Had mine for two months now and have a rash on my wrist from wearing it. The sleep thing no longer works and the running, weights, etc never has worked. Only useful as a watch! Will be getting rid of on E-bay.
i try to avoid weights pretty much all costs, but my understanding is that watches have a difficult time understanding when you are exercising by lifting weights. it sounded from your comment that you had had another watch that was able to do that well, so i was curious at to which mode that might have been
I got a Vivoactive 3 recently and on my first run with it the GPS track has been very poor. Thanks for sharing yours, it confirms that it's the kind of accuracy that's to be expected from it. (not good enough for me I'm afraid, although I really like the watch itself)
Thanks, I'm gonna make some more tests and compare with a Suunto Spartan Trainer. I tried again in easier conditions (no trees) and it performed better.
kofuzi absolutely. Accuracy was off like how you showed in this video, either by losing GPS lock entirely for a while or by being way off. I'll try again the same route with Glonass on tho.
Hey, thank you for the video! I had my vivoactive 3 for almost a year now, and starting from few weeks ago my battery drains super fast. It used to last solid 3-4 days, but now it does not. Do you think battery replacement is necessary or should I just wait for another software update?
Hi! I am looking for a new watch for my runs and I hesitate between the fr235 and va3. Do you have an opinion about which watch is better? I know the va3 does not give a recovery time (which is a shame) but it still gives a lot of information right? I am sorry if my English is not that good, I am from Holland. Loved you review! Have a nice day.
I don’t have a lot of experience with the forerunner, and I think the product lines are very similar. I do find the vivoactive 3 leaves a little bit desired when it comes to functionality in tracking track workouts. But when I chose it, I wasn’t really doing track workouts, but mainly, I wanted a watch that didn’t look like a smart watch.
@@demanhemzelf4431 ik heb inmiddels de vivoactive 3 gekocht. Ik had eerst de fr235 besteld maar vond het toch niet een mooi irgend horloge en vond hem dus toch wat te duur. Inmiddels de vivoactive 3 gekocht en ben er erg blij mee! Hij werkt goed en gaat hij mij in horloge stand gerust 9 dagen mee. Daarnaast neemt hij ook zonder problemen lange routes op! En daarnaast ziet hij er ook erg mooi uit. Kan hem tijdens werk gerust omhouden
Hi thanks Kofuzi for your great review as usual, i don’t know if you will remember me last time i asked you for a good running shoes for my condition you told me to get the epic react so I did so and today i’am great and training every day. I have the Samsung gear S3 for convenience at work but at last I’m working out, hiking, running, boxing, jiu jitsu, vtt mountain biking and swimming a lot. Yes I’m training every day ;) I need a better gps watch, I’m struggling to choose a good option Between the Suunto 9, the garmin 5x for mapping options or the 5x plus for the mapping and music option and at last The amazfit stratos/pace 2. Can you help me out, I will need an additional option band for the swimming. What would you recommend me at this day. Which devices to add for biking and swimming. I know i’am asking a lot of questions but first from the bottom of my heart thank you because you are always answering to me, it’s helping a lot and changed really my life. Yes all this because of one of your advise on a good pair onf running shoes. Thanks for your answer ;) and I wish you a great and happy new year!!! ;)
i would look closely at the garmin fenix, as that was designed with multisport in mind. unfortunately, i don't have much experience with it or with suunto, but that it where i would look first
I’m like you and always had an issue with smell with any normal watch after extended use. I use a Fitbit now and have for a while. No smell. Strange. Maybe it’s the types of rubber they are making these watches with?
I had the Fitbit that was the rubber wrist band that you inserted the fitbit device into. There were just a lot of crevices with that design. But, I do think it has something to do with the type of material.
I wish someone would make a full featured watch without the heart rate tracking for those of us uninterested in such information. Paying for that when all you want is modern design , gps, and notifications/step tracking is frustrating.
if i had the option, i would have probably forgone the HR monitoring. but having had the watch for a while now, I am glad it's there. but i understand where you're coming from.
