Garmin Vivosmart HR Could Dethrone The Fitbit Charge HR

Garmin are the industry leaders when it comes to sporting wearables, in particular their Forerunner series which dates back to 2003. Just a few days ago Garmin announced three new Forerunners that will go on sale before the end of 2015.

When it comes to fitness trackers, the crown is currently worn by Fitbit, the company who kicked off Quantified Self craze with the Fitbit Flex, and they sell more devices than anyone else. Although Fitbit is on top, Garmin are not far behind. The rivalry started upon the release of the Garmin Vivofit which was released in March 2014 and immediately became the rival of the Fitbit Flex which was released in May 2013.

There were also some other names on the scene, such as the Jawbone UP and Nike Fuelband.

Taking over from the Fitbit Flex as the most popular fitness tracker was the Fitbit Charge HR, released in january 2015 with the addition of an OLED display, incoming call notifications and optical heart rate monitoring.

Garmin released the Vivosmart in October – November 2014, and the Vivofit 2 in March 2015, but they lacked a built-in heart rate monitor which gave the Fitbit Charge HR the edge in the eyes of those who didn’t want to wear a HRM chest strap.

Garmin aren’t slowing down their assailment on wearables and looking to knock Fitbit off the fitness tracker throne, and the new Vivosmart HR could be the device to do it.

Garmin Vivosmart HR

The Vivosmart HR was announced yesterday as Garmin’s first dedicated activity tracker with 24 hour wrist-based optical heart rate monitoring. Garmin had previously used HRM technology from Mio, but for the Vivosmart HR they opted to use their own sensor which seems to be called Elevate.

The Garmin Vivosmart HR has an always-on high-resolution backlight touchscreen display. It features all the activity tracking essentials, such as steps taken, distance travelled, calories burned, floors climbed. However, with the addition of the Activity Intensity feature and notifications for incoming calls, text, emails, calendar reminders and social media apps – the Vivosmart HR does more than the average fitness tracker.

The Vivosmart HR functions as a sleep monitor, with the options to automatically or manually enter sleep mode with a vibrating alarm to wake you up. It can be used to control your smartphone’s music playlist, and if you own a VIRB compatible camera it can be remotely controlled with the Vivosmart HR. There’s also a device finding feature which comes in handy in the annoying situation of misplacing your smartphone.

Vivosmart HR will buzz you if it thinks you need to get agile with its inactivity alert, or you can gauge your laziness by looking at the Move Bar.

The Garmin Connect App is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows smartphones and tablets, you can also log in to your dashboard with a desktop/laptop.

The Garmin Vivosmart HR is water-resistant up to 50 meters, so you can wear it in the shower or track how many calories you burned in the pool. The new fitness tracker has a claimed battery life of around 5 days between charges.

It’s worth noting that some retailers previously used the title Garmin Vivosmart HR or Vivosmart HRM when selling the original Vivosmart bundled with a HR chest strap. So make sure not to confuse this with the new HR.

The Vivosmart HR activity tracker is available to pre-order now for USD$149.99 at bestbuy and will be available from November 1st and sometime in November in Canada.