New Garmin vivomove HR – Beat Yesterday in Style

Price and Australian Release vivomove HR

Garmin announced several new products at the consumer electronic show IFA in Berlin, one of the most significant was the announcement for the new vivomove HR. I don’t think this new product was surprising for anyone, based on Garmin’s track record of product iterations. The original vivomove released last year aimed at a lower tier and as such shipped without Garmin’s wrist-based optical HR sensor. That decision was surprising at the time but immediately intimated that the vivomove line would be iterative.

The vivomove HR is currently slated to release late November 2017 with two price tiers, vivomove HR ‘Sport’ (Available in Black or Rose Gold) with an RRP of $299. The second tier is the vivomove HR ‘Premium (available with a Silver Bezel and Dark Brown leather and a Gold Bezel with a lighter brown leather band) with an RRP of $449.

*update the Garmin vivomove HR are available now

What’s Changed

There are four different models, as shown below. The difference between the premium and the sports watches are the bands that come with the watches. The premium versions come with leather bands while the sports versions come with a silicone band. Garmin has made the bands available for purchase individually though, so you’re not limited. *The vivomove HR is also compatible with the vivoactive three bands.

These are the major change factors from the previous iteration, but I’ll include full, and the difference only specs sheets for those interested in every little detail.

  • Touch screen
  • Battery Life (Smartwatch: 5 days, Watch Mode: 2 weeks)
  • Smartwatch Clock features (alarm, timer, stopwatch)
  • Sensors (Optical HR Sensor, Barometric Altimeter, Ambient light sensor)
  • Daily Smart Features (Smart notifications
  • Activity Tracking Features
  • Gym Profiles (Strength training, Cardio Training)
  • Automatic Rep Counting
  • V02 Max
  • HR features (including stress tracking)

The biggest change here is the departure from Analogue watch first, Smartwatch second to more of a balance between the two. The vivomove still appears to be a classically designed analogue watch, but it hides a secret, a small touchscreen display. You can tap the screen as shown below or you can turn your wrist, and the watch will come alive.

The touchscreen appears very crisp and seems to be quite responsive offering a lot of fitness tracking information. This new feature is a huge step up from the very basic functionality of the original vivomove. I’ll go into more detail for the in-depth review later in the year but the screen can display: a reminder to move, activity tracking functionality (calories burned, floors climbed, distance travelled, fitness age and more). It will also show you a range of HR features including stress tracking via HRV (Heart rate variability). Like any good smart watch, it will also link with your phone (by using Garmin Connect App) to deliver you smart notifications with vibrations for emails, texts, calls, app alerts and social media. The vivomove also has profiles for running, walking and strength training.

The vivomove has Garmin's Swim water rating (Garmin’s water ratings) which means it safe in most situations you can even shower with it. The vivomove will also let you control music via the watch touchscreen. You can even send an alert from your watch to your phone if you misplace your phone. Something I haven’t mentioned yet is the significantly smaller battery life WHEN compared to the original vivomove. I’m mentioning this because I’ve had a couple question me about this, the comparison between the units in this regard is apples to oranges. The vivomove HR simply has much more going ‘under the hood’ so to speak. There are a lot more programs and features always chugging away eating up battery power that wasn't present in the original vivomove. Five days for a smartwatch of any kind is an impressive battery life.

Summary

The vivomove is one stylish watch; I can’t wait to get my hands on it later this year. Garmin has done a great job balancing a classic design with modern tech. That said, the vivomove lacks in a couple of areas especially comparing it to the new vivoactive 3. I don’t know about you, but a couple of my colleagues keenly noted the absence of cycle features. In addition, there have been articles detailing that the display touchscreen does not display well in sunlight, I have not personally used this device outside so we haven't been able to confirm this. There also is no mention of Garmin’s latest and greatest feature ‘Garmin Pay’ which is quickly becoming a staple for ‘Smartwatches’. Personally, I think this is a great watch, but I’ll reserve final judgement until we get our hands on one this summer.