How do I alternate between the rest and the series options, when I'm training in strength mode? Usually I press the display repeatedly and It switches! Is this the correct procedure? I'm doing the correct or have a number of times to press to switch? Tnks!
kofuzi Yes you can. It’s a “nice-to-have”, not a necessity. None of it is really though, right? My dad ran for years with a digital Casio Watch. We have so much now to choose from. It’s hard to get away from the Apple Watch once you have it, but you can definitely tell the focus of the Garmins. I’m hoping for the best of both worlds one day.
Never ever have i used any kind of fitness tracker or smart watches device. Any recommendations? Just recently got into running andcwant yo start tracking my heart rate, mileage and maybe have gps too...
if heart rate isn't a must-have, i would start out with a phone based tracker, such as runtracker, the nike app, or strava. then, you can see for free if these kinds of metrics are something you like and what you might want to offload to your wrist, once you have a better idea of what you want/need.
i haven't been able to find an app that i like for this watch. instead, when i use google maps, it will send a notification to the watch each time i need to make a direction change. that seems to work fine enough for me
kofuzi hey thank you very much for the response and help. I am a cyclist, how does the notification appear? I like getting lost and trying to find my way home but maps would be handy on my watch.
I believe it may be possible to connect the watch to the charging cable and use that connection to upload activity data. But I’ve not done it. Without a phone, I’m not sure how you get the data from the watch to the internet.
@@kofuzi yea i meant to go running without my phone and once i get back home connect to the phone. If i have have to be constantly connected to my phone then i can run just with my phone and dont need a 200 bucks watch
I haven't had personal experience with the forerunner, but I find the forerunner 645 pretty interesting, although it's almost twice the cost of a vivoactive 3. closer in price is the forerunner 235, which would suit me very well for the way that I use my watch. this watch has other features that i don't use (like garmin pay) that the forerunners do not. but for me, at the same price as the forerunner 235, i would still pick this as it is something i can just as easily wear with my suit at work as I can with my running shorts. if you pick a more subtle watchface, this thing doesn't say garmin anywhere on it. it's just nice. that being said, i don't know how much longer this will last me, but my next one will probably be less "fully featured" as i just don't find myself using a lot of the smart watch aspects of this watch.
i haven't been using my vivoactive 3 lately, but i believe that that's only available in the vivoactive 3 music. perhaps there is an OS update the vivoactive 3 can take to get spotify control, but i'm not aware for certain one way or the other
Does the watch support android wear? I guess not but could you please confirm it? I think I'll buy it anyway.... I love the design and the accuracy of the hart rate.... Thanks in advance
The casing picks up micro knicks and small scratches. The glass though has been amazing. I don’t put a screen protector or anything on it and it is in mint condition still
This like answered every single question I still had about the watch. Thanks!
Great advice
i used the 735xt and for few years now no smells so far so good love your review thanks
amazing.
thanks for watching!
Had mine for two months now and have a rash on my wrist from wearing it.
The sleep thing no longer works and the running, weights, etc never has worked.
Only useful as a watch!
Will be getting rid of on E-bay.
have other watches worked for you for the above mentioned activities?
have you tried returning the watch?
@@kofuzi I haven't tried other watches, I am stil carefully looking for something that actually works.
i try to avoid weights pretty much all costs, but my understanding is that watches have a difficult time understanding when you are exercising by lifting weights. it sounded from your comment that you had had another watch that was able to do that well, so i was curious at to which mode that might have been
I got vivoactive3 (gunmetal grey tho:) because of your vlog. Thanks for sharing. I hope garmin get you a token of appreciation.
that would be nice, wouldn't it?
I got a Vivoactive 3 recently and on my first run with it the GPS track has been very poor. Thanks for sharing yours, it confirms that it's the kind of accuracy that's to be expected from it. (not good enough for me I'm afraid, although I really like the watch itself)
sorry to hear that it wasn't working out for you.
Thanks, I'm gonna make some more tests and compare with a Suunto Spartan Trainer.
I tried again in easier conditions (no trees) and it performed better.
Are you recording at 1/s?
kofuzi absolutely. Accuracy was off like how you showed in this video, either by losing GPS lock entirely for a while or by being way off.
I'll try again the same route with Glonass on tho.
@@supercurioTube does that worked out better?, im consider buying the watch for Navigation (Dwmaps,locusmaps)
im using a forerunner 235 i got off amazon for cheap, as garmin honors the warranty of their refurbished watches from there. no regrets about it
nice. i remember it being a very tough decision between these two watches. not sure how i would end up, knowing what i know now.
