I have tested numerous “smart watches” in my quest to find a decent replacement for my ever faithful and reliable, Fitbit Versa 4. I purchased it almost four years ago to replace the original Fitbit Versa. But then Google took over Fitbit, and I was looking for a reliable alternative to the Fitbit products. I tried a Samsung Galaxy watch 7 that lost steps by the thousands each day. I tried an Apple Smart Watch that sometimes had to be charged more than once EVERY DAY! I tried a Parsonver (less expensive) but even though it was advertised and labeled IP 68, (indicating that it would withstand submersion in water) I actually received an email from the company before the watch was even delivered advising me to be careful even showering or washing my hands with it on! SERIOUSLY???? And the step counts were not even close to correct! Then I tried an Amazfit BIP6 (also advertised as IP 68, but clearly IS NOT) and thought I had finally found what I was looking for, until it completely malfunctioned after only 3 weeks of use. So Amazon replaced it with ANOTHER BIP6, and that one lasted almost 5 months before it began to seriously malfunction and the touchscreen no longer worked. So my new search began and I decided to give Garmin a try as my walking and swimming buddies swear by their Garmins, and the results that they get with them compare favorably to my old Fitbit. I have now only had the Garmin Vivoactive 5 for about a month, but so far, it is AWESOME! It tracks extremely well with the Fitbit, and I have had no issues whatsoever with water infiltration. If that changes, I will be back to downgrade my rating, but so far, so GREAT! This proves that you don’t have to buy the most expensive models of ANY brand of fitness watch to find one that does what you need it to do. Most of them have more functions than you will ever need or use anyway. I bought separate, different color bands to customize it and love that you have a lot of choices for watch faces, so pick the one that works best for you! (Although - once again, Fitbit has a much better and more user friendly watch face selection portal!) The one potential “glitch” I thought I had finally discovered with my Vivoactive 5, but which turned out not to be an issue, occurred when I was flying internationally. I was returning from Europe to the US on an evening flight where the time in the US was six hours earlier. So both my FITBIT and my Garmin thought that when enough flight time had elapsed, they went past midnight and started their metrics over as a new day - meaning steps completely zeroed out and started over. But not long after I landed at 7 pm US time, my Fitbit picked back up with the previous day’s step tally, but my Garmin still showed the reduced step count tallied as a “new day”. I was disappointed with this until I checked the metrics in the Garmin app and noted that the “two day tallies” indicated on the watch itself were actually (appropriately!) counted and displayed as a single day step counts in the app. So yes, I am sold on the Garmin. But I do still have to wonder why if FITBIT - even early versions - could have successfully addressed ALL of the issues I have found with so many competitor brands, why can’t all the others? Maybe I shouldn’t have been so wary of Google taking over Fitbit when I started investigating other Smart watches, but I learned a lot about different brands and their bogus IP 68 and 5 ATM ratings! So to reiterate, Garmin is exactly what it says it is, and Fitbit is as well. Do your comparisons!
