So through the @FitnessRewards ½ price Garmin Scheme I was able to upgraded from my much loved VivoSmartHR to the new VivoActiveHR. The unit has not been available that long in the UK and I had been waiting for some time to be able to buy one with desperate hopes that it would not disappoint me.

As always, the time from order to delivery was swift and I was very excited to unwrap my new toy. I love the new box designs from Garmin with the clear window luring you into getting the new bit of kit out of the box and onto your wrist. This had a negative fact for me as I didn’t sync my VivoSmartHR fully before setting the new one up which meant I lost 8000 steps but it was a small price to pay to get the new watch on my wrist.

The new VivoActiveHR does all the smart things that the VivoSmartHR does but with the added bonus of a much larger screen and GPS to make it a great basic training watch. Personally I feel this may become the watch of choice as a multi-sport watch over the forerunners as the price point (£209) puts it in the run watch market. You can track daily steps and activity, activity minutes, receive Smart notifications from your phone and control your music to mention just a few.
I noticed the colour screen was clear and crisp straight away and I know some like the square design of the old version but I love the sleeker wrap round design much nicer and more of a daily watch than a training watch.

I have worn the watch every day and night since its purchase and find it very comfortable and easy to use. I found the syncing with my iphone very easy and navigating through the menus child’s play. I am a big Garmin fan and I know some prefer other platforms for their feedback but I find the Garmin Connect app simple, smart and versatile.

I guess the real test came with training, as I have moved into triathlon I wanted to get a watch that could record all 3 training disciplines so I was keen to try all three. The display is nice and big and easy to see both on day and night runs and using a rubber bike mount I could see the read out with ease when on the bike. It has settings to track every activity you can think of and also you can download more in the IQ app.

I find that the GPS connects super quick and I no longer have to do the ‘standing for a signal’ dance pre runs as I have with Garmin’s of the past. Garmin have really worked on this over the models. The same can be said for the optical HR. I haven’t done a direct comparison with a HR Strap but I’m happy that the range is very close to that of my strapped GPS. (Optical HR does not work on swim mode)

I was more intrigued to see how it would fair with the swim. The VivoActiveHR is not set up to log Open water swimming but can record pool swims, however I have now downloaded an app from Garmin IQ Store which supports the watch for this but at point of writing this I have not tested it out. So the pool length can be set for different pools which is ideal as I train in both a 25m and 20m pool. I was really impressed with accuracy and feedback you get on swim sessions and this has really helped me to improve.

The IQ app is great, simple to use and gives you lots of options to personalise your watch. As Garmin develop more watch’s the watch faces and apps become even more varied, all that I have found so far were free too.
I have found the battery live to be good. I tend to stick it on charge every 5 days while I sleep as I have become less transfixed by my sleep patter as of late.

So was it worth the wait? I absolutely love it! It is simple to use ideal for day to day use and is great to indoor swims, runs (Indoor and out) and Rides. If you are looking for a stylish day to day watch that can track steps and intensity as well as then switch into training more without the bulk of a training watch I would look no further.

Review by @MattUpston