Garmin Vivosmart HR Features New Update: Vivosmart gets more Fitness Focused Features

As the number of smart watches, fitness trackers and clever health applications grow, companies like Garmin are being forced to squeeze extra functionality into their step-counting bands.

The new Vivo smart HR+ will now measure your heart rate, and also track you using GPS and even give detailed information about your run without requiring a chest strap. The big addition to the new Vivo smart's feature set is GPS functionality which lets users track the distance, time and pace of their activities more accurately than it could before. This new addition makes it far more useful for runners, who are now able to take advantage of auto pausing and distance-based lap timing. It's still not a full-fledged multi-sport watch like the Forerunner 735 XT, though. You're still not able to connect it up to the full range of bike power sensors, and doesn't track metrics like your cadence, balance and stride length like Garmin's fully-featured watches.

The Vivo smart is actually more focused on getting people out of the office for a walk, keep them fit so it does without such specific measurement functions, although you're still able to keep track of your heart rate because of the presence of an optical sensor.

There is also something called Move IQ which is present. As well as monitoring is concerned, the system is able to automatically recognize whether the wearer is walking, running, cycling, swimming or working on an elliptical machine to build a more complete picture of the activities you perform throughout the day. This daily activity is also combined with tracking your sleep which can then be shared with friends on a free online fitness community through the Garmin Connect application. This allows users to get a bit of extra motivation through online challenges with friends or working to achieve virtual badges.