Garmin Vivoactive 4S, Smaller-Sized GPS Smartwatch

10 reviews for Garmin Vivoactive 4S, Smaller-Sized GPS Smartwatch

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Matt – January 11, 2020

   I previously wore Garmin’s hybrid smartwatch (vivomove HR) for several years and wanted to replace it with something that similarly didn’t require activating the screen to read the time but would provide more data and notification details. The Vivoactive 4 exceeds my expectations in these regards. The fact that the watch face is always visible and in fact becomes more vibrant in daylight exceeds the functionality of the prior watch.Battery life with the Garmin supplied faces and minimal notifications was nearly a week. I wanted a constantly updating, always on second hand and I activated notifications which now gives me a little over 2-days of life. The notifications seem to be the biggest driver of battery consumption (short of playing music while using GPS, which rips through battery). Given that all of this is within the user’s control to adjust based on the desired battery life, and the fact that worst-case it’s still double the life of an Apple watch – it’s great.The screen is very responsive to inputs. I have been wearing it for about two months now and it also seems to be very durable with no scratches on the glass and only a minor nick in the bezel.My headphones and Amazon Music account paired easily, and work well. The interface allows a great deal of configuration to meet your preferences and use case. Overall, I highly recommend this watch.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DeEpDaYdReAmEr – May 15, 2020

   Works fantastic! Sleep tracking isn’t the best but I honestly didn’t buy it for that. I became a runner in May and it help me to stay on track with garmin badges, coaching apps are great, knowing your pace during a run helps tremendously. I haven’t had any problems and it’s almost Nov. I definitely recommend this watch over a fitbit. I had 3 of those previously and was done buying those and wasting money anymore.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Ashley S. Bluth – May 22, 2020

   I have been a Fitbit user for a few years and it just suddenly died on me so I was in the market for a new fitness watch. I like to take gym fitness classes, I teach yoga, and also do martial arts. After looking at 7 different watches I narrowed it down to the Polar Ignite and the Garmin Vivoactive 4s. I bought both and this is my own review.Polar has a $190 price tag, 4-5 day battery life, GPS, VERY accurate heart rate monitoring (that’s what they are known for), in my experience the sleep monitoring was more accurate than the Garmin, but not as user friendly as the Fitbit. The polar has a very bright and clear screen, but like the Fitbit you have to flip the wrist to see it light up. In contrast, the screen is actually harder to see than the Garmin when out in the sun, (say on a run). Polar will give you suggestions for recovery that go with what you did to workout and I thought that was neat. It also has a nightly recharge score (like Garmin’s “body battery”). Cons: it is slow to wake, like the Fitbit. It would occasionally disconnect from my phone, it does not have music downloadable to the watch so you have to have your phone nearby, and the texts that come through are too big so you only see a portion of it. It also does not have menstrual tracking which I found handy on the Fitbit.I ended up returning the Polar and keeping the Garmin vivoactive 4s and here’s why. Garmin may have a higher price tag ($230), and a duller screen. See picture. But many good qualities that after a few weeks of trial made me choose it. It says the battery life is 7 days, but I got 4-5 days. Has GPS (on par with Polar). Has music you can download to the watch so you don’t have to take your phone with you! I did not have any music when using the Fitbit so I didn’t know this was something I would like so much, but it’s awesome. The watch face is 40mm as compared to the Polar’s 43mm. I like a smaller watch. The heart rate was pretty much the same as polar, or within 5bpm. If you look at the picture I have of a run I did you can see how Fitbit did NOT accurately detect when I went from walking to running and the other 2 watches did. Another plus is that the screen is always on. Also not something I had with Fitbit so I didn’t know what I was missing. When doing an activity and you want to quickly know what your heart rate is, Garmin is hands down the best option. The screen will light up more if you touch it, but you can always see the time and anything else you want on your display (I have time, heart rate, date, weather, messages, battery, and steps all on my watch face). Garmin will track your sleep, but it isn’t as detailed or accurate as the Fitbit or polar, but it does have something cool called Pulse Ox that measures your blood oxygen levels (like those clips with a red light they put on your finger at the doctor’s office). This is good to detect any problems you may have while sleeping or even during the day. Garmin does have menstrual tracking and also Garmin Pay. A con would be that Garmin does not add naps into your sleep for the day. It will only track one sleep for the day, not multiple. The display is by far the best over the 3 watches when outside. It’s almost like a kindle screen when you are in the sun. You can change settings so when you are in a workout you won’t get any messages or notifications so they won’t interrupt you (I am someone that will immediately look at my watch when it buzzes so I turned those off when in the middle of a workout).Now if you have been a Fitbit user like I had and switched to one of these watches, the apps are very confusing. Fitbit has by far the most user friendly app. But with a little time, either app will become familiar to you as well.I am not a runner, never have been, but I have turned into a runner because of the Garmin watch. It has a coach setting where you can plug in a goal and it will coach you to get to that goal. I am very competitive so I make sure I am going to get to that goal (a 5k run). It is very satisfying to see your runs displayed on the app and to rate them on how you felt that day.In conclusion, depending on what you are looking for you might choose a different watch than me, but I love my Garmin Vivoactive 4s now.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   JenH2020 – June 18, 2020

