Garmin Fenix 5 vs Garmin Vivoactive 3 – Which one should I buy?

Garmin has had a busy year when it has come to launching fitness wearables, with the Fenix 5 being launched earlier in the year and the new released Garmin Vivoactive 3 and lots of people have been asking the question, Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5. Whilst this is great for consumers in terms of choice, much confusion has been created due to the similar design of both watches. Most “vs” buyers guide aim to try and tell you which one is the best to buy, but in this buyers guide I aim to identify the difference between both fitness wearables as they are both aimed at different types of fitness person.

I have chosen the Fenix 5 for this buyers guide as it closely matches the Vivoactive, however, I may make references to the Fenix 5x and Fenix 5s throughout this buyers guide, but will clearly call that out

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5 specs

So on the face of it both Garmin’s have comparable features, now I will delve into the key differences between the Garmin Fenix 5 and the Garmin Vivoactive 3

Garmin Fenix 5 vs Garmin Vivoactive 3 – Screen differences

Both feature a 1.2 inch screen with 240×240 pixel resolution

Colours seem to be brighter on the Vivoactive 3

Sapphire option abatable on the Fenix 5

Both the Fenix 5 and the Vivoactive 3 features 1.2 inch screen with 240×240 pixel resolution which is great for whichever wearable you choose. I did find the Vivoactive 3 screen has more of a pop and brighter colours, but this may be just down to the new UI that Garmin has used on the Vivoactive 3. You can also customise the watch face with both the Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 and you have multiple choices for things like data fields, colour and watch hands. In addition to this, you can also download watch faces from the Garmin Connect IQ app store.

Essential reading: Garmin Fenix 5 tips and tricks guide

The 2 big differences that set both fitness watches apart are;

Screen material

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 comes with the Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 and has no option to change this out. However with the Garmin Fenix it comes mineral glass, but you have the option of upgrading to the Sapphire display which adds a little better protection for the screen.

Touchscreen

The other difference with regards the screen is that the Vivoactive 3 comes with a touchscreen and the Fenix 5 does not. I am not usually a fan of touch screens for sporting activities due to them not great at responding when hands or sweaty or wet, however, based on my initial hands-on the Vivoactive 3 performed pretty well.

Garmin Fenix 5 vs Garmin Vivoactive 3 – Build, design and menu UI

Fenix 5 is double the weight at 85g

Fenix 5 looks bigger on the wrist despite it only mm bigger

Both feature the same materials

When looking at both the Fenix 5 and the Vivoactive 3 they look pretty similar to a round face and similar design body. They both feature a stainless steel bezel and Fibre-reinforced polymer with stainless steel casing. The Fenix 5 is double the weight at 85g whilst the Vivoactive 3 is 43g in weight. When it comes to the menus and user interface you need to decide which you prefer a touch screen or a button only option.

The 3 big differences that set both fitness watches apart are;

Side Swipe and touch screen

The Vivoactive 3 has the touchscreen that I have already mentioned, however, it also features Garmin side swipe technology that allows you to swipe through menus and activity screens whilst you are in an activity. The Vivoactive 3 also features a home button and this is used for starting and stopping an activity and returning home.

Buttons only for the Fenix 5

The Fenix 5 is a buttons only device and all interaction with the menus and features is done via buttons. Whilst for some this may seem a step back, I personally like the button only option on the Fenix 5 compared to a touchscreen. The buttons allow for precise start and stop or activities and recording laps. Based on my use of both watches, whilst I like the Vivoactive 3 great UI and hardware, I do prefer the Fenix 5 .

Quickfit vs Quick release

The Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 allow you to swap out the bands and you have a variety of choices when it comes to these. The big difference between the both is that the Fenix 5 comes with Garmin’s Quickfit technology and the Vivoactive 3 comes with the Quick release. If I am being honest I do have a preference for Quickfit, but in reality, they both perform as good as each other.

