Garmin The Fitbit Charge 5 is one of the best fitness trackers right now but maybe not for long! Enter the Garmin vivosmart 5, the wearable giant's fifth iteration of the beloved – well, popular – fitness band. The new wearable comes with a completely revamped physical design and introduces interchangeable bands, "making replacement easy and convenient", as Garmin explains.
Of course, the vivosmart 5 has all the Garmin features under the sun, including Pulse Ox, 24/7 heart rate monitoring, Body Battery energy monitoring, all-day stress tracking and more. Better still, unlike some of the premium features of the Fitbit Charge 5, all vivosmart 5 features are available to all without any subscription fees!
Garmin vivosmart 5: Price and availability
The Garmin vivosmart 5 was released on 20 April 2022 and is available to buy now at Garmin US, Garmin UK and Garmin AU for a recommended retail price of $149.99/£129.99/AU$229.
The Garmin vivosmart 5 is available in two sizes (standard, large) and three colourways: White, Black and Cool Mint. The large version is available in Black at the time of writing.
the Garmin vivosmart 5 comes in three colourways: White, Black and Mint Green
Garmin vivosmart 5: What's new?
It must be tricky for Garmin to market new wearables as some of its watches are absolutely overpowered. The Garmin Fenix 7X and the Garmin epix (Gen 2), in particular, have all the features anyone can ever ask for from a multisport watch; no wonder they are some of the best Garmin watches money can buy.
The vivosmart 5 borrows many features already seen in these wearables and scales them down to make them more accessible. It has the latest Elevate heart rate sensor, which samples heart rate multiple times per second, 24-hours a day. This capable fitness tracker also gives alerts for abnormally high and low heart rates that have been configured by the user.
There is also advanced sleep tracking on offer here: the vivosmart 5 provides a sleep score, giving its users an analysis of the quantity and quality of their sleep, assigning a score based on time spent in sleep stages, amount of movement, stress levels and more.
The vívosmart 5 also monitors blood oxygen levels (Pulse Ox – at night, all-day or on-demand), respiration, Body Battery energy levels, all-day stress, hydration and women’s health.
Sadly, it hasn't got built-in GPS – the Charge 5 takes the lead here, although the GPS performance of the Fitbit is far from being mind-blowing. At least the vivosmart 5 has a bright, 66% larger touchscreen display than its predecessor, and it displays text in large format for easier readability.
The vívosmart 5 introduces interchangeable bands, making replacement easy and convenient. It's also swim—and shower-proof and has a battery life of up to 7 days.
