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Vivoactive3. What a piece of junk

Going back to the Vivoactive HR, the Vivoactive3 as it stands now is useless. Nothing seems to work 100% , the floors climbed, the sleep tracking, the calorie calculation, the sensor connection, etc etc........Nothing seems to be near accurate. And Garmin does nothing to improve as usual. Think they busy with all the new products .
I feel i have been a BETA tester long enough.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Something that's really getting my goat is people forgiving the VA3's faults at it's a lifestyle watch and not a premium Garmin

I don't recall ever reading a post where someone "forgave" one of the the VA3's features for not working properly because it's considered a lifestyle watch. If I missed it, you are correct in saying. I have read many post (and I concur with) that the VA3 lacks a lot of features of the higher end sports oriented watches because it's considered a lifestyle watch. A label given to the VA3 by Garmin themselves.

0 All_toss over 6 years ago

As I always standing with - VA3 - is one of those rare cases where marketing did it right - positioned it as toned down (lifestyle) sport watch with right set of promised features and yet engineering failed to execute. Yes, it could be the case as someone noted that Garmin simply outsourced it to some cheap design/manufacturing, yet it is engineering fail none the less.

0 Jano22222 over 6 years ago

You didn't state what your elevation or barometer reading was prior to going to bed and then when you woke. I'll assume your "4 floors" were an ascent. Four floors is roughly 50', or a mere drop of .05 inHg in pressure while you were sleeping. This is perfectly normal. You're exactly one of the people I described in my example in my last post.

Ok, sorry for that. BUT , now i have to autocalibrate, have done that 4 mornings in a row. Wait for the GPS to track satelites, wait about one minute after reading in another thread. It give me from 58 to 102 meters above sea level. ( should be 45 meters). Is this normal too ?

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Jano22222 Are you insinuating the new FW update that took away manual calibration of the altimeter is somehow my fault? My question I asked you over two weeks ago was what your barometer readings were. Why would you now ask me if your GPS elevation reading is normal after you are fully aware of a change with the firmware? Anyway, to answer your question and your failed attempt at a "See? I told you so.", yes, your elevation reading is in fact normal. Read the following and pay particular attention to the last two sentences.

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...Type=noProduct

I don't care that you feel the displayed reading should be closer to your actual elevation . You're within the acceptable range. You purchased a GPS unit in a fairly cheap watch. Are you expecting NASA level results? Educate yourself on the usage of GPS or go with another watch.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

My first unit's screen was off center and sometimes the alarm would go off with no vibration. Second unit, daily floor climbs up to the hundreds, actual around 10. Third unit I am getting step goals while sitting on the couch. I did not even get the chance to really use the gps or connect it with external sensors, which I have read a lot of negative comments about.
I give up, will be returning the unit and will look for an alternative.

0 Jano22222 over 6 years ago

Jano22222 Are you insinuating the new FW update that took away manual calibration of the altimeter is somehow my fault? My question I asked you over two weeks ago was what your barometer readings were. Why would you now ask me if your GPS elevation reading is normal after you are fully aware of a change with the firmware? Anyway, to answer your question and your failed attempt at a "See? I told you so.", yes, your elevation reading is in fact normal. Read the following and pay particular attention to the last two sentences.

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...Type=noProduct

I don't care that you feel the displayed reading should be closer to your actual elevation . You're within the acceptable range. You purchased a GPS unit in a fairly cheap watch. Are you expecting NASA level results? Educate yourself on the usage of GPS or go with another watch.

i guess this is what you can allow yourself when you are a « master». I expect at least that a new model will be not worse than the «outgoing» model, but no, the VAHR is much more accurate than VA3, not only the GPS , but steps, stair etc etc.By the way, i am not suspect that you have something to do with FW update , absolut not.

0 OsiMik over 6 years ago

I am still hoping that they will get the many problems solved - ... ridiculous updates without warning into nirvana in March (fiddling around with reset to factory settings) and so on - this all is very annoying.

Will you please describe it in more details? I've had two spontaneous reboots of the watch in the middle of activity (running a race). I've filed a support case, but have now answer yet-

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Will you please describe it in more details? I've had two spontaneous reboots of the watch in the middle of activity (running a race). I've filed a support case, but have now answer yet-

sorry to confuse you - I meant the "famous" fw update for VA3 to version 3.30 in March - just search for keyword "Ashtanga" (no joke!) in this forum and you will find out. Although this is all distant history, and the problem is completely solved this is worth remembering. Your problem more serious - for MS Windows I would say software crash, could be possible for VA3 operating system, too (conflicting 3rd party apps ? or workouts not closed? problem with internal sensors). Maybe you could try a factory reset.

0 Jano22222 over 6 years ago

Today i have spent several hours on the Fenix forum. After experience problems with steps, floors, calorie calculation etc etc on the VA3, and some reply that you can not expect more accurate measurements from a «non premium device» , i got curious. It seems that it’s the same problems been repeated with the Fenix 5 serie.
My conclusion is : A chain is not stronger than the weakest part. This part is named GARMIN. It does not help with super hardware when the software is poor.
And in my opinion they should take care of the existing customers instead of launch new models every month. It’s obviously that they don’t have the knowledge or the capacity to serve the customers. Another thing, every time they have corrected a issue, they have created some new issues. My conclusion, you can use a unlimited ammount of money on they’r products, but it will not help so much at the end of the day.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Am I the only one who finds this comical? You look across this forum at the different product lines and see the same people posting how Garmin is worthless, their products are garbage and how disappointed they are with their device. You look at the history of their post and it's always the same negative things. What I find funny is they're the same people who include their extensive list of current and retired Garmin products. It makes it really hard to take anything they post seriously.