Garmin Fenix 5 vs Garmin Vivoactive 3 – Sports profiles and tracking

15 preloaded sports activities on the Vivoactive 3

Over 80 on the Fenix 5 and ability to add them or change

No triathlon, multi-sport mode or open water swimming on the Vivoactive 3

When choosing a fitness watch sports tracking in my view should be no1 area to look at and you are in look with the Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 because they come with lots of sports tracking options. Both wearables track things like steps, distance travelled, calories burned and stairs climbed as well as featuring GPS and GLONASS tracking for outdoor sports activities. In terms of heart rate tracking both the Fenix 5 and the Vivoactive 3 feature the identical wrist-based HR sensor that records heart rate 24/7 (when you are wearing it of course) at 10-second intervals and 1 second when you are working out. In addition to the other fitness tracking features both watches also benefit from MOVEIQ which gives the wearable the ability to auto-detect you are working out and log this activity and I have found it works well on both

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The 3 big differences that set both fitness watches apart are;

No multi-sport, triathlon or open water swimming for Vivoactive 3

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 does not allow for tracking of triathlon, open water or any ability to do multi-sports and for some would rule the fitness wearable out such as triathletes. Whilst it does not have TRI mode, you could in theory still use the watch if the triathlon water stage was in a pool as it tracks, pool swim, running, and cycling, but you would need to record transition phases manually.

Activity screens and data fields

Both the Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 allow you to have multiple activity screens to display different data views. However, the Vivoactive 3 can only have 4 screens and the Fenix 5 has the ability to have 6 screens with up to 4 data fields on each screen. The biggest difference, however, is the whilst you can customise the screens in terms of data and have up to 4 fields with the Vivoactive 3 if you choose 4 data fields you need to have 4 data views on all screens and only the activity screens and data views 2 middle screens you can customise. However, with the Fenix 5 you can have multiple variations of data views on each screen and all data fields are customisable. This gives the Fenix 5 a slight edge for customisation

Navigation

Navigation may not be essential for some but the Fenix 5 is the only fitness watch out of the 2 that comes with this. Whilst the Fenix 5 does not have maps like its bigger version the Fenix 5x it can display a track on a screen and show you if you are on track or not and give you turn by turn directions albeit it does not name the roads and simply tells you when to turn.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5 – Fitness features

Both feature stress and sleep tracking and Vo2 max

Both feature strength, rep counting, and workout planning

Training status and training load only on the Fenix 5

In my view, a good fitness watch not only needs great sports tracking, but it also needs to the ability to analyse and collect various fitness and health data points in order to give you a holistic view of your overall fitness and performance and both fitness wearables do this really well. The Garmin Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 both feature stress and sleep tracking and based on my use this works really well. They also both feature Vo2 max for running, however cycling Vo2 max is only available on the Fenix 5. The Vivoactive 3 also has a strength tracking profile will also track sets and reps during a workout and this is coming to the Fenix 5 in a future update later in September 2017 (its in beta now). You also have the ability to create workouts on both the Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 for setting up interval training and other workout types.

The 2 big differences that set both fitness watches apart are;

Garmin’s fitness age

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 features fitness age. This is a calculation of your overall fitness age vs your actual age. The target you have is to have a fitness age lower than your actual age. In order to calculate this, Garmin uses the data from your workouts, sleep, and stress tracking and then arrives at the score. This feature is not on the Fenix 5, however, it does have training load and training status.

Editors note – A user pointed out the Fenix 5 comes with Fitness age, but I don’t seem to have it

Garmin training status and load

Whilst the Vivoactive 3 has fitness age, the Fenix 5 has training load and training status.

Training status – Training status is a calculation of your training information to give you a view on how you are progressing and at what stage you are in your training programme. This can help you understand if you are in the right condition for a race or in the prep for a race.

Training load – This gives you an indication of your current training load based on your workouts and again this is a great indication if you are training optimally and if you need to back off or step it up

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5 – Battery life

Fenix 5 – Up to 2 weeks in smartwatch mode (depending on settings), up to 24 hours in GPS mode, and up to 60 hours in UltraTrac battery saver mode

Vivoactive 3 – GPS mode: Up to 13 hours; Smart mode: Up to 7 days

Both take around 1.5 hours to charge from flat and have the same charging port type.