   This is my first smart watch and I researched these products thoroughly. I chose this Garmin watch as it had all the features I was looking to monitor and I have not been disappointed. I am an avid lifelong walker and it’s wonderful to see the progress I’ve made since I purchased this watch. The price was markedly lower than other brands, the design is lovely, and it is a stunning piece. The watch is sturdy and very comfortable as I have tiny wrists and it is a perfect fit with the adjustable band. I highly recommend Garmin products which I have found to be of excellent quality and value.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Brandon Bigam – June 18, 2020

   I’ve tried several smartwatches and finally found the one for me with the Vivoactive 4!I started with Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 – terribly short battery life and very slow charging. Tried Amazfit GTR 2 – nice but couldn’t get past being tethered to China, and poor app. Fossil Hybrid HR – beautiful to look at, buggy and inaccurate. With Garmin I tried the Venu 2: beautiful screen and great features, but annoyingly buggy, and with erratic battery life. Vivomove Style – worked fine but small and just not enough good features.This is the one. Sometimes I’ll compare/contrast Vivoactive 4 (VA4) with Venu 2 (V2).Pros:-Just about the right shape and size and weight for me. Looks nice; I originally wanted the black but the shadow gray/silver bezel was $50 cheaper. I like the silver bezel, looks classy, and I’m happy with it.-Interface smooth and easy to use. Different from the Android-like style of Samsung or Amazfit but easy enough in its own way. No lags. Decently customizable. Decent app selection in the store.-Touchscreen works really well; responsive when I actually want to use it, but rarely picks up accidental touches, or wiping it with my sleeve. (V2 was terrible for accidental touches and always activated when trying to wipe it off.)-Great fitness features for general casual fitness (probably not for pro athletes). Good GPS for hiking (under the Walking activity). Lots of good motivators to be active, and tons of metrics even just for normal daily use.-Excellent battery life, good for a week without GPS activities. GPS uses ~10% per hour, still good. Charges in a little over an hour. (V2 charged even more quickly, but battery life was erratic, and far shorter with always-on display.)-Good selection of watchfaces, stock and third-party.-Transreflective display – I wasn’t sure about this, but I’ve come to really like it! It’s certainly not as “pretty” as AMOLED like on a Samsung or the V2, but much more practical, and far better battery life. AOD 24/7 for a week straight, backlight only needed in the dark, very clear and easy to read in sunlight – a much better choice for a fitness-focused watch in my opinion. Very happy with it! (The AMOLED AOD on the V2 was my main problem with it, other than general bugginess. It sapped the battery like crazy. It also couldn’t be turned off quickly on the fly, like for a movie or a nap. Not a problem on the VA4!)-I like Garmin Connect. Pretty easy to use and lots of info.Cons:-Transreflective display – I like it, as noted above, but it takes some getting used to at first after AMOLED, and will never be as “pretty” except in bright sunlight which is where it really shines (literally).-Slightly thicker than I might prefer.-Plastic build, other than bezel. I don’t mind and it’s sturdy and light, but it doesn’t say “premium.”-Occasional problems getting a GPS lock after traveling to a new location. It helps to sync and then restart the watch.-Connect IQ, the app store, is poorly organized and has a lot of junk in with some gems. Looks like the Android Market 10 years ago.-Sleep tracking. For me this is the major con, especially compared to the V2. Accuracy is only okay, sleep and wake times decent, but sometimes missed when I’m in bed awake, or even got up to go to the bathroom. No sleep score and no insights, and can’t view sleep on the watch. Sleep tracking is where the V2 really excels by comparison – impressively accurate, and very helpful sleep score and insights, onboard calculation and widget… the V2 outstrips the VA4 by miles here. I really, really wish Garmin would bring the updated sleep tracking to the VA4 as a firmware update. Or a VA5. I’d buy it!Aside from the lackluster sleep tracking, I’m extremely happy with the Garmin Vivoactive 4. It’s (almost) everything I want from a fitness/smartwatch. If Garmin brought the better sleep tracking to it, I’d say 5 stars, solid. As it is, call it a strong 4.5, and the best available for my needs.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Jordan – June 27, 2020

