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VivoActive 3 vs. Fitbit Versa

Former Member over 6 years ago

I had gotten so fed up with the VA3's battery life that I went out and bought a Fitbit Versa.
My intention was to shelve the VA3 and hope one day Garmin figured out the software.

While I liked the Versa, the VA3 better fits my needs. I like the Versa's screen resolution, the lightweight and, to a degree, I like the Fitbit app a little better and while the watch faces/apps have room for growth, the selection isn't terrible.

What I don't like is that the screen doesn't stay on, the lack of rowing/kayaking tracking and battery life wasn't better than the VA3 when it's hitting on all cylinders. I'm on the fence about the charger and would have rather seen a magnetic or plug-in style charger. The cradle works but is so bulky.

Battery life may get better but in the short time I had the Versa, battery life was lasting just over two days. That's what I'm getting with the buggy VA3.
And with the VA3, I get rowing tracking, I have onboard GPS and I have more customizable watch faces.

I don't think Fitibit is a bad choice, it just missed enough points to prevent it from replacing the VA3. I do think Garmin could learn a lot from Fitbit with regards to software development.
I have the Fitbit Versa boxed up, ready to be returned. It's a tough call and I really like the VA3. The hesitation is due to Garmin's lack of urgency or enthusiasm towards updating the VA3 where it is more reliable with regards to stability, tracking and battery life. I know from experience that Fitbit is more proactive in updating software and the devices aren't too shabby. I'm going to give it another 24 hours to sleep on things, but I'm inclined to just get into a routine of placing the VA3 on the charger every night before I go to sleep.

I really wish someone from Garmin would read these forums and take the initiative to improve customer and product support. It would make such choices a lot easier.

0 NicolasMiousse over 6 years ago

While I do think it's strange that you can't get more than one day of battery life, with the VA3, I can tell you that the Garmin Forerunner 645 pack more juice so it should last a bit longer. My VA3 last 6 days if I wear it 15 hours per day. I usually don't wear it at night as sleep tracking is useless for me anyway. I tried wearing it 24/7 for a few days and I was able to get a solid 3 days of battery life even when adding an hour or two of GPS tracking.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

The poor battery performance began after the last few updates and seems to have gotten worse with additional updates to the GPS. Several others have reported similar declines in battery performance. I'm gonna return the Versa, just not sure if I'll stick with the VA3. I'll keep the 645 in mind, but really prefer a touchscreen.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

I had a Fitbit Versa for a year and it wasn't bad. It was simple to use, looked smart, and the battery life was usually 4 days for me, even wearing it 24 hours. If they added GPS I would have stuck with Fitbit.

0 peterdedecker over 6 years ago

It's not normal you only get 2 day of battery with the va3, have you contacted garmin support about this? Something that can help to resolve this is to do a reset to factory settings from within the system menu on your watch ( choose reset + delete data).

Another thing that can help battery life is to use a digital watch face (built in or connect iq face)

on the subject of the versa i like the look a lot, but having to exagerate arm movement whenever i want to look at the time would turn me off i think (I don't have a versa but i've seen friends in action with it)