Had it since June and dropped it this weekend. Seemed to be OK until I tried to use GPS. Cannot find satellites no matter how long I wait. Everything else still works OK but the GPS ability was the real selling point for this thing.

I've rebooted, reset it - everything. No bueno.

Was thinking about getting another one but was interested in y'alls thoughts. I used the old tracker mostly for measuring distance and pace of runs. The Garmin seemed to slightly overpredict how far I ran on a consistent basis. I also use the feature that tells me my instantaneous pace to help me set my pace throughout my run.

I do not do triathlons - I don't care about on board music or any of that.

Call Garmin. They still may repair it for free. Great customer service.

I have a forerunner 235, battery started draining really quickly after about 18 months. Even though it's a 12 month warranty they replaced it for free.

Thanks for the suggestion. New one is on its way!

I'm a Garmin customer for life because of their customer service.

htxag09 said:

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I'm a Garmin customer for life because of their customer service.

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This

I still may want the Vivosport in the not too distant future - it looks pretty cool. Only complaint I have on Vivosmart HR+ is the heart rate monitoring seems to lag a bit - the Vivosport is supposed to refresh every second. When I'm doing interval work, I kinda like to know just how hard I'm pushing right at that moment.

Well if you do now you have a vivosmart that works to sell....

htxag09 said:

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Call Garmin. They still may repair it for free. Great customer service.

I have a forerunner 235, battery started draining really quickly after about 18 months. Even though it's a 12 month warranty they replaced it for free.

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Crap, I should have called them when the band broke at 18 months.

I ended up buying a Vivosport last week.

I have broke a band on both a Vivosmart HR and a Vivosmart HR+ The bands just don't take abuse.

CoolaidWade said:

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htxag09 said:

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Call Garmin. They still may repair it for free. Great customer service.

I have a forerunner 235, battery started draining really quickly after about 18 months. Even though it's a 12 month warranty they replaced it for free.

---

Crap, I should have called them when the band broke at 18 months.

I ended up buying a Vivosport last week.

I have broke a band on both a Vivosmart HR and a Vivosmart HR+ The bands just don't take abuse.

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How do you like the Vivosport? Seems like the lower profile would be more comfortable.

AggieOO said:

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htxag09 said:

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I'm a Garmin customer for life because of their customer service.

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This

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That. Great service. Bought my 405 in 2008. Dropped it and cracked the face a few years later. They replaced it for $60. Couple more years, and the battery wasn't lasting as long. They replaced the watch again for free.

wbt5845 said:

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CoolaidWade said:

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htxag09 said:

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Call Garmin. They still may repair it for free. Great customer service.

I have a forerunner 235, battery started draining really quickly after about 18 months. Even though it's a 12 month warranty they replaced it for free.

---

Crap, I should have called them when the band broke at 18 months.

I ended up buying a Vivosport last week.

I have broke a band on both a Vivosmart HR and a Vivosmart HR+ The bands just don't take abuse.

---

How do you like the Vivosport? Seems like the lower profile would be more comfortable.

---

It's smaller in every way.... Including the screen. It's color but you really can't tell the difference between this one and the Vivosmarts. It has that typical Garmin Low-Rez display.

Navigating to and through the activity apps takes getting use too. I guess it's about as easy as you can make it with no physical buttons but I actually don't mind having a button to aid in navigation.

Both the vivosmart HR and HR+ I wore the Regular size and it fit perfectly. So for this one I ordered the S/M which I assumed was the same vs the Large and it barely fits. It looks like I'm in between sizes. It fits but I have about a quarter inch of spare band when I tighten it.


Those are the only Cons I can see. Overall it's a great improvement over the Vivosmart. I'm really starting to like it. It's definitely more comfortable on my wrist. It seems like the HR is more accurate when you are doing high intensity stuff over the HR+ so for that reason plus all the other smaller upgrades I'd recommend the $40 price difference over the Vivosmart HR+ if you are in the market.

If you already have a Vivosmart HR+ I would probably recommend holding on to it for a little longer until the price decreases. Like I mentioned the band tore twice on me so its' going to happen to you sooner or later.

