Garmin Vivosport - User Manual

The Garmin vívosport is a versatile fitness tracker designed to monitor various aspects of your health and activity, providing at-a-glance information and detailed insights through the Garmin Connect app. This device is worn on your wrist and features a touchscreen interface for easy navigation and interaction.

Function Description

The vívosport primarily functions as an activity tracker, recording your daily steps, floors climbed, distance traveled, and calories burned. It automatically sets a daily step goal based on your previous activity levels, encouraging continuous progress. The device also includes a "Move Bar" feature that reminds you to stay active by appearing after an hour of inactivity and adding segments for every 15 additional minutes. Walking a short distance resets the move bar.

A key feature of the vívosport is its wrist-based heart rate monitoring. It continuously tracks your heart rate in beats per minute (bpm) and displays a seven-day average resting heart rate. You can view a heart rate graph showing your heart rate for the last hour, along with your lowest and highest heart rates during that period. This heart rate data is crucial for calculating intensity minutes, which contribute to your weekly fitness goals. The device monitors your activity intensity and tracks time spent in moderate to vigorous intensity zones, doubling vigorous intensity minutes. For accurate calculations, it's recommended to wear the device all day and night and to start a timed activity.

The vívosport also measures your heart rate variability to estimate your overall stress level. This feature analyzes your heart rate while you are inactive, providing a stress level range from 0 to 100. Knowing your stress level can help you identify stressful moments throughout your day. For best results, wearing the device while sleeping is recommended. You can also use a relaxation timer for guided breathing exercises to help manage stress.

Sleep tracking is another automatic function, detecting your sleep and monitoring movement during your normal sleep hours. It provides statistics on total sleep hours, sleep levels, and movement, which can be viewed in your Garmin Connect account.

For more advanced fitness tracking, the vívosport estimates your VO2 max., an indicator of athletic performance and fitness level. This estimate requires wrist-based heart rate data and a timed 15-minute brisk walk or run. The device also calculates your fitness age, showing how your fitness compares to others of the same gender and age.

The device supports recording various timed activities, including walking, running, cycling, cardio, strength training, and other activity types. During strength training, it can record sets and repetitions. For outdoor activities, it uses GPS to track your location. Training features include alerts for time, distance, calories, and heart rate, as well as Auto Lap and Auto Pause features. The Virtual Pacer™ tool helps you train toward a specific pace goal.

Beyond fitness, the vívosport offers Bluetooth connected features when paired with a compatible smartphone. These include smart notifications for calls, texts, social media updates, and calendar appointments. It also provides weather updates, music controls, and a "Find My Phone" feature to locate a lost smartphone within range. The device automatically uploads activities to Garmin Connect and receives software updates wirelessly.

The vívosport also includes basic clock functions such as a stopwatch, countdown timer, and alarm clock.

Usage Features

The vívosport is operated primarily through its touchscreen. You can swipe the touchscreen to scroll through widgets and menu options, tap to make selections, and tap to return to the previous screen. Holding the touchscreen opens and closes the menu. During a timed activity, double-tapping the touchscreen starts and stops the activity.

The backlight can be activated by tapping or swiping the touchscreen, or by rotating and lifting your wrist toward your body. Alerts and messages also activate the backlight automatically. Backlight brightness and timeout can be adjusted in the display settings.

The device is paired with your smartphone via the Garmin Connect app, which is essential for accessing connected features and customizing settings. The app allows you to select watch faces, add or remove widgets, manage notifications, and set various device and user settings.

For activity tracking, the device automatically detects and records your movements. For timed activities, you initiate them through the menu, select the activity type (e.g., running, strength training), and double-tap the touchscreen to start the timer. During strength training, the device counts reps, and you can interact with it to finish sets or edit rep counts.

Alerts can be set for specific time, distance, calorie, or heart rate goals, providing notifications when you reach these values. The Auto Lap feature automatically marks laps at set intervals, while Auto Pause automatically pauses the timer when you stop moving.

The vívosport can broadcast your heart rate data to other paired Garmin ANT+® compatible devices, such as an Edge® device for cycling or a VIRB® action camera.

Maintenance Features

Charging the device is straightforward: plug the small end of the USB cable into the charging port on the device and the large end into a USB charging port or a Garmin-approved AC adapter. A full charge takes about one hour.

Device care involves avoiding extreme shock, harsh treatment, and sharp objects. Chemical cleaners, solvents, insect repellents, and high-temperature environments should be avoided as they can damage plastic components and finishes. After exposure to chlorine, salt water, sunscreen, cosmetics, alcohol, or other harsh chemicals, the device should be thoroughly rinsed with fresh water and dried completely.

To clean the device, wipe it with a cloth dampened with a mild detergent solution, then wipe it dry. Allowing it to dry completely after cleaning is important to prevent corrosion of electrical contacts, which can affect charging and data transfer.

Software updates are delivered wirelessly through the Garmin Connect app or via the Garmin Express application when connected to a computer. Regularly syncing your device with Garmin Connect also helps improve GPS satellite reception by downloading satellite data.

If you experience issues, a troubleshooting section in the manual provides guidance on common problems like smartphone compatibility, connection issues, inaccurate step counts, erratic heart rate data, or incorrect time display. You can also restore all default settings if needed, though this will delete user-entered information and activity history.

Garmin Vivosport Specifications

General

Band size	S/M
Band color	Black
Waterproof	Yes
Device type	Wristband activity tracker
Control type	Buttons, Sensor
Band material	Silicone
Product color	Gray
Housing material	Polymer
Maximum strap length	188 mm
Minimum strap length	122 mm
Display type	MIP
Display resolution	72 x 144 pixels
Battery life	7 day(s)
Timer	No
Eat & drink	-
Memory capacity	14 day(s)
Connectivity technology	Wired & Wireless
Mobile operating systems supported	Android, Windows Mobile, iOS
Cables included	USB