   Those of you more interested in fitness first, smartwatch features second, will really enjoy this watch. My Vivoactive HR just died after having it for over 3 years, so I upgraded to the Vivoactive 4. This is a major upgrade in terms of looks and features. Here are all the things I love:1) Two buttons – I originally bought the Vivoactive 3 Music because it was on sale for $200, but I quickly realized that missing the second button was a major pain point for me. Having the two buttons is so much more convenient for overall navigation. Also when you’re in a workout, the second button can be used for setting a lap (instead of the vivoactive 3 where you have to double tap the screen). The second button alone was worth the extra spend. The vivo3 had a 20mm band, where the vivo4 is 22mm. The bigger band makes it look a lot better. The extra 0.1in screen space is well utilized also. It does make a difference.2) Touch screen – I also tested out the Fenix 5 Plus for a while; now that is a great watch. The only issue I had with the Fenix was that you had to navigate all with buttons. The buttons are great for fitness and water sports, but when you’re in the office, it’s a little awkward when you’re sitting in a meeting pressing buttons to navigate through texts or emails. Fenix was an amazing fitness watch, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t work for my professional life expectations. Because it felt weird to have to press 5 buttons on the Fenix at the office, I wanted to go back to the touchscreen. Touchscreen is so much quicker and easier than the buttoned Garmins. It also looks cooler, and makes it truly feel more like a smartwatch.3) Fitness features – If you’re never had a Garmin before, they are amazing tools to help your fitness. The data it collects is leaps and bounds better and more accurate than any other smart watch. This watch has way more than the average athlete would ever need as it pertains to fitness features. There are tons of apps available, and its so easy to navigate and customize to your need. I use it mainly for running, golf and open ocean canoe paddling, using the SUP app. Though it’s a touch screen, it still responds decently well when you’re using it on the water soaking wet. You just have to kinda dry it off before you try to navigate while on the water. But here’s the deal, if you’re truly serious about your training, you’re probably working too hard to even mess with your watch during the workout anyway, so focus on your training, not tapping away at your watch. I set it to buzz after every mile so I can see each mile pace. It works well for the 5-10+ mile sessions when I’m trying to beat my time. I listen to music when I’m out paddling, and it’s a really nice feature. Haven’t had any issues connecting to my waterproof earphones, even with all the movement during a workout. I use the Mpow Flame waterproof earphones. Golf app is awesome: front, middle and back of the green yardage.4) Battery life – this is the biggest reason for me to get a Garmin instead of an Apple, Fossil or Samsung. I didn’t want to be glued to my charger every night so instead I got this and get a full week’s worth of battery. The always-on display is bright enough to see in daylight and at nighttime, but technology is what helps it save energy instead of the higher end amoled screens. It charges really quickly too so if I forget to charge it, I can just juice it up really quickly. A 10 minute charge gets me about 30% of battery.5) Smart features – The fact that Garmin has begun to integrate smart features to their watches is amazing. Yes, you can’t do everything one would like to do on a watch like talk to siri, look at pictures, or make phone calls. But why are you looking on your watch for all that stuff anyway? Is it really necessary when our phones are so advanced now? I get all my selected phone notifications, I can read texts and preview emails, and that’s really all i need. Remember, fitness first, smartwatch second.All in all, this is an amazing fitness watch, and I’d definitely recommend if you’re in the market for a new watch. Totally worth the spend, and for my needs I’d say it is a major upgrade from the apple/samsungs.

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Lisa Burns – August 22, 2020

   Was using a fitbit when I wanted more accurate information during workouts. Love how this offers so much with all of it being free and no subscription necessary. Gives a lot of input into stress and options for mental health such as meditation and breath work. Really a big fan of how it works and keeps track of everything. Also doesn’t accidentally pause or stop a workout if you’re doing hand related exercises like planks or weights.

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Amazon Customer – September 5, 2020

   I had covid/3wk intubation and decided a sport watch capable monitoring o2 would be easier to keep up with vs spirometer. My first purchase was much cheaper $60 watch. Everything was off including distance walked and other sensor readings. It failed in consistency.This watch gets it right. Steps walked after calibration are spot on matching my Samsung health app. As it checks on the wrist, it is about 3 points lower reading o2 but is consistent and reliable adding 3 points back to it. The download able app allows for simple recording, editing, and reading of tracked data. Another app allows for downloading multiple watch faces and apps, most of which are free. I quickly found my favorite after downloading a gee to try. No worries as is simple to switch.To note Samsung recently disabled step sync across the board with non Samsung apps and devices. I am sure IOS has the same issue. I am so tired of these 2 major brands shoving garbage apps an policy down our throats in the name of profits. We pay enough your crap we should be able to chose devices of different brand to work with them.Rant aside as its is a beef with phone mfg, I love this Garmin watch and cannot imagine anyone being disappointed. As far as cost/value rationing, given accuracy, with bias as purchased prime day at a discount, it definitely for me was a winner without the chicken dinner.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mary Jones – September 18, 2020

   Upgraded from Garmin Forerunner 35. I walk every day and the 35 does not have the ability to set auto pause on the walking activity (does have this feature for running). This became more and more frustrating to me because I have to stop during the walk dt a variety of reasons (including my dog) and I either forgot to stop the watch or restart it. I researched the various models of Garmin watches and decided on the Vivosmart 4S. I really like the look of it (purchased the gray band) and the watch face is smaller than the 35. I like the various features and information on the watch, as well, and am pleased with my decision to purchase this model.

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    just me – September 18, 2020

    I purchased this particular watch because it had the ability to store music. My previous Garmin did not. I don’t like to carry my phone when I’m running and my iPod Nano wasn’t working any longer. It was very easy to download the music from iTunes. I have 452 songs on the watch and still have room for more! It’s so nice to go out running and just have to put in a set of earbuds!