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Garmin Vivoactive 6: One minute review
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 is a great fitness watch, which is not what I expected from Garmin’s smaller, budget-friendly offering. It’s packed with features like PacePro, Garmin’s virtual walking system for runners, usually part of expensive, specialty watches like Garmin’s Forerunner series.
Nevertheless, the Vivoactive series is a lifestyle watch for active people. It shares a lot of DNA with Garmin’s lifestyle watch, the Venu 4, but it’s cheaper and made of less expensive materials. If the Venu 4 is like the Apple Watch, the Vivoactive 6 is like the Apple Watch SE: some compromises were made to lower the price, but it’s still a functional, comfortable watch that I enjoyed wearing.
Like the Apple Watch SE 3, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 is very light, weighing just 36g with the band, and is 10.9mm thin. This means it’s comfortable to wear all day, and you can go from the gym to the office and even to bed and forget about it. It slipped easily under the cuff of my shirt during the day when other Garmin watches went flat. Any sleep tracker should be comfortable to wear all night, and this was the case with the Vivoactive even more so than the Venu, which is a millimeter or so thicker and heavier due to its metal construction.
The smart wake-up alarm, Garmin’s newest feature, has been absent from its lineup for a while, and I was happy yet surprised to see it in the Vivoactive line. It wakes you up with haptic vibrations at the most convenient point in your sleep cycle, within a 30-minute window. After trying it for a few days, I found it to be a much nicer way to wake up than my usual alarm, and I feel much less irritable in the morning.
I enjoyed the Auto Start feature as well, which I set to start recording after one minute of road activity. It really helps for a seamless smartwatch experience, which is great when you don’t have to tweak to get to the settings that work – just run. It’s a nice thing to have, but it adds to the ‘virtual assistant’ experience that many smartwatches now struggle to find, anticipating your needs without having to go through menus. I wish the Vivoactive 6 had a microphone and voice assistant, but I can accept the shortcomings at this price point.
It’s not really a watch that I would recommend to runners or serious runners because of the features that other Garmin watches don’t have, and it packs the old Elevate V4 heart rate sensor, which works but isn’t as accurate as the improved Elevate V5, and my test against the Polar H10 heart rate monitor proves that. But it’s a great fitness tool and a cheap Garmin watch for 2025.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Price and Availability
- $299.99 / £279.99 / AU$549
- Very affordable price compared to other Garmins
- It is comparable to many smart watches from Apple and Samsung
The Garmin Vivoactive 6 retails for $299.99 / £279.99 / AU$549, although it can be found on sale a little more slowly.
That’s very comparable to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 and Google Pixel Watch 4, and it’s less expensive than the Apple Watch SE 3. Although it’s probably more geared towards fitness enthusiasts than those smartwatches, I’d say this is a good value for the number of features on offer.
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Scorecard
|
Section |
Comment |
The result |
|
Price |
It’s cheap and cheerful, packed with premium features for the price. |
5/5 |
|
Design |
Two buttons and a touch screen, nice and simple, with a redesigned UI. |
4/5 |
|
Features |
Tons if you like your fitness, but lack modern smartwatch features like a microphone. |
4/5 |
|
Working |
It is accurate enough, comfortable to wear and lasts for years. I wish it packed Garmin’s most accurate HR monitor. |
4/5 |
Garmin Vivoactive 6: Should I buy?
Buy if…
Don’t buy if…
Think again
How did I check?
I wore the Garmin Vivoactive 6 for 10 days, doing different types of exercise, sleeping with it on, and draining the battery. I tested its various functions, including the new Smart Wake alarm, and tested its Elevate V4 heart rate sensor with the Polar H10 chest-mounted monitor.
First updated: November 2025