Garmin debuts three new wearables and a mobile payment solution
Garmin has three new wearable devices it’s debuting at IFA 2017, including the vivosport GPS-enabled activity tracker, the vivomove HR hybrid touchscreen smartwatch and the vivoactive 3, a smartwatch with Garmin Pay, which supports Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards to enable mobile payments on the go.
The Garmin vivoactive 3 includes GPS, a heart rate monitor, and battery life of 7 days in smartwatch mode, and 13 hours if you’re using constant GPS tracking. It comes in three different colors, and supports both built-in sports apps for up to 15 different activities, as well as additional user-customizable activity apps. The vivoactive can keep track of stress levels over time thanks to heart rate variability monitoring, and additional watch faces, apps and more are available in the Garmin Connect IQ store, which is accessible via the companion smartphone app.
Garmin’s vivoactive 3 also features the Garmin Chroma display, which pairs sunlight readable transflective screen tech with backlighting for visibility at night, too. The standout feature, however, is the new Garmin Pay support, which allows for contactless payments via Visa and MasterCard cards from a range of major U.S. banks. Garmin Pay is powered by FitPay, which is a platform designed specifically to help bring mobile payments to mobile and IoT devices, without requiring direct, separate negotiations with the banks and issuers.
The vivomove HR is Garmin’s first hybrid touchscreen smartwatch, which means it blends a traditional analog watchface with a built-in digital sub-display. The watch offers much more subtle styling vs full-digital screen devices, but still can display notifications from your smartphone, as well as activity data and heart rate. It comes with both leather and silicone strap options, and different case materials including a higher end stainless steel finish.
Vivomove HR can also monitor stress throughout the day, and works with the Garmin Connect Mobile app. It retails for $199.99, and $299.99 for the upgraded version.
Finally, the vivosport is a smart activity tracker, focused more on fitness functions, but offering up to 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to eight hours in GPS mode. It’s got a slim deign focused on lightweight wearability, and uses that always-on power efficient Garmin Chroma color touchscreen tech for its display.
Built-in apps will track walking, running, biking, cardio and strength training, and the Garmin Move IQ feature will automatically categorize and record lots of activity in case you forget. There are also notifications via vibration included from your smartphone, as well as remote control for a Garmin VIRB action camera if you happen to have one of those.
The vivosport retails for $199.99, with three different band color options.