When comparing Garmin Vivofit 3 vs Garmin Forerunner 235, the Slant community recommends Garmin Forerunner 235 for most people. In the question“What are the best fitness trackers?” Garmin Forerunner 235 is ranked 8th while Garmin Vivofit 3 is ranked 24th. The most important reason people chose Garmin Forerunner 235 is:
It's quite lightweight at 1.6oz and has a large bright display for easy reading while on the move in all types of lighting conditions. It's water resistant up to 50 meters so you're safe to wear it running in all types of weather.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Completely safe for swimming and showering
The Vivofit 3 is waterproof up to 50 meters. You can confidently take it swimming, or wear it in the shower without risk of damaging the tracker.
Pro No need to recharge the tracker
The Vivofit 3 runs on battery so there is no need to worry about keeping it charged.
With a battery life of up to 1 year, it can go longer without a battery change than most other fitness trackers.
Pro Ideal tracker for runners
It's quite lightweight at 1.6oz and has a large bright display for easy reading while on the move in all types of lighting conditions. It's water resistant up to 50 meters so you're safe to wear it running in all types of weather.
Pro Quickly picks up a GPS signal
It picks up the GPS signal much faster than most other GPS fitness trackers available, so there is little waiting around for it to connect before you start your run.
Pro Customize the display screen to display the data most important to you
The display screens are fully customizable so you can control which stats you want to see.
Pro Extremely lightweight and comfortable
Despite the amount of hardware this tracker contains and it's large size, it's very lightweight and comfortable to wear.
Cons
Con Too unreliable for the cost
The Vivofit 3 has multiple serious issues impacting its reliability which means you're taking a gamble by purchasing it. At $80, you can get trackers with much better build qualities and a similar set of features.
Con Software that detects different activity often doesn't work
The "Move IQ" software in the tracker, which is supposed to detect different types of exercise, often doesn't work. Either it will track everything as walking, or will not start tracking them all.
Con It's easy to lose the watch because of the weak clasp
The clasp frequently comes undone during physical activity because of its poor design. If you aren't constantly paying attention to it or add re-enforcement to the clip, it would be easy to lose the tracker.
Con Syncs with a limited number of devices
Con Not for people with small wrists
The tracker is available in two sizes, regular or extra large. The regular band is too long for people with below average sized wrists.
Con Has trouble tracking heart rate during intervals
During interval training when there is a frequent change of exertion, the Forerunner 235 has trouble continuously providing accurate readings. It's better suited for running with a sustained pace.
Con Needs to be recharged often
Garmin states the watch has a battery life of 11 hours training and 9 days of use as a watch, which is a fairly short charge compared to other fitness trackers.
However many people have found the actual charge to be much less, often needing to be recharged every couple of days.