Garmin GPS Smartwatches: Vivoactive 4 or Venu Sq Music

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10-24-2021 at 03:29 AM #3

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R2YW...gToDp&th=1

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10-24-2021 at 09:28 AM #4

Hello all, I am in the market and wondering that Apple watch gets you a lot more features for a little extra cost. Except the price difference, what are the advantages of this watch over the Apple Watch? Does anyone have experience with both for comparison? If it makes any difference, I am already in the Apple ecosystem of devices.

Thank you in advance.

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Last edited by AllChristmas October 24, 2021 at 09:32 AM.

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10-24-2021 at 09:55 AM #5

Quote from AllChristmas

:

Hello all, I am in the market and wondering that Apple watch gets you a lot more features for a little extra cost. Except the price difference, what are the advantages of this watch over the Apple Watch? Does anyone have experience with both for comparison? If it makes any difference, I am already in the Apple ecosystem of devices.

Thank you in advance.

the main difference is that these garmin watches are primarily used for sports and running. so the entire focus of the device is that. the "smart" aspect is basically just notifications from your phone on your watch and that is about it. This is exactly what i want, so the garmin watches work for me. also, the battery life is way better on the garmin watches. i only charge my watch about once every 10 days or so. and that is with using the gps for runs and bluetooth connectivity to my phone for notifications 24x7. not having to charge every night allows the sleep tracking to actually be useful as well. so it just depends on what you're looking for. if you want one to be an actual smart watch, get the apple watch. if you want it for running and sports with a few smart features, get the garmin.

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10-24-2021 at 10:26 AM #6

Quote from AllChristmas

:

Hello all, I am in the market and wondering that Apple watch gets you a lot more features for a little extra cost. Except the price difference, what are the advantages of this watch over the Apple Watch? Does anyone have experience with both for comparison? If it makes any difference, I am already in the Apple ecosystem of devices.

Thank you in advance.

TLDR: If you are an athlete go garmin!

Two different things garmin is a fitness watch and excels at it. iWatch is a lifestyle product. Garmin is geared towards getting you most out of your training as a result a lot of Apple Watch features are either not here or exist in limited capacity. Example being forerunner series that do not offer any touch screen, which is not useful if you're an athlete. Then you have whole apple vs garmin ecosystem.

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10-24-2021 at 10:31 AM #7

Thanks OP, had been tracking Garmin deals for about two weeks with intent to buy. I've really enjoyed my old school Garmin FR 235 first purchased two years ago on discount and its been rock solid for my regular 5K runs and fitness tracking. Its so light and battery life long lasting, its replaced all other dress/mechanical watches in my collection regardless of what I'm wearing.

Wanted to treat myself and look into something with music for longer distance runs. Had been looking at the Garmin Instinct for hiking activities - but I feel like the Vivoactive 4 is attractive for daily wear and the animations will encourage me to extend my jogging into more regular at home exercises. My first dip into this lineup from Garmin. If the FR 935 in the sale had music, I probably would have bought that instead.

Amazon offering 10% back too on in-house Amazon credit card purchase to me. Great price.

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10-24-2021 at 11:35 AM #9

I've been using the Garmin VA series for about 3 years now. My main use is step-counting and standup paddle surfing but it has a lot of built in activities too.
It's a great watch for surfing but you have to load the Surf Tracker data field and apply it to on of the existing gps-based apps (like SUP) but once you set it up it counts how many waves you caught, whether it was a right or a left, how far you rode the wave, how fast your fastest wave was, etc.. Also, once synced up to your phone it shows you a map of where you traced (spaghetti map). It will also track sleep and most of the other things these kind of watches do ~ like heart rate, etc.. Battery life is pretty decent, too..

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10-24-2021 at 11:41 AM #10

Quote from JohnCena1337

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these have terrible connection with your bluetooth earbuds. be prepared for random hiccups or disconnects. i would not recommend.

I have the Vivoactive Music 3, not this newer version, but I use mine all the time with my Jabra Elite 65's and have never had a problem with hiccups or disconnects. Just a counterpoint.

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10-24-2021 at 11:48 AM #11

I've got the Vivoactive 3. Been using it for years for running and golfing. It's excellent at both for my purposes - I'm not a serious athlete in either, so it definitely gets the job done. Also pretty happy with notifications from my Pixel. The battery life is pretty horrible now, but it's almost 4 years old so it's not surprising.

I'm going to hold off and hope for a Vivoactive 5. I don't see enough of a difference between the 3 and 4 for my use case.

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10-24-2021 at 11:53 AM #12

Get an additional $10 off if you reload a gift card. It was an add on my checkout screen. (You have to reload at least $100.) I received the full $110 verification email literally 1 minute after purchase.

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10-24-2021 at 11:56 AM #13

What is battery life? My Vivoactive 3 is about three days with normal use. My older HR model used to get one week of battery life.

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10-24-2021 at 12:08 PM #14

My wife has been losing big weight but isn't satisfied with her Fitbit versa 2. These Garmins are EXPENSIVE. This sale plus gift card money equals a 935 for Christmas for her. Looks like this should solve all her Fitbit issues though the idea of paying $100 for a heart rate strap is bananas

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10-24-2021 at 12:10 PM #15

Quote from lawstudent

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Thanks OP, had been tracking Garmin deals for about two weeks with intent to buy. I've really enjoyed my old school Garmin FR 235 first purchased two years ago on discount and its been rock solid for my regular 5K runs and fitness tracking. Its so light and battery life long lasting, its replaced all other dress/mechanical watches in my collection regardless of what I'm wearing.

Wanted to treat myself and look into something with music for longer distance runs. Had been looking at the Garmin Instinct for hiking activities - but I feel like the Vivoactive 4 is attractive for daily wear and the animations will encourage me to extend my jogging into more regular at home exercises. My first dip into this lineup from Garmin. If the FR 935 in the sale had music, I probably would have bought that instead.

Amazon offering 10% back too on in-house Amazon credit card purchase to me. Great price.

If you have been using a 235 for a bit you will miss the buttons! Well, at least I did when I went 235 > VA3. Didn't stay long on the VA3 and snagged a Fenix having the ability to fully interact with your watch while doing wet activities or wearing gloves, etc. is almost a necessity at least for me. Just something to consider.

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