Garmin’s Vivoactive 5 GPS watch packs the features you know but brings down the price
This AMOLED GPS watch improves the battery while knocking $50 off the price.
When it comes to shelling out for a new GPS smartwatch on your wrist, you want the most features and the lowest price – the best bang for your buck. And Garmin’s latest offering is a pretty sweet deal you’ll want to run after. The new Vivoactive 5 watch packs the same features you know and love, extends battery life, and knocks $50 off the price.
The Vivoactive 5 features a 1.2-inch AMOLED display up front, for you to keep an eye on all things fitness. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass 3, so should withstand bumps and scratches. Thanks to the AMOLED panel, the new GPS smartwatch manages to squeeze in an Always-On Display, so you can always see the time. You’ll find this inside an aluminium bezel (rather than stainless steel), with reinforced polymer protection and silicon straps.
Fitness-wise, you’ll find tracking for 30 pre-loaded activities and there are 1600 workouts the watch can guide you through. You can see stats such as recovery time and workout benefits. Plus, there’s nap tracking, heart rate tracking, and meditation guidance to cover all your needs. New to the Vivoactive 5 is a wheelchair mode that can detect wheelchair-specific workouts.
Alongside this, you can use the watch to sync notifications from your smartphone – but you can’t make calls. Garmin reckons you can squeeze up to 11 days of battery out of the watch in smartwatch mode, and 21 hours of GPS usage. This is up from 8 days and 18 hours from the previous-gen Vivoactive 4. On top of this, the watch packs water resistance up to 5ATM, Garmin Pay, and works with both Android and iOS devices.
Ready to strap Garmin’s latest to your wrist? You can order the Vivoactive 5 directly from the brand for $300/£260. It’s available in black, ivory, navy, and orchid.
Connor Jewiss