Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Does the vivoactive break more often than other garmin watches?

Former Member
Former Member over 4 years ago

Hi everyone--

I have the Vivoactive 3 and it is my first Garmin watch. When it's working, I really like the watch. But my first one lasted less than a year before the HR stopped working, then the battery completely died and the watch wouldn't turn back on. Customer service was great and they sent me a refurbished watch while it was under warranty. I've had the replacement watch for another 6 months and it is already tweaking out-- it never says I've gone up stairs when I definitely walk up stairs, the battery lasts less long, the GPS is very slow to pick up, and then the HR started intermittently dropping completely. My question is... is this happening because the Vivoactive 3 is a cheaper Garmin watch? Are the more expensive ones more accurate and last longer? Or is this just common with all watches? Should I buy another Garmin watch, or give up?

Thanks!

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    No idea why you're having issues. Their altimeter is not the best. I did 3 floors while sitting in car today. lol  But, if you do decide to get something different, do not get a FitBit. I've had 2. Horrible for syncing, even with compatible hardware/phone.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Look at the forum for the other watches. Garmin has issues with their software / hardware and that does not restrict to a single model. Secondly the heartrate sensor on the cheaper models is not great, but that is generic for these types of sensor. I use a Magene strap (cheap Alipay) and since then I am satisfied with the measurements and software. A few glitches every now and then, but generally it works fine for me. What I observe is that they suffer from several hardware versions in the series, so some customers are experiencing issues that I have not seen at all, based on Garmins lack of rigorous testing (not a clue how many variants they have on the market) you will run into glitches now and then. I cannot imagine they do a better job on the more expensive watches since their control over release and testing is bad, they sell hardware mainly. Still, contacting software support resulted in some fixes for me, so I cannot complain too much.