Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

PROS: Accurate with the step counting. Much less sensitive than a Fitbit Charge 2. Wearing a Garmin Vivosmart 3 while driving during a 15 min car trip resulted in 5 to 15 extra steps while the Charge 2 would log an extra 50-100 steps for the same car trip. The app, though not as robust as the Fitbit, was full of helpful info, able to customize and adjust to see what you wanted. The silent wake up alarm is a nice feature as is the low battery indicator. Fast recharge, usually 1hr to fully recharge battery. CONS: Display can be hard to see in direct sunlight. The build quality, specifically the strap, is not well made. App can sometimes be finicky to connect via bluetooth and takes a few attempts to connect. Battery life is average. Usually lasts 4 days with 1 hr of exercise use each day before needing to recharge. Purchased in May 2017. I pretty much wore it everyday and would only remove when showering, lifting weights since I didn't want to damage it on a bar, or needing to recharge battery. Never dropped, nor do I participate in full contact sports. I mainly jog, walk and occasionally lift weights 3 to 4x a week. About 5 months in I noticed one day while connecting the tracker to the charger to recharge, the strap had become loose and was close to falling off completely. I included a picture to show what I am talking about. This was on both ends. I started to look online into buying a replacement strap when I discovered that this particular model of Garmin's activity trackers did not have that option. I contacted Garmin directly and they confirmed that the strap on the Vivosmart 3 was indeed not interchangeable. My unit was still under warranty and they promptly sent me a replacement unit after I sent my unit back. I did have to pay for the shipping cost to send it them but they sent overnight my replacement as soon as they received my old unit, free of charge. It's now almost 2 months in with the replacement unit and the strap is again starting to show signs of it falling apart. Unfortunately Garmin told me that the warranty is only good for 1 replacement and there is nothing they can do. I will be trying to fix it with some glue and hope it keeps it together. Aside from the strap issues, I do like the tracker. App is easy to use and the functionality of the device is great. I would easily have given 5 stars if not for the strap problems. UPDATE: March 2018, The glue attempt did not last. The strap continued deteriorating and finally got so bad that I could no longer wear it. I will hesitate buying Garmin products in the future.