Everyone has their own ideas on what makes a smartwatch great, but we can all agree that updates and improvements are necessary. Fitbit Sense and Garmin Vivoactive 4 are great examples of what makes an update worthwhile. Both of these watches have substantially improved over their predecessors.
There are only a few things to think about while choosing between the two. Is it possible to live without advanced health monitors that provide more information about your general health? If you said yes, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 would almost probably be your choice. The Fitbit Sense, on the other hand, includes all of the fundamental monitoring capabilities as well as additional perks and advanced health sensors. If you want everything, this is the best option.
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What makes the Fitbit Sense and the Garmin Vivoactive 4 different?
The Sense includes several health-related features, whereas the Vivoactive 4 is designed for outdoor activities
Which is superior, the Fitbit Sense or the Garmin Vivoactive 4?
For health-conscious folks, the Sense is preferable to the Vivoactive 4 because of the ECG, EDA sensor, and temperature sensor. The Vivoactive 4 is a better alternative for outdoor enthusiasts than the Sense because its battery life and exposure to sunlight have no effect on the clarity of the display.
Is the Garmin Vivoactive 4 a good purchase?
The Vivoactive 4 is unquestionably worth your money. After all, it’s a multi-sport GPS wearable with a long battery life that can track your health and workouts. It also provides a more straightforward experience by focusing on fitness rather than smart features.
Is the Fitbit Sense a good buy?
The Fitbit Sense is a striking wristwatch that seems tailor-made for these tough times, emphasizing mental Fitness as much as physical activity monitoring. On the software side, there is room for improvement, but if you’re interested in practicing mindfulness and taking little steps toward a healthier lifestyle, the Sense could be the tool for you.
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Design and build
The Vivoactive 4’s battery life is superior to that of the Sense.The Vivoactive 4 has a touch screen AMOLED display, while the Sense has one as well. Based on their appearance, it’s quite easy to figure out who their target demographic is. The Sense, on the other hand, is smaller and sleeker, but the Vivoactive 4 has a sportier, almost rougher design.The Sense is available in two colors: Carbon-Graphite and White-Gold. There are six colors available for the Vivoactive 4: two for the original model (silver and black) and four for the Vivoactive 4S. (gold, rose gold, silver, and black).
Both have their own display specifications. Despite the fact that they both have Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the Sense’s AMOLED display is more vibrant. In contrast, the Vivoactive 4 boasts a transflective memory-in-pixel display that is somewhat darker but better viewable in direct sunlight.With GPS turned on, the Sense has a battery life of 6 days or up to 12 hours. The Vivoactive 4 takes things a step further, lasting up to eight days or 18 hours in GPS mode on a single charge. Only the Sense, however, provides rapid charging, with Fitbit saying that a full day’s worth of power may be obtained in as little as 12 minutes.
Water resistance is adequate in both cases. To put it another way, you can swim with them without fear of drowning.
Health Features
You can better control your health with the Sense.The only device with an ECG, EDA sensor, and temperature sensor is the Sense.
Both smartwatches can track typical health markers including resting heart rate, stress, sleep, and menstrual cycles for individuals who need it. If your heart rate is unusually low or high, they will alert you. In this area, though, the Sense trumps the Vivoactive 4. This is aided by the ECG, EDA sensor, and temperature sensor. Simply put, it may give you new health information. Fitbit’s PurePulse 2.0 technology is also included, making it the company’s most accurate tracker to date. The Fitbit Sense is an “enhanced health wristwatch,” featuring new sophisticated EKG and EDA sensors that can monitor your heart rate and skin temperature.
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Activity Tracking
Each wrist watch comes with over 20 athletic modes.
Only the Vivoactive 4 has animated on-screen cardio, weight lifting, yoga, and Pilates routines.
Both gadgets can count steps, calories burned, floors climbed, and distance traveled. They also come with over 20 fitness plans and can automatically recognise workouts.The Vivoactive 4, on the other hand, outperforms the Sense. It does, after all, have animated on-screen exercises. You may always double-check how to practise things like cardio and strength training, as well as yoga, this way.
Smart Features
The Sense has Alexa and Google Assistant, but the Vivoactive 4 doesn’t have either.Almost all of the smart features you’d expect from a smartwatch are available on both. There are, however, a few tiny differences. To begin, the Sense can only store and manage Deezer and Pandora music and podcasts, as well as control Spotify. The Vivoactive could be used to download music from Spotify, Deezer, and Amazon Music. Which one is better in this case is largely decided by the music provider you use.The Sense wins this round because it has voice assistants—specifically, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The Vivoactive 4 lacks both, which is understandable considering that its fitness-focused capabilities are more important than its smart features.
Contactless payments are available on both. Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay are available with the Sense and Vivoactive 4, respectively. Both offer notifications, but the Sense also has a built-in speaker and microphone, allowing you to accept a call. As smartwatches, they’re matched in terms of notifications, payments, and music capabilities and applications. Fitbit has a slew of well-known apps, while Garmin’s app store is great for adding extra data fields for sports tracking.
