Hello Folks,
received yesterday a brand new Vivomove Style Silver with Moss Silicone Band, to replace my black Vivomove HR, which after two and half year developed a malfunctioning display (it started to fade until it died completely, although everything else still works)
I wanted to share my first 24 hours of ownership impression. As a previous owner of the Vivomove HR, I will mention some of the differences I noticed:
- The anodized aluminum case looks way better in person than in the pictures. It has that satin/matter look and feel that is really classy. It goes very well with the moss-colored band.
- The band feels a little stiffer than the one in the Vivomove HR. Perhaps just because it is new. The half of the band with the holes it is also shorter than the one in the HR, I'd say about a quarter of an inch
- The overall look may seem a bit too monochromatic, with case, face, hands, ticks marking the hours and even the Garmin name all silver. However, I think Garmin did a good job in matching different kind of shade for all the elements. The case is satin, as I mentioned, the face has a kind of "powered" finish to it, the hands, Garmin name and 12, 3, 6 and 9 tick marks are shiny, while the other hours and minutes markers are a darker, matte silver. I was afraid that the silver hands would not be very visible against the silver face, but they stand out quite nicely. The only annoying thing is that they are virtually invisible in low light. The HR had at least the minutes hand colored in yellow, definitely more visible!
- The mostly white display fonts do not have lots of contrast against the silver face, but it is more visible than I thought, even in bright light. Granted, the black face of the HR made the display's fonts stand out more, but unless the sun is not shining directly on the display, even the one in the Style is readable. Can't make a direct comparison, as the display in the HR is now dead for good, however I frankly do not think it was that much better in direct sunlight either. Also, the color display in the Style helps in that regard.
- All of the more commonly used functions seems to operate properly. Unlike reports from other users, I have had no problems with auto detection/auto save of activities, disconnection from Bluetooth or issues in using the connected GPS function to track walk/runs. The latter is a function that I really missed on the old HR. After an activity tracked by the connected GPS a nice map is saved in the Garmin Connect app
- The charging cable has a snap-on connector to the watch, rather than the clip-on the HR has. The Fitbit I had prior to the Vivomove HR had a similar connector. Not exactly crazy about it. Hope that over time the little "bumps" that click in place the connector will not flatten and make for a loose connection. We'll see.
Now for some of the "nice to have". Those are not deal breakers for me, but I think it would not require too much efforts for Garmin to make these additions/changes:
- Option to change the colors of the fonts. It is already possible to change the color of the icon associated with the "complications" (the extra information you can see on the two screens). For example, the little footprint icon in the steps display. I changed that to blue. It should be possible to add the option to change the color of the text too
- For crying out loud Garmin, add the number of steps to the statistic in the saved activities!! It is the same on the HR, you can see the number of steps on the watch display as you are walking/running, but once the activity is saved you can see distance, time, pace and what not (in the Style even the estimated amount of sweat in milliliters!!!) but NOT the number of steps you have taken. Seriously!?
- Show a real time map tracking your route in the app when you are using connected GPS, not just a map of your route saved after the fact. Fitbit does it in their app
- During an activity, show more stats on the same line of the display (or add the possibility to change what you see on the upper display) For example, when walking the upper display shows always the heart rate, while the lower display can be set to show a number of stats (steps, distance, pace, etc.) in a user defined sequence, but only once at time, you have to swipe the display to show the next. On the HR you can choose to pair two stats on the display, for example time on the left and steps on the right, and you can mix and match any two. You can still swipe the screen and see more pairs of stats. And as a bonus, they are shown in bigger fonts. The Style seems to be more rigid in this regard. It would be nice to have either a pair of stats shown on the lower display or be able to assign the upper display to show something else that is not the heart rate. Bigger fonts would be good too, especially with only one stat shown in the lower display there is a lot of unused space there.
In conclusion, I am happy with the Style Silver and I am going to keep it. For me it is an improvement over the HR, despite my nitpicking above and the slightly worse visibility of the display in very bright light. Garmin were wise in recently reducing the price of many of the new Vivomove models. Even with that, I think that $250 is a bit overpriced. I believe the Style models should be priced at $200 and the Vivomove S and 3 at $150. There is a lot of competition out there and hybrid smartwatches are not for everyone. I want a nice looking traditional watch that offers a decent amount of fitness tracking and lifestyle conveniences, not a wrist computer that comes with everything but the kitchen sink. However many people will surely compare the Vivomove series to more featured smartwatches and be disappointed. Offering a better value with more competitive pricing would help in framing expectations, in my opinion.