Reasons 1-3
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1) The Garmin Vivoactive has a modern, ultra-slim, square face with a bright, customizable display. Unlike other multisport GPS watches, it has a sporty and pretty sophisticated look, and you can go from shredding the trails to work or a dinner party.
2) It's small, thin and lightweight. Weighing 38 grams and measuring 8 mm at its thickest point, you almost forget the watch is on. It fits great on thin wrists?and doesn't bounce around or rub even while running. The two small rounded side buttons don't get pushed accidentally while riding, either.
3) It has a great battery life. Depending on how much you use the GPS and other sensors, the watch and activity tracker can last up to three weeks without charging. The GPS mode can track 10 hours of activity. Charging is a breeze and comes with a magnetic USB cradle.
Reasons 4-5
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4) It's a tiny but powerful GPS. The pre-installed apps allow you to track you cycling, running, swimming, indoor cycling, treadmill running and even golf. It has a basic return to start GPS arrow in case you get lost, and although it won't give you turn by turn directions, it will help you find your hotel room in a new city. The satellites pick up quickly and have been quite accurate when compared to classic GPS handlebar mounted units.
5) It syncs with your phone to alert you via a small vibration when you get a call, email or text.?This is a really useful feature if your phone can't be in your hand on your swim or ride.?
Reasons 6-8
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6) It's an activity tracker. This watch tells you when you are being lazy and when you have been sitting too long by gently vibrating to remind you to move. It sets goals for your activity and tracks how well you have been sleeping. The Vivoactive tracks steps, calories burned and distance travelled and keeps your data synced wirelessly with Garmin Connect, Training Peaks and Strava.
7) The Vivoactive has customizable straps and watch faces. The watch comes in black and white, but you can change it up with different colored silicone straps. The watch wirelessly communicates with the Garmin Connect IQ Store, where you can download new apps for free. There are additional watch faces that can display more data, or just customize the watch face to give it a different look.
8) You can actually see the display in the bright sun. The full color screen is easy to see outside and has a great backlight feature that brightens the screen when you tap the watch face.
Reasons 9-10
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9) It's waterproof. You can shower, swim and even enjoy a hot tub while wearing the Vivoactive. It is rated to 5 ATM and you can submerge it up to 50 meters. You really don't need to take it off until it needs to be charged, and even then it's only for an hour or so until it's fully charged.
10) The Vivoactive has a bunch of cool apps that include a widget to help find your phone and to keep track of all the splits in a race. Additional widgets allow you to quickly check your activity, play music from your phone, see the weather forecast, look at your calendar and check notifications from your phone. More apps are constantly being released on the Garmin Connect IQ free store.
Retail Price: $250 without HR, $300 with HR
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