Garmin is a major player in the fitness wearables marketplace, mostly at the higher end. Last week at Mobile World Congress, the company showed upgrades to Vivofit and Vivoactive, two of its less pricey smartwatch fitness products.
The Vivoactive HR has all the features of the original Vivoactive, including tracking runs, steps, and sleep, and has sports apps. The new HR adds a heart rate monitor to the mix. It comes with new sports apps for paddle-boarding and snowboarding/skiing. Unlike the comparably priced FitBit Surge, it has interchangeable bands and can display smartphone alerts for Android and iOS. Battery life is estimated at eight days. The Vivoactive HR will be available for $249 in the second quarter
The Vivofit 3 is aimed more at the less extreme exerciser or sportsman, someone who just wants to track daily movement, calories, sleep patterns, and set exercise goals. What’s new is the Move IQ, which starts everything up automatically when the user starts to move. Battery life is estimated at one year.. Vivofit 3 will cost you $99, and will ship sometime in the second quarter of 2016.