A Closer Glance
While the hardware options will undoubtedly influence your decision, the accompanying apps and broader ecosystem are critical. These are the features that make you want to keep the item instead of discarding it once the novelty has worn off. Because this field contains so many distinct gadgets when it comes to simple tracking, declaring one firm the best is difficult. We compare and contrast Garmin and Fitbit features to see who is the best at what they do.
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Tracking your fitness
Garmin’s fitness tracking is exceptional, with devices that track steps, sleep, and activity minutes. Stress Score and Body Battery energy monitoring are also filtered across the board. Similar to a Fitbit, it will track your heart rate 24 hours a day. Fitbit is well-known for its fitness tracking, but it has just surpassed itself. Updates like the new Health Metrics dashboard, which is now available to non-Premium Fitbit customers, add to the appeal of the Fitbit ecosystem, regardless of fitness level.
Heart health is important.
We believe Fitbit has the edge in terms of general health because of the data’s simplicity and the way resting heart rate is shown – but you won’t be missing out on any information if you choose Garmin.With the new Sense health watch, you’ll also get an ECG sensor, which will deliver medical-grade data. It also has a temperature sensor and other information, making it a potentially helpful health-monitoring device.Garmin, on the other hand, has the upper hand when it comes to monitoring heart rate during activity. More detailed data spins on training impact, load, stress, and recovery are gaining traction, as are heart rate zones and VO2 Max. regardless of your fitness level, the ecology is a lot more fascinating
Sleep
In this category, Fitbit may have the upper hand. While you’re in REM sleep, Fitbit can use your heart rate to figure out and provide comprehensive sleep stages.When it came to sleep, Garmin used to be behind the times, but now it can track your light, deep, and REM sleep. It now takes into account breathing rate and monitors blood oxygen levels on watches with the requisite sensors.
Garmin has also added new sleep summaries to help you better assess your sleep quality. It’s powered by Firstbeat, which analyses heart rate data and other algorithms to assess if you’ve had a restful or restless night’s sleep, for example. It has advanced analytics, but it may be missing some of the most critical data that Fitbit’s platform delivers.
Recovery and stress management
It’s also worth noticing how the two companies handle stress monitoring. Relax is a Fitbit app that uses the device’s built-in heart rate sensor as well as HRV tracking to identify heart rate fluctuations and offer personalized breathing options. Check out our in-depth look at stress monitoring smartwatches. It has also recently added additional capabilities to its apps, such as mood reflections and stress assessments based on resting heart rate, sleep, and exercise. The Fitbit Sense watch ups the ante by incorporating an EDA scan app that monitors electrodermal activity, which could indicate your body’s stress response.
Similar stress monitoring is available on a range of Garmin wearables, including the Vivosmart 4, Vivoactive 4, and Fenix 6 series.Garmin also looks into the effects of training and the strains exerted on the body to make sure you’re not overtraining and in top shape for your next big session.
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Specifically, tracking the health of women
Garmin and Fitbit both provide female health tracking features that allow users to track cramps and headaches. Fitbit uses your data to figure out where you are in your menstrual cycle and when your next one will start.Users may track their cycle, keep track of symptoms, get period and fertile window forecasts, and learn more about their bodies with the Garmin Connect app. It will also enable women to keep track of their physical and mental symptoms on a regular basis, allowing them to pay closer attention to changes in sleep, mood, hunger, and athletic performance.
Garmin has also created a pregnancy mode, which puts the physiological changes that your gadget will be monitoring into context.
Fitbit Sense vs Garmin Vivoactive 4 – The verdict
What makes the Fitbit Sense superior?
- It is capable of receiving phone calls.
- 1.6 times the resolution (336 x 336 pixel displays versus 260 x 260)
- The screen is 22% larger (1.58 inch versus 1.3 inch)
- 0.4mm less thick (12.4mm versus 12.8mm)
- Pixel density is 6.36 percent greater (301 ppi versus 283 ppi)
- Has a smart alarm system
- Voice commands are available.
- 2.3 g less (48.2 g vs. 50.5 g)
What makes the Garmin Vivoactive superior?
- Battery life is 2 days longer (8 days versus 6 days)
- Contains a compass
- Will keep track of swimming strokes.
- There’s a cadence sensor on it.
- Galileo is supported.
- Maximum working temperature is 15°C greater (60°C vs. 45°C).
- Potential operating temperature is 10°C lower (20°C vs. 10°C).
- Routes are supported.
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Conclusion
Each wearable, as you can see, has its own set of benefits.The Fitbit Sense is a “sophisticated health wristband” with new EKG and EDA sensors that can track your heart rate and skin temperature. Carbon/Graphite and White/Gold models are offered.
Both are high-end smartwatches with distinct features geared at different demographics. To summarize, the Fitbit Sense is designed for health enthusiasts, whilst the Vivoactive 4 is designed for outdoor enthusiasts seeking a simple and affordable GPS fitness tracker.
