Vivoactive 4 buy now or wait for Vivoactive 5?

I recently got a Vivoactive 4 as an change to my Fitbit Charge 4 and I am really happy with it. It does everything I want from a device - good GPS tracking although why you can’t pause a workout is beyond me, Garmin pay which works well and so on. Yes the sleep tracking is a bit ordinary (Fitbit have that nailed) and I am sure it can be improved with a better algorithm but it isn’t a dealbreaker for me - it is apparently better than the Apple Watch though. 

The Charge 4 has numerous problems so I wouldn’t recommend buying that.

I do have one question though - in a earlier post someone mentioned the algorithms were better on the higher end devices, does that mean the sleep tracking is better or what is actually better? I might consider a higher end Garmin down the track but need convincing to spend the dollars. 

Don't buy a vivoactive. Sleeptracking just doesn't work. I got my step goal while sitting on the toilet today or driving. Stairs counter is way of. OX sensor is very inaccurate, not to say useless. After 2 years, the software isn't even finished. And if you're lucky your bug gets fixed after 4 months while hoping the new bugs introduced won't affect you.

Judging by the va3 and va4, the va5 won't be any different. If you want cheap, buy a Xiaomi miband, those thing are amazingly accurate and is 5x cheaper.

Jakub said:

On the other hand, this is one of only a few watches which at this price have good battery life, offline spotify playlists and contactless payments, which are quite important things to me

I have to agree with Jakub. Whether you have the best sensors in the world or the best sleep tracker ot the best sport watch  or the best screen or battery ... that is balance you need to measure yourself based on your needs.

I have had a Fitbit Blaze, a Ticwatch pro 3 gps and now a Garmin Vivoactive 4.

For my use, I can't stand a battery life of 2 days, so Samsung was not an option.

All the fancy smart apps were a bit of a gimmick trick as I did not use them much.

Notifications in the watch seemed redundant as I am near my phone / laptop a lot.

So it was about the health tracking and sport activity tracking including water sports, then sleep tracking  (I sleep well  in general) and contactless payment.

I got the Tickwatch and like it a lot, but it failed and it was returned under warranty.

Fitbit Sense / Versa were the best all round option but I did not like the style (take that into account as it's going to be you the one looking at the watch everyday), So garmin had a good offer on Amazon and here I am.

So for everyone, weight what you need VS what you want. You may get surprised sometimes. 

For me, a regular sleeper, the sleep tracking does in fact work rather well. Same with step and stair counting. It is pretty much spot on. OX sensor, stress and breathing measurements are however not accurate, but they are not important for me. I really like that the display is on always, and showing seconds. I like Garmin Pay, and I like that it can sync over Wifi. I like the wide variety of apps on IQ store, and it is nice to be able to play music directly from the watch by bluetooth for treadmill sessions. 

The things I miss to make to make it appear perfect: Sleep widget, support for external Garmin sensors, support for courses, and better backlight control during the night.

Wow thank you for the perspective. Just learnt that the One Plus watch is launching in about a week with a claimed 14 day battery life, amoled screen and all the sensor bells and whistles. Dont know the accuracy and quality of theses sensors but seeing the posts the Garmins also have issues. Price is very attractive for the One Pus watch. Need to check reviews and real life usage before taking any decision. 

I have posted this quite a few places, but I would highly recommend the VA3 at the current price. Maybe others have noticed more, but the only difference to the VA4 is a larger display and PulseOX. I was happy with my VA3 and upgraded to the VA4 for both those reasons. The larger display is nice but I don't use PulseOx because battery life is already much less than the VA3 without it on.

There are other differences. VA4 has Wifi, which is very practical. It can also read the heart rate while swimming. And it has an extra button and an animated on screen yoga instructor! :-)

But I agree. My wife bought the VA3. Great value for money.

I was actually waiting for release of OnePlus watch before ordering my VA4 and once it happened I've placed an order for Garmin. So far I don't hear much good feedback about OnePlus e.g. this https://www.wired.com/review/oneplus-watch/

I wasn't very happy with activity tracking of my Xiaomi Amazfit Bip watches, and heart rate was very unreliable. But yes they are better at sleep tracking especially with 3rd party apps so I'm using them at night as my secondary watch just to track how long had I sleep.

So I bit the bullet and got myself a Fenix 6X Sapphire and im delighted. Still tinkering with it. Thank you for all the inputs and help. Cheers. Sunny

congratulations, I guess you can't go wrong by having Fenix If I had a bigger budget I'd probably go for it as well(I guess I can get used to live without touch display)