What’s Changed from the previous iteration
There are a couple of significant changes with the new iteration the biggest software changes are the Pulse Ox (Pulse Oximetry) and the Body Battery features. The inclusion of Pulse Ox is surprising as it’s only be released on this watch and Garmin’s premium fitness watch the fenix 5X Plus. I’ll list the core changes below before into more detail:
- It’s a lot thinner and comes with a much clearer screen with a polycarbonate screen
- Battery life (7 days instead of 5)
- Pulse Ox
- Body Battery feature
The Body Battery is a new Garmin feature that has debuted on this watch. It works by estimating how ‘fatigued’ your body is based on your recorded activity information and health metrics. This data is based on your own historical information – heart rate, quality of sleep, physical activity. These factors come together to give you an estimate on how ready you are for a workout. Lower numbers indicate you should be leaning towards lighter exercise or rest while higher numbers suggest you are well rested and prepared for an intense workout.
Out of the box, this measurement tracking won’t be super accurate as it will need time to understand your personal level of fitness. The Body Battery feature can also help you track potential patterns throughout your weeks, this data can actually help inform you why you’re feeling odd on a particular day.
Body Battery range:
0-25: Low energy reserve
26-50: Medium energy reserve
51-75: High energy reserve
76-100: Very high energy reserve
Pulse Ox was first introduced on the fenix 5X Plus series but has also been released on the vivosmart 4. At a basic level, the Pulse Ox measurement captures the amount of oxygen saturation in your blood. For the vivosmart, the focus on using Pulse Ox is to get more information on how well you slept and what impact that had on your body. Now you can instantly view your Oxygen Saturation at any point (I’ll include a chart that explains what the percentages mean) though spot analysis is particularly useful at altitude.
What does it do
At its core, the vivosmart 4 is designed for everyday health-minded users. This is not intended for athletes nor is it meant to be an all-purpose smartwatch. The software functionality is designed only for health stats like analysing Sleep patterns (REM sleep gauge), tracking your activity impact and benefit (body battery), stress tracking, relaxation breathing timer, VO2 Max and more.
While the device does not have built-in GPS functionality, it can still track all of your standard activities like walks, runs, strength training, yoga, pool swim and more. It also comes with smartphone compatibility with alerts for notifications, calls, texts and calendar notifications. It’s also safe for swimming and showering without getting damaged.
But is it good?
Overall this watch with the new features like Body Battery and the inclusion of Pulse Ox make it an excellent new addition to Garmin’s lineup, my only problem with this watch is the screen. The screen size makes me question the point of even including all the notification features. You will be entirely relying on the Garmin Connect Companion app for any fitness/health information you want to check up on.
Garmin vivosmart 4 Grey Rose Gold - 360-degree and accessories available on tabs of this page
Garmin vivosmart 4 Azure Blue Silver - 360-degree and accessories available on tabs of this page
Garmin vivosmart 4 Berry Light Gold - 360-degree and accessories available on tabs of this page
Garmin vivosmart 4 Black (Small Med) - 360-degree and accessories available on tabs of this page
Garmin vivosmart 4 Black (Large) - 360-degree and accessories available on tabs of this page
| Good | Bad |
| Slim and Stylish | Screen is small |
| Body Battery | No GPS |
| Pulse Ox |
