Computer Shopper - UK (2020-03)

ISSUE 3385|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MARCH2020 43

SPECIFICATIONS

JUSTINTIMEtoreplacethelong-in-the-tooth
Vivoactive 3 (Shopper 3 62),Garmin’sVivoactive
4bringsalonganoverhauleddesignanda
startlinglywiderangeofnewfeatures.
Itcomesinacoupleofdifferentsizes,too.
We’refocusingonthe45mmVivoactive4,
but there’salsoa40mm4Sversionfor
smallerwrists.Bothexhibitimprovedlooks
comparedtotheVivoactive3:narrower
bordersandglassthat’ssubtlycurvedatthe
edgesmakeforawatchthatlooksmore
sophisticatedthanitspredecessor.Inthe
45mmVivoactive4’scase,itevenmanages
thiswithalargerscreen,upfrom1.2in
previouslyto1.3inhere.Thescreenisn’tan
AMOLEDpanel,butratheratransflective
memory-in-pixeldisplaythat’seasilylegiblein
brightsunlightand,importantly,alwayson.

CARRYATUNE
Musicplaybackisundoubtedlythestandout
feature.Thiswasabsentontheoriginal
Vivoactive3,onlybeingintroducedlateron
theVivoactive3Musicspin-off,buthereit’s
includedasstandard.Notonlycanyou
transfermusicfilesdirectlytothewatch,but
alsoconnecttothird-partyservicessuchas
Spotify,AmazonMusicandDeezer.Although
you’llneedaPremiumsubscriptiontodothis,
it’sfarmoreconvenientthantransferring
personalmusicfiles,whichrequiresyouto
installtheGarminExpressapponyourPC.
DownloadingsongsfromSpotifyfeelsa
bitclunkyatfirst,butitsoonfeelsmuch
quickeeerrraaannndddeeeaaasssiiiiieeerrr,aaannndddwwwiiittthhhaaasssuuuiiitttaaabbbbbllleeepppaaaiiirrr
ofBluetoothheaaaadphonesyou’llbeaaaable
tolisteeentomusiiiiconrunsandbike
rides wwwithoutneeeeedingggga
smartphoneorMMMMP3playeeeer.
Asforothernew
featurrres,boththhhhe
Vivoacccttttiiiive4 444 andddddd 4444 SSSS
gettheBodyBaaaattery
functionthatwaaaas
firstinnnnnttttrrrroooodddduuuucccceeeedddd
ontheeeVivosmart
4fitneeesstrackerrrr
(Shopppper374).
Thisusessleep
qualityyy,stressleeeevel
andaccctivitydataaaato
scoreyoooouuuurrrrccccuuuurrrrrrrreeeeeeeennnntttt
energyyyreservesoutof
100,leeettingyouknowat
aglancccceeeewwwwhhhheeeennnnttttooooooeeeexxxxeeeerrrrcccciiiisssseeee
orwheeentorest.Itso
gimmiiicky,butwwwwef hhhh

GARMINVivoactive4

★★★★★

£260•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

More an exercise in refinement than revolution, but
the Vivoactive4does more than enoughtosucceed

FITNESSSMARTWATCH

it workswell,anddd

can potentiallybbbe

helpfulinplanninnnga

workoutschedullle.

Anotheradditionis

thePulseOxsennnsor.This

givesyouaninsightintoyour

bloodoxygenlevvvelsduring

sleepandondemmmand,which

canbeusefulforrrdeterminingif

you’veacclimatisssedtoyour

altitudeonhikesss.It’sdifficulttosay

howpracticalthiiisfeatureisinday-to-

dayuse,unlessyyyou’reconcernedyou

mightsufferfrommmaconditionsuchassleep

apnoea.Yourheartrateiiisgenerallllllyabbbetter

indicationofoverallfitnesslevels.

Hydrationtrackingismoreuseful,evenit’s

ultimatelyjustaconvenientwayofmanually

loggingwhatyoudrink,andthere’sanew

menstrualcycletrackingfeatureaswell.

AswithpracticallyeveryotherGarmin

sportswatch,theVivoactive4letsyoutrack

yourpositionusingGPS,Galileoand

GLONASSsatellites.Inadditiontoallthe

regularmodessuchasrunning,cyclingand

poolswimming,theVivoactive4offersan

eclecticrangeofothersports-trackingmodes

suchasgolf,skiing,strength,cardioandyoga.

Ithasallthesimilarlypriceddevicesin

Garmin’sForerunnerrangewellbeatenin

termsofthesheernumberofsportsitwill

track,then.Sadly,however,there’sno

open-waterswimortriathlonmode.

FIT FOR PURPOSE

Whilewehadnnnnoproblemmmmswhatsoooeverwith

GPSaccuracyyyy,,,,it’sworthnotingthat

theVivoacttttive4iscooompatible

withBluetoothandddANT+

cyclinggggspeed/caaadence

sensoooorsanddddffffooootpods,

botttthofwhichhhcan

improvethereliability

ooooffffddddiiiissssttttaaaannnncccceeeessssloggedon

annnnysportswwwatch,

espeeeeciallyifyooouregularly

exerrrrciseinareeeaswitha

pattttchysignal.

Similarly,yyyoucanuse

theeeeVivoactivvve4with

aaaannnneeeextttteeeerrrrnnnnaaaallllhhhheeeart-rate

monnnnitor,althoughagain

there’ssssnoreasonto

uuuuppppggggrrrraaaaddddeeeeeerrrriiiigggghhhhttttaaaawwwwaaaaaysincethe

ctivvvve4doesaaaperfectly

gggg nnnnitsown.Itregularly

camewithinthreeorfourbeatsperminute

ofacheststrapwehadpairedtoaFenix5

Plus,whichisveryaccurateforastandalone

wrist-mountedtracker.

Themainnewsportsfeatureforthe

Vivoactive4isn’tamodeassuch,butrather

its newanimatedguidedworkouts.Simply

openasportsmodefromthewatch,swipe

up,andyou’llseetheoptionforWorkouts.

TappingthisintheStrengthmodereveals

anumberofdifferentoptions,suchas

30-minuteBlastandMaximiseYourUpper

Body.Whenyoustarttheworkout,an

animationappearsonthescreenshowing

you howtoperformtheexercise.

AND EVERYONE’S INVITED

It’sagreatidea,andsomethingthatworks

nicelyalongsideGarminCoach.Setupviathe

Connectmobileapp,thistoolletsyoucreate

personalisedtrainingplansforracesfrom5K

uptohalf-marathondistances.Althoughthat

mightsoundlikeafeatureforseasoned

runners,it’sequallywellsuitedtonewbies

whowishtosetagoalofmerelyfinishing,

ratherthandoingsowithinacertaintime.

Withallthesewell-executedfeatures

and decentbatterylife–wegotaround

fourtofivedaysoutofitwithoccasional

GPS use–theVivoactive4isanexcellent

smartwatch/fitnesstrackerhybrid.Itfixes

theissueswehadwiththeVivoactive3,and

addsmanymorequalitiesbesides.

EdwardMunn

PEDOMETERYes•HEART-RATEMONITORYes•DISPLAY

SIZE1.3in•RESOLUTION 26 0x (^260) • OSSUPPORTAndroid,
iOS•BATTERYLIFEFivedays•WARRANTYOneyearRTB

• DETAILSwww.garmin.com•PART CODE^010 -0^2174 -02