This past December I was perusing Target while doing some Christmas shopping when I came across the Garmin Vivomove HR Hybrid Smartwatch. I was immediately drawn to the beauty of it – rose gold and white – who doesn’t love that color combo? I asked the person working in the electronics department to unlock the case for me so I could take a closer look at it. It is so sleek and beautiful – AND functional! How great is that? I snapped a picture of it and texted it to Dale, letting him know it was on my Christmas list.
Garmin Customer Support
Garmin Vivomove HR Hybrid Smartwatch
I lucked out and he and the kids did gift it to me for Christmas. I was so excited to get it going and try it out, but I initially hit a snag. This is my third Garmin watch and I already had an account set up with Garmin. However, I couldn’t seem to gain access to the account so could not login to be able to pair the watch with my phone and get it set up. Garmin does provide a customer support phone number, which I called for about two weeks before I was able to get through. I guess I was not the only person that received a Garmin watch for Christmas and was having a hard time getting it set up. I will a little bummed with how long this process took and ended up having to request to have my Garmin account canceled, in writing. Then I had to wait several days for a response email from Garmin that enacted the process of closing the account so that I could then set up a new one.
After getting through that frustration it did get easier. Not before hitting another small snag though. In the process of getting the watch set up and paired somehow the language had gotten changed to a foreign language that I could not make out. I ended up having to call back to the customer support line and have someone walk me through resetting the language to English and then assist me with getting the watch to pair with my phone, which took several attempts.
Garmin Vivomove HR Functions
In my opinion, it was all worth it. I love this watch/fitness tracker. It looks like a regular watch, but with a ‘twist-twist’ of the wrist or a double tap on the glass it magically transforms into a fitness tracker. When this happens the clock hands move to about a 10 & 2 position out of the way of the display screen.
The first display screen that pops up shows you the date, time and the battery life on the watch. The battery lasts a good 4-5 days between charges. This is a waterproof watch/fitness tracker, but it is so pretty and functional that I am scared to get it wet and risk anything happening to it!
Swipe to the left to display how many steps you have taken that day, as well as your daily step goal. When you reach your goal it will vibrate and display “GOAL” with some fireworks (Way to go!).
Swipe again to see how many flights of stairs you have taken, as well as your daily goal. Swipe again to see how many ‘active’ minutes you have logged for the week, and again your weekly goal total.
The next screen displays your calories burned currently for the day. This is determined based off of the information that is entered into the Garmin Connect app on your phone when you set your account up: age, weight, etc., combined with your heart rate that it is monitoring throughout the day. I really like this function, as it is a great reality check. I’m a small person so burn fewer calories than the average. As I sit typing this at almost 10 pm I have burned 1234 calories today. That is misleading though because it was charging overnight and while I did my morning strength training routine. However, that really probably only affords me another 250 calories, putting my calorie burn at about 1500 calories today. Most restaurant meals have that many and more in them!
Swipe again to gain access to your phone’s music, giving you the ability to play music and skip through songs from your phone. Speaking of your phone, the next swipe will show you your recent text messages. This is another function that I really appreciate. I often keep my phone on silent and sometimes miss a call or text. However, the watch vibrates when a call or text comes in, preventing me from missing them.
Then there is the heart rate monitor. It tells you your current heart rate and what your 7 day resting heart rate is. Tap the screen when on this function and it will display your heart rate map over the last hour.
What the Vivomove HR Doesn’t Do
This hybrid smartwatch is a fitness tracker, but it is not a running watch. My first Garmin watch was a Forefunner 405. I bought it almost nine years ago when I was training for my first half marathon and it is still a great running tool. This ‘watch’ has a start/stop function for tracking your runs/races. It chimes to let you know when you finish each mile and gives you splits (your time for that mile). The Forerunner also keeps track of your current pace, which helps you to know whether you need to speed up or slow down to keep on track or keep yourself from wearing down too quickly. It is also a GPS watch, so you can map your course and see your route afterwards through the app.
This older model does not keep track of your heart rate as is. It is possible to add a chest strap that will then keep track of your heart rate, but it is not ‘all-in-one’ like the Vivomove and I’m sure most newer fitness trackers/running watches. It is also quite a bit bulkier and less flexible than the newer versions. I an still happy to have it though and will be putting it to use this Saturday when Kadie and I run the 5K being sponsored by Tara’s Honor Society chapter in an effort to fund raise for cancer. If I were to go buy what I would consider to be the current version of the Forerunner it would be the Garmin Forerunner 235 model.
Garmin Connect App
I rarely access the Garmin Connect App on my phone to look at my stats. I did just take a look at it for the sake of providing information about it for you and there were some neat features/stats provided. Here are a couple screenshots from within the app:
So if you have been contemplating a fitness tracker I recommend the Garmin Vivomove HR. It is not the most economical option available, but the features are all there, it is easy to use, it is rather stylish and it doesn’t look like a fitness tracker.
If you are interested in fitness ‘stuff’ you might enjoy the post I recently wrote about Fitness and Self-Love.
