Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome Smartwatch Option - Vivomove HR Premium Gold
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018
This is a review after only one day, but so far, I'm giving this 5 Stars. I have had the Vivoactive HR for close to 2 years, and while it has been very functional, I was starting to not like how it looked when in business attire. In fact, I had started wearing my old analog watch again because it was less bulky and looked more appropriate with a suit. I had been going back and forth on whether to get the Vivomove HR because I kept hearing issues about the clock not remaining accurate and the screen being hard to see, but decided to gamble and see how it would work. Well, after a very short time period, I can't be more happy with this smartwatch!
As for the look, it is fantastic. I bought the premium gold with light brown leather band. It has a classic analog look and doubt anyone would know it was a smartwatch. My exercise revolves around swimming, walking, and doing stairs with occasional biking. I have been using the Garmin Swim for swimming for about 3 years and am very happy with that and no plans to change using it. But for most of my other exercise, the Vivomove HR will be more than sufficient. I have found the stair count to be more accurate than the Vivoactive stair count. If I go bike riding, I can easily throw on the Vivoactive and take advantage of the GPS in that. But for my day to day activities, the Vivomove will be very sufficient.
The Vivomove paired quite easily with my Galaxy S8 and it receives notifications very accurately. It doesn't display much of the text, email, or other message, but allows me to see if I need to act immediately or wait until later to respond. The messages are only for viewing and you can't respond, but again, this meets my needs. As for the viewing of the screen, I have not had an issue with it. This was another negative that some have posted, that it was tough to read the screen outside. I will admit that when in the sun, I have to put my hand over the watch face to get a good view, but really don't find that to be much of a hassle in my line of work. While in my car, or in any normal lighted room, the messages can be seen quite clearly. If I was using this watch for running or biking out in the sun, then I probably would find it to be not so great, but if I was purchasing a watch for those reasons I'd stick with the current Vivoactive watch. Of course, the Vivomove works with the Garmin Connect phone app and all appears accurate there. I've only slept with the Vivomove once, but it appeared to be as accurate as the Vivoactive was. There are other functions I have not used yet (music controls and some additional activity options), but if any issues with those or if any are particularly interesting I will update this review.
I guess it depends on what the goal is with this particular watch. For me, this is a pretty close to perfect option for what I was looking for. A classic looking watch with some basic (steps, stairs, heart rate, sleeping, messages) smartwatch functionality. If looking for a smartwatch that is more watch like, don't be afraid of the comments regarding seeing the screen or the watch being inaccurate.....and buy it!