vívosmart® 5, Health & Fitness Tracker, S-M, Black | Monitor Your Health, Track Your Steps and Sleep, Smart Notifications, Up to 7 Days Battery Life

TL;DR — This is a great basic fitness tracker which, with a little extra effort on your part, can be turned into a shockingly robust data collection device, comparable to much more powerful and expensive units. When combined with the Garmin Connect app, which IMO is the best fitness data collection app out there (and 100% free, no paywall), you’ve got a real powerhouse system.My review will cover some tips for how to get the most out of the device, as well as one annoying bug fix. I hope all of this is helpful to you!ABOUT ME AND MY PARAMETERS: I am a daily cyclist and I also do strength training 2-3 times a week. I do not want or need to use my full-function Garmin head unit on every ride, and I also wanted to track my weight workouts; but there are not many (affordable) products which can effectively track both things in the same place(s). I was not interested in the overkill of the ubiquitous fruit-logo company's watch, and I did not have the money for any of the larger Garmin watches. But researching the vivosmart5 gave me hope that I could manipulate its default functionalities into a tracker robust enough to compete with much, MUCH more expensive devices, and I have — so here are a bunch of use-case tips (and a few bug fixes) which I hope are helpful to you too.Out of the box, the vivosmart5 is a great little fitness tracker — unbelievably accurate HR readings, extremely detailed and effective sleep tracking, custom settings for motivation (can remind you to hydrate or to get up and move, etc), bare-bones fitness effort data collection, super fast charging and long battery life, water/sweat proof, and easy to clean.For default effort tracking, you can click through little preset activity recording functions and get rudimentary data such as “bike ride, X minutes, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” or “weight workout, X minutes, X reps, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” or just a simple “walk/run, X minutes, X steps.”And all of that is awesome, particularly because the app (which, again, is 100% FREE, no paywall) is one of the strongest fitness data collection apps out there. So even just these minor collections of data are compiled into an easy-to-read daily/weekly/monthly/yearly format showing areas in which you can improve, or just giving you the knowledge you need to evaluate your efforts for your intended results.Plus it can sync with other apps, such as Strava, Ride With GPS, or even the fruit company’s default Health and Fitness apps.BUT, here’s what it can really do. Let’s start with cycling (and probably running, too). The vivosmart5 does not have its own GPS, but you can pair it with the Garmin Connect app on your phone and it will use your phone's GPS. So now instead of just “bike ride, X minutes, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” you’ll get a breakdown in the app which is much more like a proper head unit’s data, including a map of your effort with multiple overlay choices, total distance, moving time versus total time, elevation — practically everything other than cadence and power-meter based stuff. That’s … HUGE for a sub-two-hundred-dollar fitness tracker.And for strength training? The vivosmart5 will automatically count your reps (not always super accurate, but you can adjust that right on the watch face itself during rest periods), and if you attend to your sets by starting/stopping them on the watch face, you’ll end up with a loose dataset at the end of your workout, which you can THEN go through item-by-item in the app and flesh out by choosing the exercise type and the weight/resistance. Now instead of “weight workout, X minutes, X reps, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” you’ll have a full breakdown of your effort, including a little illustrated human figure showing the muscle groups worked (primary and secondary).As you can see, and as I’ve said before in this review, you must do some of the work here. But to me, this little extra effort is worth the huge price difference between this and even the lowest-price-point Garmin GPS watch, especially because when you do these things, the Garmin Connect app will begin to give you comparative points, awards for accomplishments, and other things that it would normally only do when you’re using much more expensive Garmin devices.It is not without its faults, though, and in the interest of full disclosure, here you go.1 - An annoying bug fix! Because the vivosmart5 does not have a lot of RAM or a very powerful chip, you’re going to need to restart it every once in a while, especially if you’re really pushing its functionality, as I do. In fact, if you DON’T restart it every once in a while, it will do some weeeiiird buggy stuff when recording GPS-based efforts. Sometimes it will randomly record your speed at several THOUSAND miles an hour. Sometimes it will add your current distance to an old ride and record the whole thing as a new ride. It can get wonky, but I’ve solved this by simply turning the watch off and then on again before every ride (takes 30 seconds) — I have not had a single problem since I began doing that.2 - The band’s buckle and keeper loop are positioned to the outside of the wrist, meaning that when you write or type, you’re resting your wrist on this uncomfortable little knob. I almost returned it on day one because of this but then I realized that you can reverse the band — just pop the actual watch unit out, turn the band around the other way, and put the watch unit back in. Now the buckle and loop keeper are on the inside face of the wrist, and no more problem.3 - It has a proprietary charging cable. COME ON, MAN, REALLY?Even with a few little annoyances, I am a full-time proselytizer and apologist for this little device. It is unobtrusive and bare-bones, but contains so much potential and power that you’d never know it. I really hope this helps you because I’ve found a huge amount of value in this little device. Why spend almost five hundred bucks when you can … NOT?

