Garmin Vivoactive 5 GPS Watch Review

Bottom Line

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a versatile GPS smartwatch designed for active lifestyles. It blends fitness tracking, smart features, and reliable battery life in a sleek package. Its bright AMOLED display offers excellent visibility, while the lightweight design ensures all-day comfort. It’s the thinnest and lightest watch in our lineup. Its sleek design and hardly noticeable weight earn it a spot in our lineup of best GPS watches.

Equipped with a highly accurate GPS and many activity types, the Vivoactive 5 accurately tracks running, cycling, swimming, strength training, and more. Health monitoring is a major focus of this watch. In fact, it leans more toward a fitness and health tracker than a GPS watch for backcountry use. It comes equipped with heart rate tracking, heart rate variability, sleep insights, stress monitoring, and Body Battery energy tracking to provide a comprehensive view of wellness.

While the Vivoactive 5 is great for front-country use and recording health metrics, it lacks some features needed to rely on it in the backcountry. It does not come equipped with an altimeter or the ability to navigate using the watch. Its moderate battery life is not enough for day-long activities, but it adequately powers the intensely vibrant screen for daily use.

For those seeking a well-rounded fitness smartwatch with strong health tracking and everyday utility, the Vivoactive 5 is a top contender.

How We Tested

We put the Vivoactiv GPS watch to the test – taking it on sweaty trail runs, epic backcountry ski adventures, and just wearing it around day-to-day. After huffing and puffing with this watch for a couple months straight, we’ve killed the batteries more times than we can count, tracked our miles through all kinds of terrain to see how accurate it really is, and strapped in for hours on end to make sure it doesn’t drive you nuts.

Accuracy

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 offered reliable GPS accuracy throughout our tests on a loop of known distance and testing in different terrain types. 

The only area in which it struggled was in dense tree cover. There were some skips and jumps in the track, and the distance was slightly off. This is common in single-band GPS watches, but it was particularly noticeable in the Vivoactive 5. 

While it lacks dual-frequency GPS, the Vivoactive 5 still performs well for most users. Its balance of accuracy and battery efficiency makes it a dependable choice for casual runners and fitness enthusiasts.

Battery Life

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 claims an  11-day battery life in standard smartwatch mode, though we found that real-world usage varies widely during our testing. 

It was hard to make this watch last more than five days with daily GPS recording of 1-1.5 hours and regular smartwatch use. Garmin claims the Vivoactive has upwards of 17 hours of continuous GPS use. We found that to be a unicorn situation stat. The real-life tests proved it is lower. Battery saver mode helps extend usage, but the Vivoactive is not our top pick for all-day activities or spending multiple days between reliable charging.

Comfort & Wearability

The Garmin Vivoactive is the lightest and slimmest watch in our lineup. 

Weighing in at 35 grams, we hardly noticed it on our wrists. It’s one of the thinnest watches we’ve tested with a thickness of 11.1 mm (.43 inches). While its 1.2-inch display size is standard for many other watches, the overall dimensions are extremely slim. 

If you’re someone with slender wrists, you will love this watch. It’s snag-free on backpacks, gloves, and sleeves. This is a great low-profile watch to wear and forget it’s there.

Features

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 comes with enough features to make it a great daily fitness and wellness tracker. It has a vibrant 1.2-inch AMOLED display, offering sharp visuals and a lightweight design. 

The watch supports over 30 sports modes, including running, cycling, swimming, and more obscure sports like gaming and platform tennis. The Vivoactive also tracks heart rate variability, sleep, and stress. It also features Garmin’s Body Battery, which helps monitor energy levels throughout the day. 

However, this watch is clearly meant to be a fitness tracker rather than a smartwatch or backcountry-oriented GPS watch due to the lack of some key features. It does not have smartwatch features like offline music, Garmin Pay, or the ability to respond to messages. It also lacks an altimeter, offline maps, routes, and breadcrumb tracking. 

The Vivoactive 5 is a solid choice for those seeking an all-around fitness tracker with some smart capabilities, though it may not be sufficient for those after more specialized functions.

Ease of Use

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 offers a user-friendly experience with its intuitive interface and easy navigation. 

The touchscreen is responsive, making it simple to scroll through menus and settings, while the AMOLED display ensures clear readability in various lighting conditions. With only two buttons, the options for navigation are streamlined with most of the manipulation happening through the touch screen. 

The watch pairs with Garmin’s long-standing and well-designed companion app for in-depth analysis of health metrics and workouts. We loved being able to customize the activity types and watch face directly from the watch and it’s easy to navigate to display the workout metrics you’re after. 

The simplicity of the design is great for those new to fitness trackers. While it lacks some advanced features, the Vivoactive 5 offers a smooth, efficient user experience for those seeking an easy-to-use fitness smartwatch.

Should You Buy the Garmin Vivoactive 5 GPS Watch?

If you’re looking for a simple, streamlined fitness tracker, the Vivoactive 5 is your watch. If you’re looking for a burly watch with a battery life for recording activities for days at a time, you may look elsewhere. 

The Vivoactive 5 excels at daily health and wellness but is quickly out of its depth for navigation and even most smartphone features. The battery life is in the middle of the pack, and we had to charge more frequently than others in our lineup. 

However, for day-to-day use where access to charging is common, the Vivoactive 5’s sleek profile, trim design, and low weight are hard to beat. If you have a thin wrist, this may be the perfect daily watch.

What Other Watches Should You Consider?

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 GPS watch is a great option for the fitness-focused outdoor go-getter. Check out more of our tested and reviewed favorites in our complete GPS watch gear guide.

Garmin Forerunner 165 Review: With a similar battery life but slightly more features, the Forerunner 165 is a trail-ready watch for a nearly identical price.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar Review: If the battery life of the Vivoactive 5 left you wishing for more, the Instinct 2 Solar can record for days at a time continuously, thanks to its excellent battery and solar charging watch face.

Coros Pace 3 Review: Another great option for someone not looking to spend a lot of money, the Pace 3 has great battery life for long days on the go.