Table of Contents
amazon Garmin Vivosmart 5 reviews
Design
This comeback, the appearance of the Vivosmart 5 bracelet has been upgraded by Garmin with many new points, I quickly list a few differences in the design of the new generation compared to the Vivosmart 4:
– Add physical buttons below the touchscreen
– The screen size is larger the text content displayed is larger
– No more aluminum border around the screen like Vivosmart 4
– The width and length of the sheath increased
– Replaceable sheath (previously fixed)
– The surface of the optical HR sensor below is slightly raised (the previous generation was indented)
– The charging plug converts to the current popular Garmin standard form
The default outer shell of the product is still the same mesh hole pattern as the 4th generation, but the paint color is no longer metallic black, but matte black. The size of Vivosmart 5 has increased quite significantly compared to before, so men with large wrists can also wear it without feeling small.
According to practical experience, the Small and Medium sizes are suitable for most Asian women’s and men’s wrists, while the Large size is suitable for people with large wrists or Europeans. Most importantly, since the device is still light, wearing it all day 24/7 is still very comfortable and pleasant.
The soft silicone outer cover is replaceable, just bend the sheath back a little to remove the device, and simply replace the new sheath without any tools. Vivosmart 5 no longer has an aluminum border around the screen, so it looks a bit “inferior” compared to the previous version, but wearing it is still stylish and personal.
The glass still uses Acrylic material, the strap is still silicone and the metal clasp is. But the body is no longer super durable Aluminum, but Garmin Vivo 5 has switched to Polycarbonate. The surface of the optical HR sensor is larger and slightly raised, increasing accuracy during monitoring and inspection. Green LED color when the sensor measures heart rate, respiration, stress level, etc., while the red LED is when measuring PulseOx.
The appearance of physical buttons will make many users happy because the previous Vivosmart product line still has a bit of difficulty that is not / or slow to respond to touch screen operations over time.
Now with the 5th generation, we have the flexibility between swiping the screen and pressing the button: swipe to scroll through the options menus, press the button to return to the main screen, or previous large menus, or suspend a certain measurement or inspection activity. The button feels more real, natural, and clear than a capacitive touch button like before. You can press the button even when you’re wearing gloves or your hands are wet.
Screen Specifications
The new generation is equipped with a new, touch-sensitive OLED screen, measuring 10.5 mm x 18.5 mm and a resolution of 88×154 pixels, compared to vivosmart 4’s 6.6 x 17.7mm and 48×128 pixels, but unfortunately still a monochrome screen, not a color screen!
To display the screen, just lightly touch the screen or press the button below, then the bracelet with the sensor will automatically adjust the light flexibly according to the environment, supporting us to see the screen. You can also choose the brightness level manually, adjust the amount of time it waits before the screen turns off, or simply switch to Always On Display mode.
Of course, the larger the screen, the larger the displayed content, which is easier to read, but there will still be a situation where the display does not finish a short paragraph, or the messy lines make the content difficult to understand! Users with short-sightedness when moving outside in bright sunlight will be a bit difficult to read the content displayed on the screen and will have to squint a little. It still works fine though, displaying notifications pretty quickly.
The watch face can change some basic faces, as well as customize the data information, you can choose to display the data you want to see the most, for example, I usually display the number of steps. feet, heart rate, and battery percentage.
where can you get a Garmin Vivosmart 5 online
Garmin vivosmart 5 Smart Fitness Tracker with Touchscreen, Black, Small/Medium: Buy it now
Some features
Besides the basic and standard features that were available in the previous generation, such as: tracking the number of steps, distance, calories burned, tracking Body Battery, monitoring stress, monitoring heart rate, blood oxygen level (PulseOx), sleep monitoring, view message notifications, appointment schedules, and applications, connect GPS via phone, etc., Vivosmart 5 smart bracelet Also added many new features:
– More workout types: Breath Work, HIIT, Pilates, treadmill, indoor rowing.
