New VA4 - Live review

Amazing how after 12 days, no Garmin staff (mentioned and PM-ed on top) has reacted in any way, shape or form to this thread...
Glad i returned the VA4. Support / post-sales is a deal-breaker those days, you know...I'd expect this from Huawei, but Garmin? Come on...

Just read the whole review, very nice! Thank you for that. 
What I would like to know, how is the all day heart rate comparing the VA4 and the GT2? Which one do you feel is more accurate? 

Thanks for the feedback! All day HR is pretty much the same from what i noticed, but didn't look specifically at that.

By the way, the latest GT2 FW update fixed the resting HR display bug. Official statement from Huawei reg. SpO2 sensor is that in Europe they're still waiting for some kind of clearance to enable it. In China they have it already.

Strange that the Honor Band 5 (same company as Huawei no?) has SpO2 enabled via FW update since last month, available also in European markets.

I find Garmin a little lazy, they're like SONY in the 90's, which they're famous for their CRT televisions, camcorders and walkmans. But as the time goes on and the technology develops, they just escaped from bankruptcy, thanks to Play Station platform. The rise of new rivals on the home theatre, mobile and sound technology such as Apple, Samsung, LG, Sennheiser, JBL etc., they just lagged behind...

I think Garmin is on the edge, Apple will blow it away. The reasons to prefer Garmin over Apple Watch are;
- Design
- Battery life
- Metric richness (Garmin Connect platform; just the advantage of being older on this market)

Apple has;
- Better heart rate sensor accuracy, nearly the same as chest strap
- Better GPS accuracy
- Better sleep analyzing
- Better screen 
- Better and faster interface and operating system

The only thing Garmin adds to it's newer devices is; new First Beat features.

- No signicifant improvement on display: Screen resolution is nearly the same, 200+ pixels x 200+ pixels
- No signicifant improvement on sensors: heart rate sensor is updated but still not the best, Sony GPS is slightly better
- Interface is still the same, laggy and not very fast.

In a couple of years, Apple will probably update it's device with a longer battery life, more stylish design and more rich health and sports related metrics and features. And Garmin will probably be busy with adding new first beat features with the same older sensors and screens.

Then who will prefer Garmin ?

agree with most of the above, with few mentions:

- Apple does not have native sleep tracking
- Apple does not have better GPS accuracy 

other than that, i'm sure they will have proper battery (week long) in the next AW, along with native sleep tracking and SpO2, which together with HR & RHR are the base for decent sleep analysis. Blood pressure & glucose readings are a bit too far, but El Cocinero seems bent on making big health contributions to the world apparently...

Not sure they will implement anything close to Garmin Connect though, because they're not stupid. There's already very good platforms out there, they just will integrate better with them. In-house Apple Health, Activity & Watch apps need major rehaul, esp. the new Health app. Expect probably in iOS 14 something...they bundled location apps in "Find My..." in iOS13, might as well do the same for Health. Right now it's not Apple-like at all....3 apps, all over the place.

Oh and by the time AW6 is out next year, i'm sure some Garmin folk would've discovered this thread...
Sorry but can't help being ironic.

7187100 said:

agree with most of the above, with few mentions:

- Apple does not have native sleep tracking
- Apple does not have better GPS accuracy

Yes, it doesn't have a native sleep tracking but i read your review above and found that AW has better sleep track with 3rd party apps. Am i wrong ? Last night my device (FR 245) miscalculated my sleep stage about +2 hours. It counted as sleeping while i was semi-lying and watching TV. And sometimes it  misses to show deep sleep or ram sleep info.

As far as i know, AW 4 has the most accurate GPS performance. I watched and read many reviews about it.

7187100 said:

other than that, i'm sure they will have proper battery (week long) in the next AW, along with native sleep tracking and SpO2, which together with HR & RHR are the base for decent sleep analysis. Blood pressure & glucose readings are a bit too far, but El Cocinero seems bent on making big health contributions to the world apparently...

Apple is capable of doing everything, even glucose reading & blood pressure. Omron has been dealing with a such kind of project already. And there are some Chinese made watches & bands that can measure blood pressure. And some of them seem darn accurate. The only problem is getting FDA approval. It's the first and the only company that has FDA approved ECG feature. I'm not sure whether Samsung got it too.

7187100 said:

Not sure they will implement anything close to Garmin Connect though, because they're not stupid. There's already very good platforms out there, they just will integrate better with them. In-house Apple Health, Activity & Watch apps need major rehaul, esp. the new Health app. Expect probably in iOS 14 something...they bundled location apps in "Find My..." in iOS13, might as well do the same for Health. Right now it's not Apple-like at all....3 apps, all over the place.

Apple does not gain inspiration from Garmin Connect, they will surely improve Aple Health. 

In the past i used Polar, Samsung and Fitbit devices. FR 245 is my 3rd Garmin. I actually like Garmin a lot but HR accuracy is my absolute must.

It really pisses me off seeing a SMART WATCH has better HR accuracy than a more expensive one with a SPORTS WATCH label. It's like seeing a Toyota Corolla which accelerates and goes faster and holds the road better than a Bugatti Veyron. How can this be possible ? If i were a Garmin Engineer that works in the relevant department, i swear i wouldn't receive my salary until i improve the HR sensor to the same/above quality. I would purchase an Apple Watch with my own money and would examine it entirely to discover how they managed to get such an successful HR sensor. Or just transfer an engineer from Valencell or Mio Global and order them to enchance the quality of HR sensor, is it too difficult ? Mio Fuse and Alpha series had great HR sensors in the past. Come on man ! 

- yes, with 3rd party it does a very good job at sleep tracking
- GPS accuracy is improved maybe with series 4 and 5, but corners are still rounded off too many times.
- well, Apple SHOULD look at Garmin Connect because it is a very good analytics and presentation layer.
- yes, yes, yes i really wait for them to improve Health app, but i'm not sure it makes sense for them to go full analytics on it, because the AW is not marketed as a sportwatch first and foremost.

Haha, definitely, i can bet Garmin and Apple engineers have taken a few Huawei Watch GT and GT2 apart to try figure out how the damn thing is built and battery lasts for 2 weeks ffs.

Even BMW and Mercedes bought Tesla cars to take them apart for study

Offtopic, I am glad Fitbit got eaten by Google. Their forums were full of unresolved issues since Ionic times, with no improvements ranging until Versa 2 (3 generations later). 

2 months on and still no reaction from Garmin on this thread and findings?
wtf...

Have you received any feedback directly or via private message from a Garmin staff regarding this review ? Would you recommend GT 2 instead of VA 4 ?