As somebody who does primarily weightlifting and never a lot working, Garmin smartwatches at all times appeared out of attain to me. They at all times felt like fanatic watches for runners or outdoorsy varieties, neither of which I’m. Moreover, the buttons and complicated UI made them tough to choose up. Nonetheless, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 appears to be a treatment to this, providing a reasonably reasonably priced various with a easy design and a extra user-friendly UI.

The Vivoactive 6 looks like the right entryway into the world of Garmin watches, particularly in the event you’re not likely a runner. Chances are you’ll not get all the newest and best options or specs, as anybody searching for these should spend considerably extra on a watch. Nonetheless, the Vivoactive 6 is nice for getting the fundamentals, monitoring exercises, and preserving you energetic.

Garmin Vivoactive 6: Value, availability, and specs

The Garmin Vivoactive 6 was announced in April 2025 and went on sale the identical month. The watch retails for $299 and is accessible in a number of colorways: Slate, Lunar Gold, Metallic Jasper Inexperienced, and Metallic Pink Daybreak.

The Vivoactive 6 solely is available in a 42.2mm case measurement and helps 20mm quick-release bands.

Garmin Vivoactive 6: What I like

The Vivoactive 6 is a surprisingly well-built smartwatch. It is on the smaller aspect, which can not go well with you in case you have bigger wrists, however the plus aspect is that it is neither thick nor heavy. Actually, the watch may be very gentle and comfy to put on. That is nice not solely in on a regular basis use, but additionally when carrying it to mattress, as I hardly discover it is on, in contrast to different smartwatches.

It is pretty powerful, too, though in all probability not as sturdy as pricier fashions. You continue to get stable water safety with 5 ATM, that means the watch might be submerged as much as 50 meters deep, which ought to attraction to informal swimmers. Gorilla Glass 3 safety must also assist maintain the show intact, whereas the aluminum bezel and fiber-reinforced polymer case give the watch a smooth really feel.

The OLED show may be very vibrant and pretty simple to maneuver, regardless of the reasonably giant bezels. It is extremely responsive and vibrant sufficient to make use of open air. At simply 1.2 inches, I want the show have been bigger, but it surely nonetheless serves its goal.

One factor I seen instantly after establishing the Vivoactive 6 is that the UI is a big enchancment over the Venu 3, which is the one different Garmin watch I’ve used. It is not good, however menus really feel extra logical, and different UI modifications make extra sense, reminiscent of accessing notifications by swiping down from the house display after which Look shortcuts by swiping up. Fast settings are accessible by swiping down, or you possibly can press and maintain the primary energy button. Settings can be accessed by holding the again button.

I feel a part of what makes this simpler to navigate, apart from the revamped software program, is that you just solely have two {hardware} buttons. As I discovered having a 3rd button on the Venu 3 to be complicated, I admire the simplicity.

General, the UI feels considerably extra inviting for informal health lovers and anybody seeking to buy their first Garmin watch.

Battery life is sort of stable on the Vivoactive 6. Garmin claims you possibly can stand up to 11 days of battery life per cost, which I do not doubt. I constantly get a full week of battery life, with one or two exercises tracked per day and the show set to gesture activation. You’d get much less battery with the always-on show activated, however I discover the gesture choice to be completely satisfactory.

Garmin Vivoactive 6: Health

The Vivoactive 6 does not include Garmin’s newest Elevate sensor expertise, that means you will not get the improved accuracy discovered on fashions just like the Forerunner 970 and even the Venu 3. That mentioned, the watch nonetheless affords loads of health options and with sufficient accuracy that the older sensor shouldn’t postpone informal customers.

I performed two separate step assessments, strolling 5,000 steps and evaluating the top outcomes between the Vivoactive 6, Pixel Watch 3, Venu 3, and Oura Ring 4. For the needs of the check, I wore the Pixel and Venu on separate days, and I wore every system on the identical arm in order that they may detect the identical motion whereas I walked. I additionally used a handbook counter, tapping it for every step I took till I reached 5,000.

The Vivoactive 6’s step rely was surprisingly low throughout the first check, and I could not decide the reason for this discrepancy. Nonetheless, it carried out a lot better throughout the second check, coming in considerably nearer than the Venu 3 or Oura Ring 4.

I additionally wore the Vivoactive 6 and Venu 3 throughout just a few exercises, primarily to match coronary heart charge knowledge. The info is from two HIIT (high-intensity interval coaching) exercises and 500 steps on the stair stepper:

I seen throughout my exercises that the readings from the Vivoactive 6 would typically keep fairly near these of the Venu, however generally I may see it nonetheless attempting to catch up when my coronary heart charge rose quickly.

As you possibly can see from the charts, the Vivoactive would have just a few random dips earlier than taking just a few seconds to match the Venu, or it will take longer to register the rise in coronary heart charge.

The Morning Report characteristic is just like Morning Temporary on the Pixel Watch, offering a breakdown of the morning, together with climate, sleep rating, and physique battery. It additionally comes with urged exercises, though you will not get rather more than urged walks. It is supreme for informal health lovers and serves as a great way to encourage customers to stand up and transfer all through the day.

