Garmin's new Vivosmart tracks reps and stress
There's a new way to calculate your overall fitness as well.
Garmin's vivosmart 3 is here and it's packing guided breathing exercises, automatic rep counting in the gym and a supposed five-day battery life. Working in concert with the Garmin Connect mobile app, the vivosmart 3 will automatically label the exercises you've done in addition to counting them. But for now it sounds a bit on the limited side. Ars Technica reports that Connect isn't the best at telling between two different weight-training exercises yet, but given enough time (and app training) it will be able to discern between deadlifts and dumbbell curls.
In an effort to keep your stress levels low, the vivosmart 3 will keep tabs on your wellness throughout the day and notice when your heart rate increases when you aren't moving. If the built-in graph is on the high side, you can access breathing exercises from the wearable's hidden display. "A longer timeline of stress level is accessible on Garmin Connect which can help customers identify patterns and make lifestyle changes to avoid or better cope with stress-inducing situations," the press release reads.
Lastly, there have been changes to how the device will track your overall fitness "score." Looking at VO2 max (maximal aerobic capacity), the vivosmart will calculate your fitness age and give you an overall idea of how you're doing on the road to becoming more fit.
Sound good? Well, if your Fitbit or other activity tracker has been leaving you wanting for a bit more in terms of features, the vivosmart 3 is available now for $140/£130.
