Review on 🌟 Garmin Vívoactive 3 GPS Smartwatch with Contactless Payments & Built-In Sports Apps, Black/Slate - Model 010-01769-11 by Rod Evans

This is my first fitness watch. After a lot of research, I've found that this fits my intended performance and price range. I was not disappointed. I've read and researched a lot about wrist heart monitors. Everything I read suggested they weren't very accurate and that the monitor had to be uncomfortably narrow to be accurate. While I haven't checked my heart rate in front of another monitor on the watch at the same time, as a fitness trainer (indoor exercise bike) I have a pretty good idea of my heart rate during a workout. The Vivoactive seems good value for money even when not strapped on (a bit of play on my wrist). I really like that I can customize the display to look like a traditional watch. The picture above is of me just the way I like it. Very simple, just time, temperature and date. There's a lot more data that can be set on the watch display, but I like the cleanliness. The image shows a backlit display (when the screen is touched) but when the display is not backlit it is visible in normal light or bright sunlight and can easily be confused with real watch hands under glass. I've seen several people be surprised to find that they are looking at a screen rather than the traditional clock hands. The functions of this watch are amazing. There are many apps that can be installed (from different watch faces to turn-by-turn navigation). If you don't use GPS, it only consumes 5-8% of battery power for 24 hours, even if you wear it at night and track your movements and heart rate while you sleep. I am an avid cyclist. I really put the battery to the test when I completed an exhilarating 110-mile ride over a period of about 8 hours (driving casually and stopping a lot). I left the watch in bike mode with GPS always on (tracking speed, incline, heart rate, and position). At the end of the trip I had about 8% battery left. Not bad for GPS, which runs at high sample rates for speed, position, and heart rate all the time. One caveat: it's not particularly accurate at estimating altitude or altitude, but there's little GPS, even if they have a barometer. In terms of speed and distance, it matched my cycling computer almost perfectly. I find it incredibly helpful to be able to see who is calling and reading text messages. Now, without taking out my phone, I can see if I need to answer the call and ignore it with or without a reply SMS. And while you can't type on the watch, you can set up a large number of text replies on your phone that sync to the watch. I can now reply to about 90% of text messages with one of my 20-30 custom text replies, which often saves me time when I have to pull out my phone. I heard some people complained about scratches on the silver bracelet. I'm glad I went with the metal gun. I wear a watch while working on a home renovation and have often bumped it into things. Still no visible scratches. One caveat: the first watch I received had a defective Bluetooth module from the start, so I had to send it back and get a replacement. But this worked flawlessly for two months, even during the trip. So it's probably too early for me to talk about durability.