Hey, thank you for the video!
I had my vivoactive 3 for almost a year now, and starting from few weeks ago my battery drains super fast. It used to last solid 3-4 days, but now it does not. Do you think battery replacement is necessary or should I just wait for another software update?
That's unusual. I haven't heard of anything like that.
Hi! I am looking for a new watch for my runs and I hesitate between the fr235 and va3. Do you have an opinion about which watch is better? I know the va3 does not give a recovery time (which is a shame) but it still gives a lot of information right? I am sorry if my English is not that good, I am from Holland. Loved you review! Have a nice day.
I don’t have a lot of experience with the forerunner, and I think the product lines are very similar. I do find the vivoactive 3 leaves a little bit desired when it comes to functionality in tracking track workouts. But when I chose it, I wasn’t really doing track workouts, but mainly, I wanted a watch that didn’t look like a smart watch.
kofuzi thank you for your reply! That is one of the things that I find important. That it looks like a normal watch and not a sport watch. Thanks!
Maaike van Hal hahahah ik ben ook nederlands en twijfel tussen precies dezelfde
@@demanhemzelf4431 ik heb inmiddels de vivoactive 3 gekocht. Ik had eerst de fr235 besteld maar vond het toch niet een mooi irgend horloge en vond hem dus toch wat te duur. Inmiddels de vivoactive 3 gekocht en ben er erg blij mee! Hij werkt goed en gaat hij mij in horloge stand gerust 9 dagen mee. Daarnaast neemt hij ook zonder problemen lange routes op! En daarnaast ziet hij er ook erg mooi uit. Kan hem tijdens werk gerust omhouden
Hi thanks Kofuzi for your great review as usual, i don’t know if you will remember me last time i asked you for a good running shoes for my condition you told me to get the epic react so I did so and today i’am great and training every day.
I have the Samsung gear S3 for convenience at work but at last I’m working out, hiking, running, boxing, jiu jitsu, vtt mountain biking and swimming a lot.
Yes I’m training every day ;)
I need a better gps watch, I’m struggling to choose a good option
Between the Suunto 9, the garmin 5x for mapping options or the 5x plus for the mapping and music option and at last The amazfit stratos/pace 2.
Can you help me out, I will need an additional option band for the swimming.
What would you recommend me at this day.
Which devices to add for biking and swimming.
I know i’am asking a lot of questions but first from the bottom of my heart thank you because you are always answering to me, it’s helping a lot and changed really my life.
Yes all this because of one of your advise on a good pair onf running shoes.
Thanks for your answer ;) and I wish you a great and happy new year!!! ;)
i would look closely at the garmin fenix, as that was designed with multisport in mind. unfortunately, i don't have much experience with it or with suunto, but that it where i would look first
kofuzi thanks a lot
took mine back last month as it was not working correctly and battery life sucked! i have a replacement and seems fine now...
glad to hear it's working out! is the battery life better on this one? or is that still a complaint for you?
ok so far, but last one was ok for first 2 months
Fingers crossed it stays that way
Do you recommend a screen protector for this watch?
Tempted to pick one of these up on the cheap now the 4 is out
It’s a great watch. Serious value
I’m like you and always had an issue with smell with any normal watch after extended use. I use a Fitbit now and have for a while. No smell. Strange. Maybe it’s the types of rubber they are making these watches with?
I had the Fitbit that was the rubber wrist band that you inserted the fitbit device into. There were just a lot of crevices with that design.
But, I do think it has something to do with the type of material.
After running, I take shower with my watch on. No bad odors nor smells on the watch so far.
When do you charge it?
I charge it when it shows the low battery message. At that point it still has 20% remaining.
Hey man! Just found your channel, and you do great work man. Liked and subscribed, looking forward to more of your videos!
Thanks so much for watching!
I wish someone would make a full featured watch without the heart rate tracking for those of us uninterested in such information. Paying for that when all you want is modern design , gps, and notifications/step tracking is frustrating.
if i had the option, i would have probably forgone the HR monitoring. but having had the watch for a while now, I am glad it's there.
but i understand where you're coming from.
How do I alternate between the rest and the series options, when I'm training in strength mode?
