The world of smartwatches has certainly become more and more interesting as newer players arrive, but this does not mean the old guard would just sit back and do nothing. Garmin is a name that is more often than not associated with GPS devices, and this time around, they have announced the vívoactive HR, which is a GPS smartwatch that sports their very own Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology.
The vívoactive HR will be able to keep track of active moments all through the day, as it counts the number of steps taken and the floors climbed, intensity minutes, monitoring sleep and boasting of built-in GPS-enabled sports apps for walking, running, biking, swimming, golfing, paddle boarding, rowing, skiing and snowboarding.
The vívoactive HR will make use of the wrist-based heart rate data which is collected round the clock to calculate calories burned information in addition to the intensity of fitness activities, and using the Connect IQ store, one will be able to personalize one’s vívoactive HR with free apps, widgets, watch faces and data fields.It has up to eight days’ battery life in watch/activity tracking mode, or 13 hours using GPS. Do expect the vívoactive HR to begin shipping some time in Q2 this year at a recommended retail price of $249.99 a pop. [Press Release]