Garmin Vivoactive 6 review: A sleek fitness watch that masters the basics
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Rachael Schultz/Business Insider
Garmin is one of the most trusted names in fitness watches, known for pairing industry-best GPS and heart rate tech with an ecosystem designed to help you train smarter, recover better, and live healthier. And while the brand has dipped into the smartwatch space before, the Vivoactive 6 may finally be the Goldilocks option we've been waiting for.
At $300, the Vivoactive 6 is a serious fitness tracker with lifestyle-friendly smart features — and easily one of the best-looking and highly-capable fitness watches I've tested for everyday use.
As a health and fitness editor who has reviewed many wearables, I've been using the Vivoactive 6 daily for weeks (and the Vivoactive 5 before that) through strength workouts, airport travel, stressful workdays, and everything in between. This isn't the brand's most advanced watch, but it offers the perfect blend of fitness tracking power and smartwatch convenience for most people. This is the best Garmin watch if you want more than step counts but don't need triathlon-level data.
What I like about the Vivoactive 6
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It has top-tier activity and recovery tracking.
Garmin arguably has the best GPS and heart rate technology in the industry, which means all its watches are incredibly accurate at tracking activities, including the Vivoactive 6. This watch, in particular, features over 80 preloaded GPS and indoor activity profiles, ranging from walking to mountain biking, pickleball, pool swimming, and even activities suitable for wheelchair users. You can customize which stats show during activity, but I found that on runs and during strength workouts, the factory display screens delivered the exact info I wanted — heart rate, overall time, pace, and distance.
The Vivoactive 6 also tracks your daily steps, continuous stress levels (based on heart rate), and overall movement throughout the day, sending reminders to get up and stretch each hour. It combines all your activity and physical exertion data to generate a daily "body battery" score that indicates how energized or fatigued your body is.
It has the basic smartwatch features you'll use most.
On the wrist, the Vivoactive 6 delivers smart notifications for emails, texts, and alerts, as well as the ability to use Garmin Pay for contactless payments and store music for all smartphones. If you have an Android, you can also respond to texts with the on-watch keyboard and view photos. However, it's not the most feature-rich smartwatch — the Vivoactive 6 lacks a built-in speaker or mic, so it doesn't offer on-wrist capabilities to dictate a reply to a text or take a call, like most full-blown smartwatches these days (for those, you'll need to upgrade to the Venu 3).
As someone who prioritizes fitness tracking but likes to know if an incoming text is urgent, I found the features of this watch to be just enough.
It looks sleeker than most fitness trackers.
My issue with typical fitness trackers is that they tend to stand out against more professional office clothes or look too rugged with more feminine outfits. While many Garmin watches lean toward a sporty and performance-focused design, the Vivoactive features a refined look with a classic round face, slim profile, and minimalist silicone band. I found it transitioned effortlessly from the gym to the airport to business meetings. Its vibrant AMOLED display — the same kind used in smartphones — adds to its sleek, lifestyle-friendly appeal.
I also like that the watch is extremely lightweight (just 45 grams), making it comfortable to wear around the clock. It's also water-rated to 5 ATM, so it's safe for showering, swimming, and intense workouts. I also appreciate that it has customizable watch faces and widgets, allowing you to tailor it to suit your aesthetic or information preferences.
It has an exceptional battery life.
Perhaps the best part of all Garmin watches is their incredible battery life. The Vivoactive 6 battery lasts for up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, and up to 21 hours when using continuous GPS tracking. Even with heavy use (daily workouts, regular walks, notifications on, and screen brightness set to medium-high), I only need to change it once a week, if even that. And it charges pretty quickly, so you're not missing many steps. That means you can track your sleep without worrying about charging nightly and go on weekend trips without needing to pack a charger. Compared to the one- to two-day lifespan of most smartwatches from Apple and Samsung, the Vivoactive 6 easily wins out in terms of battery life.
The Garmin app has a lot of potential.
While I didn't rely heavily on the Garmin Connect app during testing, it's worth mentioning the significant value it adds for anyone who's particularly motivated by structure or community, or even for those looking for personalized guidance on their fitness goals.
The app offers detailed breakdowns of your workouts, recovery metrics, and trends over time. It also has a great Garmin Coach tool that can deliver personalized training plans, such as training for your first half-marathon. You can also join challenges with friends or strangers in the broader Garmin community, track your goals, and even earn digital badges for things like walking a 5K or doing 365 miles in 365 days.
For those who thrive on personalized data or need that extra nudge to stay consistent, the Garmin app can be a powerful companion to the watch itself. Plus, it's all free.
Where it falls short
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It's not the best watch for hardcore athletes.
The Vivoactive 6 can track a wide range of sports and performs very well at most of them. However, if you're training for a major race or triathlon, or you're a multi-sport athlete with activity data and analytics as your top priorities, this isn't the best watch available.
Dedicated athletes, backcountry adventurers, and serious runners will certainly miss the barometric altimeter. Without it, the Vivoactive 6 cannot accurately measure elevation or track ascent/descent (consider the Forerunner 265 or Fenix 7 instead for these features). Triathletes and hardcore runners will also want the in-depth training analysis — including training load, performance condition, and a guided lactate threshold test — that the Forerunner models offer.
If you're a serious athlete, check out "how it compares to other watches" below to see what we recommend.
It doesn't have full smartwatch functionalities.
While it checks the boxes for basic conveniences — notifications, weather, Garmin Pay, and music controls — the Vivoactive 6 stops short of being a full-blown smartwatch. You can't take calls from your wrist or respond to texts (unless you're on Android, and even then, responses are limited to pre-set messages). It also lacks a voice assistant or third-party app ecosystem like Apple's App Store or Google's Wear OS.
That trade-off helps the watch stay streamlined and battery-efficient, but if you're hoping for a seamless, phone-free experience or more app integrations, consider models like the Garmin Venu 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch, or Apple Watch Series 11.
How it compares to other watches
- Garmin Forerunner 265 - See at Amazon
The 265 is more expensive and doesn't look as sleek as the Vivoactive 6, but IMO, it is a better pick for multi-sport athletes. It tracks a handful of key activities that the Vivoactive 6 doesn't (like triathlon training) and features a barometric altimeter to detect elevation changes.
Read my full Garmin Forerunner 265 review. - Garmin Venu 3 - See at Amazon
Essentially a step up from the Vivoactive line, the Venu 3 features additional smartwatch capabilities, including a built-in microphone and speaker for calls, longer battery life, and a higher-resolution display.
Read my full Garmin Venu 3 review. - Apple Watch Series 10 - See at Amazon
While the Apple Watch is comparable to the Vivoactive 6 in many areas, Garmin's watch offers a significantly longer battery life, more accurate GPS, and more in-depth fitness and training metrics. However, if you're interested in answering calls and texts, Apple Watches have a better ecosystem for iPhone users.
Read our Apple Watch 10 review for more.
Should you buy it?
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 strikes the perfect balance for anyone seeking a highly accurate, everyday fitness tracker that looks sleek and polished. I appreciate that this watch offers basic notifications and features like music control on the wrist, while still prioritizing Garmin's class-leading heart rate and GPS tracking, all for a very reasonable price of $300.
It's not the most advanced option for serious athletes or tech enthusiasts seeking a full-fledged smartwatch, but the 11-day battery life and multitude of coaching and data-tracking capabilities make it a near-perfect all-around fitness watch for active individuals who value both accuracy and style.