Usually I press the display repeatedly and It switches! Is this the correct procedure? I'm doing the correct or have a number of times to press to switch? Tnks!
I’m not familiar with strength mode.
Had a garmin. Went back to my Apple Watch Series 3. (Because of the other 23 hours in the day. Balance. )
makes sense.. (although i hardly use mine for anything other than telling time over those other 23 hours).
kofuzi Same mostly except tracking other health info. Being able to actually reply to texts and answer a call is convenient too. Thanks for the video!
I debate whether or not I would actually use that. You can dictate a text response, no?
kofuzi Yes you can. It’s a “nice-to-have”, not a necessity. None of it is really though, right? My dad ran for years with a digital Casio Watch. We have so much now to choose from. It’s hard to get away from the Apple Watch once you have it, but you can definitely tell the focus of the Garmins. I’m hoping for the best of both worlds one day.
One day
Never ever have i used any kind of fitness tracker or smart watches device. Any recommendations? Just recently got into running andcwant yo start tracking my heart rate, mileage and maybe have gps too...
if heart rate isn't a must-have, i would start out with a phone based tracker, such as runtracker, the nike app, or strava. then, you can see for free if these kinds of metrics are something you like and what you might want to offload to your wrist, once you have a better idea of what you want/need.
645 Music. Or Vivoactive 3 Music if you like touchscreen. Personally I've used Vivoactive HR, and I'm currently using Fenix 5 Plus.
Hi, does this watch also supplies interval training options?
yes. double tap the watch face to mark the lap
I hope you can help, have you tried to use the watch for navigation??
i haven't been able to find an app that i like for this watch. instead, when i use google maps, it will send a notification to the watch each time i need to make a direction change. that seems to work fine enough for me
kofuzi hey thank you very much for the response and help. I am a cyclist, how does the notification appear? I like getting lost and trying to find my way home but maps would be handy on my watch.
they appear like texts
kofuzi thank you very much for the help.
Can the watch track my mileage without it being connected to my phone?
So once my run is finnished i connect it to my phone and upload it to strava?
I believe it may be possible to connect the watch to the charging cable and use that connection to upload activity data. But I’ve not done it.
Without a phone, I’m not sure how you get the data from the watch to the internet.
@@kofuzi yea i meant to go running without my phone and once i get back home connect to the phone.
If i have have to be constantly connected to my phone then i can run just with my phone and dont need a 200 bucks watch
Is the forerunner series better than VO3?
as far as battery life they last longer. very similar specs otherwise
I haven't had personal experience with the forerunner, but I find the forerunner 645 pretty interesting, although it's almost twice the cost of a vivoactive 3. closer in price is the forerunner 235, which would suit me very well for the way that I use my watch.
this watch has other features that i don't use (like garmin pay) that the forerunners do not. but for me, at the same price as the forerunner 235, i would still pick this as it is something i can just as easily wear with my suit at work as I can with my running shorts.
if you pick a more subtle watchface, this thing doesn't say garmin anywhere on it. it's just nice. that being said, i don't know how much longer this will last me, but my next one will probably be less "fully featured" as i just don't find myself using a lot of the smart watch aspects of this watch.
What is your vivoactive dial?
It's one of the default ones where I've turned a lot of the clutter off
kofuzi thanks
Does someone know if i can change my music (spotify) in my vivoactive, while im listening in my phone?
i haven't been using my vivoactive 3 lately, but i believe that that's only available in the vivoactive 3 music. perhaps there is an OS update the vivoactive 3 can take to get spotify control, but i'm not aware for certain one way or the other
Yes, you can.
Does the watch support android wear? I guess not but could you please confirm it? I think I'll buy it anyway.... I love the design and the accuracy of the hart rate.... Thanks in advance
I don’t think you could put Android wear on it, although it is compatible with both android and iOS
I do encounter skin rashes when i use my vivoactive 3
that's unfortunate. do you ever get that with other watches (gps or non-gps)?
Same here, but Garmin show no interest when contacted.
Can I please ask, how does it hold up to scratches on the screen and casing. Thanks
The casing picks up micro knicks and small scratches. The glass though has been amazing. I don’t put a screen protector or anything on it and it is in mint condition still
I just wish the VIVOACTIVE 3 was compatible with the RD Pod
i think that perhaps the forerunner 645 is?