I paid $199 on Amazon. I assume there will be no price drop for Black Friday anywhere since it's not even at brick and mortar retailers yet. Best Buy just got them and only in Large. You can go to Best Buy and ask to look at a box where they have a sizing graph where you can place your wrists and see what size you need.

htxag09 said:

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I'm a Garmin customer for life because of their customer service.

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I ordered a Vivoactive HR + that was refurbished. I charged it by the bed where I charge everything at night. My lab gets a hold of it.

I call and they send me a brand new one! Love them!!!!

CoolaidWade said:

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wbt5845 said:

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CoolaidWade said:

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htxag09 said:

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Call Garmin. They still may repair it for free. Great customer service.

I have a forerunner 235, battery started draining really quickly after about 18 months. Even though it's a 12 month warranty they replaced it for free.

---

Crap, I should have called them when the band broke at 18 months.

I ended up buying a Vivosport last week.

I have broke a band on both a Vivosmart HR and a Vivosmart HR+ The bands just don't take abuse.

---

How do you like the Vivosport? Seems like the lower profile would be more comfortable.

---

It's smaller in every way.... Including the screen. It's color but you really can't tell the difference between this one and the Vivosmarts. It has that typical Garmin Low-Rez display.

Navigating to and through the activity apps takes getting use too. I guess it's about as easy as you can make it with no physical buttons but I actually don't mind having a button to aid in navigation.

Both the vivosmart HR and HR+ I wore the Regular size and it fit perfectly. So for this one I ordered the S/M which I assumed was the same vs the Large and it barely fits. It looks like I'm in between sizes. It fits but I have about a quarter inch of spare band when I tighten it.


Those are the only Cons I can see. Overall it's a great improvement over the Vivosmart. I'm really starting to like it. It's definitely more comfortable on my wrist. It seems like the HR is more accurate when you are doing high intensity stuff over the HR+ so for that reason plus all the other smaller upgrades I'd recommend the $40 price difference over the Vivosmart HR+ if you are in the market.

If you already have a Vivosmart HR+ I would probably recommend holding on to it for a little longer until the price decreases. Like I mentioned the band tore twice on me so its' going to happen to you sooner or later.

I paid $199 on Amazon. I assume there will be no price drop for Black Friday anywhere since it's not even at brick and mortar retailers yet. Best Buy just got them and only in Large. You can go to Best Buy and ask to look at a box where they have a sizing graph where you can place your wrists and see what size you need.

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Thanks for the advice.

So Best Buy does price matching and Walmart.com has the Vivosport for $149.99 today. My refurbished Vivosmart HR+ is being shipped but I'm highly tempted to buy the new Vivosport and sell the Vivosmart.

I'll admit I have a race tomorrow and really want a good activity tracker for it. But if I can upgrade for $150 minus what I can sell the Vivosmart for, I may be in.

Any of you Garmin types know for sure whether or not a VivoActive 3 will track swim laps? I went onto the Garmin website, and it doesn't describe in much detail what the swim program on this watch does. There is a less desirable (imo) Garmin Swim which specifically states that it will track, among other parameters, swim laps. Thanks

My vivoactive HR will.

Call them. They are awesome and will answer any questions.

Vivosport is $149 on amazon. $50 less then what I spent less then two weeks ago.... That is a great deal and I assume it's just a temporarily black friday type of thing.

And Amazon rocks.... I messaged them this morning after reading this thread and they already refunded me $50. Sweet!

I could also file a claim with Chase since I have price protection and they will refund me $50 as well but won't since that'll take more work and probably not honest.

EDIT: And after almost two weeks of wearing the vivosport I love it even more now and think the S/M was the right choice. It's incredibly comfortable. Much more comfortable the the vivosmart HR. It takes awhile to get use to the touch screen but after you do it's a breeze. A solid improvement over the vivosmart HR after some use.

Another recommendation for the Vivosport here. I've had it just over a month and is pretty flawless thus far. Only complaint I've recently had is HR while in spin class, way low and not reading correctly. I'm going to adjust how I wear it this week and see if there is a difference.