Garmin has released the new iteration for the vivosmart 4 series and it’s packed with software and comes in 4 stylish colours. It’s set to release in Australia this month with a couple more styles releasing in October. These new styles include Grey Rose Gold, Black, Berry and Azure Blue and have an RRP of $199.
Garmin vivosmart 4 Grey Rose Gold| Available Now| $199 AUD |
Garmin vivosmart 4 Azure Blue Silver | ETA Mid October | $199 AUD |
Garmin vivosmart 4 Berry Light Gold| ETA 11th October | $199 AUD |
Garmin vivosmart 4 Black (Small/Medium) | Available Now| $199 AUD |
Garmin vivosmart 4 Black (Large) | Available Now| $199 AUD |
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 |
| vivosmart 4 | vivosmart 3 | |
| Lens Material | polycarbonate | No Lens |
| Bezel Material | aluminum | No Bezel |
| Strap material | silicone | silicone |
| Physical size | Small/medium: 15 x 10.5 x 197 mm | Width: 18.5 mm |
| Fits wrists with a circumference of 122-188 mm | Thickness: 9.8 mm | |
| Large: 15 x 10.5 x 223 mm | Length (small/medium): 197 mm | |
| Fits wrists with a circumference of 148-215 mm | Length (large): 223 mm | |
| Circumference (small/medium): 122-188 mm | ||
| Circumference (large): 148-215 mm | ||
| Weight | Small/medium: 16.5 g | Small/medium: 20.4 g |
| Large: 17.1 g | Large: 21.5 g | |
| Water rating | Swim | Swim |
| Touchscreen | Yes | Yes |
| Display type | OLED | OLED |
| Display size | 0.26" x 0.70" (6.6 mm x 17.7 mm) | 0.38" x 0.76" (9.6 mm x 19.2 mm) |
| Display resolution | 48 x 128 pixels | 64 x 128 pixels |
| Battery life | up to 7 days (excluding pulse ox sleep tracking) | Up to 5 days |
| Memory/History | 7 timed activities, 14 days of activity tracking data | 7 timed activities, 14 days of activity tracking data |
| Clock Features | Yes | Yes |
| Time/date | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic daylight saving time | Yes | Yes |
| Alarm clock | Yes | Yes |
| Timer | Yes | Yes |
| Stopwatch | Yes | Yes |
| Sensors | Yes | Yes |
| Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor | Yes | Yes |
| Barometric altimeter | Yes | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes | Yes |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes | Yes |
| Pulse Ox | Yes | No |
| Daily Smart Features | ||
| Connectivity | Bluetooth® Smart and ANT+® | Bluetooth® Smart and ANT+® |
| Smart notifications | Yes | Yes |
| Text response/reject phone call with text (Android™ only) | Yes (Android only) | No |
| Weather | Yes | Yes |
| Controls smartphone music | Yes | Yes |
| Find My Phone | Yes | Yes |
| Find My Watch | Yes | Yes |
| VIRB® Camera Remote | Yes | Yes |
| Smartphone compatibility | iPhone®, Android™ | iPhone®, Android™ |
| 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 | Yes |
| Floors climbed | Yes | Yes |
| Distance traveled | Yes | Yes |
| Intensity minutes | Yes | Yes |
| TrueUp™ | Yes | Yes |
| Move IQ™ | Yes | Yes |
| Fitness Age | yes (in app) | yes (in app) |
| Body Battery™ Energy Monitor | Yes | |
| All-day Stress Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Fitness Equipment/Gym | ||
| Available gym activity profiles | Strength Training, Cardio Training, Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Yoga | Strength Training, Cardio Training |
| Automatic rep counting | Yes | Yes |
| Training, Planning and Analysis Features | ||
| Customizable data pages | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable activity profiles | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Lap® | Yes | Yes |
| V02 max | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Activity history on watch | Yes | |
| Heart Rate Features | ||
| HR zones | Yes | Yes |
| HR alerts | Yes | Yes |
| HR calories | Yes | Yes |
| % HR max | Yes | Yes |
| HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices) | Yes | Yes |
| Running Features | ||
| Available run profiles | Running | Running |
| Swimming Features | ||
| Available swim profiles | Pool Swimming (Basic) | No |
| Kid Activity Tracking Features | ||
| Toe-to-Toe™ Challenges | Yes |