But that will be applicable to all Garmin wearables introduced since January 2017 that utilize the newer Garmin ELEVATE optical HR sensor, so it’s not specific to the Vivoactive 3 Music. That piece includes identification of sleep stages by leveraging heart rate variability (HRV) data from the optical HR sensor. Technically, there’s some new sleep analysis stuff that Garmin says is ‘coming soon’, but won’t quite yet be ready for launch day (today). And by ‘almost’, I mean, exactly nothing (besides music). Keeping in mind that I already reviewed the existing Vivoactive 3 last fall ( full in-depth review here), there’s actually almost nothing new here beyond the added music functionality.

I may add in some of the more general (like activity tracking or such) non-music bits to this post over time, but everything is the same as the aforementioned/linked Vivoactive 3 In-Depth Review. Given I’ve already got a huge in-depth review on the Vivoactive 3, I’m mostly focusing this piece on the music bits. This post is sorta half-way between a full review and a typical hands-on post for me. But it does match other competitors in terms of having contactless payments via NFC.Īs with a few other Garmin announcements lately, the Vivoactive 3 Music starts shipping today (yes, really), and I’ve been testing a loaner device for a handful of runs and rides. It stops short though of being a full multisport watch for triathletes, nor does it have onboard maps. It’s aimed at competing with Fitbit’s Ionic GPS watch, as well as giving the Apple Watch a run for its money (with both Fitbit and Garmin costing less than Apple). It tracks running, cycling, gym workouts, golf, and indoor swimming – along with probably two dozen other sports. That includes the ability to transfer music like MP3 files and podcasts, as well as cache streaming services including iHeartRadio and Deezer.įor those not familiar with the existing Vivoactive 3, that’s Garmin’s all-around GPS tracking watch. In the most simplistic sense, the Vivoactive 3 Music merely takes the Vivoactive 3 announced last August, and plops music storage into it. Today Garmin announced the Vivoactive 3 Music, which makes it the second Garmin wearable they’ve added music playback functionality into, following the Forerunner 645 Music this past winter. *** Heads up: The Garmin Vivoactive 4 In-Depth Review is up, check that out for the latest on the Vivoactive line up!****

How music works review