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Vivoactive 4 or forerunner 245?

Former Member
Former Member over 4 years ago

My dilemma is the split between swimming and trail running. I really like both watches for their features and music abilities however the vivoactive has a barometer and the forerunner not and this is highly frustrating when doing trail running.

So what I would like to know is;

1. How accurate is the vivoactive's barometer for elevation profiles when running or biking (not when sitting on the coach or in day to day activities)?

2. How accurate is the elevation correction on software like Garmin connect or Strave?

3. In your opinion which should I buy?

Thanks a lot!

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Got a VA4 and was disappointed at first, but after a few updates it got better.

    1. The barometer ist, for me, kind of good. The point is, that if you start an activity you should at least wait after the GPS-fix for 20-30 seconds before you start your run/bike-tour. In this 20-30 seconds the barometer calibrates itself so you dont have a jump in the very first meters of your run from 400m above 0 to 200m above 0.

    2. Didn't used it by now. For my understanding if you set the switch to on/off it just switches between gps-data and the barometer-data. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

    3. At first I was goint for the VA4 because of the respiratino-feature which was missing on the FR245. But this was implemented to the FR245 with an update so they nearly have the same featureset now. 

    So, if you want a barometer for sure, take the VA4, otherwise I would take the FR245 because of the advanced running-features and the compability with more sensors.

    Best regards! 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    I am on the same boat as you, still undecided on what to buy: VA4 has some nice features (touchscreen, metal bezel), FR245 is more oriented for runners. From what I read GPS accuracy on FR245 is better than VA4. Also HR sensor seems to be more precise with FR245 (this is quite difficult to understand since both watches have the same sensor).

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Backes889

    What does respiratino-feature do?

    About barometer...as I have heard, there are so many fault reading from Vivo 3 and 4. I this it is better go go with 245

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member
    From what I read GPS accuracy on FR245 is better than VA4. Also HR sensor seems to be more precise with FR245 (this is quite difficult to understand since both watches have the same sensor).

    I don't understand it either. I would imagine they should perform the same and just have different feature sets and hence target different crowd. Has this been actually confirmed by side by side tests? I was considering VA4 over FR245 but since apparently the barometer is completely useless it would seem that the only advantage of VA4 is payments. If FR245 is much more accurate and has some additional running features I might reconsider it. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    The thing about GPS...it depends also on antena not only sensor - at least that is what i have read.