I'm a horology nerd, if it's not quartz or mechanical I don't really consider it a watch, so I went into this with real bias against anything smart on my wrist. What actually got me here wasn't fitness tech enthusiasm, it was wanting an honest accountability partner for sleep, breathwork, and stress, without any of the smartwatch noise.The other two big players in this space both lost me before I even considered them. WHOOP wants a subscription just to see your own data, and Fitbit wants your health data handed straight to Google. This one just works, no subscription wall, no corporate hand extended for your biometrics.Battery life is the standout feature so far. I got this Tuesday afternoon, charged it once, and it's nearly Friday sitting at 87 percent. For a device tracking sleep, stress, and activity around the clock, that's genuinely impressive.What sold me on the actual design is how much you can turn off. No GPS baked in bloating the thing, and you can disable texts, weather, morning reports, phone call alerts, music controls, even gestures, and dim the display, all of which extends battery even further if you also turn off the blood oxygen sensor. Basically, it ships with everything a smartwatch person wants, but lets someone like me strip it down to a pure fitness band with zero smart watch bloat. That's a rare balance to get right.Accuracy has been solid on sleep and stress calibration so far. Steps and calories are the one soft spot, I clocked 990 steps on a day where that number felt generous, so take that specific metric with a grain of salt. Everything else has tracked believably.5 out of 5 stars. No subscription, no data harvesting, incredible battery life, and it respects that some of us just want the tracking without the smartwatch circus.

I love that I can easily count my steps and jumps on my trampolines (my spring one counts each bounce as one step, and my bungee trampoline counts each bounce as two steps). Plus, I can easily track my time bouncing. It motivates me to get more movement in each day.I chose this one specifically because I can "turn off" Bluetooth, which I didn't want connected for health reasons. I also love how small this watch is!It's been fun to monitor my sleep as well.Mine stopped working after 6 months. Even with a reset and charged battery, the screen kept going black and wouldn't revive without another reset. I contacted Garmin through their live chat, and within 10 minutes, they had sent me an email with a prepaid label to send mine back with so they can send a replacement. Excellent customer service!!

Ordered Garmin Vivosmart 5, mid September from Amazon, it does not hold charge more than 24 to 36 hours. With majority of options shut off, location off, all notification shut off, phone call notifications off. Garmin Vivosmart 5 has many options, information states it will hold charge at least 7 days, it does not.Been working with Garmin SupportI Only have Bluetooth on to sync Step count, heart rate and sleep monitoring to app, these are only 3 options turned on, all other options including phone connection off. Contacted Garmin support, I had to pay full price for another Garmin Vivosmart 5 to be shipped, I’d was told I’d be refund cost of 2nd device once Garmin received returned 1st device. yesterday Garmin received return, I’m told I’ll receive that refund in 3 days.I was assured by Garmin Support the new 2nd Vivosmart 5 device would be checked to be sure Battery held charge and device worked. Received 2nd device a week ago. holds charge last less than 24 hours. I called today. They had me check to be sure I had many settings shut off. They told me to call back in a few days if still not holding a charge. Why does Vivosmart 5 have so many options, if the Battery can not support options on device even with majority of option shut off.I’ve have had multiple Vivofit and Vivofit 2 for many years., they held charge at least a year with replaceable batteries, which I changed once a year. I only bought this new device because old device no longer synced to phone and , bands broke, bands no longer available for purchase.I do not recommend this rechargeable device, that battery is not able to support majority of options offed on device and only holds charge less than 24 hours with majority of options available turned off. Very disappointing for a Garmin device.I now have to wait another 48 hours, then call back wait on hold at least 30 minutes. I want full refund for Both 1st purchase with Amazon and full refund from Garmin for replacement.

Works great, just wish the battery would last longer. Lots of info available on this garmin.

Not fancy, but the garmin watch is the most accurate in terms of distance tracking of any watch I have used. I like that I don’t get too many notifications - will notify of texts & calls, which makes it easier to leave your phone put away when socializing or meeting, without constant distractions of email notifications. Most importantly, when I compare the mileage totals to a marked trail, it is spot on, whereas FitBit, Apple Watch, phone apps are always off by 1/4- 1 mile. Also the charge will hold for 7-10 days, which is great.

This tracker didn’t work for me at all. Complicated to set up, doesn’t track sleep well, and the screen is so small I need my reading glasses to see the info. I’m frustrated and looking for a different tracker.

