The Garmin Vivoactive 5 and Huawei Watch GT 5 series are solid-performing smartwatches in the same price bracket, and discovering their differences is key to choosing the right one.
That’s what we’re going to do in this guide. We’ve already lived with each of these iOS and Android-friendly watches as part of our full reviews. Now, it’s time to see how they compare directly in areas like battery life, fitness tracking accuracy, and features.
See how the Vivoactive 5 and Watch GT 5 compare – and check our verdict for a summary of what we recommend.
Read our full reviews:
Price comparison, availability, and versions
The Garmin Vivoactive 5 officially retails for $299/£259 and is the brand’s more affordable smartwatch line, sitting below the Venu 3 and 3S. That means fewer bells and whistles and only one case size. It’s available in four colors: black, blue, white, and purple.
Over a year has passed since its release in late 2023, so we’re seeing plenty of price cuts for the current generation. You can check those out using the live widget below.
Like the Vivoactive line, Huawei’s Watch GT (including this latest fifth generation) is in the mid-range and sits below the more expensive Huawei Watch 4 series.
However, Huawei offers more choices here than Garmin. The GT 5 series comprises two distinct versions, the standard model and a GT 5 Pro upgrade. Plus, for each edition, there are also two cases – a smaller one designed for women, and a larger for men.
The plain GT 5 is more comparable in price to the Vivoactive 5, retailing at £229 (around $300), while the GT 5 Pro is the most expensive model we’ll discuss below. It retails for £329 (around $425).
It is less widely available, though. Due to the ongoing trade ban in the US, Huawei’s wares aren’t officially available in the country.
Design and display
The Vivoactive 5 is super simple and unisex. The 42mm case is on the smaller side, but is still a good fit for most wrist types and is incredibly light on the wrist at just 36g (with the band on).
There are no flashy display specs that boost scratch resistance or make the resolution pop in strong sunlight, but the AMOLED panel is more than capable of assisting your training. Plus, touchscreen support (and the two side buttons) keeps navigation tidy.
It’s not a watch to pick on personality – for that, we recommend checking out other top Garmin watches – but it’s excellent at blending into casual and workout environments.
On the other hand, the Huawei Watch GT 5 series has bags of character. The many designs offered here aren’t as light or unisex as Garmin’s Vivoactive 5, but they make more of a style statement.
The larger, 46mm editions of the GT 5 and GT 5 Pro feature octagonal cases and more traditional watch colorings and indices. That bigger case also ensures more room for the AMOLED display.
These are inherently masculine on the wrist, which is fine if you’re used to big watches. Otherwise, you’re a bit stuck; the smaller, 42mm GT 5 models are very feminine-focused, jewelry-like designs.
A key design difference between the GT 5 and GT 5 Pro? The materials. The GT 5 Pro features titanium, often reserved for much pricier smartwatches, and the sapphire crystal glass covering on the display provides increased scratch protection.
It ensures the more expensive Huawei is a cut above the Vivoactive 5 and the GT 5 in feel and durability, but most of this is still entirely down to preference. Do you need a unisex and non-descript smartwatch or one boasting a clear style with an edge of premium?
- Winner: Draw
Smart features
You receive a similarly limited experience whether you choose the Vivoactive 5 or a Watch GT 5, but there are still slight differences to be aware of.
Both work with iOS and Android phones to provide notification mirroring, weather updates, calendar syncing, and more, plus Garmin’s more advanced app support and payment platform ensures it can provide a better smart experience.
You get access to a handful of great Garmin Connect IQ apps, such as Spotify and Komoot, and support for contactless payments through Garmin Pay. It’s not as comprehensive as what you may find on an Apple Watch or Wear OS smartwatch, but it still outlasts Huawei here.
Whether you pick the GT 5 or GT 5 Pro, you’re limited to those basic smart functions. There’s no proper support for apps or payments outside of China, meaning this is very much a tracker trapped inside a smartwatch body.
