Garmin Vivofit 2

Band does not last – Purchased on 23 Dec 2019 for granddaughter. Holes appeared in band 08 Jan 2020. Not the Garmin that I used to know. We are in the process of exchanging this purchase for a new one. A better design required in future. I'm about to purchase a product for myself but Garmin has been removed from my prospective list. Show details

Great basic fitness tracker – Rated to last 1 year on the battery out of the box, but actually lasted 2.5 years with daily use. Pros: - Very small profile on wrist, weighs practically nothing, and doesn't feel intrusive in any way - Comfortable enough to wear without ever having to take it off - Reliable step counter and time/date - Good bluetooth connectivity - Good… Read more

screen clarity in most light conditions

Cons:

- Features basic (but that would just be upgrading - ie paying more - for a better tracker/watch)

Basic fitness tracker that gets the job done, and still working fine 4 years later (one easy battery change).

Indestructible – I have owned this thing now for like 7 years, I have never had to replace the battery, it has endured the beach, water, it’s been dropped, knocked around and even got lost for a few weeks when I moved. And it is still going strong! Never had any problems with it  Show details

Good Water proof and looks good – The watch looks good on my arm. I have to charge it every day. At first it was only every two. I would recommend it for some one who want to monitor steps other wise there are much better option out there. The battery is the killer for me. Some time I just don't wear it for a week as I for getting on the charger.  Show details

From Fitbit to Garmin – So I was a previous Fitbit user, however after realizing I needed a more weatherproof fitness tracker to keep up with my life style, I switched to the Garmin. Stylish design made with quality components, however first impressions is that the tracker itself is slightly boxy. Easy to use however the software that companies the tracker could use a… Read more

lot of improvement.

The product itself is great when used as a no frills fitness tracker, however the peripheral features such as blue tooth phone connect and certain activity gauges are highly unreliable and need improving.

horrible software – this wrist worn exercise aid would be good if the software was more robust. The software is unstable and unreliable and the bluetooth connection to my ipad wotks only intermittently and never without a lot of frustrating repeated attempts. I like the ablity to measure my exercise on the wristband but because getting the band to connect to my ipad… Read more

is so hard and the ipad software is less than user friendly i'm likely to bin it fairly soon - maybe in favour of the more expensive fitbit.maybe the superceding model works better but i can't comment on that

This is the best ever ! – Easy to wear . No charging makes it easy for every day living . Easy to use and function and I'm not tech savvy. Easy to understand . Lights up at night if needed for easy viewing . Big numbers making reading it good. Not expensive . Bought one for my 12 yard old also  Show details

Screen faded – The garmin vivofit 2 WAS great. Easy to use start up model. At 14 months on, half the screen faded and replacing battery hasn't solved the issue. So yes, you don't need to charge batteries and battery lasts a year BUT so did the Garmin. Husband has vivofit 3 but thats starting to lose pixels too (owned almost a year too). Wont be getting a garmin again.  Show details

Easy to use fantastic value – I brought my vivofit 2 on recommendation from my dietician and have been extremely happy with it. It is extremely easy to use and keeps track of my daily steps which is what I needed it for I find syncing it with my iPhone easy as you only have to do it once a week and it still retains all your information saves having to do it daily I would recommend this device to anyone who wants a simple but effective activity tracker  Show details

Great before I had to replace the battery – I got a kick out of wearing my vivofit and tracking my steps. It was comfortable to wear, however the software on my phone kept getting out of sync. After 12 months the battery died. I paid to get it replaced and within a couple of weeks it died. Having worn it for a year I know approximately how many steps I walk. Pity it didn't last beyond the battery life :/  Show details

Good introductory fitness watch – Good to see garmin provides two band sizes to suit more people simple screen not many features been nice to be able to use straight out of the box however time function only works once paired to phone Button design isnt great as sometimes watch unit can slip out of band Overall good for people who are just curious about fitness watches but nothing to impressive  Show details

Dont Need to Charge Fitness Wear – Like the Garmin connect app, syncs well, but the reading could be erroneous. U could do nothing and it reads steps only if u move your hands. But if used well it is worth the fitness gadget, now outdated bit its easy to maintain and has been with me for 1.5 plus years now  Show details

Great Value – The Garmin Fitbit 2 doesn't have lots of bells and whistles, but it works well and is a great entry level fitness tracker. It is comfortable to wear, easy to use, download and manage data using the Garmin software. It looks ok as well. Overall it represents excellent value for money.  Show details

I wear it every day – I have worn my Garmin Vivofot 2 everyday since I purchaced it almost a year ago. It motivates me to be more active, keep my step count up as well as tracking my sleep. I have participated in fitness challenges and using this device means my personal trainers were updated with my heart rate and activity through the day  Show details

Does the job – Does everything I need it to do. I like how it has inbuilt time too. It's good that I don't have to charge it, I love how it is water proof and it gives me the details I need to keep me active. The only think I don't love is the way the wrist band secures itself. Other than that it is great.  Show details

Love it! – I'm very happy with my Garmin Vivofit 2. I predominately wanted the Vivofit to monitor my sleep patterns but didn't want to wear both a watch and a fitness band so this was the perfect choice. I love the fact that as a watch, it looks good, is comfortable and light and I can clearly see the large digits (I'm long sighted) which are always… Read more

visible and not sideways like some fitness bands. The optional coloured bands (purchase separately) are a great idea for a change but otherwise there is no reason to ever take the Vivofit off. It's waterproof, syncs with my phone by bluetooth and never needs charging. Instead the battery will last a year before needing replacement! As a bonus I also found that I tend to get up and move more as it beeps as a reminder every couple of hours. Gives me an excuse to walk away from my desk or go for a short walk during my lunch break.

