Much like arch-rival Fitbit, Garmin is primarily known for its line of ultra-affordable, feature-packed activity trackers, one of which was recently on sale at a massive discount in refurbished condition with a full one-year warranty. Unlike Fitbit, Garmin also specializes in “premium multisport” watches, some of which are available for close to or even north of $1,000 apiece.
But the company makes “mainstream” smartwatches too, one model of which is currently marked down by a cool $80 at the time of this writing on Amazon. The
Garmin Vivoactive 3 is not exactly an
Apple Watch Series 4 slayer, but at this substantially discounted price, it doesn’t really have to be. All it needs is to tick most of the same boxes as the $200
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, which it certainly does.
You’ve got your built-in GPS support, heart rate monitor, NFC technology for contactless payment capabilities on your wrist, a decent 1.2-inch touchscreen with 240 x 240 resolution, and a battery life of up to 7 days (in “smartwatch mode”, with GPS functionality downgrading that endurance rating to only 13 hours). The Vivoactive 3 is even fully swim-proof, unlike the
Galaxy Watch Active, while greatly focusing on accurately tracking various types of workouts and athletic activities, from running to swimming to yoga.
Although the sporty and somewhat bulky design of this fitness-centric smartwatch might not be everyone’s cup of tea, we’re definitely not looking at an ugly device, with a circular face, strong stainless steel bezel, and a black silicon band combined with a slate color for the single variant on sale today. There are obviously other paint jobs you could go for, including a stylish white/rose gold combo, but that’s slightly pricier.
Apart from things like standalone cellular connectivity or Apple’s life-saving features, which you probably know not to expect from an inexpensive Garmin, the Vivoactive 3 also comes without Spotify integration and on-device music storage functionality. That’s what the costlier
Vivoactive 3 Music version is for.
