Getting you up off your bottom, THESE DAY'S IS GET OFF COMPUTER OR PLAYSTATION, text station, cell talking, your office chair walk it off we need it , And moving is, of course, the goal
behind most wrist-worn step trackers. But the Vivofit’s implementation
is especially effective. When you’ve been sitting for long periods, the
red bar appears. Shorter bars pop up next to it for each additional 15
minutes you’ve been stationary. The device doesn’t vibrate, or beep, or
otherwise interrupt your workflow. But should you glance down at your
wrist, it’s an instant reminder to get up and save yourself from the inevitable death our desk jobs are delivering us
On its slightly curved LCD display, the Vivofit can show you how far
you’ve walked, how many calories you’ve burned, the time, date, your
heart rate, your steps, and the steps remaining towards your daily goal.
The latter is another thing that sets Garmin’s fitness tracker apart:
After starting with a default number of “goal” steps for the day — mine
was 7,500 — the Vivofit starts to learn how often you walk around each
day. It adjusts your goal accordingly, pushing you to be more active,
but not unreasonably so. For example, after getting within 100 steps of
my goal by the end of the work day, I was surprised to look down at the
end of my daily commute to see that the number of required steps had
been upped. I still exceeded that, and the next day, my goal steps were
upped some more. The fitness tracker isn’t a pitiless whip cracker
though. If you have a few slower days, the step goal drops back down.
The Garmin Vivofit, like other fitness wearables, connects and
communicates with your phone over Bluetooth. You tap and hold the
device’s singular button for about two seconds to sync with the
accompanying Garmin Connect app, but it can conveniently store up to
three weeks of data onboard.
Garmin’s Connect app itself is pretty lacking, especially when
compared to other fitness apps out there. Where others offer colorful
graphics and options for tracking multiple facets of your health (Fitbit
lets you track what you eat each day and your water intake), Garmin’s
app is pretty spartan in its functionality. It sticks with just your
walking stats, an activity log, and your sleep. There’s also a section
where you can accumulate badges for fitness accomplishments, and a
social space where you can see and compare stats with your friends.
Personally, I found no real need to visit the app unless I just wanted
to see my step data charted out after the past day, week, month, or
year, or look through my bike ride activities uploaded through Garmin
Connect. None of this is a dealbreaker though — the Vivofit’s main
purpose is to motivate you to get fit; the actual history of those
movements is less important.The Vivofit, while perhaps not the most fully featured wearable, is the
most motivating one I’ve tried thus far. The fact that it doesn’t need
to be charged daily or weekly is a huge plus over competitors — and if
the battery does die before its promised year-long life is up, it’s just
a pair of user replaceable coin cells. For those looking to make their
workouts more targeted, or get more accurate calorie burning stats, its
Ant+ heart rate monitor compatibility is a big bonus. Other than
displaying the date and time, it doesn’t try to venture into smartwatch
territory, and that’s fine. On top of that, it’s priced competitively
with other trackers on the market. If I were getting a wearable for a
family member or friend, this is the one I’d buy.
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