Garmin Vivosmart

[tplace 1976]

Has anyone purchased a Vivosmart yet? And if so, wondering how the experience has been. Have been reading over on Garmin's forums that lots of people complaining about either BT connectivity, or some version of "is it my phone of the VS" causing the issue.

So curious if anyone has one, and their experience (from an LG G2 perspective)

 

[rpfarrah]

FWIW, I have the LG G3 (came from the G2) on VZW. I received a Vivosmart for my birthday and have been wearing it since - about 3 weeks. I can confirm that the bluetooth connection comes and goes pretty regularly. That is the only downside to this band that I have found so far. I have had a Jawbone Up (2nd Generation) and a Striiv Touch over the course of 18 months. The Stiiv Touch is similar to the Vivosmart in that you do get notifications. It also had the occasional Bluetooth issues, but not near as bad as the Garmin.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have....

 

[mabidi]

Have you noticed if your vivosmart stops tracking steps when you are in the store with your hands on the cart. I have no other issues but it sometimes decides to stop counting steps for me... I have noticed it on various occasions... Also, if i am not walking fast enough for it, it thinks no steps are being taken... which is very annoying!

Thanks!

 

[rpfarrah]

Yeah, pretty much if your arm isn't swinging, steps aren't being counted. Sometimes when I'm shopping I'll pull the cart with my right hand (so my left can swing naturally when I walk) instead of pushing it. It's crazy, but I WANT the steps!

 

[Jeff Bair]

Only picked up my Vivosmart on Monday - but mine is counting steps when I drive or ride the train to work. I've looked on the Garmin Forums and see posts from others about steps NOT being counted. I wish there was a "suspend" mode for travel/commute. One post recommended just taking it off while driving. I'll give that a try.

 

[rpfarrah]

Here's how I made myself stop obsessing about step-count accuracy: If you think of the steps tracked as just a number that you will compare to every day, then it doesn't matter so much if it counts a few steps while driving because (assuming most days are the same: you drive to and from work) that will be a "constant" in your overall day. So if this is included in your average day, and your more-or-less average day is, say 4,000 steps - before you intentionally decided to up your game - then it will also be a part of your new average, INTENTIONAL day of say 6,500 steps to start. See what I mean? As long as it counts in the same way every day, you get the good data you're looking for. Sure, it won't be quite as comparable on the weekends, depending upon how much driving you do, but in the end you have the data you need to chose to get up a move a little more in order to reach your goal, and that's the bottom line, for me.

...my $.02.