Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Garmin VivoFit is mostly awesome, but also has some terrible annoyances. Note this review is for the fitness band only, and I do not have the heart rate monitor. *If you want a quick pros/cons list, just scroll to the bottom. It likely covers the gist of it* The good stuff: The VivoFit feels fine around the wrist. It's definitely a bulkier fitness band, but I personally found it comfortable. It can very easily be worn in the shower (it handles water like a champ). I haven't swam with it, but I believe it is waterproof to 50 meters - so unless you hunt for sunken ships, it will be just fine in anything. The display is awesome - it's very crisp and shows useful information. Additionally, it shows the time and the date...this is actually a feature that I wouldn't have thought twice about, but after having it on my wrist I came to really appreciate it. There is a red bar that grows along the top of the display to show your inactivity - I love this. The red bar is a visual indicator that I need to move around. It's very annoying to see it (in the best way possible), and I've found myself walking around when I otherwise would not have gotten up for a short walk. Sleep tracking is important to me since I have a very hard time sleeping. You should note that the VivoFit does not break down your sleep tracking into "light, deep, and awake" time. Literally all it does is give you a graph of how much you moved. Personally (being a data person), I like this. However, the graph is only a graph, and doesn't give you any information beyond what you can interpret from it. I really wish Garmin put a measurement in of what is "deep" sleep and what is "light/awake". The step counts reported from the VivoFit are very consistant with other fitness bands I've tried. I've noticed that it does tend to miss steps as I sleepily stumble around my room in the morning (carpeted, wearing socks), but that's no big deal. It does a great job of knowing what are steps and what are other things. It works wonderfully in the car - virtually zero added steps when hitting potholes and traffic cones. As far as step count is concerned: I would say the Garmin VivoFit is very accurate. The calories burned throughout the day are MOSTLY accurate, but I've done a very lengthy study on caloric burn from walking around, and I've found that the VivoFit is slightly low (10-20%) when it comes to calories burned from walking. Note that I used only the wrist band and do NOT have the heart-rate monitor. During a workout, the HRM would likely give much more accurate results. However, when walking around all day one is unlikely to be wearing the heart rate monitor. The website has some OK qualities. It shows a fair amount of data, and gives you the option to look at it in as low as 15 minute intervals. The fact that the batteries last about a year is amazing. Really, you won't have to take this thing off for a while - it's a very robust product. The bad stuff: Holy syncing issues. I'm hoping that this will be ironed out eventually, but it takes AT LEAST 3 attempts to get this thing to sync. The syncing isn't exactly fast. At first I thought this would be no big deal, "I can be a little patient." However, it really gets annoying. The display has no back-light. This isn't a HUGE deal, but it does mean that you need to put it in sleep mode before you turn the light off (or do it by cell-phone light like I do). Other watches which last years have an indeglo thing - I understand the VivoFit draws more power than a regular watch but it might have been a good addition. Even though the website/app have some redeeming qualities, they're pretty terrible. It is not nearly as elegant as the FitBit or the Jawbone. The app/website shows all the relevant information that would be important (aside from any sort of sleep analysis), but it's insanely slow and is a sight for sore eyes. If you want to view data from previous days, be prepared to wait. All of this, of course, will hopefully be ironed out in the future. However, at this time, research the app/website and see if it's suitable for you. Furthermore, (for us techies) there is NO API. If you want access to their API, it's a $5000 fee. Not even kidding - that's the price. The design itself isn't the most elegant either, but this isn't a huge deal to me. * Summary * Pros: - Comfortable fit - Great screen, shows useful information - Inactivity bar is a great motivator - Accurate step count/mostly accurate calorie burn - Compatible with a heart rate monitor (this is a huge plus) - Sleep tracking shows movement data - Can see calorie/step information in 15 minute intervals via website - Batteries last around a year - Totally showerproof, waterproof to 50m - Also shows time/date Cons: - Not the most elegant looking device (comfort aside) - No backlight on display - LOTS of syncing issues (need to try around 3 times, every time) - Website is slow and unattractive - App is also unattractive - Sleep data does not give any analysis - only a graph which is open to your own interpretation - Access to API costs $5000 I would recommend the Gamin VivoFit. I believe it is generally a very solid product. However, do an image search for the website/app and see if it works for you. Get ready for syncing frustrations.