Garmin Vivoactive 6 review: A sleek fitness watch that nails the basics
At $300, the Vivoactive 6 is a serious fitness tracker with lifestyle-friendly smart features — and easily one of the best-looking and highly-capable fitness watches I've tested for everyday use.
As a health and fitness editor who's tested many, many wearables, from Fitbit to Whoop to other Garmin models, I've been wearing the Vivoactive 6 daily for weeks (and the Vivoactive 5 before that): through strength workouts, airport travel, stressful work days, and everything in between. It's not Garmin's most advanced watch, nor its smartest. But for the price, the look, and the right mix of features, the Vivoactive might be the perfect blend of fitness tracker power and smartwatch convenience — especially if you want more than step counts but don't need triathlon-level data.
What I like about the Vivoactive 6
It has top-tier activity and recovery tracking.
Garmin arguably has the best GPS and heart rate technology in the industry right now, which means all its watches are incredibly accurate at tracking activities, including the Vivoactive 6. This watch, in particular, has over 80 preloaded GPS and indoor activity profiles, from walking to mountain biking to pickleball to pool swimming, even activities for wheelchair users. You can customize which stats show during activity, but I found that on runs and during strength workouts, the factory display screens delivered the exact info I wanted — heart rate, overall time, pace, distance.
The Vivoactive 6 also tracks your daily steps, continuous stress levels (based on heart rate value), and whether you're moving enough throughout the day (with alerts that it's time to get up and stretch every hour). It uses all your activity and physical load data to deliver a daily "body battery" energy score that reports how rested or drained your system is.
It has the basic smartwatch features you'll use most.
On the wrist, the Vivoactive 6 delivers smart notifications for emails, texts, and alerts, as well as the ability to use Garmin Pay contactless payment and store music for all smartphones. If you have an Android, you can also respond to texts with the on-watch keyboard and view photos. But it's not the most tricked-out smartwatch — the Vivoactive 6 doesn't have a built-in speaker or mic, so no on-wrist capabilities to dictate a reply to a text or take a call like most full-blown smartwatches these days (for those, you'll have to upgrade to the Venu 3).
As someone who prioritizes fitness tracking but likes to know if an incoming text is urgent, I found the features of this watch to be perfectly appropriate.
It looks sleeker than most fitness trackers.
The problem with most fitness trackers is that they stand out on business trips or look a bit too rugged for clean girlies. While many Garmin watches look more sporty and performance-first, the Vivoactive has a very polished aesthetic, with the heritage round watch face, a slim profile, and a minimalist silicone band. I found the watch blended seamlessly from the gym to airport travel to business meetings. The vibrant AMOLED display — which is what our smartphones use — also looks more sleek and lifestyle-friendly than the more traditional OLED.
I also appreciate that the watch is very lightweight (just 45 grams), which makes it comfortable to wear 24/7, and that it's water-rated to 5 ATM, which means it's safe for showering, swimming, and general sweaty endeavors. And it has customizable watch faces and widgets, so you can tweak it to suit your aesthetic or info preferences.
It has an exceptional battery life.
Perhaps the best part of all Garmins: The battery life is incredible. The Vivoactive 6 battery lasts for up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, and up to 21 hours when using continuous GPS tracking. Even with heavy use (daily workouts, regular walks, notifications on, screen brightness medium-high), I only need to change it once a week — if even (and it charges pretty quickly, so you're not missing many steps). That means you can track your sleep without worrying about charging nightly and go on weekend trips without packing a charger. Compared to the one- to two-day lifespan of most smartwatches (especially Apple and Samsung), the Vivoactive 6 easily wins in longevity.
The Garmin app has a lot of potential.
While I didn't rely heavily on the Garmin Connect app during testing, it's worth calling out how much value it adds for anyone motivated by structure, community, or who is looking for personalized guidance on their fitness goals — and all for free.
