Brandon Whitehead's Tech Blog

This is the last fitness wearable/smartwatch post in a while. I swear this time! Before getting to the meat of this review, check out the gallery of images below. Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Build and Design Lightweight and unobtrusive Universal 20mm quick release watch bands Waterproof (5 ATM) Battery Lasted about 4 full days on a 90% charge even with 1hr and 20mins of GPS usage Charges very quickly Display Always on without significant battery drain Customizable Easily readable in sunlight and in darkness with the backlight Training Configuration Ability to create and schedule custom workout plans Automatic rep counting (inconsistent but it's there and will hopefully get better) Metrics 24/7 wrist based heart rate tracking with stress level tracking Very detailed tracking information. Garmin really does provide some of the most detailed information when it comes to fitness and wellbeing tracking.  GPS and al...

Check out this small gallery of unboxing images before we jump into the review. Rating ★★★☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Build/Design Metal and glass construction with some plastic 5 ATM water resistance Vibrant screen Rotating bezel still has a very satisfying tactile feel The blue color is nice on the watch itself and the band is eye catching Customization Tons of watch faces to choose from Widget customization App layout customization Fitness app Integrations Under Armour app suite integration is nice. This includes installing the apps directly on the device. Cons Battery Life With continuous HR enabled, about 60% of the battery was drained in 24 hours so it doesn't fare much better than the Gear Fit2 Pro did When the watch seems to not "sync" with my phone for a while the battery dies extremely quickly Sometimes an app somehow is continuing to run in the "background" and chews through battery like a mower cutting grass Functiona...

Just a forewarning this is a bit of a long one! But before we jump into the meat of this review, check out this gallery of pics below... View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5) Pros General Usability Quick and responsive Easy to use Notifications are great OS is good Fitness tracking is good Design Slim and lightweight Vibrant screen 5 ATM resistance is nice Customization Tons of watch faces to choose from Widget customization App layout customization Fitness app Integrations Under Armour app suite integration is nice including the app integrations directly on the device Price Paid $149.00 for mine.  Price would become a con if it was higher than $160 I would say. Cons Battery Life With constant heart rate (24/7) and notifications I'm getting 1.5 days out of this before needing to charge GPS usage drops that down further (Burns about 3% every 5-7 minutes [tested using Endomondo]) Apps/Phone Integration iOS (Apple) i...