Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I spent a lot of time deciding between the Fitbit Ionic and this Vivoactive 3. I've had a vivofit 2 for just counting steps and sleep, and I had a forerunner I swapped out for runs. As I'm training for a triathlon now, I felt it time to upgrade to something that does it all. After comparing this watch vs the Ionic online, it seemed like most people agreed that Fitbits are for app lovers, and Garmin are better sport trackers.....so, my decision was made! && I LOVE THIS WATCH SOOOO MUCH! I had to get used to the larger watch face compared to the vivofit 2 I've worn for 3 years, but now that it has been a few months, I'm completely attached to it. Here are the sports I use it for with some pros/cons I have found to be true: Running: I LOVE THIS WATCH FOR RUNNING. It is seriously a step up from the forerunner. I can customize my activity screen to all my favorites with laps, heartrate, and target zones. I can sent alerts for distances, drinking water, and much more. The GPS is spot on. I love the break down of each mile with speed and elevation. My only con: When I run in the rain, the screens change on their own. After a 10K race last month in an absolute downpour, my screens and watchface had been completely changed. It took me a while to reset everything back to my preferences. My fix: if it's raining, I lock the screen after starting the activing. Biking: I already have a WAHOO Cadence reader attached to my biking shoe. The activity for biking on this watch also syncs to this 3rd party cadence tracker. Though, it is not the most relable. While riding indoors on a tripod, cadence tracks well however once outdoors and on a windy day, it looses connection for brief periods of time.... this may honestly be WAHOO's problem but I thought I'd mention it in case others have experienced the same. Still love the GPS plus heartrate while on long, tough workout bike rides! (See pic of cadence attached) Swimming: I'm not sure why other reviews say their watch does not track laps, because mine does beautifully! It tracks, times, and gives me a good reading/evaluation of how hard I pushed myself after 2500 meters in a 25m long pool. :-) my only complaint is that I DO wish heartrate was available in swim mode....Maybe in the future?? I also wish outdoor/open water swimming could be tracked via GPS....Maybe also in the future. :-) I still use it while swimming open water but don't have the benefit of distance. Also, as for sleep, it seems to be a lot more accurate than the vivofit 2....probably because of the heartrate. My only complainthere is the back light that turns on whenever I move in my sleep. I want to still see what time it is when needed, so I change the lighting to 10%, however sometimes when I move the watch seems to light up the room. I'm just about used to it now, but still a bit of a bother. This is even while I've set it to DND or do not disturb mode. Overall, if you want a watch that does it all, choose the Vivoactive 3! I have had this watch for 2 months now and am still VERY happy I chose it! :-) ***************3 YEAR UPDATE********************************* My vivoactive 3 is still one of the best purchases I've ever made. When I wrote the review above, I had yet to complete a triathlon. Since this review, I've completed 15 Olympic triathlons and 3 half Ironmans; qualifying for both National Championships in the Olympic and for Worlds in the half Iron. I attribute some of this success to having such a great watch to track my progress. This watch with the Garmin Connect app has really helped me sculpt my training plans and continuously seek improvement. I have even more workarounds for my complaints above: Open water swimming: Yes this app has a 3rd party OWS download possible through Garmin IQ, however it's still pretty terrible for accurate tracking. I found in a forum to set the watch activity to ROW and then place the watch under my swim cap. BOOM! Almost perfectly it tracked my route through the lake. I *only* do this during workouts and NOT during a race. During a race, the route is already an exact distance so I normally will just set the generic stop watch timer then lock the screen after starting. This way I have an understanding at what my swim time was while I'm running to the first transition. Bike cadence tracker: My issue above was DEFINITELY with WAHOO. After a few months I bought the Garmin pair of cadence/speed sensors for my bike. The Vivoactive 3 catches the stats perfectly. It never drops, not even outdoors, and gives me more accurate readings than WAHOO ever did. Running: There are still SO many ways to customize your run. It's not all about pace anymore when you're working on your form. ;) This watch has allowed me to reach strengths I didn't know I had. Battery life: My watch is over 3 years old now (older than my cell phone...). The battery life has gone down slightly from when I first purchased it. At the beginning I could get 2-3 days of life while using GPS/activities daily. Now that's about every other day. If I don't use activities, it can go 3-4 days before the battery life gets low.