Garmin Vivoactive 6 review: For the casual fitness-goer
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As someone who does mainly weightlifting and not much running, Garmin smartwatches always seemed out of reach to me. They always felt like enthusiast watches for runners or outdoorsy types, neither of which I am. Additionally, the buttons and confusing UI made them difficult to pick up. However, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 seems to be a remedy to this, offering a fairly affordable alternative with a simple design and a more user-friendly UI.
The Vivoactive 6 feels like the perfect entryway into the world of Garmin watches, especially if you’re not really a runner. You may not get all the latest and greatest features or specs, as anyone looking for those will have to spend significantly more on a watch. However, the Vivoactive 6 is great for getting the basics, tracking workouts, and keeping you active.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Price, availability, and specs
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 was announced in April 2025 and went on sale the same month. The watch retails for $299 and is available in several colorways: Slate, Lunar Gold, Metallic Jasper Green, and Metallic Pink Dawn.
The Vivoactive 6 only comes in a 42.2mm case size and supports 20mm quick-release bands.
|
Category |
Garmin Vivoactive 6 |
|---|---|
|
Size |
42.2 x 42.2 x 10.9 mm |
|
Materials |
Fiber-reinforced polymer case Anodized aluminum bezel Silicon strap |
|
Protection |
Gorilla Glass 3 5ATM |
|
Weight |
36g (with included band) |
|
Display |
1.2-inch (390×390) AMOLED |
|
Memory |
8GB |
|
Battery life |
Smartwatch mode: 11 days Battery saver: 21 days GPS-Only GNSS mode: 21 days All-Systems GNSS mode: 17 hours All-Systems GNSS mode w/ music: 8 hours |
|
Sensors |
Elevate v4 HR, pulse oximeter, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, external thermometer |
|
Tracking |
GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BeiDou |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth, ANT+, NFC |
|
Colors |
Slate, Lunar Gold, Metallic Jasper Green, Metallic Pink Dawn |
Garmin Vivoactive 6: What I like
The Vivoactive 6 is a surprisingly well-built smartwatch. It’s on the smaller side, which may not suit you if you have larger wrists, but the plus side is that it’s neither thick nor heavy. In fact, the watch is very light and comfortable to wear. This is great not only in everyday use, but also when wearing it to bed, as I hardly notice it’s on, unlike other smartwatches.
It’s fairly tough, too, although probably not as sturdy as pricier models. You still get solid water protection with 5 ATM, meaning the watch can be submerged up to 50 meters deep, which should appeal to casual swimmers. Gorilla Glass 3 protection should also help keep the display intact, while the aluminum bezel and fiber-reinforced polymer case give the watch a soft feel.
The OLED display is very vibrant and fairly easy to maneuver, despite the rather large bezels. It’s incredibly responsive and bright enough to use outdoors. At just 1.2 inches, I wish the display were larger, but it still serves its purpose.
One thing I noticed immediately after setting up the Vivoactive 6 is that the UI is a significant improvement over the Venu 3, which is the only other Garmin watch I’ve used. It’s not perfect, but menus feel more logical, and other UI changes make more sense, such as accessing notifications by swiping down from the home screen and then Glance shortcuts by swiping up. Quick settings are accessible by swiping down, or you can press and hold the main power button. Settings can also be accessed by holding the back button.
I think part of what makes this easier to navigate, aside from the revamped software, is that you only have two hardware buttons. As I found having a third button on the Venu 3 to be confusing, I appreciate the simplicity.
Overall, the UI feels significantly more inviting for casual fitness enthusiasts and anyone looking to purchase their first Garmin watch.
Battery life is quite solid on the Vivoactive 6. Garmin claims you can get up to 11 days of battery life per charge, which I don’t doubt. I consistently get a full week of battery life, with one or two workouts tracked per day and the display set to gesture activation. You’d get less battery with the always-on display activated, but I find the gesture option to be perfectly adequate.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Fitness
The Vivoactive 6 doesn’t come with Garmin’s latest Elevate sensor technology, meaning you won’t get the improved accuracy found on models like the Forerunner 970 or even the Venu 3. That said, the watch still offers plenty of fitness features and with enough accuracy that the older sensor should not put off casual users.
I conducted two separate step tests, walking 5,000 steps and comparing the end results between the Vivoactive 6, Pixel Watch 3, Venu 3, and Oura Ring 4. For the purposes of the test, I wore the Pixel and Venu on separate days, and I wore each device on the same arm so that they could detect the same movement while I walked. I also used a manual counter, tapping it for each step I took until I reached 5,000.
|
Step counts |
Garmin Vivoactive 6 |
Garmin Venu 3 |
Google Pixel Watch 3 |
Oura Ring 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Day 1 |
4,482 |
✖ |
5,002 |
5,114 |
|
Day 2 |
5,064 |
5,174 |
✖ |
5,294 |
The Vivoactive 6’s step count was surprisingly low during the first test, and I couldn’t determine the cause of this discrepancy. However, it performed much better during the second test, coming in significantly closer than the Venu 3 or Oura Ring 4.
I also wore the Vivoactive 6 and Venu 3 during a few workouts, mainly to compare heart rate data. The data is from two HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts and 500 steps on the stair stepper:
Image 1 of 3
I noticed during my workouts that the readings from the Vivoactive 6 would often stay pretty close to those of the Venu, but sometimes I could see it still trying to catch up when my heart rate rose rapidly.
