Garmin has introduced a new budget fitness tracker, the Vivosmart 5, to help you track your daily activity if you're not interested in investing in a full-fledged running watch.
The new fitness tracker is the successor to the Garmin Vivosmart 4, which landed in September 2019, and Garmin has chosen to focus on improving accessibility rather than uploading new fitness monitoring tools, and the main update to the Vivosmart 5 it's a new, larger touchscreen that should be much easier to read and use.
There's also an improved heart rate sensor (with optional low and high heart rate alerts), as well as advanced sleep tracking. Like its predecessor, the Vivosmart 5 has an SpO2 sensor to monitor blood oxygen saturation, all-day stress tracking (calculated from changes in heart rate variability), and a score. body battery indicator that allows you to see how much energy you have throughout the day. and plan your time accordingly.
Track your workouts(*5*)
The Vivosmart 5 offers a variety of fitness tracking modes for indoor and outdoor activities, though walkers, runners, and cyclists should note that it doesn't have its own GPS module. Instead, it relies on a Bluetooth connection to your phone to track your whereabouts, so you won't be able to leave your phone at home if you want to track your pace and route.
This type of tracking (known as connected GPS) also tends to be a bit less accurate than on-board GPS, though this probably won't be too much of a problem for recreational activities.
A new tool that casual users are more likely to appreciate is the ability to send an emergency alert to a trusted contact by long-pressing the button on the side of the Vivoactive 5 case. Your contact will receive an SMS complete with location data to who can find you if you have problems; a carefully designed feature that Garmin has built into all of its recent devices and that Fitbit has yet to match.
The Vivosmart 5 is now on sale direct from Garmin for $149.99 / £129.99 (around AU$200). That's a bit more than the Vivosmart 4, which cost $129.99 / £119.99 / AU$199 when it arrived in 20198, but that's not a huge increase given the rising cost of power and device components.
For comparison, the Fitbit Inspire 2 is currently priced at $99.95 / $89.99 / AU$149.95, but works best when used with a Fitbit Premium subscription, which will set you back $9 / $99 / AU$ Additional 7.99 per month after free trial ends
Analysis: the competition is closing in(*5*)
The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is an attractive fitness tracker, but it could soon face some tough new competition. Details of three upcoming devices have recently been discovered in the installation files of the official Fitbit mobile app, and we have reason to suspect that one of them could be the upcoming Fitbit Inspire 3.
We don't know much about the device as of yet, but it looks like the new entry-level device may feature the same vibrant OLED screen as last year's Fitbit Luxe. That could make it a more tempting prospect than the Vivosmart 5 for those who find a monochrome screen less appealing.
However, we suspect that there will not be too many differences within the case. It's also unlikely that the Inspire 3 will have its own GPS module to save costs and differentiate it from the Fitbit Luxe, and we don't anticipate that it will have the Fitbit's stress-monitoring EDA (electrodermal activity) sensor. either.
We'll give you a full comparison of the Garmin Vivosmart 5 and Fitbit Inspire 3 once we've used both devices, so stick with TechRadar if you're planning on getting a new fitness tracker this year.