New Garmin Vivoactive 3 – What’s Changed

Price and Australian Release - Vivoactive 3

Holy Battery life. You had me at seven days.

Garmin has made a huge spring entrance, with lots of announcements about their new product line-ups. Garmin has announced the vivoactive 3 which I’ll be talking about in this article, but they have also shown the new vivomove HR and the vivosport which I’ll cover in separate articles. In this article, I’ll include a quick spec comparison sheet between the old vivoactive HR and the new vivoactive 3.

Garmin has now released a music version of the vivoactive 3, more information available here. 

Garmin has added an entirely new feature with this watch which will be their first wearable to add contactless payment capabilities (NFC) with ‘Garmin Pay.'

The watch has an Australian RRP of $449 and is currently set to release late October.

The biggest things worth noting here are the V02 max estimation, automatic rep counting and the new structured workouts. I’ve yet to get my hands on one for an in-depth review, but the side swipe option looks helpful, especially when one gets a little sweaty from a long run.

What you want to know

In addition to the new features mentioned above the vivoactive three also has GPS (GLONASS Constellation) connectivity for workouts it also has a barometric altimeter (stair counting). They have also updated the firmware for the wrist-based HR on the back making it a lot more accurate than the original firmware, it has better battery management which means the optical sensor will record at 1-2 second intervals. The optical sensor is also used to measure your HRV  (Heart Rate Variability) specifically focused on Stress score.

The watch is also rated for 5/atm which is classified as Garmin's swim (Garmin's waterproof classifications.) You also have access to a bunch of third party apps via Garmin’s Connect IQ App Store.

The battery life is slightly less than the vivoactive HR, but that’s a tough comparison considering all the extra features packed into the new model. In the Smartwatch industry, a 7-day battery life is almost unheard of. For example, the battery life on the new Ionic Fitbit is maximum four days and 18 hours on the Apple Watch.

Garmin Pay

Garmin Pay has now been adopted by all four of the major Australian banks (ANZ, NAB, Westpac and Commonwealth). Garmin Pay has also been adopted by Bendigo Bank and Latitude Finances. I've detailed how to use the method here but in short, you need to add your card to your watch via the Garmin Connect App. From there you will receive a verification code which you will need to respond, set a pin and that's it. The security in place for this system is actually quite cool, when you enter the pin the watch is unlocked for 24 hours. You still need to open the app each time to make a payment but not enter the pin (you're not walking around with an active NFC connection). Another security protocol is that if the watch fails to detect a heart rate the payment system is locked and the pin is required again.

Another significant part of the vivoactive 3 are the preloaded workouts included and the new rep counting function. Garmin has also started to build more focus around social aspects being able to check how well your friends are performing. However, they have still got a fair way to go when compared to brand leaders for Social engagement like Fitbit.

Summary

Overall this is an evolutionary step forward when looking at the previous iteration. After dominating the niche industry for hardcore athletes and stats nerds, Garmin has brought themselves forward into the consumer industry for Smartwatches. My only point against the vivoactive 3 is the lack of music capability; I would prefer to be able to run an app or have an internal library for my music rather than still relying on my phone when I’m running. You can control playback from the phone via the watch which is helpful.