I still remember the original Vivofit from 2 years back. Great device that fell slightly short on delivery; lack of back light and audio alerts. Fast forward 2 years and Garmin’s Vivofit series is already in its third edition. Announced in tandem with the Vivoactive HR, let’s take a look at what the new Vivofit 3 activity tracker has to offer.

The Vivofit 3’s screen is a mere 10mm by 10mm. Perhaps this is a move towards making the Vivofit 3 tracker less conspicuous; like the Fitbit Charge series. My only concern is whether the screen might be too tiny for viewing.

Throw in changeable wrist bands from the Jonathan Adler collaboration or the Alexandra and Gabrielle series and you  are free to match fitness device to clothing, ensuring the Vivofit 3 follows you on your workouts or evening outings.

One key feature that stood out is the new Move IQ technology from Garmin. Move IQ is able to recognise certain activities and record it within the Garmin Connect mobile app for further viewing at a later time. There is no need to start and stop activity tracking on the device. Automatic activity recognition isn’t new and it’s already present in Basis Peak and more recently, Fitbit devices and Atlas wearables. It would be interesting to have Garmin implement this feature in all its activity trackers if possible.

Probably due to battery life consideration, the Vivofit 3 has opted for audio beeps over a vibration motor; the activity tracker runs up to a year on a single coin cell battery and it water resistant to 5 ATM.

List of features:

• All day activity tracker. Tracks steps, distance, calories, sleep, intensity minutes
• Automatic activity detection with Move IQ
• Move alert with audio beeps
• Backlight
• Bluetooth and ANT+ enabled
• Connects to optional ANT+ heart rate monitor
• Water resistant to 5 ATM
• 1 year battery life with user replaceable coin cell battey
• Autosyncs with Garmin Connect Mobile
• Changeable accessory bands

The Garmin Vivofit 3 is slated for a 2nd quarter release with a RRP of $99.99. Changeable accessory bands are sold seperately.

Source: Business Wire