Stacie Oneal Outdoor Gear June 25th, 2020 - 07:30:09 Craigslist.com - This is perhaps the largest online classified website there is. It is free to post your ad here and you simply just choose the 'for sale' category and place your items you want to sell. Some of the Garmin smartwatches that support custom watch faces include Fenix 6, Forerunner 235, Vivoactive 3, Forerunner 45, Forerunner 245 and Forerunner 945. If you’d like to check whether or not your device is supported you can visit Garmin’s ConnectIQ storefront. Like much of Garmin’s downloadable content, the watch faces are created. From the watch face, hold the touchscreen. Select Watch Face. To customize an existing watch face, select the watch face, and select Customize. To create a new watch face, swipe to the bottom of the watch face list, and select Create New. Swipe up or down to scroll through the analog and digital dials, and tap the screen to select the displayed. RunTech Compatible for Garmin Vivoactive 3 Watch Protective Case, Soft Silicone Case Cover Protector Sleeve for Vivoactive 3 Band Cover 4.3 out of 5 stars 742 $7.59 $ 7.

There are many opinions regarding getting a smartwatch. On our end, we believe that if you’re big on mobility and leading an active lifestyle, having a smartwatch on your wrist is a necessity.

Omega watch

While it’s clear that the Garmin Vivoactive 3 and 4 smartwatches are designed to meet the varying needs of an active lifestyle, the different features and functionalities of each watch are bound to make one more suitable for you than the other.

This Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs 4 comparison post attempts to cover everything you need to know about both watches so that it’s easier for you to choose between them, so stick around.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs 4: Which Smartwatch Is Better for You?

Before getting into a more comprehensive review of the two smartwatches at hand, here’s a side-by-side comparison of the Garmin Vivoactive 3 and 4.

It’s clear that both the Garmin Vivoactive 3 and 4 are excellent smartwatches with slight differences here and there; hence, making a choice based on these differences alone may not be sufficient. With that said, here’s a more in-depth review of their key features.

Ideal For

Both smartwatches are ideal for athletes, including runners, cyclists, and swimmers. They both have onboard GPS, so you’re able to track your exercises without connecting to your phone.

Additionally, the 2 smartwatches support ANT+ connectivity, making it possible for you to connect to other sensors like heart rate monitor, foot pods, and more for workout tracking.

The Vivoactive 4 goes a step further in including the increasingly popular pulse ox sensor, which monitors the oxygen content in your blood not only while you’re asleep but even during the day.

Both smartwatches have an all-day heart rate monitoring feature, and they will alert you if your heart rate is abnormal. A key difference here is that the Vivoactive 4 also alerts you if your heart rate is too low; a feature that the Vivoactive 3 doesn’t have.

Another key difference is that the Garmin Vivoactive 4 can monitor your heart rate even underwater, making it an ideal smartwatch for swimmers.

Both the Garmin Vivoactive 3 and 4 smartwatches have activity tracking profile options for cardio, elliptical training, indoor rowing cycling, treadmill and outdoor running, and swimming exercises.

The Vivoactive 4, however, has additional options for pilates and breathing exercises for promoting relaxation and focus while reducing stress levels.

Vivoactive hr watch faces

Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 4. Unlike the wonderful but limited features of the Vivoactive 3, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 offers many additional features and functionalities that make it more suitable for active athletes.

Read also: Garmin Venu vs Vivoactive 4: Which Should You Pick?

Display

Under direct sunlight, the insights provided by both smartwatches are visible and easy to read as they both use color memory-in-pixels display.

However, the Vivoactive 4, with a pixel resolution of 260 x 260, has a higher resolution than the Vivoactive 3, which has a pixel resolution of 240 x 240.

Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 4. The higher the resolution, the more we’re invested!

Music on the Go

The Vivoactive 3 and 4 let you listen to music on the go by connecting to your Bluetooth headset. However, the standard Vivoactive 3 doesn’t feature onboard storage, whereas the newer Vivoactive 4 does, making it more suitable for music enthusiasts.

With the Vivoactive 4, you can easily download music from third-party service providers like Amazon Music, Spotify, and Deezer for offline listening.

Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 4. Most music lovers would find this smartwatch ideal mainly because of its onboard storage capacity of up to 500 songs; something that’s lacking in the Vivoactive 3. You can use the Vivoactive 4 to listen to your favorite music tracks with or without your phone.

See also: Garmin 645 vs 245: Which Should You Pick?

Price

The Garmin Vivoactive 3, with a price rate of around $120, is much cheaper than the newer Vivoactive 4, which is priced at around $220.

Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 3. It’s around $100 cheaper than its newer counterpart.

Battery Life

Both smartwatches feature a durable battery, but the Vivoactive 4 has an edge when it comes to the battery, as it can last for as long as 8 days in smartwatch mode and for 6 full hours with GPS and music enabled.

The Vivoactive 3’s battery, per contra, lasts for 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to 13 hours in GPS mode.

Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 4. The slight edge it has over the Vivoactive 3 is definitely worth considering.

Sizes

Faces

The Garmin Vivoactive 4 comes in 2 sizes: 45mm and 40mm, unlike its predecessor, the Vivoactive 3, which comes only in 1 size.

Hence, users are given the option of choosing what size of watch they want.

Best Watch Face For Vivoactive 3

Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 4. Depending on the size of your wrist, you get to choose a suitable Vivoactive 4.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 – Pros & Cons

Garmin Vivoactive 4 – Pros & Cons

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs 4: Picking the Watch That’s Right For You

In our opinion, the Garmin Vivoactive 3 is an ideal fit for you if you’re looking for a watch that supports basic fitness tracking features, monitors heart rate, and keeps tabs on your day-to-day activities at an affordable price.

However, if you’re an outdoor enthusiast leading an active lifestyle and you’re looking for a smartwatch that goes the extra mile, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 is the way to go, although it’s not the most budget-friendly option.

The Garmin Vivoactive 4 satisfies your cravings for additional features in a smartwatch. It gives you in-depth health analysis, tracks and gives reports on daily exercises, has an inbuilt storage space for music, and many other notable additions that you’ll appreciate.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Best Watch Faces

Garmin

I purchased a Garmin Vivoactive watch to be able to run the raceQs sailing tactics racing watch app. I’ve actually purchased two of these watches. I purchased the first in early 2020 when I saw it on sale for around $120 on a discount site. I used a little bit with the RaceQs app https://raceqs.com/smart-watch/ before the COVID-19 Pandemic shut down all sailboat racing, and then used the watch more for its built in GPS bike tracking and walk tracking features during the summer. Towards the end of the summer when I was getting back into sailboat racing, I was wearing the watch on my right hand and managed to knock the strap loose while tying fenders to the lifeline. The watch bounced once on the deck before going overboard. It took me a few months before I saw another deal online that convinced me to buy a second watch.

I have a long data history with Fitbit, and currently wear a Charge 3. It’s similar to the newer Charge 4, but without the GPS tracking features. I like the smaller profile on my wrist of the fitbit, and have been wearing it or something similar 24 hours a day for the last five years. The larger size of the Garmin makes it harder to convince myself to switch to away from the Fitbit for my general data tracking, when though I’ve learned that when I don’t use the GPS features of the Garmin it has similar battery life to the Fitbit. I like the always on watch face of the Garmin, especially after I picked an analog style watch face.

I like using the RaceQs app on the watch while sailing, especially with the more recent editions features of automatically uploading race data to the website. I have some issues, that I mainly believe are because of the touchscreen abilities with the garmin watch. I believe that the app would be much better served on a watch with an array of buttons surrounding the watch face. The pictures of the app on its website appear to show a button centric watch.

The way I use the watch for sailing is that I wait till I’m on the boat, preparing for a start. Then I start the raceQ app on the watch, wait for it to get a GPS fix and go to the timer setting. Then I configure the timer for the appropriate countdown to my start and start the countdown. Then I explicitly press and hold the crown button until I can press the lock icon, locking the touchscreen. I’ve found that if I don’t lock the touchscreen, inadvertent touches will change what’s displayed on the screen, and cause the app to change modes. I do my best not to touch the app until after my race has completed.

Sometimes I notice the app is on a page that asks if I want to exit, with a check (✔) or cross (❌) option. I’ve found that the best option is to not enter anything until after the race has completed.

I wish that the raceq screen displayed GPS time on all screens, including the screen asking if I wanted to exit the app. There are plenty of times that I’ve been hiking on the rail and the skipper wants the exact time recorded for when we’ve crossed the finish line. with the watch locked, there’s no way to get the time on the watch quickly.

The app automatically calculates tacking angles to the mark after one set of windward/leeward marks have been rounded, which seems nice, but in my position on the boat, isn’t as important to me as the start timer, or the real time of finish.

Vivoactive 3 Best Watch Face App

I don’t know if there’s a way of creating screen shots of the watch display similar to what’s on a phone. It would be nice for describing after the fact what was going on, but with the limited storage and buttons on the phone, don’t expect there’s a way of doing so.