I bought the Vivoactive 4 last month because I started working out again after a few difficult years where I got really out of shape. I started doing Insanity because of the COVID lockdown and because I've done it years ago and it was a great 'get back in shape quick' training.
Because I'm planning to run and swim after finishing Insanity the Vivoactive 4 seemed ideal and it looks great. I was really happy with it, but after more then a month of using it I'm pretty disappointed about the features compared to other brands. I have 2 days left to decide if I want to return it, so I wanted to check if I'm using it wrong before I decide.
My biggest problems are that the data I get is very limited and the measurements seem off regularly. Sometimes the VA4 will be off by 20+ points compared to my chest HR monitor (it's an old one that I can't connect to my phone/garmin). I've been doing Insanity for 7 weeks now, and in the 6 weeks I've used the VA4 my VO2max is actually steadily going down (from 49 to 46) which seems weird, as I can guarantee I've been getting a lot fitter.
Lastly the data/insights you get when you don't run seem to be very limited. My Insights tells me 3 things: I get more steps than people, I climb less stairs and I sleep less than the average person. When I look at my sleep data it tells me on average I'm only 5-20 minutes in deep sleep (which doesn't match measurements with other devices I've done) and if I look at my workouts the only data I get is my average HR, max HR, time in HR-zone and est. calories burned. My body battery always ends up under 10 before 9pm as well.
If I compare this to friends who use other watches like Polar, they get sleep analysis, advice and suggestions, they get advice about over/undertraining, if your body needs extra nutrition etc. Basically they get a 100x more and in-depth information.
It feels like I'm paying full-price for a sportswatch that gives me the functionality of a $20 fitness tracker.
The design is great, I like the way it operates and I love that I wont have to bring a phone while running, so I'm hoping I'm just using it wrong. Hopefully I can get some advice, or is this just what it is when you don't use it for running?