I purchased a Garmin tracker because of good experience. (March 2024) My last Garmin was a Vivo Smart 3.The features I planned to use most: Exercise, Heart rate, intensity, calories burned, stress, fitness age, track weight, sleep tracking, body battery, and fitness age. I also used it for the alarm and calendar.Just past the one year mark the alarm feature stopped working. It started vibrating for no apparent reason and wouldn’t shut off. The only thing that fixed it was to turn that feature off. I figured I could live with it since it was no longer under warranty and the main features still workedAbout August 2025 the sleep feature stopped working properly. Occasionally it would report no sleep data. I tried troubleshooting with the Connect App. It worked off and on. Now, 1/15/2026 it has been about 19 days since the sleep feature has worked.I can’t afford to purchase a new watch. I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect this fitness tracker/watch to last longer. I purchased this tracker because it had all the features I wanted and believed I would not need to purchase another fitness tracker for many years.Now because of my circumstances I am unable to purchase a new watch. My husband passed away in September after a long illness. I was his only caretaker There are so many things that I need to deal with because of his death finding the money to purchase a new tracker should not be one of them.I spent a lot of time researching fitness trackers before choosing the Garmin brand. I choose it because of the features and reasonable price.I hope my review helps other people in their decision when purchasing a fitness tracker.

Good value for a basic smart watch. Works well. Was a bit tricky to set up with my Samsung phone.

I bought the Fitbit Inspire 3, returned it, and upgraded to Garmin. Here's what I noticed between the two:Step count: Fitbit step count is ridiculously inaccurate, it counted hundreds of steps while I was sleeping or sitting. Garmin step count is indeed very accurate, it never miscounted when I was being still, and always on point when I quickly monitored it while I was walking.Heart rate: I can't do intense workout so I have limited info on this. Generally it feels Garmin gives more accurate heart rate numbers and it's abnormal heart rate alert is quick to react to your hr changes. Fitbit also has a hr alert but felt non-existent and is mainly for advertisement purpose.Ox saturation: Fitbit advertised they have this feature yet it is only available during sleep. Garmin has the option to monitor day and night Ox (this feature battery draining). Neither is accurate enough to replace an actual Ox monitor.Sleep track: Both are meh, I think this has to do with one's sleeping habit as the tracker is relatively loose on your wrist while you move around during sleep. I think Garmin is betterish on tracking once I fell sleep, but both tends to mistaken my awake time.Unique feature from Garmin, the vivosmart shows your "body battery" and "stress level". In general I think these mainly for entertaining purposes, but they are pretty much on point in terms of how I feel, especially so for the stress level monitor.The app: Garmin's app is noticeably a lot more informative, fully accessible, no monthly fee. Some of the features such as a clear daily/weekly/monthly etc. trend of your health stats, as well as most stats let you see hourly or even greater detailed tracking. The interface is intuitive and straight to the point. Although finding settings on your tracker is a bit tricky in the app.I don't really recall what the Fibit app looks like, except I remember I was unimpressed and users are constantly being reminded of the feature blocked by paywall.The tracker: Fitbit has prettier selection of watch face, while Vivosmart is monochrome. It's less appealing but is easier to read in the sun. Both are informative. Although Vivosmart seems to have a really simplicit and minimal tracker, but you can acctually go into every stat detail on the tracker. The screen is small, so that such feature is less feasible, I mostly read it off the app.Battery: Fitbit has about 1 more day of battery life than Vivosmart.Aesthetic: Fitbit Inspire 3 is pretty plasticty, I tried the lavender band, wasn't flattering, looks like a toy almost. Vivosmart has this muted sage color that I'd much prefer, the tracker itself also feels plasticty but is well tucked in the band and the band is really nicely crafted and feels much more comfortable on the skin.Overall I find that Vivosmart just has better sensors and delivers what they advertise.

Love the device and I started using it when I received it. My previous device, Fitbit Inspire HR, died on me and I was contemplating to either go for Fitbit Inspire 3 or Garmin Vivosmart 5. I decided on the latter as I read that there are more data that I can get access to, rather than Fitbit. The only downside is, the battery life is shorter than the equivalent tracker (7 days versus Fitbit Inspire 3's 10 days lifespan). Otherwise, it is lightweight and almost non-existence, what tracker is meant to be. The quality of the leather strap is also better than Fitbit's leather strap.

I spent ALOT of time looking for a smart watch that was budget friendly and actually useful in water. The vivosmart 5 is phenomenal when it comes to swimming, it goes so in depth and is easy to use. The HR and step counter seem good, though I have nothing to compare them to. The controls are easy and so is the app. The battery life is surprisingly good and it has tracking if you want that while you walk, run, bike, and even open water swim. It's design is good for many as it's sleek and small, it's quite comfy too. Definitely recommend!

Bonito, más o menos fácil de programar.Si no ves bien, te advierto que por ser una pulsera, los datos en la pantalla son pequeños.Dudo de la veracidad en la medición de calidad del sueño, pero en fin, no es tan relevante para mí