Hot on the heels of the Garmin Connect+ announcement, the wearable giant just launched the Vivoactive 6, an updated version of its fitness-first smartwatch.
However, thanks to the brighter AMOLED display, double the storage, and a laundry list of wellness features, the Vivoactive 6 feels more like a personal health coach than a tracker.
Garmin has poured its latest wellness intelligence into the Vivoactive 6, with smarter sleep tools, adaptive coaching, and deeper Body Battery insights that help users make real-time decisions about movement, recovery and stress.
What’s new?
At first glance, the new Garmin watch looks very similar to its predecessor – same bright AMOLED display, same 11-day battery life in smartwatch mode, same lightweight design. But scratch beneath the surface, and it’s clear Garmin’s latest wearable is a very different beast.
The real shift is in intelligence. Garmin has turned the Vivoactive 6 into more of a wellness companion than ever, with smarter coaching tools and deeper health insights baked right into the experience.
Case in point: the new Smart Wake Alarm gently rouses you during lighter sleep stages within a preset window, helping you wake up feeling less groggy and more human.
It feeds into the newly customisable Morning Report, which pulls together your sleep quality, recovery stats, Body Battery level and daily calendar – with optional motivational messages if you need a bit of a kickstart.
Speaking of Body Battery, it’s no longer just a bar showing your energy levels. It now includes contextual insights on how stress, activity, and even napping affect your recovery throughout the day. It’s a small update, but one that makes the feature far more useful.
On the training front, Running Dynamics – like cadence, stride length and ground contact time – make their way to the Vivoactive line for the first time, alongside Running Power, PacePro, and adaptive Garmin Coach plans.
There are over 80 sport modes to choose from, plus new daily suggested walking workouts, guided HIIT sessions, yoga, Pilates and mobility training, all available through Garmin Connect.
It’s not all about the hardcore workouts, either. Meditation sessions, guided breathing, and women’s health tracking round out a well-balanced wellness toolkit. And yes, Garmin’s excellent Wheelchair Mode is supported too, offering weight shift alerts and push tracking.
There’s more storage (8GB vs 4GB), more satellite support for better GPS accuracy, and a new gyroscope for improved motion tracking – but what really sells the Vivoactive 6 is how effortlessly it pulls all this together. It’s not flashy, but it is quietly brilliant.
It’s available from 4 April at Garmin US, Garmin UK and Garmin AU in a range of stylish colours and costs $300/ £280/ AU$549 (the same RRP as the outgoing Vivoactive 5).
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