What the Garmin Vivosmart 3 Offers for Non-Fitness Freaks: A Review

Smart bands and watches were once the requirements of fitness enthusiasts, being primarily used as wearable heart rate and activity monitoring devices. In recent times, however, they have gone from this niche market to become open to everyone for daily use, regardless of whether they care about any physical activity. If you have been contemplating the purchase of a smartwatch for some time and have come across the Garmin Vivosmart 3 as one of the affordable options, yet you are not someone who runs or trains diligently every day, knowing about what this product has to offer for non-fitness freaks might help you choose. Read on to find more about this product.

There are several advanced features in this watch suitable for fitness gurus who care to use them. If you are not one, you could be content with these core functionalities. Let’s dig in.

It’s Still A Watch!

That’s right! It shows you the time and you can wear it on your wrist, which makes it a watch but not an elegant one like maybe an Armani or a Tag Heuer. So, you get to see the time every time lift your wrist towards your face without having to spend a fortune on a fancy watch or having to take your cell phone out of your pocket.

The only flipside is that even though most of the times the display of the watch comes on when you move your wrist (it is otherwise always asleep with a black screen to show for its deep slumber), sometimes, quite annoyingly, the black screen just won’t budge no matter how vigorously you splash your wrist left through right. That’s when you see the time by two sweet, gentle taps on the screen.

Skipped Beats? Not Any More

Your heart rate says a lot about you. Yes, it reflects more than just determining the first rush of falling in love. According to an article by Harvard Health Publishing, measuring your resting heart rate (RHR) at appropriate times during a day could help you determine your overall health and help predict/prevent cardiac disasters. Typically, the lower the RHR, the better your health.

Thanks to the Vivosmart 3 by Garmin, it is now super-easy to track your RHR 24/7. Simply swipe to the heart rate screen to view your current rate along with the trend in the last one hour. Garmin lets smartphone users install an app that allows you to reflect on your entire day’s heart rate. If you regularly notice your heart late leapfrogging without sufficient physical exertion, it may be time to start ringing the alarm bells for your health.

Steps, Miles, Calories, Sleep

Ever heard of walking 10,000 steps a day, walking a mile after dinner, or burning 2000 calories? If you are up for any of it, your Garmin smartwatch is here to support you. Although there are pedometer apps available for your smartphone these days, you may not want to carry around that bulky object every time you go for a walk. Vivosmart to the rescue.

Sleep monitoring is another crucial feature covered by this watch. Determine your rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) patterns, your deep sleep time, and more. Your watch silently measures all of this data while you are curled up happily in your bed and off to your dreamland. All you need to do is open the Garmin app and study your sleep patterns after you wake up.

Stress Management from Your Wrist

Garmin smartwatches stand out from the rest in the market owing to their smart ‘stress measurement’ feature. Ranked from 0 to 100, the stress in your body and mind as measured by the device could save you from chronic health issues. It is no longer a secret that managing stress is of utmost importance for obtaining optimal health and of course, technology can help.

The smartwatch not only shows you when your stress levels rise but also provides a deep-breathing exercise, urging you to slow down. An important point to note is that Garmin uses an efficient heart-rate variability algorithm to measure both physiological as well as emotional stress, although they are not marked separately. So, anytime you see the stress numbers rising, it is down to you to determine the root cause and act accordingly.

Every good product comes with certain let-downs and the Vivosmart 3 by Garmin is no exception. Let’s dive into the negatives to know more.

Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) Bring Your Down

It is sort of an irony that even though you wish to use this product with a vision to improve your overall health, at the end of the day, it is just another addition to a plethora of electronic items already doing their job to harm your health. Wondering why? Here is a study that shows how EMFs emitted by our daily-life devices get us down. To cut a long story short, smartwatches emit EMFs too, and could potentially affect your health in the long run.

Plain Jane

Not much of a ‘flaw’ in the product, per se, but looks do matter for those who love to accessorize. The Vivosmart 3 is available in a few different colors, but the overall look is drab and straightforward. It matters even more if you have swapped your beloved Edifice with this smartwatch. But, hey! You can always wear your favorite watch on special occasions for the feel-good factor, while you stick to the ‘Plain Jane’ look of your smartwatch for health monitoring.

Accuracy Slightly Questionable

Although in most cases the readings on this smartwatch reflect your current state of health, at times they could cast a shadow of doubts. There could be instances when you feel perfectly relaxed and fit yet your stress levels are reflected as ‘high’ and vice-versa. You should realize that no device is perfect and in such confusing scenarios, it is best to trust your mind’s and your body’s instinct.

All things said and done, should you go ahead and purchase this product? Well, it does seem to provide quite a few benefits for people who are not fitness professionals, especially its heart rate and stress monitoring features. There are also other non-health features such as Bluetooth connectivity with your cell phone that might trigger an interest in buying it after all. However, even if you use it day in and day out, ensure you do not get overly dependent on a device and in turn neglect other factors that affect your health. It is a good addition to your list of gadgets if you do not overdo its use.