Garmin Vivomove Luxe Review

Introduction

As watches go, the $499 Vivomove Luxe from Garmin is a real luxury. It’s a smartwatch, but not an obvious one. 

Looking at it, you’d never know that by simply raising your wrist that you’d be greeted with a bold display of your notifications and health tracking data. In fact, it comes with a number of smart features. It’s has a definite charm as an analog watch and provides plenty of useful information for your lifestyle and fitness. It certainly deserves a place in the top ten hybrid watches on the market in 2020.

Design

Granted, no one truly thinks of the word ‘fashionable’ when they think of Garmin. They’ve tried to address that here. The Vivomove Luxe does offer a compelling case for reconsideration of the typically rugged brand. 

The Luxe comes in the sole size option of 42mm. It has a stainless steel case but you can opt for other materials like rose gold, titanium or even 24kt gold.

On the whole, it’s sleek and lightweight, a big step away from the norm at Garmin.

The leather strap Italian and blends in well with jewellery. It’s supple and comfortable to wear while you sleep.

If you’re lucky enough to have an Apple Watch but don’t like wearing it for formal occasions, you could happily wear a Luxe to blend in better. You can swap the band too, say if you fancied something sportier.

Display

Underneath the classic analog display is the smart stuff. AMOLED lighting turns on when you move your wrist or double-tap on the face. 

When you wake the display, you can swipe through uncluttered and colourful icons which display your fitness information. If you pair your luxe with a smartphone, it’ll display your notifications, too. Note that you can’t reply to notifications, though. Not like you can on an Apple Watch. But, it’s handy to see your notifications if your phone isn’t within reach.

Fitness and sleep tracking

The Vivomove Luxe compiles a bunch of data about your health and sleep. It has the normal fitness sensors such as heart rate/pulse and step counter. It does a little more, though.

Here’s where you remember that you’re dealing with Garmin. The Luxe will keep an eye on your body battery. That’s a calculation of how much energy your body has based on the quality of your sleep and your activity levels. It’ll also tell you how stressed you are based on your heart rate variability.

So, you can expect the usual suspects regarding information. Calories burned, steps taken and floors climbed. Additionally you get period tracking, respiration monitoring and water consumption. There are a few others too, but you’ll need to download Garmin Connect to your phone to get the most out of the app. You can use this for bespoke settings regarding the display and payment methods.

Naturally, you can use the Luxe to track training sessions. What it won’t do, however, is act as a coach and offer guidance for things like weight training or running. The good news is that you can rely on Garmin Connect for that. 

Battery life

Garmin advertise the Luxe as having a five-day battery life. In reality, this is proving about right if you ask users. The best thing to do is charge it to full each time to keep the battery healthy.

Five days is if you’re using the smart features. If not, you can get 7 days between charges on analog mode only. Saying that, though, if you didn’t want the smart features you could just get yourself a traditional quartz watch.

The Luxe comes with a proprietary charger, which isn’t unusual. It’s at least standard amongst Garmin watches so you don’t have to treat the charger as if it were a unicorn tear. Even better, micro-USB and USB-C cables fit, so really it’s easy enough to charge. 

Bottom line

The Vivomove is a looker. The display and features are a great boost to an otherwise traditional-looking watch. It’s like it has hidden talents. Hybrid watches get a lock of flack for not falling into either camp and not doing either any justice. The Vivomove does a fanatic job of looking the part and offers its user all the convenience of a smartwatch and fitness tracker. 

If you’re looking for something that is wearable around the clock, feels luxurious and has some smart features that make your life easier, the Luxe is a wonderful choice.

Last Updated on July 25, 2021