As you can see from the charts, the Vivoactive would have a few random dips before taking a few seconds to match the Venu, or it would take longer to register the increase in heart rate.
The Morning Report feature is similar to Morning Brief on the Pixel Watch, providing a breakdown of the morning, including weather, sleep score, and body battery. It also comes with suggested workouts, although you won’t get much more than suggested walks. It’s ideal for casual fitness enthusiasts and serves as a good way to encourage users to get up and move throughout the day.
I wish the suggested workouts were a bit more varied, especially for someone like me who actively engages in HIIT, weightlifting, and power yoga six days a week. That said, it’s clear that this watch is more focused on encouraging users to be active than on pushing them, which, again, would be more characteristic of a Forerunner.
The watch features built-in GPS and supports various navigational systems, which are pretty accurate and handy for tracking your route on runs or hikes. Keep in mind that you don’t get an altimeter, which is a downside if you enjoy the outdoors and hiking. You also can’t download maps to the watch, which may be a downside for some.
You do, however, have access to workout videos directly on the watch, which is helpful when following the pre-made workouts created in Garmin Connect. You can also curate your own workout within the app, although this feels like a very time-consuming and tedious task, and I would quit halfway through.
If you’re a weightlifter like me, you’ll likely be pleased with the workout tracking. It can automatically detect reps and rest between sets. It’s not perfect, but it’s quite handy and more accurate than Galaxy smartwatches in my experience, and significantly more accurate than you’ll get with a Pixel Watch.
Otherwise, the watch comes with a variety of workout modes, which should please most users.
Sleep tracking has been fairly accurate, even when compared to my Oura Ring 4. The only times I’ve noticed any misses are when I would wake up for a bit and fall back asleep for a few hours, which my ring would account for but the watch would seemingly ignore.
There’s no body temperature sensor, which is likely a cost-cutting measure, although I can’t say I miss it. There’s also no ECG, but you’ll get just about every other health tracking feature that one should expect on a smartwatch.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: What I don’t like
The UI on the Vivoactive 3 is much improved, but it still comes with some quirks that I feel are typical for Garmin. Notifications can often take up the entire screen, which can be quite annoying when you’re actually trying to do something on the watch. Furthermore, the vibration intensity can’t be altered, so you’ll get a pretty jarring buzz unless you turn the vibration off.
Speaking of vibrations, the watch features a Smart Alarm that utilizes sleep tracking to wake you up at the optimal time, so you feel less groggy. It sounds great in theory, but I’ve found this feature pretty useless or annoying. Oftentimes, I wake up ahead of my set alarm, so the Vivoactive ends up just being late to the party when the smart alarm finally goes off. It also only has a 30-minute window, which doesn’t seem like enough time to take advantage of a feature like this, especially if your sleep schedule is as erratic as mine.
The Vivoactive also has Move Break alerts to remind you to get up and move, which makes sense. However, I’ll be actively standing and moving around or cooking, and the watch will still buzz me with a move alert, which I find annoying.
Finally, despite the improved UI, Garmin still seems to hide features and settings under a mountain of menus, making it difficult to locate certain things. That’s whether you’re on the watch or in the app. Using the Garmin Connect app can be overwhelming, and I often had to refer to Android Central senior editor and wearables expert Michael Hicks to figure out how to do things on the watch or in the app.
The smartwatch UI is a significant step in the right direction, but I feel that the app could use some improvement.
Bonus: I briefly used the Connect Plus subscription while testing the Vivoactive 6, but honestly did not find it useful enough to warrant sticking with it. A live view of my workout heart rate was neat, as were some of the AI-based insights, but I don’t think it’s worth paying for.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Competition
In this price range, another watch you may want to consider is the Pixel Watch 3. It features a more streamlined UI, numerous apps, and a fantastic design, along with LTE support for those who require it. That said, fitness tracking may not be quite on par, battery life isn’t as great, and the base model will cost more.
The Galaxy Watch 7 is another smartwatch worth considering at this price. It also runs Wear OS, so you’ll get many of the same perks as the Pixel Watch with some Samsung flair. That said, it also comes with the same downsides, despite its pretty robust Samsung Health app.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Should you buy it?
You should buy this if…
- You’re new to Garmin.
- You’re a casual fitness-goer.
- You want a smartwatch with long battery life.
You shouldn’t buy this if…
- You’re a serious runner or biker.
- You want a smartwatch experience that’s easy to use.
- You want a watch that pushes you to do more.
The Vivoactive 6 has been a surprisingly refreshing experience for me after coming from the Venu 3. Sure, it’s not exactly a premium watch, and you miss out on some features and specs, but it gets you much of what you’d expect from a Garmin device without the price tag associated with watches like the Fenix 8.
Since I’m not a runner or biker, this feels like a perfect watch for someone like me, who just wants to track my workouts. The Vivoactive 6 won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do, but it will make sure you’re at least staying active, which is good enough for many of us.
This is an ideal smartwatch for anyone interested in Garmin but concerned about what it entails, and it’s platform-agnostic, so both Android and iOS users are welcome.
Stay active
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 is a great smartwatch for anyone new to the Garmin ecosystem and starting their fitness journey.
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