Garmin has taken the covers off of the Vivoactive 6, with some slick looking smartwatch style and serious fitness features at a price that undercuts the Venu lineup.
It actually doesn’t sound all that different, specs-wise, to the Vivoactive 5, which went live at the end of 2023, but there are a couple of new features we’ve never seen on a Garmin wearable before.
The biggest addition is the new “smart wake alarm.” If you’ve ever used a fitness tracker that promises to wake you at the right moment in your sleep cycle – such as a Fitbit Charge 6 – this works the same way.
You set a wake-up time, and the Vivoactive 6 will use its vibration motor to gently rouse you up to 30 minutes beforehand, assuming you’re in a lighter sleep stage. If you’re still out cold after that window, it’ll make sure you wake up on time anyway.
Garmin has also stepped up its daily fitness coaching with the Vivoactive 6 offering suggested workouts tailored to runners and cyclists, adjusting plans based on factors like poor sleep or recovery time.
It also serves up running dynamics data, like cadence, stride length, and ground contact time; giving fitness nerds more to analyze post-run.
The Vivoactive 6 also boasts step-by-step gym workouts for strength training, HIIT, yoga, and Pilates, complete with on-screen animations.
Visually, the Vivoactive 6 doesn’t stray far from its predecessor. It keeps the same 1.2-inch, 390 x 390, AMOLED display, protected by Gorilla Glass. It’s housed in a polymer case with an aluminum bezel.
It’s available in black, green, gold, and pink, it still leans towards the sporty look rather than full-blown smartwatch bling.
Battery life is up to 11 days in standard mode, or 5 days if you keep the display always on.
Garmin Pay is on board for tap-to-pay convenience, and you can store music from Spotify, Amazon Music, or Deezer for phone-free listening during workouts.
Of course, at $299.99, Garmin had to make some trade-offs. Unlike pricier Forerunner models, the Vivoactive 6 doesn’t support onboard navigation or route tracking.
It also skips a barometric altimeter, so forget about tracking flights of stairs climbed. And while it keeps the previous-gen heart rate sensor, it lacks ECG functionality, meaning it won’t check for atrial fibrillation like some newer Garmin models.
Still, if you want a fitness-focused smartwatch that won’t break the bank, the Vivoactive 6 looks like a solid pick.
It’s available later this week, direct from Garmin, costing $299.99 Stateside, £279.99 in the UK.