DIFFERENCES vivomove HR vs vivomove Spec Sheet
General  vivomove HR vivomove 

Case material

fiber-reinforced polymer or stainless steel polymer or stainless steel
Strap material silicone or leather silicone, TPU or leather
Physical size 43 x 43 x 11.6 mm 42 x 42 x 12 mm
Small/medium fits wrists with a circumference of 122-188 mm
Large fits wrists with a circumference of 148-215 mm
 
Weight sport: 40.8 g sport: 51.0 g
premium: 56.5 g classic: 48.0 g
  premium: 67.0 g
Water rating Swim 5 ATM
Touchscreen    
Display type OLED LCD (move bar and step counter)
Display size 0.38" x 0.76" (9.6 mm x 19.2 mm)  
Display resolution 64 x 128 pixels  
Battery life Smartwatch mode: up to 5 days; Watch mode: up to 2 weeks Up to 1 year (user replaceable)
Memory/History 7 timed activities; 14 days of activity tracking data 4 weeks of activity data

Clock Features

   

Time/date

Yes

yes (time only)
Automatic daylight saving time Yes  
Alarm clock Yes  
Timer Yes  
Stopwatch Yes  

Sensors

   

Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor

Yes  
Barometric altimeter Yes  
Ambient light sensor Yes  

Daily Smart Features

   

Smart notifications

Yes  
Weather Yes  
Music controls Yes  
Find My Phone Yes  
Find My Watch Yes  
VIRB® remote Yes  

Activity Tracking Features

   

Calories burned

Yes  
Floors climbed Yes  
Distance traveled Yes  
Intensity minutes Yes  
TrueUp™ Yes  
Move IQ™ Yes  
Fitness Age

yes (in app)

 

Fitness Equipment/Gym

   

Preloaded gym activity profiles

Strength Training, Cardio Training  
Automatic rep counting Yes  

Training, Planning and Analysis Features

   

Customizable data pages

Yes  
Auto Lap® Yes  
V02 max Yes  
Customizable alerts Yes  
Activity history on watch Yes  

Heart Rate Features

   

HR zones

Yes  
HR alerts Yes  
HR calories Yes  
HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices) Yes


FULL vivomove HR vs vivomove Spec Sheet

General

vivomove HR vivomove

Lens Material

chemically strengthened glass chemically strengthened glass
Bezel Material stainless steel stainless steel
Case material fiber-reinforced polymer or stainless steel polymer or stainless steel
Strap material silicone or leather silicone, TPU or leather
Physical size 43 x 43 x 11.6 mm 42 x 42 x 12 mm
Small/medium fits wrists with a circumference of 122-188 mm
Large fits wrists with a circumference of 148-215 mm
Weight sport: 40.8 g sport: 51.0 g
premium: 56.5 g classic: 48.0 g
  premium: 67.0 g
Water rating Swim 5 ATM
Touchscreen

Yes

Display type OLED LCD (move bar and step counter)
Display size 0.38" x 0.76" (9.6 mm x 19.2 mm)
Display resolution 64 x 128 pixels
Battery life Smartwatch mode: up to 5 days; Watch mode: up to 2 weeks Up to 1 year (user replaceable)
Memory/History 7 timed activities; 14 days of activity tracking data 4 weeks of activity data

Clock Features

Time/date

Yes

yes (time only)
Automatic daylight saving time Yes  
Alarm clock Yes  
Timer Yes  
Stopwatch Yes
Analog hands

Yes

Yes

Sensors

Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor

Yes

 
Barometric altimeter Yes
Accelerometer

Yes

Yes

Ambient light sensor  Yes

Daily Smart Features

Connectivity

Bluetooth® Smart and ANT+® Bluetooth® Smart and ANT+®
Smart notifications

Yes

 
Weather Yes  
Music controls Yes  
Find My Phone Yes  
Find My Watch Yes  
VIRB® remote Yes
Smartphone compatibility

iPhone®, Android™, Windows®

iPhone®, Android™, Windows®
Compatible with Garmin Connect™ Mobile

Yes

 Yes

Activity Tracking Features

Step counter

Yes

Yes

Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it) Yes Yes
Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal) Yes Yes
Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep) Yes Yes
Calories burned

Yes

 
Floors climbed Yes  
Distance traveled Yes  
Intensity minutes Yes  
TrueUp™ Yes  
Move IQ™ Yes  
Fitness Age

yes (in app)

 

Fitness Equipment/Gym

   

Preloaded gym activity profiles

Strength Training, Cardio Training  
Automatic rep counting

Yes

 

Training, Planning and Analysis Features

 

Customizable data pages

Yes

 
Auto Lap® Yes  
V02 max Yes  
Customizable alerts Yes  
Activity history on watch Yes  

Heart Rate Features

   

HR zones

Yes

 
HR alerts Yes  
HR calories Yes  
HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices) Yes

Joel Clement:
Related Post