The latest Vivoactive features smarter running plans, improved GPS and tracks 80 exercises for all your fitness needs
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Score: 9/10
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Fitness trackers have come a long way since just tracking steps, and Garmin can be thanked for a lot of this progress, having been a leader in the market since 2003. Its newest all-rounder model, released in April this year, is designed to blend health tracking with everyday life.
Priced from £260, The Vivoactive 6 is top of the midrange. To put it into perspective, Garmin watches range from £80 to £1,599.99 – but most sit below £400.
The new smartwatch claims to monitor how much energy is running in your body, plus there’s a new personalised sleep coach. With more than 80 preloaded sport activities to track, advanced safety tools like incident detection and up to 11 days of battery life, it’s an excellent option whether you’re a casual athlete or just health-conscious and wanting to track fitness and sleep, without the luxury price tag.
I’ve tested several fitness trackers from the Garmin Venu 3S to the Whoop 4.0 and the new Whoop MG, and I track my health and fitness each day with a smart watch. I always spend around a month wearing a tracker, taking it running and wearing it during HIIT sessions, yoga classes and sleep. I wanted to see how accurately the Garmin Vivoactive 6 tracked my activity, sleep and recovery levels.
I also tested how long the battery life lasted and the charging time. I considered how comfortable the tracker was to wear, both during the day and as I slept. As none of this wear would be useful if the app wasn’t easy to understand, I also thought about how easy the data was to digest and how accurate it was by comparing it to other smart watches.
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Score: 9/10
I’ll admit, the look of my fitness watch matters a lot to me, and if you feel the same, this model will impress you. There’s a thinner and lighter design than before, with a lightweight aluminium bezel and a choice of four colours: green, white, black and pink. Like other Garmin watches, it offers both a responsive touchscreen and physical buttons for easy navigation.
The 1.2-inch AMOLED display (a type of thin, bright display technology) is bright and clear, making it simple to check stats like steps, sleep and heart rate with just a swipe. The two side buttons are intuitive: the bottom returns you home, while the upgraded round top button starts and stops activities in just a few clicks. I wore it day and night; its silicone strap is comfortable, though it can rub after prolonged wear. At night, the watch’s sleep mode ensured no bright light from the screen disturbed my rest, making it a great all-day companion.
Score: 9/10
Having my health stats instantly accessible on my wrist was genuinely useful – I often found myself swiping down to check steps, calories burned and my body battery (an estimate of your energy reserves throughout the day, decided by a combination of heart rate, stress level, activity and sleep quality). While I didn’t use the Garmin app as obsessively as some might, it proved helpful after intense workouts or when chasing a specific goal. The watch supports tracking for up to 80 preloaded sports, and I appreciated being able to add favourites like walking, running, strength and cardio to the main menu for quick access.
In terms of detail, the tracking isn’t quite as comprehensive as the Apple Watch. It provides key stats such as calories burned and heart rate zones during HIIT sessions, but lacks in-depth visualisations. However, running metrics are more robust, with pace and distance on the watch and further details like cadence (the number of steps taken per minute) in the app. Notably, Garmin’s new Pace Pro feature helps structure training plans by acting like a coach on your wrist, helping you to pace yourself throughout a race or training run, though setup could be more intuitive.
Sleep tracking is another highlight, offering a sleep score, consistency insights and a sleep coach that recommends optimal rest based on your activity. The body battery and daily reports are excellent additions, helping you gauge when to push harder or take a well-earned rest.
Score: 8/10
Much like Garmin’s Venu 3S, this watch offers Garmin Pay, enabling contactless payments directly from your wrist. While setting it up through the Garmin Connect app took a little time, the four-digit PIN adds a reassuring layer of security.
You can also download playlists from apps like Spotify, and this model boasts increased storage compared to previous versions, making it even more convenient for workouts.
Although I initially skipped email and text notifications, adjusting these settings later via the app was straightforward. Android users can even reply to texts directly from the watch – a handy feature for staying connected on the go. For added peace of mind, Garmin includes safety and tracking features that can alert your emergency contacts if you feel unsafe or experience an incident while exercising. Overall, these smart features make the watch versatile enough for both fitness and everyday life.
Score: 8/10
The watch pairs seamlessly with both Android and iOS devices via Bluetooth, while Wi-Fi is required for accessing email and text notifications. It also integrates smoothly with fitness platforms such as Strava, MyFitnessPal and Apple Health, making it easy to transfer data like body mass and sleep metrics across your favourite health apps.
All your activity data syncs automatically to the Garmin Connect app, which provides a more detailed breakdown of your health and fitness statistics. While the app isn’t quite as intuitively designed or comprehensive as the Whoop 5.0 app, for example, I found myself checking it daily for deeper insights into my workouts and sleep patterns.
The In Focus section on the homepage offers a concise overview of your fitness and sleep, while the At a Glance section displays key daily stats, including heart rate and calories burned. As a runner, I found the extra detail, such as lap times and stride charts, particularly valuable, though a more user-friendly app refresh would be welcome.
Score: 10/10
Once fully charged, this fitness tracker boasts an impressive battery life of around 11 days – one of the longest I’ve encountered. As I’m used to charging my Apple Watch daily, I found it refreshing to only need a weekly top-up. Naturally, after particularly intense workout days or extended GPS use, the battery drained faster but still comfortably lasted about a week.
A thoughtful design feature is the battery indicator, prominently displayed when you swipe down on the watch face, showing both percentage and estimated days remaining – an improvement over the Garmin Venu 3S. Charging is straightforward via a USB-C cable that magnetically attaches to the back, taking roughly an hour to reach full power.
Overall, this model marks a significant upgrade from Garmin’s usual five to seven-day charge cycle, making it a strong contender for those looking for longevity in a fitness tracker.
The Garmin Venu 3S is a Telegraph Recommended Best Buy, but although it’s more expensive, how does it compare to the Vivoactive 6’s other features?
I loved the Garmin Vivoactive 6 for its smart design and ease of use. Some features, like the running tools, were tricky to set up, but the personalised sleep advice and morning reports felt genuinely helpful. The app isn’t as intuitive as Apple’s, but the watch puts key stats right at my fingertips. At just under £300, it offers great value with plenty of data and functionality.
Yes, if:
No, if:
Slightly lighter and more compact, it offers running features like Pace Pro, along with improved GPS accuracy and enhanced movement sensors.
Up to 11 days, dependent on GPS use.
No, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 does not support wireless charging.
No, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 does not have a barometric altimeter for elevation tracking. Instead, it relies on GPS data to estimate elevation, which is less accurate and means features like stair tracking and precise elevation gain are not available on this model
Optical Heart Rate sensor for heart rate, blood oxygen sensor to measure blood oxygen saturation, GPS for outdoor activities and a Gyroscope sensor to accurately track movement.
