So sánh garmin vivoactive 3 vs garmin forerunner 232

Hello guys, I can't choose which fitness smartwart buy. On my typical winter week I strength train at gym, and outdoor calisthenic twice or three time a week. Then I usually ran once, I will define myself a casual runner. When the summer comes, I have more free time and I practice only outdoor activities. In particular trail running, mountain trakking and cycling. Now my first doubt, I'm not professional runner, apart from summer, I run casually not for intense training, so is the fr245 out of my needings? I fear that the 245 sacrifices other sports for advanced running tracking compared to the VA3. I search for a long term watch, and that's why I will spend that 100€ difference if needed. But I want to know if the 245 is really useful for me and even not counterproductive.

With so many fitness trackers, GPS watches and GPS fitness-tracking smartwatches to choose from, it can be tough to figure out which device is worth your money.

Tom's Guide forum member Larry Greg said he's disappointed in his Fitbit Charge HR and wants to buy a Garmin, but he's unsure which one to get:

"I decided to purchase a Garmin in hopes of getting a better device. I researched for a while and was set on the [Forerunner] 235. Now I see the vivoactive 3 is available."

So which Garmin is better? It depends on what you need from your watch.

The 2-year-old Forerunner 235 is an extremely good running watch that shares many features with the newer Vivoactive 3. Both devices look more like traditional watches with round faces than like blocky smartwatches, and both offer built-in GPS and heart-rate sensors.

There are two big differences, though: The Vivoactive has a touch screen and a mobile-payment service, which the Forerunner does not.

The Forerunner is focused more narrowly on fitness, specifically running. The Vivoactive is more of a multisport device for tracking a variety of workouts. Both devices are swim-proof. But the Forerunner's battery lasts much longer than the Vivoactive's — more than a week, compared to the Vivoactive's three-ish days, at least in our testing.

Both the Forerunner 235 and Vivoactive 3 have a few drawbacks: The devices aren't great at tracking sleep; they're pretty pricey, at $300 each, and they both lack onboard music storage, so you'll need your phone nearby if you want to listen to playlists while exercising.

If you're looking for a full-fledged smartwatch that excels at fitness tracking and you don't mind how the device looks, check out the Fitbit Ionic. It has a wider array of big-name apps and allows you to store songs on the device and listen to them using Bluetooth earbuds when you're away from your phone. The Apple Watch Series 3 without LTE is slightly more expensive than the Forerunner 235, Vivoactive 3 and Ionic, but it's the best smartwatch for most iPhone users.

If you're a hardcore runner, the Forerunner 235 is your best bet, while the Vivoactive 3 is a solid smartwatch if you're a fitness enthusiast with broader interests.

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Hi all,

I am a bit torn between getting a Vivoactive 3 or a Forerunner 235 (or the 245 if and when it comes out). I am not looking to get a smart watch, but a tracker/watch for running, cycling, workouts in the gym and potentially for golf. I am wondering if the fact that I would use it for golf would sway me more to the Vivoactive 3, or is the golf feature on it not worth getting at all in which case would the Forerunner 235 be a better bet?

Any advice on what swayed anyone to either would be great. I was looking at the new Galaxy watch, but that has too much functionality and is too much of a smart watch for what I would like.

Thanks so much. Alex

• I replaced a 235 with a vivoactive 3 (after tripping and smashing the 235 on a curb. Ouch!) It was a huge improvement. I use it to track running primarily, plus walking, and daily fitness. There're golfing features in there, but I haven't investigated them. -- Pete
• Personally, I'd stay away from the 235 for the fact it's going on 3 years old, and doesn't have the same capabilities in general as newer devices. There's no native walking app on the 23x (but I do have CIQ apps for that) while there is on the va3. The version of CIQ on the 23x is CIQ1 vs CIQ3 on the newer devices, which can also limit what apps you can use. While not a "smart watch" thing, neither the 23x or va3 (or fr 645) as a native hiking app, I have one version of an app for that for CIQ1 devices and another for CIQ2/CIQ3 devices where I can have a number features where the CIQ1 devices simply didn't have enough memory Right now, I'd be looking at the va3 vs fr 645, where both have Garmin Pay and a music option (the 645 doesn't have golf). It's anyone's guess if/when there will be a 245, and it might be what ended up being named the 645. (that happened with the rumored Fenix 4 which came out as the Fenix 5) In general, think of Garmins as a fitness watch with some smart features, while something like a Galaxy are more of a smart watch with some fitness apps.

I have the Vivoactive 3 which I ended up with after trying two different versons of the fitbit, the last one being the H.R, while I found this acceptable the fact that you had to do any tracking via your phone was a pain and not very reliable. After asking others which Tacker watches they used, I settled on the Gramin Vivoactive 3 which I am well pleased with, the GPS tracker is superb, sometimes it takes a few minutes for the GPS to kick in but normaly it is quite quick, always very reliable. The stair tracker is a bit hit and miss and while this is frustrating its not a major problem. For treadmill running you can actually run for a while on the treadmill and then calibrate your Gramin to the distance travelled accoring to the treadmill stats, I only had to do this once and the treadmill stats and the Gramin stats matched all the time now, which is good. There is a Golf app on there, but not tried that, you can create your own workouts which I have done for Circuit training, its not perfect but it better than what I had before and I am not certain I have set the parameters for Circuit correctly, this is something I need to have another go at. All I can tell you really is I am currently well chuffed with the Garmin.