Garmin Vivoactive 6 Review 2025
Garmin is one of the most trusted names in fitness watches, known for pairing industry-best GPS and heart rate technology with an ecosystem designed to help you train smarter, recover better, and live healthier. And while the brand has dipped into the smartwatch space before, the Vivoactive 6released in April 2025, may finally be the Goldilocks option we’ve been waiting for.
At $300, the Vivoactive 6 is a serious fitness tracker with lifestyle-friendly smart features — and easily one of the best-looking and highly-capable fitness watches I’ve tested for everyday use.
As a health and fitness editor who’s tested many, many wearables, from Fitbit to Whoop to other Garmin models, I’ve been wearing the Vivoactive 6 daily for weeks (and the Vivoactive 5 before that) through strength workouts, airport travel, stressful work days, and everything in between. It’s not Garmin’s most advanced watch, nor its smartest. But for the price, the look, and the right mix of features, the Vivoactive might be the perfect blend of fitness tracking power and smartwatch convenience — especially if you want more than step counts but don’t need triathlon-level data.
Garmin Vivoactive 6
Garmin’s newest watch in the Vivoactive line adds 50 preloaded activity modes, more on-watch running data, and side buttons for better control during workouts. It’s a big upgrade over the Vivoactive 5, and is a solid option for those who want a robust fitness watch without the bulk.
What I like about the Vivoactive 6
It has top-tier activity and recovery tracking.
Garmin arguably has the best GPS and heart rate technology in the industry right now, which means all its watches are incredibly accurate at tracking activities, including the Vivoactive 6. This watch, in particular, has over 80 preloaded GPS and indoor activity profiles, from walking to mountain biking to pickleball to pool swimming, even activities for wheelchair users. You can customize which stats show during activity, but I found that on runs and during strength workouts, the factory display screens delivered the exact info I wanted — heart rate, overall time, pace, and distance.
When I’m out with my dog on a walk, I can see the distance, pace, route, and time all on the watch face. Rachael Schultz/Business Insider
The Vivoactive 6 also tracks your daily steps, continuous stress levels (based on heart rate), and overall movement throughout the day, sending reminders to get up and stretch every hour. It combines all your activity and physical exertion data to generate a daily “body battery” score that indicates how energized or fatigued your body is.
It has the basic smartwatch features you’ll use most.
On the wrist, the Vivoactive 6 delivers smart notifications for emails, texts, and alerts, as well as the ability to use Garmin Pay contactless payment and store music for all smartphones. If you have an Android, you can also respond to texts with the on-watch keyboard and even view photos. But it’s not the most tricked-out smartwatch — the Vivoactive 6 doesn’t have a built-in speaker or mic, so no on-wrist capabilities to dictate a reply to a text or take a call like most full-blown smartwatches these days (for those, you’ll have to upgrade to the Place 3).
As someone who prioritizes fitness tracking but likes to know if an incoming text is urgent, I found the features of this watch to be just enough.
It looks sleeker than most fitness trackers.
My issue with fitness trackers is that they tend to stand out against more professional office clothes or look too rugged with more feminine outfits. While many Garmin watches lean sporty and performance-focused, the Vivoactive has a refined design with a classic round face, slim profile, and minimalist silicone band. I found it transitioned effortlessly from the gym to the airport to business meetings. Its vibrant AMOLED display — the same kind used in smartphones — adds to its sleek, lifestyle-friendly appeal compared to traditional OLED screens.
I also like that the watch is extremely lightweight (just 45 grams), making it comfortable to wear around the clock. It’s also water-rated to 5 ATM, so it’s safe for showering, swimming, and intense workouts. I also appreciate thatt has customizable watch faces and widgets, so you can tweak it to suit your aesthetic or info preferences.
It has an exceptional battery life.
Perhaps the best part of all Garmin watches is that the battery life is incredible. The Vivoactive 6 battery lasts for up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, and up to 21 hours when using continuous GPS tracking. Even with heavy use (daily workouts, regular walks, notifications on, screen brightness medium-high), I only need to change it once a week — if even (and it charges pretty quickly, so you’re not missing many steps). That means you can track your sleep without worrying about charging nightly and go on weekend trips without packing a charger. Compared to the one- to two-day lifespan of most smartwatches from Apple and Samsung, the Vivoactive 6 easily wins for its battery.
