Garmin watchfaces
November 13, 2022 5:18 PM Subscribe
how much freedom is there in editing Garmin watchfaces? I am interested in the Vivoactive 4s except I don't like the black watchface. I'd rather have a look like the Vivomove linked. Will I be able to just change out the face on the Vivoactive?
I found this info in the manual for the Vivoactive 4S but I can't find actual examples of how radical a change I can make to the face.
Bonus points #1 - both these watches seem very similar in features and are currently same price. would you argue that that vivomove sport is a better watch than the vivoactive 4s? I'm interested in Always On display, flexibility in activity monitoring (I do a bunch of different sports and want tracking of different kinds of movement, plus oximeter and sleep monitoring), alerts for texts and msgs from my phone, and good battery life.
Bonus points #2 - will I be able to change out the watch band with replacements from 3rd parties? I see them for sale on amazon, etc. for much cheaper than at Garmin, but remember seeing something about them not being changeable.
Apologies if these are easily answerable questions - I am on information overload from trying to decide between the million options at Garmin and other brands, and am now stuck on these seemingly small last details that are making me think I've come to the wrong conclusion with the vivoactive 4s.
I found this info in the manual for the Vivoactive 4S but I can't find actual examples of how radical a change I can make to the face.
Bonus points #1 - both these watches seem very similar in features and are currently same price. would you argue that that vivomove sport is a better watch than the vivoactive 4s? I'm interested in Always On display, flexibility in activity monitoring (I do a bunch of different sports and want tracking of different kinds of movement, plus oximeter and sleep monitoring), alerts for texts and msgs from my phone, and good battery life.
Bonus points #2 - will I be able to change out the watch band with replacements from 3rd parties? I see them for sale on amazon, etc. for much cheaper than at Garmin, but remember seeing something about them not being changeable.
Apologies if these are easily answerable questions - I am on information overload from trying to decide between the million options at Garmin and other brands, and am now stuck on these seemingly small last details that are making me think I've come to the wrong conclusion with the vivoactive 4s.
I have the 4s. The face is almost infinitely changeable by downloading free watchfaces from Connect IQ (filtering by the watch type). I have the Crystal watchface, but I customized it. It currently has a white background with dark blue numbers and I'm tracking steps, number of steps to goal, heart rate, miles, stairs, and battery percentage.
posted by ceejaytee at 5:09 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ceejaytee at 5:09 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have the Vivoactive 4S. My watch face is a photo of my husband drinking wine, with white clock hands overtop. I could easily change it to give the time like a digital watch, too.
The battery life is pretty good. I can do a 7-hour hike and still have lots of battery left. Running and cycling will drain it more, but it's still good for quite a long time.
The pulse ox drains the battery quickly. I don't often use it.
posted by TORunner at 7:45 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
The battery life is pretty good. I can do a 7-hour hike and still have lots of battery left. Running and cycling will drain it more, but it's still good for quite a long time.
The pulse ox drains the battery quickly. I don't often use it.
posted by TORunner at 7:45 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: OMG thank you all for your very straightforward answers, especially to meowzilla to cluing me in to how the vivomove has actual arms. The website says "analog" but that was not how I understood it somehow :) OK I'm going to take a look at the fitbit but at least if I go Garmin, I'm now set with the Vivoactive!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 12:06 PM on November 14, 2022
posted by Tandem Affinity at 12:06 PM on November 14, 2022
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The Vivoactive has a bunch of different analog options and each of those options has different fields you can edit, like steps or heart rate or active minutes. It also has a bunch of digital options. The biggest thing - it has access to the full Garmin Connect App store including custom watch faces. The Vivomove does not have access to any of these things.
The Vivoactive is, by far, the better sports watch since it can display a bunch of different fields on the same screen during an activity, and you can use the watch to check your calendar appointments, weather, sunrise time, heart rate history, etc. The Vivomove, by comparison, can only look like a traditional analog watch. Analog hands are more visible than any digital screen but can only display the time. The screen area below is much smaller and limited than the whole watch face on the Vivoactive which is larger and has color.
Pulse ox is generally believed to be useless on Garmin watches, and sleep tracking is generally worse than all the competing products like Fitbit. I find Garmin's stress tracking / body battery genuinely interesting but is it not sleep tracking.
Yes, both watches will accept quick-release watch bands from a variety of third-party manufacturers. However, most are going to be cheap silicon straps.
posted by meowzilla at 7:26 PM on November 13, 2022 [1 favorite]