Garmin vívofit 4 activity tracker with 1+ year battery life and color display. Small/Medium, Black. 010-01847-00

Initially, I was intrigued with cheaper models from no-name brands, but after doing my research, I learned you don't get what you pay for, plus reviews are likely to be suspect. I then decided to stick with Fitbit and Garmin as the top brands in this category. My sedentary desk job made it particularly hard to improve my health, so I wanted to conduct research to find out what I needed to do. My first thought was Fitbit, but because of many negative reviews, I decided not to go with it. Perhaps, like the bad reviews here, this is an industry plagued with hit or miss production, but I was surprised to find out that most of these wearables are not highly accurate at tracking habits. In the best case scenario, you can expect to see general activity and sleep patterns like most devices.

So I inverted my expectations and searched for something that would provide me with some basic trends on my health since I didn't need to get particular about how many minutes I slept or how many steps I took. In order to move my fitness in a positive direction, I simply had to get a sense of where I was at in terms of fitness. Prior to this, I had a smart watch, and quickly learned that I didn't want a device that barely replicated what my phone already did (since my phone does it all much better), that required constant charging, would drain my phone's battery, and would disturb my sleep. In addition to checking my phone when I want to, I am not a world leader, and do not need constant access to my phone. In my day, I don't let my phone control me. In this case, I want to avoid being annoyed by it since I am not checking Interruptions every time I look down at my beeping wrist are just annoying, whether they are coming from my junk email or a new cat photo for a friend. In the process of using that watch as a fitness device, I also learned that Google Fit stinks at fitness apps. I decided to look for a dedicated fitness wearable with a good app, but not a "smart" fitness wearable. My heart rate was subtracted from the list considering wrist devices tend to be pretty inaccurate, and I have a home blood pressure monitoring system and my heart rate is already at a pretty good level. In addition, I don't need a device to tell me I'm exercising if my heart rate is up. It will not take me long to figure it out. Aside from that, fitness trackers that track heart rate are more expensive, and they need to be constantly recharged. In looking for something that would work with a good Android app for tracking steps, setting step goals, tracking sleep patterns, keeping a history of all of that, and not requiring frequent charging, I found something that might be able to meet my needs. Additionally, I wanted something slim and unobtrusive. I have a decent collection of Swiss watches and did not want to wear a garish device on my other wrist. I finally found the Garmin Vivofit 4 after doing a lot of research. I found this to be the epitome of less is more and I applaud the developer for making this unique find in the fitness wearables space. Oddly, the next major revision of the Vivofit gets poorly regarded for not being "more" of a fitness device. As stated earlier, it is extremely easy to use, does everything I need, and does it There is also no battery requirement on this line, so it is one of the very few with a watch battery. Keeping your batteries in good condition is as easy as replacing them It's perfect! If I have to constantly charge it, I'm not going to wear it. In form and function - an eerily elegant design with a simple button to access everything, a combination of long and short presses to access everything. The screen is backlit, so it is visible at night. Under average lighting, it can be clearly seen. With the buckle strap, which stays securely fastened, it resembles a watch. Because I only connect when I want to store data on my Vivofit, the connectivity has been flawless, and neither my battery on my phone, nor the battery on my Vivofit, is drained. The normal amount of time I spend doing it is twice daily. I like that there are a lot of features, for my purposes. Vivofit enables you to set a variety of settings so that the device will show what you like, turn on/off alerts, and set the parameters for your fitness goals and sleep habits. It can also track your weight and give you your BMI based on your Although there are a number of more complicated settings available, I think these are primarily for Garmin's heavy hitters, and I am much more interested in tracking simple data. My mission is not to become a fitness deity and quit my job. If you use the device itself, it gives you always-on access to - As an added bonus, you also get a weather reading, which shows you the high and low for the day, so you don't have to check your phone numbers to determine what you should wear in the morning. If you press the long press button, you are taken to a submenu Several options are available on the menu, such as syncing the device, starting a timed activity that will be recorded, and accessing a countdown timer (1, 3, 5 or 10 minutes - I even use it If your phone is in silent mode), you can find your phone (the camera LED will flash and a loud chime will sound. ) And if you like, you can start a "competition" mode with someone else wearing one. The Garmin navigation system suggests you compete with your children - a kind of step class bonding moment, I suppose? In terms of rewards, you are rewarded with a chime and fireworks on the screen when you meet your daily step goal (which you set in the app) for the day. Despite this seemingly inconsequential fact, I assure you that in working late, I have more than once hopped on my mini-bike when I was within a few hundred steps of my goal and the reset time of midnight was approaching. As I stepper in my office to reach my goal for the day, I'm aiming to meet my final total. It is motivated by a sense of well-being. I think that perhaps the best aspect of this device is the "activity tracker," which gives me motivation to exercise. When you are not in your sleep window, you will see a red bar appear on your screen, along with a beep, telling you to get up and move. Having this little nudge is a life saver for me, as I tend to lose track of time at my desk for hours on end, and this helps me to remember to get up and move around. You don't need to do anything, just walk a little or exercise a bit, and the device will chirp to alert you that you've been active, and the red bar will disappear. When you ignore the first red bar, two more red bars will appear before the screen resets itself. The more red bars you see, the longer it takes for you to get enough movement and the chime to indicate you have done enough walking to clear them. To me, this is exactly what gold is all about. There is both an auditory (which you can turn off via the app, if, for example, it is your day off) and visual reminder to get up and get the blood flowing again, so time does not pass It is exactly what I was looking for! What are some issues I have encountered? There have been none so The sync, connectivity, or operation of the device is flawless. Timed activities will not detect my Bowflex session as exercise on a fitness machine (it reads it as walking), but it will detect it as active time during the day, and I could manually enter it as using fitness equipment via the app if I so desire, but I don't. It's enough for me to record my activity. My desire is for a device that's simple, and that can do a lot of work for me. Without syncing twice a day, this device does just The convenience and simplicity make it a better choice than any Fitbit entry-level device for me and I think it is far superior. With its screen, a large range of features, and the fact that it does not need to be charged, it is a very practical device. Although Garmin Connect may not be as slick as Fitbit's app, I'm not interested in joining a community that heavily relied on social media. As for me, I am simply interested in the basics, and the Garmin app provides me with only the basics, which I find to be sufficient. I was able to see trends and averages over time with little difficulty, and didn't require a tutorial to use the app at all. All in all, this little device is a huge blessing for me. My health and fitness have been on my mind lately, and this is definitely part of a comprehensive strategy that is helping me do that. Although no device will perform what you will not perform on your own, this is a useful tool to assist you in tracking and gaining awareness of your health with little effort. Now that you have purchased the mini stair-master, this will provide maximum benefits with minimal fuss. I'm down four pounds in a few weeks. Not an overnight miracle, but certainly much needed progress. If I can lose five to six pounds in a month, even if I keep it off, I won't need long to lose the twenty pounds I need to lose. In addition, I remain active, which is great for my health in every way. With so many devices on the market, if you're not looking to "go big" and have a whole fitness center on your wrist, this device is a good option to consider. It is small, it's simple, it's fuss-free, it gives you just the data you need, and it skips the stuff you won't ever need. You do not need to take off the charger to charge it it won't bother you what your phone is doing. due to the fact that even the larger and more expensive products have some accuracy issues, you get no less in terms of performance here, for a lot less cost and bulk, and for a lot less time spent on the device than on working out. My recommendation is to check this out. There's no easier way to better fitness for me than the one I found, and I definitely give it five stars. My sincerest thanks go to those who read. It is my hope that this has been helpful!.

