anyone on here that uses the Garmin Vivoactive 4?

what is your take on it? any good, is the GPS quick to get a lock?, HR spot on as well??

I bought an Amazfit stratos 3 and it is total bloody crap…. takes ages to get a GPS lock, and when it does lock on it drops the lock even faster….. tells me to go outside and try again…..I AM bloody outside in the middle of nowhere…. even the HR monitor is not that accurate…..

Had mine bout a year, love the watch. Only use GPS for running and log walks but found it accurate and quick to get a lock. Heartbeats is accurate, but if dnot activity need to put it in that mode to improve accuracy at higher heartbeats. Dcrainmaker has a good review and summary of the watch on his website thats wortb checking out.

I got one a few months ago. Don’t have any issues with it. I’ve “calibrated” the HRM with my Edge and Chest Strap and there’s barely a bawhairs difference. Lock time seems fairly standard to other GPS devices I’ve used (mostly Garmins). It’s only ever an issue if I’ve moved a long way (100km or so) from where I last used it.

I’ve had one about a year now in black.

It’s worn well, screen has picked up a few scratches, but so do my Fenix 3 Saphire.

It can be a bit slow on gps lock, but not massively an issue.

Mine was a family gift as a replacement for a Fenix 3 sapphire and I’d say this is better.

HR data is pretty much spot on, battery life is good, touchscreen is good. I’ve used mine on the bike mtb & road, running and in the pool and it’s performed well every time. I use mine all the time, love it.

Hope that helps.

Pretty much agree with all of that said above!.

I use a garmin forerunner 645 music and love mine. I use it for running and cycling and it’s been spot on. Vivoactive or forerunner garmins are really good and I know loads of people who use them and they really rate them

I’ve got a Venu which is a blingier version of the vivoactive (same internals, functionality, firmware). Seems very well behaved and GPS stats seem to align well to those coming from an iPhone.

Look on hotukdeals for offers.

Have a V4 (and Instinct and a recent Fenix 6 Pro…) and its a great watch.

It’s only slight niggle is that you can’t stop a ride to ‘resume later’, like you can on my others, but HR and GPS accuracy as good as the Fenix.

It’s more comfortable to wear than the Fenix, which is why I’m keeping it. The Instinct will be sold, however.

Really like mine. Plenty of features and much quicker than my old forerunner 35. No complaints from me.

I’ve got the vivoactive 3, my wife the 4. No complaints at all. Oh other than the oxygen readings on the 4 not being very accurate.

Got one as an early Xmas pressie. Seems really good. Not done a gps ride yet with it but used on treadmill and turbo. HR is very accurate and tracks my wahoo chest monitor. First smart watch I’ve had and it ticks all the boxes. I got the 4S cos I’ve got skinny wrists and big chunky watches look daft but this is a nice fit. Got 3 phone style plastic screen protectors as I intend to wear it for work.

Another Venu user here, basically echo what the above posters say. Love mine.

Another positive experience with the 4 here. Great bit of kit that replaced my original vivoactive

Cheers peeps….i managed to trawl through the DC review…will have a wee comparison on a couple of the Garmin models.

no contest…my Mrs. said she would chip in and pay part of the cost of the watch…. nipped down to Argos and purchased the Vivoactive..

thanks for all the replies peeps… 🙂

see how it performs… anything is better than the Stratos 3 piece of crap….

been playing around with the watch…GPS lock in a matter of seconds…. software is pretty slick and fast to the touch….. see how it fares once I manage to get out on the MTB….

Another positive response here too, got one last month after my VA3 bricked itself.
I went for the VA4 over the Venue for the slightly longer batter life, and I’m more than happy with the screen. I use mine for running and walking. The 02 sensor is bobbins but I think most are on any watch.
Lovely bit of kit though.

used the Garmin on the Turbo Trainer last night……I have a 30 min HIIT routine with 10 x 30 sec sprints…..I was going like the clappers during the sprints and yet I could not get my HR out of the warmup/easy zones on the watch…….by the time I was done my lungs were hanging out over the handlebars and I was breathing out my butt…… even my Mrs. was deeply concerned when I came back into the living room….as I was totally bloody knackered……she asked if I was alright….I could hardly reply to her as I was outta breath…..

