The Garmin Vivoactive 6 was only officially revealed in April and it’s already hit its lowest price yet in this post-Prime Day Amazon deal. Down to just AU$425.65, it′s about AU$96 more expensive than the Apple Watch SE, but offers a bunch more fitness and health features in comparison.
The Vivoactive 6 succeeds the fifth-generation model that we thought was the best Garmin for budget-conscious buyers – but don’t just take our word for it. Our friends over at Tom’s Guide awarded the newest Vivoactive 4.5 stars in their review, with the tester stating “it has nearly everything I want in a smartwatch” after a month with the device. The review also applauds its many excellent Garmin fitness tracking features and week-long battery life, both of which far exceed anything you’ll find on the Apple Watch SE.
With this 22% discount, we think it’s the top smartwatch choice for most people weighing up devices like the Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch 10, Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 or even the Garmin Vivoactive 5 for that matter. In fact, the Vivoactive 5 is also discounted – prices starting from AU$363.41 – but we think the newer watch is the better buy.
The Vivoactive 6 came at an important time for Garmin, as it had received significant backlash for its Connect Plus subscription that hides features like Active Intelligence behind a paywall.
Don’t worry, though. Your new Vivoactive 6 offers plenty of value as is. Although it retains the same large 1.2-inch (30.48mm) AMOLED touchscreen and two physical buttons as its predecessor (and is 2mm thinner to boot), many of its best upgrades are under the hood.
First, its onboard storage doubles to 8GB. This frees you from bringing your phone to the gym or on your run, allowing you to play your favourite hits from services like Spotify directly from your watch to your Bluetooth headphones or earbuds.
As previously mentioned, the built-in GPS has also been upgraded for improved precision, with a new gyroscope that promises better movement tracking.
However, there’s also a lot that hasn’t changed. Garmin Pay remains the same, of course, and its battery life is still at around 11 days. It retains a 5 ATM water rating and its heart rate monitoring tech is also unchanged. And that’s fine because why change something that wasn’t broken in the first place?
If, however, you think you won’t make good use of the improvements on the Vivoactive 6, you can still consider the older model at a lower price.
