In the market for a new activity tracker? Garmin just announced the $139.99 vívosmart 3 activity tracker, which sports a slim design and a hidden display that's only visible when activated via gestures, alerts, or notifications.
The device, which comes in black and purple, offers 24/7 heart rate monitoring and automatically tracks your steps, floors climbed, calories burned, distance, sleep, activity intensity, and more.
Garmin said it will recognize and log activities like walking, running, biking, swimming, and elliptical training without your help. If you're strength training, it will even keep track of your reps, sets, and rest time during free weight and bodyweight exercises.
The vívosmart 3 is also the first product in the vivo family to estimate "VO2 max," an indication of aerobic performance formerly only available in Garmin's higher-end running watches. It will show your VO2 max score translated into a fitness level, from poor to superior. The wearable can also calculate your "fitness age" and track your stress levels throughout the day.
Stress levels are displayed as a wedge graph right on the device. If you're super stressed out, the vívosmart 3 can take you through breathing exercises to help you calm down.
All your fitness, stress, and sleep data is sent to the Garmin connect mobile app, where you can review it in greater detail. The app will, for instance, give you a timeline of your stress levels, so you can identify patterns and, hopefully, tweak your routine.
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Garmin said the vívosmart 3 will last you up to five days on a single charge, and you won't need to take it off when you're showering or swimming.
"Health conscious customers are becoming more interested in the meaning behind their activity stats," Garmin's Vice President of Worldwide Sales Dan Bartel said in a statement. "As in, I like seeing the data, but how does it correlate to my overall wellbeing? With its new fitness and wellness monitoring tools that tell you things like fitness age and stress level, the vívosmart 3 is able to provide users with those answers, and that is a game changer for the activity tracker industry."
The vívosmart 3 will also connect with your smartphone and alert you about emails, texts, calls, calendar reminders, app alerts, social media updates, and more. You can use it to control music on your smartphone, send an alert to locate a misplaced smartphone, or remotely control the Garmin VIRB camera, if you have one.