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Dec 2018 - VA3 vs Fitbit Versa Any Different

After years in the Fitbit ecosystem, my 5th Charge series device literally falling apart from normal office and gym use... It's been a year of updates and functionality changes at Garmin and Fitbit. If you were buying with your Christmas bonus money - is it the VA3 from Garmin or Fitbit Versa?

(Yes, I've read each similar thread, none are recent.)

Im an IT geek father of three, working on un-messing-up my body after a couple decades of IT and consulting food, alcohol, travel, and stress.

I need basic to intermediate stats, swim 2x week and need to track lap pace and overall session length/time. Elliptical 1x week and indoor or outdoor walk/run 2x.

I care less about tracking lifts with this. Use the right tool for that. This ain't it. HRM and RHR accuracy count.

Need a few days to a charge, expect easy sync to phone, and stats to MyFitnessPal. Sync to other systems like Samsung health or google fit a bonus. Moderate durability wanted and so far not found with the last few generations of fitbit.

Couldn't care less about music on my watch, my smart phone goes everywhere with me but the pool.

What do you think - a year and a bunch of updates after release, which would you buy today?

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Hi,

I had also experience with Fitbit, Charg 2 and Ionic, and I changed to Garmin Vivoactiv 3.
Very good decision. No problem with sync, GPS is good, food tracking with MFP is great. Battery: 6-7 days.
Only problem I have with Vivoactive 3 is the ASM, sleep tracking didn't work correct. Wrong start time and end time.
Vivoacitv HR didn't has ASM but correct sleep time. So there is a little problem in the ASM algorithm, and hopefully they can fix that problem.
I'm happy that I didn't bought the Fenix 5x Plus, same problem but very expensiv. ;-)

So I would by the Vivoactive 3 again.

Wish you all merry Christma and that all your wishes come true!

Regards,
Mark

0 bikedorian over 6 years ago

My wife has had the Versa since it came out and I've had the VA3 for a year. The Versa is better at fitness tracking and the VA3 is better at activity tracking. Each has strengths & weaknesses that are well documented on the various forums. Of the two and based on your needs, the VA3 seems like the most appropriate choice.

0 DERSIE over 6 years ago

And as far as I can remember I do not know any other fitness tracker wich did not compute the correct distance "indoor". The VA3 is not able to works correctly for indoor walk/run. Not hard to do "steps * step length" but VA3 can not do this. Ex for walk outdoor without GPS (so choose indoor mode) VA3 show 1.05kms for an 1.31kms walk ????? totally incredible. So between 25% at 30% error. (I have many pictures with VA3 screen with steps and WRONG distance). All others trackers (more than 30) had corrects values (and correct Also for a Vivomove HR)

0 SylvainGa over 6 years ago

And as far as I can remember I do not know any other fitness tracker wich did not compute the correct distance "indoor". The VA3 is not able to works correctly for indoor walk/run. Not hard to do "steps * step length" but VA3 can not do this. Ex for walk outdoor without GPS (so choose indoor mode) VA3 show 1.05kms for an 1.31kms walk ????? totally incredible. So between 25% at 30% error. (I have many pictures with VA3 screen with steps and WRONG distance). All others trackers (more than 30) had corrects values (and correct Also for a Vivomove HR)

You can calibrate your stride lengths in your user settings. You tell it how many steps you did and the total distance. From that, it will automatically calculate your stride lengths.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

WayneAnderson As bikedorian said, each will have it's strengths and weaknesses. I'm not familiar with the Fitbit Versa, so any recommendation from me would be worthless. What I'd do if I were in your position is make a list of the most important to the least important features that you require. Do your research on each device based on that list and make your choice. You'll probably have to sacrifice something, but prioritizing what's important to you will make the decision a little easier.

0 DERSIE over 6 years ago

You can calibrate your stride lengths in your user settings. You tell it how many steps you did and the total distance. From that, it will automatically calculate your stride lengths.

This do not works. Some say that this parameter is only used for daily tracking ? but the custom strengh length was never used to calc distance in indoor activity.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Not hard to do "steps * step length" but VA3 can not do this. Ex for walk outdoor without GPS (so choose indoor mode) VA3 show 1.05kms for an 1.31kms walk ????? totally incredible. So between 25% at 30% error.

I'm not sure why you're having an issue with your watch. My wife has her stride length set and walks in an indoor gym. Her distance come out correct give or take a couple percent. By the way 1.05 out of 1.31 is 80.1%, so your margin of error is 19.9%. Not good, but not as bad as 25-30% as you thought.

0 SylvainGa over 6 years ago

This do not works. Some say that this parameter is only used for daily tracking ? but the custom strengh length was never used to calc distance in indoor activity.

Oh, I thought you meant the daily steps. On my first time on the thread mill however, when I finished the activity, I was asked to input the actual distance so it could calibrate itself.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

This do not works. Some say that this parameter is only used for daily tracking ? but the custom strengh length was never used to calc distance in indoor activity.

This may be why it's working for my wife and not for you. I guess it doesn't have anything to do with her custom stride length. This is from the support website.

Indoor Activities The vívoactive® 3 device can be used for training indoors, such as running on an indoor track or using a stationary bike. GPS is turned off for indoor activities.

When running or walking with GPS turned off, speed, distance, and cadence are calculated using the accelerometer in the device. The accelerometer is self-calibrating. The accuracy of the speed, distance, and cadence data improves after a few outdoor runs or walks using GPS.

0 DERSIE over 6 years ago

I'm not sure why you're having an issue with your watch. My wife has her stride length set and walks in an indoor gym. Her distance come out correct give or take a couple percent. By the way 1.05 out of 1.31 is 80.1%, so your margin of error is 19.9%. Not good, but not as bad as 25-30% as you thought.

And what % error on this screen ? still same walk (1.31kms ) 1851 steps for 20 meters . (Some others pictures has 0.86 kms some others 0.92......)
ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1437381.jpg