Getting on Track with the vivosmart Tracker + Giveaway

The holidays are almost here and I am already looking in the mirror thinking “I can’t gain ANY more weight…I need to lose some!” Then I think, oh, but I LOVE turkey, mashed potatoes and there’s this awesome recipe for Pumpkin Meringue Pie that I really want to try.

No matter what your fitness level, Garmin has a product that can help you take charge of your daily health and activity. Garmin’s vivo family of products is perfect to get you going. I got the opportunity to try out the Garmin vivosmart tracker which is a next-level activity tracker with smart notifications so you’ll never miss a minute.

First of all, let me share with you my regular exercise routine. There is none. And there usually isn’t. Once in a while I might hunker down and exercise for a month or so but I have a hard time making it a habit. So when I was given the opportunity to try out the Garmin vivosmart tracker, I embraced it as a new opportunity to develop a good habit BEFORE the New Year.

The Garmin vivosmart is an activity tracker that also boasts smart notifications. It displays steps, calories, distance and time of day. It also gives you a vibration alert for calls, texts and emails from your smartphone. If you are inactive for an hour, it reminds you to move.

You are able to control the music that you are listening to from your smartphone and has a Find My Phone feature. It also has a sleep monitoring feature that monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep as well as an alarm that you can use to wake you up.

The band is available in two sizes with an adjustable band. I have the small and it fits perfectly. The display resolution is 128 X 16 pixels with an OLED (illuminated) screen and it is also a touchscreen. It uses a rechargeable lithium battery and boasts a battery life of up to 7 days.

The vivosmart tracker is extremely easy to set-up. It communicates with the Garmin Connect app, available for free on both Android and Apple products. The Connect app allows you to analyze, categorize and share data and automatically syncs with the vivosmart tracker. You can also sync it with the My Fitness Pal app if you want to track your calorie intake.

When I first set it up, it asked me what my regular activity level was. From there it gives you a step goal for the day. Based on how you do from day to day, it will give you a new daily step goal. The tracker has slowly been increasing my steps each day.

When I was walking with my friends, one of them mentioned that her Fitbit did not track steps walked when pushing a stroller. The vivosmart tracked all of my steps when we were walking with our kids and pushing strollers!

Check it out! I exceeded my step goal by 5,000 steps on my first day!

My first day with the vivosmart tracker went great. I went for a long walk with friends and accomplished my step goal well before noon!

The second day I was less active and had to do some serious walking around the house later in the evening. Since I typically met my goals, the vivosmart tracker would set a higher step goal for the following day.

I really enjoyed using the vivosmart tracker on our family hike at Joshua Tree National Park.

Since the device tracks distance walked, I was able to set the vivosmart  tracker for an activity when we began our hike and would have a general idea of how much farther we needed to go before we finished the hike. This helped a ton because I was hiking with a five-year old that sometimes asked how much farther. Since we took detours to climb rocks, it was not completely accurate as far as distance goes but it at least gave me a good idea.

It was also fun to see how active our family was for the day. We kept an eye on how many steps we still needed to take, celebrated when we reached our goal and then got to see how far over the goal we were able to be.

Another great day! This is a screen shot from the Garmin Connect website from my computer – you can track even more information from your computer!

Like I said before, I have a pretty bad record when it comes to exercising. It has been eye-opening to see how many steps I am taking (or not taking) on a day where I am not very active. I also have quickly realized that if you are intentional about taking a brisk walk or do something else active, those numbers will go up very fast.

It made me realize that it doesn’t take as much as I thought to be active each day. I am always up for a challenge so it is nice that it gives me a goal of a certain amount of steps to reach each day. I don’t like not meeting my goal so I am intentional about being more active.

The Garmin Connect app as well as the website are also very helpful in seeing the big picture – from the past week, to the past month and even the overall year!

Cellphone Alerts

One of my favorite non-active features is the alerts that I get for texts, emails and calls from my smartphone. I typically leave my phone in my purse and a lot of times am searching for my phone only to find that the call or text wasn’t urgent. Now, as soon as the call, email or text comes in, the vivosmart tracker vibrates. The phone number will show up on the screen and you can actually scroll through the emails and texts. From there I can decide if I need to pull out my phone or if it can wait.

I also tend to turn the ringer off on my phone and therefore will miss calls and texts. With the vivosmart tracker , I won’t miss calls or texts because my sound is turned down! I can also see that this would be great for the office worker that doesn’t want to be tied to their phone during meetings. You can subtlety look down at your wrist and know if it is something urgent that needs to be dealt with without allowing it to interrupt your meeting.

Pros:

• It gives you step goals that increase based on your past performance
• Tells you your total steps as well as how many you have to go before reaching your goal
• The battery life is great. You can go up to 7 days without having to worry about charging it
• Alerts for texts, emails and calls are fantastic

Cons:

• Sometimes the screen doesn’t turn on right away when you touch it. It takes a couple of taps for it to turn on
• The app could be better. It would be great if the Garmin Connect and the My Fitness Pal apps could be combined so that you didn’t need to use two apps

Garmin has a whole line-up of activity trackers. There is one that is sure to fit who you are. You can visit their website to see all the great products that they have to offer. The vivosmart tracker is available at Walmart starting at $59.99 with free shipping.

Want to go a step further? Garmin offers compatible products that will allow you to track even more information. There is a heart rate monitor for $69.99 that will give you instant feedback on how hard you are training.

There is also a bike speed sensor for $39.99 that allows you to monitor your speed and distance when biking.

Curious how the vivosmart tracker compares with the popular Fitbit? See our article, Trackers:  Fitbit Charge HR vs. Vivosmart to see which one we think wins. 

WIN IT!

Do you want to beat the holidays this year and get fit BEFORE the New Year? We’re giving a Garmin vivosmart tracker away! Valued at $149.99, the Garmin vivosmart is sure to help you get on track. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest ends on December 9th at 12:00 am. US Residents only. Must be 18 or over to win. Good Luck!!!!

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND NECESSARY, A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. The Giveaway starts on 11.18.15 and ends on 12.9.15. Open only to legal residents of the 50 U.S./D.C. and 18 years or older as of time of entry. Residents of P.R. are ineligible. Void in P.R. and where prohibited.

A Mom’s Perspective

The Garmin vivosmart tracker is a great device for someone like me who needs a little bit of motivation to start moving more. It has been eye-opening for me to see how few steps I can take when I am inactive for a day. But, knowing that the little things can significantly increase my activity level makes me realize that it is not as daunting as I thought to work harder at getting healthier. That being said, the vivosmart tracker is great for people at any level of activity. I like that there are compatible products that can be added for the more serious people.

I also found that my kids were intrigued by the vivosmart tracker and wanted to use it to track their activities. I think that the vivosmart would be a helpful device for motivating and encouraging kids to be more active. I like the idea of being able to monitor my child’s activity level through the Garmin Connect app.

* This post was sponsored by Garmin vivosmart and Walmart. All opinions are mine.