Good Item, a Few Notable Flaws – I love the band on the Vivofit2 it's soft and I don't even realise I'm wearing it. It never comes off, waterproof up to 50m. The display has a handy backlight and is a good size. However the pedometer is useless to me. It certainly records steps, but if I only reach 6000 steps in day, it lowers expectations and gives you a lesser target each… Read more

day, until you reach it. I also find it counts steps when I do arm circles and other unusual arm movements, (being a Pilates instructor it's kind of hard to avoid).

I just wear mine as a watch now, sync it occasionally to keep the time from lagging, but never use the stats for anything.

I'd find it more useful if it had a heart rate monitor (without having to attach a separate strap.)

Once the battery dies I won't replace it.

Great watch – I love my garmin vivofit 2 don't have to worrie about charging it every night. I have so many straps so i can change them to match my outfit. Its water proof and love how it tells me the time and day :-) I went and got them for my sons as well $99 at jb hifi and they are over the moon. they are 12 and 10 and while people do ask why i got my… Read more

kids them it was more for the fact its a watch and its water proof. My sons play sport so it will help them work out how much fitness they do as well.

Perfect – Great product. Do not have to worry about recharging, battery will last for a year or more. It does everything I need, count steps, tracks weight, sleep pattern and connects to other users. However, it does not sync automatically and you can only sync to either your smart phone or computer. Not both at the same time.  Show details

Screen Faded – I brought a Garmin Vivofit 2 for my son in January 2015. Unlike everybody else, his screen faded after 21 months. So I guess that's better usage than any other user got from theirs!! But still not the point. Are they designed to last under the 24mth mark so we upgrade to a newer model ??? Will not buy another Garmin Vivofit again.  Show details

Slick Product, good price – Great product, very happy, bought via eBay "Think of Us". Functions fine and sets up flawlessley on laptop and other devices. Interesting to note the Harvey Norman pricing sticker and barcodes thereon which leads us to believe that "Think of Us" are the backdoor discounting arm of Harvey Norman :):)

Wombat: Waste Of Money, Brains And Time – The Garmin Vivofit2 is a lemon. It does not do all the claimed functions reliably. On the 28th February, my 3.5-year-old Lifetrak 410 exercise watch died from an accidental water inundation. I needed a device which could monitor my 22-25 hours per week swimming and 6-11 hours per week of other exercise and movement. At an RRP of $139, the… Read more

Vivofit2 had strong claims that it could record my swimming, walking, strolling and stair-climbing. (The added bonus was that I had three other Garmin products that I have high regard for).

Haggled the Rebel Sport staff down to $79 for the Vivofit2 as I was aware that the new, highly-featured Vivofit3 was due for Australian release in the last week of April (or first week of May). Was very pleased as I left the store.

The good/excellent: (a) The Vivofit2 is BRILLIANT at counting walking steps and to within 1% of the correct distance travelled. Walking is, without doubt, its strength. I already have a smartphone with an accelerometer as well as a belt-clip pedometer/accelerometer which would have been fine if all I did was walk. (b) The Vivofit2 is superbly sealed and has better water resistance than many other products in this class.

The bad/hopeless: Vivofit2 is INCAPABLE of correctly measuring freestyle, breaststroke, dog-paddle or backstroke strokes correctly. In fact, it is usually 40% to 65% out in counting all my strokes in a two to two and a half hour swim. [I swim 48 to 51 laps per hour at 92 to 97 strokes per lap. My old Lifetrak watch would correctly record 4400 to 4900 strokes per hour. OTOH, the Vivofit2 records 1850 to 3370 in the 17 days I have used it.]

Sometimes the Vivofit2 will go six or seven laps without recording a stroke. On other occasions, it will advance fewer than 120 strokes in 14-15 laps. FAIL!

I borrowed my wife's Lifetrak and swam with the two devices on my right wrist last Saturday. After 20 minutes (and 17 laps), the Lifetrak had recorded 1591 strokes while the Vivofit2 said 937. I then swapped the positions, putting the Vivofit2 lower on my wrist and the Lifetrak higher. After 22 minutes (completing 19 laps), the Vivofit had reached 991 while the Lifetrak said 1783. Quite a discrepancy.

DECISION: If you want an accurate, highly-priced accelerometer/pedometer, the Vivofit2 is great. (Only on a par with the Lifetrak which does this job excellently too.) If you want to measure swimming, search for something else as the Vivofit2 is a miserable unreliable servant of the regular swimmer.

Never buy one – Terrible product from a company with non-existent customer service. I had both the wrist-straps break within ten months. They claimed it was my fault, were rude and ignored the fact that there is a design fault, that this was covered under warranty, and would be covered under Australian Consumer Law.

Lost within 2 days - band terrible – I purchased my Garmin Vivofit 2, connected and before I could sync on day 2 the device was gone!!! The bands locking mechanism is unreliable and not secure enough for a busy Mum even with the twist design. I am devastated as I think it would have been good for tracking my steps, sleep and doubling as a watch but I would suggest looking at one of the many other options instead.