The app offers detailed breakdowns of your workouts, recovery metrics, and trends over time. It also has a great Garmin Coach tool that can deliver personalized training plans (such as training for your first half-marathon). You can also join challenges with friends or strangers in the broader Garmin community, track your goals, and even earn digital badges for things like walking a 5K in June, or 365 miles in 365 days.
For those who thrive on personalized data or need that extra nudge to stay consistent, the Garmin app can be a powerful companion to the watch itself.
Where it falls short
It's not the best watch for hardcore athletes.
The Vivoactive 6 can track a wide range of sports and does a very good job at most of them. But if you're training for a race or a triathlon, or you're a multi-sport athlete and activity data and analytics are your priorities, this isn't the best watch out there.
Adventure athletes, backcountry adventurers, and serious runners will certainly miss the barometric altimeter. Without it, the Vivoactive 6 cannot accurately measure elevation or track ascent/descent (look at the Forerunner 265 or Fenix 7 instead). Triathletes and hardcore runners will also want the deeper training analysis — training load, performance condition, guided lactate threshold test — that the Forerunner models offer.
If you're a serious athlete, check out "how it compares to other watches" below to see what we recommend for you.
It doesn't have full smartwatch functionalities.
While it checks the boxes for basic conveniences — notifications, weather, Garmin Pay, and music controls — the Vivoactive 6 stops short of being a full-blown smartwatch. You can't take calls from your wrist or respond to texts (unless you're on Android, and even then, responses are limited to pre-set messages). It also lacks a voice assistant or third-party app ecosystem like Apple's App Store or Google's Wear OS.
That trade-off helps the watch stay streamlined and battery-efficient, but if you're hoping for a seamless, phone-free experience or more app integrations, you'll want to look at models like the Garmin Venu 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch, or Apple Watch Series 10.
Garmin Vivoactive 5 vs 6
Having tested both models, I can tell you: the Vivoactive 6 is a significant upgrade from the Vivoactive 5. The new features include:
80 activity modes vs. just 30
A lot of on-watch running data, including running dynamics, running power, and pace suggestions
Daily recommended workouts at the morning report (i.e., when you wake up, it recommends whether you should get after interval training, LISS, HIIT, or rest today)
Smart-wake alarms
Physical buttons alongside the touchscreen for better control during workouts
Better default data screens during workouts (in my opinion)
These may seem like small changes, but they're just enough to remove what was frustrating about the Vivoactive 5 and put the Vivoactive 6 just over the edge to where it feels worth its $300 price tag.
How it compares to other watches
Our guides to the best fitness trackers and best Garmin watches outline the most noteworthy options in the wearables space. Here are some standouts to consider:
Garmin Forerunner 265: The 265 is more expensive and doesn't look as sleek as the Vivoactive 6, but IMO, it is a better pick for multi-sport athletes. It tracks a handful of key activities the Vivoactive 6 doesn't (like triathlon training) and has a barometric altimeter to sense elevation changes. Read my full Garmin Forerunner 265 review.
Garmin Venu 3: Essentially the step-up from the Vivoactive line, the Venu 3 has additional smartwatch features like a built-in mic and speaker for calls, a longer battery life, and a higher resolution display.
Apple Watch Series 10 or Apple Watch Ultra 2: While the Apple Watch is very comparable to the Vivoactive 6, Garmin's version has a far longer battery life, more accurate GPS, and deeper fitness and training metrics. However, if you're interested in answering calls and texts, Apple Watches have a better ecosystem for iPhone users. Read our Apple Watch 10 review for more.
The bottom line
The Vivoactive 6 hits the sweet spot for anyone who wants a highly accurate, everyday fitness tracker that looks sleek and polished but doesn't need a full-blown smartwatch. I appreciate that this watch gives you basic notifications and features like music control on-wrist, but still prioritizes Garmin's class-leading heart rate and GPS tracking — and for a very reasonable price of $300.
It's not the most advanced or accurate option for serious athletes or full tech heads.
But the 11-day battery life and multitude of coaching and data-tracking abilities make it a near-perfect everyday fitness watch for active people who value both accuracy and style.
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