Garmin Vivoactive 3

CramCycle

Lidl have them for sale this week. While I won't be using it for cycling, I figure someone might be. I'll be using it for my Diabetes as there is a way to get it to display blood sugars but are there any negatives to the watch as a sports user?

Kaisr Sose

CramCycle wrote: »

Lidl have them for sale this week. While I won't be using it for cycling, I figure someone might be. I'll be using it for my Diabetes as there is a way to get it to display blood sugars but are there any negatives to the watch as a sports user?

DC Rainmaker did a good review of this when it launched. Note sure he covered the blood sugar reading.
I was considering this purchase too. Its a pretty good deal but not that much more on amazon or online in general. Vivoactive 4 is also released.

CramCycle

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

DC Rainmaker did a good review of this when it launched. Note sure he covered the blood sugar reading.
I was considering this purchase too. Its a pretty good deal but not that much more on amazon or online in general. Vivoactive 4 is also released.

Indeed, I only save about a tenner. The 4 is a far better watch but I am not convinced it is a twice the price better watch. The blood sugars work on both, basically my CGM should route through an app on the watch and display my blood sugars on my wrist. A minor thing in every day life but mid race when your pump starts vibrating and you cannot tell are you crashing BG wise or going high due to a liver glucose dump, it makes a difference. The alternative is for my pancreas to start doing what it is meant to do but after nearly 40 years, I am starting to give up on it.

cletus

I have the watch for about a year now, having moved from an older Garmin forerunner. I run more than I cycle (time constraints more than anything), but I would find few faults with the watch. In fact, a number of my friends have the same watch on my recommendation. I wear it as my daily watch. I have used it as a cycling computer, but I got an edge 520+ for Christmas. It has a good range of sports and activities which it can track. I've used it for running, cycling, swimming and weight training

One of the only (minor) annoyances I find with it is the touch screen can be awkward in the rain

daragh_

Anyone ever used one of these for Sea Swimming? Not that you would ever catch me swimming before or after riding a bike. Nothing to see here. Move along.

cletus

daragh_ wrote: »

Anyone ever used one of these for Sea Swimming? Not that you would ever catch me swimming before or after riding a bike. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The Vivoactive 3 is very specifically not for sea swimming. It will last about 90 seconds

Ryath

cletus wrote: »

The Vivoactive 3 is very specifically not for sea swimming. It will last about 90 seconds

It will last a lot longer than 90 seconds in the sea(ok maybe daragh won't ) It only tracks pool swimming but not open water.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/10/garmin-vivoactive-3-in-depth-review.html

daragh_

Ryath wrote: »

It will last a lot longer than 90 seconds in the sea(ok maybe daragh won't ) It only tracks pool swimming but not open water.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/10/garmin-vivoactive-3-in-depth-review.html

Hey. My 'not drowning' is coming along nicely.

Thanks for the link.

Matt Bianco

I read somewhere that sea water kills them - I cant remember where (maybe a message board) but consensus seemed to be that it wasn't a goer

daragh_

Think you are right. I'm looking fo a general purpose smart watch that can handle the odd dip in the sea. Something like the Forerunner 920 would do but it seems a bit over-specced for my needs. And I already have a Garmin for the Bike.

CramCycle

Matt Bianco wrote: »

I read somewhere that sea water kills them - I cant remember where (maybe a message board) but consensus seemed to be that it wasn't a goer

I was reading a few other forums and the general consensus was that it is not designed to record sea swimming as it uses an accelerometer rather than GPS for the swim apps but no one had any issues at all using it for sea swims in that it didn't damage it but all recommended rinsing with non salt water after wards just in case it did cause corrosion at the contact points.

cletus

Ryath wrote: »

It will last a lot longer than 90 seconds in the sea(ok maybe daragh won't ) It only tracks pool swimming but not open water.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/10/garmin-vivoactive-3-in-depth-review.html

Apologies, not trying to mislead anybody.

I was convinced that Garmin recommended not using for sea swimming, but can't find that now.

Another poster on here reported his watch bricking after a very short spell in sea water, but could be coincidental

*edit* had a look on the Garmin website for the spec, it has a water rating of 5atm, which means you can shower, swim, dive into water and snorkel, but you can't scuba dive or do high speed water sports

CramCycle

I think Garmin's point was you couldn't use it for sea swimming. Although I imagine if you switched it to either running or cycling it would use the GPS instead. Could be wrong. I won't be doing it anyway.