After reading a few bad reviews of the Fitbit Charge 3 (mainly due to device non-responsiveness, screen print size, and other "failures") I decided to get a Garmin Vivosmart 4. I also liked the more compact size combined with pulse ox. I often hated the bulk of conventional digital watches and was happy to quit using them when I got a smartphone to keep track of time.
After a few hours use, this is what I'm finding:
1) Responsiveness is fine, though it seemed poor at first (did it learn or did I learn) and also during designated "sleep" period (so I can't use "sleep" as a way to turn off notifications for half the day)
2) The "button" seems far less responsive than the automatic display. Sometimes I can pound on it for quite awhile and nothing happens...and when it does maybe because of unintended gesturing during the button pressing process.
3) The screen print is fine, pleasant surprise.
4) If it were up to me, I'd choose the Pulse display. I have issues with my pulse (low rate) and it's one of the reasons I got this thing. But that appears to be one thing you can't select as the default display. For awhile I couldn't figure out how to not have a TIME display by default. I do not like TIME display, I find it anxiety provoking. It would be nice if you could configure a custom display from 2-3 subwidgets. I'm not using STEP as the default because it's the most sensitive to general activity. But it doesn't respond much to weightlifting when that hand isn't used. The Calorie display therefore may be more broadly resolving as it includes pulse, but it doesn't have the resolution to show walking from one side of the house to the other (not one calorie). Some combination of the two, or a Calorie display down to 0.1 calorie might be better.
6) I don't want any kinds of notifications from my phone. No notifications about calls, texts, or emails. These are all horrible distractions I'm trying to get away from. ESPECIALLY if I happen to be napping or sleeping. I think I've set it up for this through the app, but it was not entirely obvious. When they say "notification" they seem to mean the tracker notifying the phone, rather than the reverse.
I might find notifications OK if they followed my phone setting exactly. When I muted the phone, it would mute the tracker as well. I doubt it works this way. I don't want to have to be bothered with muting TWO THINGS, and it doesn't appear you can "mute" the tracker either, except by changing its preferences to disallow notifications, if that's what I did, I'm not sure.
7) So I set a sleep time hoping to be sure I wouldn't be distracted. I don't yet sleep fixed hours, and I sleep in two parts (including an afternoon nap). So setting just one sleep time doesn't really work for me. And if you're still "sleeping" according to your preset preferences, it appears the tracker is even less responsive.
8) The device seemed only half charged as I was going to bed. So I took it off and hooked to charger. I had been discouraged that it was showing so few steps from my having walked around the house before going to bed. When I got up, miraculously, it was now showing 600 steps that it had somehow picked up while the tracker was on the countertop being charged. Were those the steps that I had taken before going to be that it finally figured out? Or some kind of weird error? There does not appear to be any way to "reset" the number of steps or anything.
After a few hours use, this is what I'm finding:
1) Responsiveness is fine, though it seemed poor at first (did it learn or did I learn) and also during designated "sleep" period (so I can't use "sleep" as a way to turn off notifications for half the day)
2) The "button" seems far less responsive than the automatic display. Sometimes I can pound on it for quite awhile and nothing happens...and when it does maybe because of unintended gesturing during the button pressing process.
3) The screen print is fine, pleasant surprise.
4) If it were up to me, I'd choose the Pulse display. I have issues with my pulse (low rate) and it's one of the reasons I got this thing. But that appears to be one thing you can't select as the default display. For awhile I couldn't figure out how to not have a TIME display by default. I do not like TIME display, I find it anxiety provoking. It would be nice if you could configure a custom display from 2-3 subwidgets. I'm not using STEP as the default because it's the most sensitive to general activity. But it doesn't respond much to weightlifting when that hand isn't used. The Calorie display therefore may be more broadly resolving as it includes pulse, but it doesn't have the resolution to show walking from one side of the house to the other (not one calorie). Some combination of the two, or a Calorie display down to 0.1 calorie might be better.
6) I don't want any kinds of notifications from my phone. No notifications about calls, texts, or emails. These are all horrible distractions I'm trying to get away from. ESPECIALLY if I happen to be napping or sleeping. I think I've set it up for this through the app, but it was not entirely obvious. When they say "notification" they seem to mean the tracker notifying the phone, rather than the reverse.
I might find notifications OK if they followed my phone setting exactly. When I muted the phone, it would mute the tracker as well. I doubt it works this way. I don't want to have to be bothered with muting TWO THINGS, and it doesn't appear you can "mute" the tracker either, except by changing its preferences to disallow notifications, if that's what I did, I'm not sure.
7) So I set a sleep time hoping to be sure I wouldn't be distracted. I don't yet sleep fixed hours, and I sleep in two parts (including an afternoon nap). So setting just one sleep time doesn't really work for me. And if you're still "sleeping" according to your preset preferences, it appears the tracker is even less responsive.
8) The device seemed only half charged as I was going to bed. So I took it off and hooked to charger. I had been discouraged that it was showing so few steps from my having walked around the house before going to bed. When I got up, miraculously, it was now showing 600 steps that it had somehow picked up while the tracker was on the countertop being charged. Were those the steps that I had taken before going to be that it finally figured out? Or some kind of weird error? There does not appear to be any way to "reset" the number of steps or anything.
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