Garmin Pay contactless payment solution lets you pay for purchases with your watch
Personalize your watch with thousands of free watch faces, apps and widgets from our Connect IQ store
More than 15 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps, including yoga, running, swimming and more
Monitor your fitness level with VO2 max and fitness age estimates, plus keep an eye on how you handle stress
Get connected features such as smart notifications, automatic uploads to Garmin Connect, LiveTrack and more
Battery life: up to 7 days in smartwatch mode; 13 hours in GPS mode
Garmin Vivoactive 3, GPS Fitness Smartwatch, Stainless, Black $199.41 + Delivery ($0 with Prime) @ Amazon US via AU
Last edited 22/11/2021 - 18:19 by 1 other user
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Im still very happy with mine. Garmin Pay is convenient since I dont want to bring my wallet when I ride my bike.
I ended up getting a fenix 5 and really miss garmin pay, was super handy.
They're not bad for their age - I only just retired mine to upgrade to a Fenix, as the VA3's battery life was down to 24h (after 4y). It did most things I wanted it to - the Connect store, optical HRM, decent battery life, external sensors etc. The big features more modern Garmins have that it doesn't are things like SpO2 and "body battery", but they're not necessary. I was in the market for a cheap Garmin for my son for this Xmas, and the primary reason he isn't getting a VA3 is that it would look like a hand-me-down (given I had just retired mine). Otherwise, that's what he would have got - instead he'll be getting a similarly priced Forerunner 45 - also an older model.
Cheers for the write up.
Had a look at DC Rainmaker and it does seem it has everything I’d need. Onboard maps for new courses would be a bonus, but for this price, happy to go without.
You'll be happy - we had two around the house and they are/were a good watch. My wife's still works, but she rarely uses it and that's what my son borrows when he's out for a run at the moment. One trick to keep in mind (that you won't find in any of the reviews, but by digging through the forums) is that they can be a little slow to acquire GPS if they haven't been synced to the Connect app recently - something we noticed when my son started borrowing it. He was just charging it up from flat (which is super fast by the way - minutes not hours) and then heading out. Apparently when they sync, it gets rough coordinates for the satellites, so it is able to acquire them quicker. I'm not an expert, but the difference is noticeable if you do a sync just beforehand. Good luck!
I got one of these over a year ago for a couple of simple uses and was really impressed. The heart rate monitor is excellent and fast, the sports modes are great, the GPS and connect app give great information.
The golf mode was a great little bonus I didn't think of, you just download maps through the app and it's really easy to use and score. You can add things like club distances but I haven't bothered with that yet.
This is the watch my wife and I use at the moment. For $211 id say its an easy recommendation. Some complain about the battery life but I have found using a simple watch face helps with that, im currently getting about 4-5 days until I need to recharge with a 4-5km GPS run each day. Changing the GPS system from GPS+GLOSNASS to GPS+GALILEOin the settings helps with accuracy and the time it takes to get a lock, if I start searching while putting on shoes its usually locked on by the time I step outside.
$199 now
Is see this is 4 years old. Is this still a solid option? Price seems pretty good.