Upon closer inspection of the watch I discovered that the MAX HR was set to 266bpm!!!…….. :-O

no way in hell was I reaching that target, as I would be dead by then…..LOL…. I am 63 years old and my max HR is 157bpm…… I have now reduced the MAX HR settings to my age…. see how I get on tonight……still can’t feel my bloody legs today………outta my comfort zone last night methinks….

Nothing constructive to add but that made me laugh. Talk about an unattainable target 🙂

Doesn’t it setup HR Zones during initial config – age, weight, height, sex etc..? OR even just age minus 45 seems to be how it does it.

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/vivoactive4_4S/EN-US/GUID-FEA2484D-13E6-4937-825A-F59505EB3B2D.html says so and I never set mine up but they seem ‘sensible’

got the vivoactive 3.

Quickest gps lock of any device I’ve used. HR monitoring excellent (or at least consistent). Very quick to pair with phone and upload my ride/run, even if I’ve been out without the phone and therefore lost connection.

I wear it as an all the time watch – finally having found one that is slim enough not to annoy me under long sleeved clothing.

Seems the 4 is all this and more.

@scuttler I thought that as well… but for some reason (possibly an oversight by myself) it was set to 266bpm…..

Surely that’s a bug. Not sure what personal stats you could provide that calc MaxHR to be 266. Did you tell it you were a hummingbird?

Glad you didn’t die 😉

@scuttler….I just entered my age/weight and left it as is…. just glad I checked things over when I was well and truly done…..LOL , no harm done…:-)

went out today for a quick blast round the local trails….. must say I am impressed with the Garmin… seconds to get a GPS lock and it never dropped signal once, even though I was in a heavily wooded area……not sure about cals burned though… 😉

Ran a very comfortably paced 7 miles with the wife this morning, haven’t used the chest strap for a while, thought I’d fire it on as I wanted to stay in zone 2.

Average HR of 123, topping out at 134.

VA4 optic sensor would have had 20bpm on top of that.

Has anyone swapped an Instinct for the VA4? I’m interested to know if its a useful upgrade or just a shiny spendy outcome.

@K57

Since I bought my VA4 in May, my Instinct has been worn for about 2 days. The contactless is in use daily (Starling and Revolut) and the screen is fab.

I got a F6 Pro for more gnarcore activities (TBH the VA4 is fine for those too!) but won’t ditch the VA4 as its V nice to wear and the touchscreen is great for daily use.

It’s pointless for you kryton, as you wear a normal watch daily IIRC.

Nobeer thats right, and mikertroid has kindly confirmed my fear – that its a lovely watch for daily wear.

It might actually be great for me in a lockdown situation, but when “out” for business and for leisure I wear proper watches, and wouldn’t want a smartwatch to distract me from meetings/pints 🙂

I’ll revert to my former use case, using the Instinct for MTBing and weekends away in a tent for races, for which its perfectly suited.

Yes….I’ve a couple of nice automatic watches (Sub and B&R) and they don’t see any wrist-time anymore. Will prob sell the B&R…

What are they like for mtb?

Battery life? How big/heavy on your wrist (I dont’ normally like riding in a watch).

it looks like it has some Garmin IQ app support that would need an colour Edge at over £200 (and you can pick up VA3’s refurbed for under 100)

I’ve had 12 hours GPS use, with plenty life left B33. They’re fairly robust, I also have a VA3 and they are the same, I went for the 4 for the extended battery life, seen just how little I’d get for the 3, so just kept it as a spare.

Not big, unless you’ve wrists like the grinch.

I’ve no idea what your last point is about.