I want the urged exercises have been a bit extra different, particularly for somebody like me who actively engages in HIIT, weightlifting, and energy yoga six days every week. That mentioned, it is clear that this watch is extra targeted on encouraging customers to be energetic than on pushing them, which, once more, could be extra attribute of a Forerunner.

The watch options built-in GPS and helps numerous navigational techniques, that are fairly correct and helpful for monitoring your route on runs or hikes. Remember the fact that you do not get an altimeter, which is a draw back in the event you benefit from the open air and mountain climbing. You can also’t obtain maps to the watch, which can be a draw back for some.

You do, nevertheless, have entry to exercise movies immediately on the watch, which is useful when following the pre-made exercises created in Garmin Join. You may as well curate your individual exercise throughout the app, though this looks like a really time-consuming and tedious process, and I might give up midway by.

When you’re a weightlifter like me, you may seemingly be happy with the exercise monitoring. It could possibly robotically detect reps and relaxation between units. It is not good, but it surely’s fairly helpful and extra correct than Galaxy smartwatches in my expertise, and considerably extra correct than you may get with a Pixel Watch.

In any other case, the watch comes with quite a lot of exercise modes, which ought to please most customers.

Sleep monitoring has been pretty correct, even when in comparison with my Oura Ring 4. The one occasions I’ve seen any misses are after I would get up for a bit and fall again asleep for just a few hours, which my ring would account for however the watch would seemingly ignore.

There isn’t any physique temperature sensor, which is probably going a cost-cutting measure, though I can not say I miss it. There’s additionally no ECG, however you may get nearly each different well being monitoring characteristic that one ought to count on on a smartwatch.

Garmin Vivoactive 6: What I do not like

The UI on the Vivoactive 3 is way improved, but it surely nonetheless comes with some quirks that I really feel are typical for Garmin. Notifications can typically take up the whole display, which might be fairly annoying once you’re really attempting to do one thing on the watch. Moreover, the vibration depth cannot be altered, so you may get a fairly jarring buzz except you flip the vibration off.

Talking of vibrations, the watch contains a Good Alarm that makes use of sleep monitoring to wake you up on the optimum time, so you’re feeling much less groggy. It sounds nice in idea, however I’ve discovered this characteristic fairly ineffective or annoying. Oftentimes, I get up forward of my set alarm, so the Vivoactive finally ends up simply being late to the social gathering when the good alarm lastly goes off. It additionally solely has a 30-minute window, which does not appear to be sufficient time to benefit from a characteristic like this, particularly in case your sleep schedule is as erratic as mine.

The Vivoenergetic additionally has Transfer Break alerts to remind you to stand up and transfer, which is sensible. Nonetheless, I will be actively standing and transferring round or cooking, and the watch will nonetheless buzz me with a transfer alert, which I discover annoying.

Lastly, regardless of the improved UI, Garmin nonetheless appears to cover options and settings beneath a mountain of menus, making it tough to find sure issues. That is whether or not you are on the watch or within the app. Utilizing the Garmin Join app might be overwhelming, and I typically needed to check with Android Central senior editor and wearables skilled Michael Hicks to determine methods to do issues on the watch or within the app.

The smartwatch UI is a big step in the correct course, however I really feel that the app may use some enchancment.

Bonus: I briefly used the Connect Plus subscription whereas testing the Vivoactive 6, however actually didn’t discover it helpful sufficient to warrant sticking with it. A dwell view of my exercise coronary heart charge was neat, as have been a number of the AI-based insights, however I do not suppose it is price paying for.

Garmin Vivoactive 6: Competitors

On this worth vary, one other watch you might wish to take into account is the Pixel Watch 3. It contains a extra streamlined UI, quite a few apps, and a implausible design, together with LTE assist for many who require it. That mentioned, health monitoring might not be fairly on par, battery life is not as nice, and the bottom mannequin will price extra.

The Galaxy Watch 7 is one other smartwatch price contemplating at this worth. It additionally runs Put on OS, so you may get most of the similar perks because the Pixel Watch with some Samsung aptitude. That mentioned, it additionally comes with the identical downsides, regardless of its fairly sturdy Samsung Well being app.

Garmin Vivoactive 6: Do you have to purchase it?

You can purchase this if…

• You are new to Garmin.
• You are an off-the-cuff fitness-goer.
• You desire a smartwatch with lengthy battery life.

You should not purchase this if…

• You are a critical runner or biker.
• You desire a smartwatch expertise that is simple to make use of.
• You desire a watch that pushes you to do extra.

The Vivoactive 6 has been a surprisingly refreshing expertise for me after coming from the Venu 3. Positive, it isn’t precisely a premium watch, and also you miss out on some options and specs, but it surely will get you a lot of what you’d count on from a Garmin system with out the value tag related to watches just like the Fenix 8.

Since I am not a runner or biker, this looks like an ideal watch for somebody like me, who simply needs to trace my exercises. The Vivoactive 6 will not push you to do something you do not wish to do, however it is going to ensure you’re no less than staying energetic, which is nice sufficient for many people.

This is a perfect smartwatch for anybody involved in Garmin however involved about what it entails, and it is platform-agnostic, so each Android and iOS customers are welcome.