Based on my use of both devices they both offer great battery life. In real-world terms and this is based on doing 6 days of activity with a mixture of swimming, running, cycling, strength and cardio HiiT classes the Fenix 5 is lasting about 6 days and the Vivoactive 3 is lasting about 4 days.

The one big difference between them is:

UltraTrac mode

The Fenix 5 is the only one out of the 2 to feature Ultra Trac mode and this is useful for ultra marathons or Ironman. However due to the Vivoactive 3 not being designed for those type of activities then that’s the reason why I suspect it does not have it

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5 – Sensors and connectivity support

Both feature ANT+ and Bluetooth smart

Fenix 5 only supports wifi connections – Sapphire edition only

No power meter or running dynamics support on the Vivoactive 3

Sensor support on both the Fenix 5 and the Vivoactive 3 is great with them both support ANT+ and Bluetooth smart and this really sets them both apart from other brands like Fitbit and the Apple Watch for adding additional sensors. This means you can add external chest HR monitors, speed, cadence sensors and much more, but they both have built-in sensors as part of the wearable;

GPS

GLONASS

Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate

Compass

Barometric altimeter

Gyroscope

Accelerometer

Thermometer

Connecting sensors to both fitness watches work very well and is a painless process. I am also pleased that Garmin has included support for the Garmin Varia series which includes the Garmin Varia radar light as this is a great safety feature when out cycling.

The 1 big differences that set both fitness watches apart is;

Power meter support and running dynamics

The Garmin Fenix 5 out of the 2 wearables is the only one that supports power meters and Garmin running dynamic’s. Not being able to connect a power meter to the Vivoactive 3 is probably one of the main reasons why it does not have Vo2 max for cycling, so no using the new Garmin Vector 3 pedals. Whilst you can connect the Garmin HR tri and Garmin HR run you will not benefit from the Garmin running dynamics data.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5 – Smart features and notifications

Both the Garmin Fenix 5 and the Vivoactive 3 feature a number of smart features, but the one of particular interest I suspect to lots of people will be the smart notifications. Whilst this has been included in a number of Garmin wearables already it continues to get better with the Vivoactive as you can now respond to messages, but at this stage, it will be Andriod phones only. You can also access music controls on your smartphone, but neither has the ability to sync music to take with you. Both the Vivoactive 3 and the Fenix 5 also work with Garmin Connect as expected with no real difference in terms of functionality/

The 2 big differences that set both fitness watches apart are;

Responding to messages

The Vivoactive 3 will give you the option to respond to messages received right on the watch itself, however, these will be limited to pre-written responses and it will be Android only at launch with no word on when it will come to iOS users.

Garmin Pay

Garmin Pay is Garmin’s entry into the contactless payment market and its a Vivoactive 3 only feature as the Fenix 5 series does not have the NFC hardware to make the magic happen. Garmin has promised it will work with most major banks at launch, however, its limited to the US at launch and UK along with other countries will follow in later 2017 or early 2018.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs Garmin Fenix 5 – Which would should I choose?

Why buy a Garmin Fenix 5 ?

You should look to buy a Garmin Fenix 5 if you want top of the range GPS fitness watch

Doing or looking todo Triathlons, ultra marathons or Ironman

Open water swimming

Need power meter support or running dynamics

Into outdoors like rock climbing, fell running or hiking and want a solid tough outdoor GPS watch

Don’t like touchscreen devices and prefer buttons

Want a sapphire screen

Need lots of customisation options and the ability to change things

Need a longer battery life for long period of activities

UK links US links



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Why Buy a Garmin Vivoactive 3 ?

You should look to buy a Garmin Vivoactive 3 if you want a steady GPS fitness watch that does not break the bank

Want to track running, swimming and cycling, but don’t need multi-sport

Want a lightweight fitness watch that still looks like a regular watch

Want a touchscreen with Garmin’s new side swipe

Want a simple and easy to use interface and menu with some options to customise

You want to have Garmin Pay

Ability to respond to messages (Android only)

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Amazon Links

US link UK link







As you can see from the buyers guide both fitness wearables have core solid features at the heart of the experience, but both have a set of features that are unique to each one that places them into different buys camps. Hopefully, this review has helped you decide and if you have a question, please leave it below and I will do my best to answer