Author Topic: Fitbit sense vs Garmin Vivoactive 4  (Read 1607 times)

Fitbit sense vs Garmin Vivoactive 4
« on: 17 January, 2021, 09:22:25 pm »
Evening all

Looking for some opinions from people using either of the above. I’m looking for a birthday present for Mrs DF.

If I’m reading the websites correctly, the Sense “seems”more health/fitness focussed and the Vivoactive 4 more sports performance related; I know the distinction between them could be viewed as a moot point. I’m looking to identify which does a better job at health and fitness tracking when cycling is the major physical activity.

Thanks in advance

A

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Re: Fitbit sense vs Garmin Vivoactive 4
« Reply #1 on: 23 January, 2021, 09:37:55 am »
If you already use a Garmin Edge for cycling then the VivoActive has the advantage of getting all your activities into one place. Added benefit is that the VivoActive syncs indoor activities (like yoga) to Garmin Connect / Strava (and with that to a host of other options like Golden Cheetah), I never got that working with FitBit.

The Garmin mobile app drowns you with data, the FitBit one is much simpler but has a nice clear dashboard.

Re: Fitbit sense vs Garmin Vivoactive 4
« Reply #2 on: 23 January, 2021, 08:31:45 pm »
I've been on a steep tech learning curve in the past 12 months.
I have no knowledge of the fitbit, but I do like my Vivoactive3.
I wanted it mostly to record runs and rides, and for MapRuns (orienteering/navigational stuff).
Map trace, distances, elapsed times etc-it does all those very well.
I found Garmin Connect fairly easy to use, but a lot of stuff to just ignore.
It has a weird thing of recording altitude against time, which produces some interesting profiles.
But it is easily linked to Strava, so you get altitude against distance profiles there.
The HR monitor I would only use for comparisons, not sure how absolutely accurate it is.
The sleep monitor is rubbish. I suspect most are.
Even if you don't turn it on for an "activity" it still records steps etc.
It took me about 2 weeks to put all the stuff I don't want to sleep.
It can link into any 2 of 3 satellite systems, usually quickly, but Gallileo seems less effective recently (brexit??)
It can be set to record data at 1 sec intervals.  That picked up 5 short hill reps I did one day that Strava completely missed!
Just one person's experience!