track exercises nearly as accurately as Garmin video claims, even for hands - very frustrating. I am still happy with watch quality, battery life, and how comfortable it is to wear. Update: it does not track daytime nap. Basic fitness trackers from the other brands do. Based on the functionality this smartwatch offers, fair price should be somewhere below $50.