Rosie DAVEY

| Dec 01, 2020

It worked well while it was there. However, I would advise you to discard it after 5 months as it stopped working and customer support is impossible to get hold of. Service is not available at all, which is much worse. I have used Garmin watches (Forerunner, Vivo) and fitness trackers (10 or more - Jawbone, Withings, Apple, etc. ) for many years. My excitement at purchasing the new v4 just days after it was released was only matched by the fact that it met my needs perfectly, i. e. The following devices can be used in addition to others With its slim profile, long battery life, and sleep tracking features, this basic model is a good value. (Larger and more powerful devices will not track your sleep if they're too big to wear to bed, or if they're overly sensitive to heart rate, or if you have to charge them constantly. It's not the end of the world, except that you have to pair to sync your current time and the device began losing Sadly, that is when things started going south. Garmin offers customer support through basic FAQs on its website, and it automatically supports its users, as many other companies do now. Several tools are available for response case management. I tried them but they did not work for me. I finally got Garmin online support to admit I would need Garmin Product Support for further assistance after a week of back and forth via their online case tool, and was provided with (Check their website or app to see if it's available. It is not possible. ) I tried daily for three days, at various times Depending on when an agent was available (for an opportunity to talk to them), the wait time ranged from 42 minutes to more It appears that support is grossly understaffed, CSRs are likely overworked, and they are not willing to disclose resolution time targets. I discovered an option to schedule a callback after my third attempt. So I scheduled the call back, waited another day, and was happy to get said call back right on time. In the meantime, I am still on hold while writing this review, having been put on hold immediately by the callback. It has been more than ten minutes since I received the message! Having wasted much of my time waiting for them to help, I'm not inclined to waste any more. For the Vivo4, Garmin appears to follow in the footsteps of Jawbone.

Quinn Colling

| Nov 26, 2020

The VivoFit 4 is something I am very fond of. The VivoFit 4 is even better than it's predecessor, I no longer have to worry about the band it coming off as it fastens like a watch. There are no longer any issues with viewing the display. I rate this device as excellent. It pairs with my iPhone easily, and the Connect app keeps getting better. Additionally, it is waterproof and I wear it while.

Angela Gibbs

| Apr 20, 2021

Having loved Garmin for quite a while, I'm now a big fan of the company. The problem, however, is frustrating to We don't know what caused the step count to change from 200 to over 8000 in a moment. There are also times when the steps will drop just 1500 or so. There is no reason why it behaves in this way. Although the Garmin Connect App continues to display the correct number of steps, I believe this is incorrect. In this device, there are different counts on and off than in the app. Why would that be? There is no idea.

Lexie O’CONNOR

| Jan 24, 2021