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In theory, hybrid watches should be the best of both worlds: sleek and beautiful on the wrist, but capable of discreetly tracking your health and delivering notifications. Companies tend to put a premium on that chic design, leaving you with a watch that is not as functional as others in its price range. The entry-level Vivomove Sport is $179.99 and has a design and feature set that matches the price. It feels like we are getting somewhere.
The first new hybrid since the launch of the 3 / 3S and theLuxe, Style, and 3 / 3S was the Vivomove Sport. The Sport looks like a watch. My mint green review unit looks a lot like this particular Swatch. A flick of the wrist or double-tap to the display will reveal your fitness features. The display reminds me a lot of what augmented reality glasses try to do. It is easier to see your data and notifications compared to the last hybrid I tested, the Withings ScanWatch.
There are limitations to hybrid displays. If you want to stay in the loop, the Sport is a good choice. You can see who is trying to reach you from the bottom half of the screen. This is a watch that tells you when to look at your phone. It is not the kind that allows you to leave it at home. There are no payments, there is no speaker or microphone, and there is no tethering of the gps device. Quick replies to texts can be used by owners of theAndroid. You can set timers, start breathing sessions, log hydration, and view health metrics.
You can move between the menus by using the left and right fingers. To select, tap once. You can go back to the previous menu by tapping the tiny arrow that pops up. A long press is a good way to get a quick shortcut to the workout app. The navigation is a little clunky. Yes. This is true for every hybrid watch I have ever tested. Fossil uses a different navigation system for its e-ink hybrid. The only time it failed me was when I had sweaty fingers after a workout, which is why a lot of athletes are pro-physical buttons.
You can get close to a hands-off experience. I got closer to 3–4 with frequent gps activities, but it has an estimated five days of battery life. That is a good option for a hybrid but not as good as a smartwatches. If you don't want to, you don't have to sync every day. It has up to 10 timed activities and 14 days of data.
This is a tracker in a wristwatch.
This is a no frills fitness tracker. The design is cute and functional, and the options are versatile for multiple looks. I like the bougie divorcee energy of the Fitbit Luxe, but it sometimes looks too much like a tracker for dressier occasions. I would have to get a new strap. I wouldn't have to with that. It is also comfortable. The 40mm case is smaller than most of the wristables on the market, and it doesn't affect my small bird wrists. It doesn't get caught on jacket sleeves, I don't have to worry about the silicone straps getting sweaty after a workout, and it's very lightweight.
Noupscale is a file onchorusasset.com.
The hidden OLED is good enough to let you know when to check your phone.
You can take my word for it. I have a friend who loves to rant about how uncomfortable all the watches I test are for her, and she will never buy one. She grabbed my arm and asked if the Sport was smart. I would wear this.
You would be wrong to assume that the Sport does not have health features. It has SpO2 sensors that can alert you of abnormal heart rate. Continuous measurement of your respiration rate, fitness age, stress, and blood oxygen levels can be done during sleep and spot checks. Stress tracking on most devices is still a work in progress, but it is better than most. The body battery is a metric that shows how much energy you have. It measures a combination of your sleep quality, exercise, stress, and heart rate variability to determine whether or not you should push it or take it easy. Wearables can be hit or miss. Over the years, the version from Garmin has grown on me as a helpful tool for figuring out when to recover.
The Sport is accurate for a hybrid. The watches are terrible at tracking the gps activity. The Sport was dead on with my Apple Watch Series 7. On a 3-mile run, the Sport reported 3.04 miles and the Series 7 reported three miles. The casual users of this watch will not be bothered by the fact that I was 10 seconds faster per mile.
If you like heart rate zone training, this isn't a good choice. The Sport isn't an exception when it comes to looking at your statistics mid- exercise. It was difficult for me to evaluate real-time heart rate accuracy, but after reviewing my data, it was found that my max and average heart rate was the same as the Series 7.
Noupscale is a file onchorusasset.com.
More advanced health metrics can be achieved with a good number of sensors.
I wouldn't pick this watch for rock climbing or dirt biking. This is more suited to indoor workouts. It has 5 ATM of water resistance, and it can be taken into the pool, as it has no problem with showers or dishwashing.
My biggest complaint is the same as every other watch I have tested: the app is a mess. It's like discovering more menus within other menus in a real Russian Doll scenario. It is difficult to find what you are looking for. I love how detailed the data is. I don't like how it's organized. If you want to get into your historical data over time, it's fine for viewing your day-to-day data. There are at least five menu categories for health and fitness metrics, as well as dozens of subcategories and graphs for each individual metric. I recommend linking to a fitness app for a better experience. Integrating with another service is probably going to be a better experience if you like the social aspect like challenges and ribbing your friends.
We feel very strongly about not charging you the ability to access your data, and that is something we will continue to do.
When it comes to basic trackers, Garmin has a good fight on its hands. I would pick the Sport between the two. All this data is free in the app even though it is more expensive. You will eventually need a premium subscription to get the most out of the app. Once the free trial period is over, you need to pay more for advanced sleep insights and readiness scores. The Sport is more affordable over time. I asked the company if it would ever consider a subscription model like many of its competitors. The project lead for the Venu 2 Plus said the company wouldn't lock data behind a paywall. It is your data, said McClendon. We feel very strongly about not charging you the ability to access your data, and that is something we will continue to do.
Noupscale is a file onchorusasset.com.
The app is easy to use, but I wish it was simpler to navigate.
The core audience for hybrid watches is casual users, and they were too expensive to be worth it. The e-ink is cool and Fossil's hybrid is elegant. It is not a good choice for activity tracking or health features because they are a pain to navigate after a while. The Withings Steel HR is the closest alternative, but it has a small notification window. If you want to have more of a sense of elegance and simplicity, I would recommend the Steel HR. The Sport is better if you are more active.
The Sport is the way to go if you want to commit to running or cycling regularly but not at the expense of style.
Victoria Song is a photographer for The Verge.
Every smart device requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it. It is not possible for us to read and analyze all of these agreements. We are going to start counting how many times you have to agree to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people can't negotiate.
To use the device, you must have a compatible phone. The phone's terms of service, privacy policy, and any other permission you grant are included. You need to create an account for the app.
You agree to this by setting up the Garmin Vivomove Sport.
Privacy and legal policies are available within the app. You have to grant the app certain phone privileges. LiveTrack comes with an end- user license agreement. You have to agree to give your health data to the company if you want to participate in the Insights program. You have to agree to individual terms and policies when you integrate your activity data with other services.
Whatever your phone requires, plus three mandatory policies and four phone permission for smart features. There are policies for health and safety features.
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