The Garmin app has a lot of potential.
While I didn’t rely heavily on the Garmin Connect app during testing, it’s worth mentioning how much value it adds for anyone who’s particularly motivated by structure or community, or even for folks who are looking for personalized guidance on their fitness goals.
The app offers detailed breakdowns of your workouts, recovery metrics, and trends over time. It also has a great Garmin Coach tool that can deliver personalized training plans, such as training for your first half-marathon. You can also join challenges with friends or strangers in the broader Garmin community, track your goals, and even earn digital badges for things like walking a 5K, or doing 365 miles in 365 days.
For those who thrive on personalized data or need that extra nudge to stay consistent, the Garmin app can be a powerful companion to the watch itself. Plus, it’s all free.
Where it falls short
It’s not the best watch for hardcore athletes.
The Vivoactive 6 can track a wide range of sports and does a very good job at most of them. But if you’re training for a major race or a triathlon, or you’re a multi-sport athlete and activity data and analytics are your priorities, this isn’t the best watch out there.
Adventure athletes, backcountry adventurers, and serious runners will certainly miss the barometric altimeter. Without it, the Vivoactive 6 cannot accurately measure elevation or track ascent/descent (look at the Forerunner 265 hrs Fenix 7 instead of that). Triathletes and hardcore runners will also want the deeper training analysis — training load, performance condition, guided lactate threshold test — that the Forerunner models offer.
If you’re a serious athlete, check out “how it compares to other watches” below to see what we recommend.
It doesn’t have full smartwatch functionalities.
While it checks the boxes for basic conveniences — notifications, weather, Garmin Pay, and music controls — the Vivoactive 6 stops short of being a full-blown smartwatch. You can’t take calls from your wrist or respond to texts (unless you’re on Android, and even then, responses are limited to pre-set messages). It also lacks a voice assistant or third-party app ecosystem like Apple’s App Store or Google’s Wear OS.
You can get call notifications on this watch, but you won’t be able to answer them. Rachael Schultz/Business Insider
That trade-off helps the watch stay streamlined and battery-efficient, but if you’re hoping for a seamless, phone-free experience or more app integrations, you’ll want to look at models like the Garmin Venu 3, Samsung Galaxy Watchhours Apple Watch Series 10.
How it compares to other watches
Our guides to the best fitness trackers and best Garmin watches outline the most noteworthy options in the wearables space. Here are some standouts to consider:
- Garmin Forerunner 265: The 265 is more expensive and doesn’t look as sleek as the Vivoactive 6, but IMO, it is a better pick for multi-sport athletes. It tracks a handful of key activities the Vivoactive 6 doesn’t (like triathlon training) and has a barometric altimeter to sense elevation changes. Read my full Garmin Forerunner 265 review.
- Garmin Venu 3: Essentially the step up from the Vivoactive line, the Venu 3 has additional smartwatch features like a built-in microphone and speaker for calls, a longer battery life, and a higher-resolution display.
- Apple Watch Series 10 hrs Apple Watch Ultra 2: While the Apple Watch is very comparable to the Vivoactive 6, Garmin’s version has a far longer battery life, more accurate GPS, and deeper fitness and training metrics. However, if you’re interested in answering calls and texts, Apple Watches have a better ecosystem for iPhone users. Read our Apple Watch 10 review for more.
The bottom line
The Vivoactive 6 hits the sweet spot for anyone who wants a highly accurate, everyday fitness tracker that looks sleek and polished but doesn’t need a full-blown smartwatch. I appreciate that this watch gives you basic notifications and features like music control on-wrist, but still prioritizes Garmin’s class-leading heart rate and GPS tracking — and for a very reasonable price of $300.
It’s not the most advanced or accurate option for serious athletes or serious tech heads. But the 11-day battery life and multitude of coaching and data-tracking abilities make it a near-perfect everyday fitness watch for active people who value both accuracy and style.