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Suunto Core Alu vs Garmin Vivoactive 4

Suunto Core Alu

Budget Pick

in Fitness Watch

Suunto Core Alu

21 reviews

View Product Details

Garmin Vivoactive 4

Garmin Vivoactive 4

210 reviews

View Product Details

Best Bang for the Buck

OutdoorGearLab · Best Altimeter Watch of 2022

Best Non-GPS Altimeter Watch

Switchback Travel · Best Altimeter (ABC) Watches of 2022

#5 most mentioned

Reddit · r/garmin

#7 most mentioned

Reddit · r/smartwatch

Great features

Comfortable to wear

Accurate instruments

Intuitive menu system

Sleek look

Great high-end fitness tracker with advanced metrics

Accurate tracking of sleep, breathing, and stress

Motivating training plans

Contactless payments

Downloadable apps and onboard music storage

Not suitable for outdoor use due to scratches and damage

Dim display even when backlit

Battery life could be better

Not as stylish as some other fitness trackers

Battery life could be better

No built-in altimeter for tracking elevation

Verdict

The Suunto Core Alu is a great watch for backpackers, photographers, and international-traveler types. It has an intuitive menu system, is comfortable to wear, and has accurate instruments. However, it is prone to scratches and damage if used outdoors, has a dim display even when backlit, and the battery life could be better.

Verdict

The Garmin Vivoactive 4 is a great choice for those looking for a high-end fitness tracker with advanced metrics and smartwatch features. It offers accurate tracking of sleep, breathing, and stress, motivating training plans, contactless payments, downloadable apps, onboard music storage, and the ability to leave your phone at home while exercising. Additionally, it can be paired with other devices such as chest strap heart rate monitors for more accurate readings during workouts.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Fit

Attractive, functional watch – with needed improvements. Please rate, if helpful.

The Amazon.com main image might have you think the display is a purple hue, but it is gray at all angles. Having said all that – if you need a watch for highly critical missions, this watch will likely fall below the range of functional necessity. However, if you need a backpacking, casual or travelers watch, you should be really happy with this watch

Garmin Vivoactive 4 Review

The Vivoactive 4 gamifies fitness by giving you badges for certain achievements. When you earn a new badge, the watch will vibrate and a congratulatory message will pop up on the screen. To view all your badges, visit the Garmin Connect app, tap My Day at the bottom, then tap your photo or avatar at the top of the screen to open your profile.

Positive

Battery Life

Good watch with some shortcomings.

I was hoping to love this, but a few things bother me. The good: comfortable to wear, accurate instruments for a watch, sleek look, intuitive menus (subjective) The bad: battery life, prone to scratches/damage if used for its' intended outdoor purpose, fairly dim display even when backlit. At added cost, I would love to see a fortified solar version with a reserve and a backup battery. Water resistance is decent, but no where near my Casio Mudman 9300, which was half the price and put up with a LOT more abuse

nice watch, weak battery life, music sync didnt work, too complicated/clunky interface, 4s too small

I didn't realize that one hour of running with the GPS on and music on would kill two days of "smartwatch" mode, or that a few hours of use in gps tracking mode w/o music would do the same thing. So on average if you are using this the way it is intended you should really expect to have to charge it every 2-3 days minimum. If you're doing longer gps exercises or listening to music then you'll probably change every day. And charging isn't quick, it does charge up to 80% fairly fast but the next 20% seems to take forever

Durability

Excellent Watch

Plus I go swimming daily in the in-ground pool with the watch on without issue. The band is holding up good as new, the face of the watch has no scratches, and all of the buttons work perfectly. After three months of everyday use I have zero complaints about the watch. Glad I bought it

Pretty cool features questionable longevity

I have only had this for a week and a half and while it’s very informative and has lots of cool features and really keeps me motivated. I am however concerned it’s not going to last for the long haul. The bezel has already worn into the metal in one spot and I’m not sure how as I’m pretty careful and haven’t been playing rough. I’m not sure I can wear this to work once my landscaping job starts back up as it may not withstand it

Comfortability

very comfortable watch

The altimeter is a bit complicated and requires input to calibrate on a regular basis. Temperature appears to be biased by being on your arm and is not ambient. These are no big deals for me, i am enjoying the watch, and it is very comfortable to wear.

I only use these for music

This is pretty good for my use. I have several quartz and digital wristwatches; I only wear this smartwatch at work to listen to downloaded (not streamed) music. The fitness tracking and mobile app features are of no importance to me so I have given them 5 stars. As a timekeeping watch, it is pretty good

Design

excellent watch

The watch itself is fantastic, The watchband is very comfortable and the features are fairly easy to figure out. Very cool design and a watch I plan to have for years to come. Just be prepared to have to hound the shipping company every step of the way.

Out of Pure Curiosity - Does this Community Prefer Transflective MIP or AMOLED Displays?

I found a lot of nice looking watchfaces (of rather simplistic design/coloration) that look nice in the MIP display so I wear the VA4 constantly.

Positive

reddit.com/r/Garmin

Comfort

Very disappointed

Even without the button problem battery life is just less than a year. Looking for a new watch. I've not babied this watch but I've not pushed it too hard either. I think Suunto can do better than this

Battery life or GPS? You can only pick one...

Fit and comfort on my small wrist seems to be very good. Band fits me great, to the point I'm starting to think my wrist isn't as small as I thought it was. Explicit Exercise tracking - when you set it to track an activity - mostly walking for me - it works great. The app draws a very precise map of my route and indicates the distance to a high level of accuracy

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