– Incident detection, emergency assistance (safety monitoring)
– Sleep score
– Report every morning
– Monitor respiration and breathing rate
– Connect to apps like Peloton (optical heart rate monitor)
Vivosmart 5 is equipped with sensors such as an accelerometer, SpO2 sensor, ambient light sensor, and optical heart rate sensor. Garmin removed the barometric altimeter feature and tracked the altitude of stair tracking. Anyway, this is a metric that is often not very accurate and is not very useful to the average user.
Each morning, you’ll receive a small report showing your sleep scores, based on sleep duration and sleep stage, plus a weather forecast for the next day, events that appointments, etc. More detailed data can be viewed and explored through the Garmin Connect mobile app.
There is a small downside is that Garmin’s sleep tracking feature does not include naps, hopefully, the company will soon update new algorithms to improve this.
With Body Battery, similar to the previous generation, Vivosmart 5 combines sleep data, heart rate monitoring, stress level, and frequency of your daily activities to measure the energy reserve stored in your body. From there it announces a certain parameter that tells us when our body is ready to work and when it is time to rest and relax, and you can see the changes in real-time, then adjust the plans and projections.
Regarding stress monitoring, Vivosmart 5 uses an algorithm called Firstbeat Analytics: based on heart rate changes to monitor stress levels. When it detects that you are in a state of stress, and tension, Vivosmart 5 will turn on a basic breathing exercise to reduce this discomfort.
The smartwatch features are pretty basic and easy to use: control music player, receive phone call notifications, display name or phone number, receive messages, emails, and app notifications, … have a short content display. Also, the feature to turn on the bright screen when lifting your wrist, and find your phone with Vivosmart 5 and vice versa, even when your phone is in silent mode, the chime is loud!!
Track sports activities
Vivosmart 5 still performs well as a basic fitness tracker: for walking, running, cycling, and outdoor sports. Compared to Fitbit, the Garmin Connect app provides much more in-depth stats, such as estimated sweat, walking speed versus average speed, and more. Many of these metrics may not be needed. For beginners and non-expert users, but maybe later it will be useful details if you aim to train your body stronger.
The GPS connection to track outdoor activities is still through the phone, the deviation in recording results such as running distance, running speed, .. is still there, but at the level allowed and acceptable to ordinary users.
According to the company announcement, the bracelet is water resistant to standard swimming, I have tried dipping it in a water bath, and although it is waterproof, the sensor is not very sensitive underwater, and sometimes there is a situation of automatic switching of devices unconscious feature, to me, it is not very important because when I go swimming or walking in the rain, I do not need to touch the screen much.
Battery life
According to Garmin’s announcement, the battery in Vivosmart 5 can work for 7 days in smartwatch mode, but this duration does not include features that require a lot of energy (for example, concentration monitoring blood oxygen levels throughout the day), or depending on the frequency of use of each individual, but for different levels.
If you turn on all sensors, monitor oxygen levels, monitor sleep, etc., the time can be shortened to about 3 or 4 days. Vivosmart can recharge quite quickly, from battery drain to 100% full battery in just over 2 hours.
Should I upgrade from Vivosmart 3 or 4?
My answer is yes, Vivosmart 5 offers a better, more comfortable, and better user experience, improving the shortcomings of the previous generation.
On the current market, there are quite a lot of smartband models with many new features, color screens, etc., for example, Fitbit devices, but Garmin has an advantage that it does not make you pay a lot of fees or even It’s even free for getting data information, statistics, tutorials, training courses, etc like other brands.
In addition, my personal opinion is that although it is not a beautiful and bright color screen, thanks to that, in the process of using it, I am less distracted by notifications and have to mess around with settings, simply swipe, tap, and follow.
Summary
Advantage:
Bigger size, bigger screen, more data display
More buttons for a better experience
Much improved menu navigation
Replaceable outer sheath
Lightweight, comfortable to wear 24/7
Defect:
The screen is still monochrome
The price is quite high
The content displayed is a bit difficult to read in the sun