Garmin vívosmart HR review: activity, heart rate tracking on par with Fitbit Charge HR, has extra smartphone alert feature, but bulky, and app isn't as good
Dan Graziano / CNET :
Context & Ripple Effects
This CNET verdict lands weeks after Garmin put the vívosmart HR on shelves at $150 in its November launch alongside its new smart scale, making the review the first real quality check on Garmin's answer to the Fitbit Charge HR. The scorecard is split: heart-rate accuracy is on par with Fitbit's incumbent band, and smartphone alerts are an extra Fitbit didn't offer, but the hardware is bulky and Garmin's companion app lags.
That split sets up the pattern the rest of the coverage confirms: Garmin treating the band line as an annual iteration loop rather than a one-shot product, with each review complaint feeding the next SKU.
First-order effects
- Shoppers choosing between the vívosmart HR and the Fitbit Charge HR get a genuine trade-off — equal tracking plus alerts versus a slimmer band and a better app — putting pressure on Garmin's $150 price point.
Second-order effects
- Garmin's response comes fast: the vívosmart HR+ adds GPS for $219, monetizing the original's gaps, while the broader refresh wave (Vivofit redesign and Vivoactive HR) shows optical heart rate spreading across the lineup; Fitbit counters from the other side with the Alta HR trading sensor depth for style and battery life.
Third-order effects
- By the Vivosmart 4's pulse-ox sleep tracking at $129, the band category has stratified into price tiers where differentiation shifts from step-and-heart-rate parity toward sleep metrics, GPS, and payments — and the app ecosystem, Garmin's admitted weak spot here, becomes the durable moat or liability.
The trend: Fitness bands matured from single-device bets into annually refreshed, tiered lines where software ecosystems and added sensors — not basic tracking accuracy, which commoditized — decide the winners.