We should also note that neither watch series offers cellular support, so you’ll generally need to keep your phone in range to access smart features.
- Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 5
Fitness tracking
The Watch GT 5 and GT 5 Pro have more flashy features than the Vivoactive 5, but they’re not necessarily better trackers for most people.
The headline fitness tracking features are the new TruSense System – a fancy term for Huawei’s latest heart rate (and health, more on that below) algorithms – and the dual-frequency GNSS. These technically make Huawei’s smartwatches more advanced trackers than the Vivoactive 5, which does provide multi-GNSS support but not dual-frequency.
Huawei’s watches will also deliver marginally better accuracy and a better package of advanced insights, making it a better sports watch imitator.
That said, we prefer Garmin Connect as a platform to Huawei Health. Even a mid-level Garmin like this lets you access sports profiles, metrics like ‘Workout Benefit’, VO2 max, recovery estimations, and Garmin Coach plans. Yet, it’s difficult for Garmin to match what Huawei offers here.
The Pro is particularly impressive, offering specific map support and insights for trail running, support for freediving, and green contours/3D maps for golf courses.
Winner: Huawei Watch GT 5 series
Health, stress, and sleep tracking
Garmin and Huawei’s watches each deliver some top features and solid accuracy in health, sleep, and stress tracking, but they’re—again— slightly different packages.
We prefer interacting with the Vivoactive 5, thanks to its more true-to-feel data and insights, though (like with fitness) Huawei’s feature list here is certainly more advanced.
With Garmin’s watch, you’ll get a list of the brand’s basics: Pulse Ox blood oxygen tracking, 0-100 stress breakdowns, Body Battery energy level estimation, HRV Status, women’s health tracking, and meditation walkthroughs. That extends into sleep, which includes nap tracking, respiration monitoring, and Sleep Coach support.
Huawei’s watches have more features, but we didn’t always enjoy their implementation much during testing – and the data isn’t as insightful as what you’ll get on the Vivoactive 5.
Arterial stiffness and ECG assessments are present but difficult to generate consistently, and handy extras like skin temperature can deliver improved cycle-tracking insights but probably aren’t deal-breakers. Sleep tracking analysis does escape this presentation issue, but we generally view the Vivoactive 5 as a nicer fit for health and wellness tracking.
Winner: Garmin Vivoactive 5
Battery life
Regardless of the watch model you favor, exceptional battery life is offered here. Yet, as ever, this naturally varies dramatically depending on the 24/7 tracking features you enable and the always-on display setting.
Garmin estimates you’ll receive up to 11 days (or 20 hours of GPS tracking time) with the Vivoactive 5, and that is possible if you use the watch lightly and have the AOD disabled. In our more typical use during testing, which saw the display setting enabled, we found that you’re more likely to receive around a week before recharging.
Huawei’s smartwatches offer a similar equation, promising a maximum of around two weeks of battery life. Again, that estimate is based on very conservative usage, and 6-7 days was typically the point at which we would recharge both models during testing.
Winner: Draw
Verdict
You’ll require a similar budget to consider all three of these watches, and there are clear differences that make them a better fit for specific users.
The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a unisex, clean smartwatch that balances the core of the brand’s excellent fitness tracking, middling smart features, and helpful health/wellness insights.
It doesn’t boast many advanced features (you’ll have to scale Garmin’s ranks to find those), but it’s an ideal pick for those who don’t want to be overwhelmed by unnecessary features or design points.
In many respects, Huawei’s Watch GT 5 series is quite the opposite. With the GT 5 and GT 5 Pro duo and each’s respective 42m/46mm versions for men and women, those who want a strong smartwatch personality can pick one up at a (relatively) budget price.
Advanced features you don’t typically find in a mid-range device are also in tow, such as arterial stiffness detection and ECG readings. Yet, for these higher highs, Huawei’s watches also suffer a serious low point in the smart features and presentation of data.
If you can look past these issues, it has a higher ceiling than the Vivoactive 5, but we believe Garmin’s watch is a better fit for most people.
