Garmin vivoactive 3? Anyone have a hands-on?

[BlackDiamondPar5]

I finally snagged one of these.

 

Amazon had them (and still does) on PrimeDay sale for $200.

 

Thanks for reviews and input!

Nice! Hopefully you will like it as much as I do.

 

I've got around 6-7 rounds logged with it and as a yardage device it's very accurate, easy to use and easy to read. (I'd recommend turning off side swipe to reduce false inputs).

 

- There are some golf features like autoshot that does miss or add false shots--- autoshot is not nearly as refined or accurate as my X40.

- Also the pinpointer feature is more of a gimmick if you ask me and has been downright wrong a few times I checked it.

- Score tracking works well, though it never prompts me on the first hole of a round but prompts me every time by the 2nd or 3rd hole.

- Hole advance generally works well though not perfect. Again after the first hole sometimes won't advance to second, but that isn't a big deal.

- The one GOLF BUG - as I previously reported is when you PAUSE a round, it will corrupt the score card. So if you need to pause, for now, just end the round and start a new one. I did report this to Garmin and they are working on a fix.

- Battery use for 18 holes ~4Hrs has been right around 35%-40% used. Remember the backlight isn't visible in daylight, so turn it off if you want to maximize battery life. Also note that it charges quickly, estimate around 2%/minute using a USB wall charger.

 

As a fitness device it works great as I previously wrote.

 

Good luck!

[jeffc]

still for the life of me can't figure out why I can't get accurate yardages on this thing. Tried in on a bunch of courses and it's off by 10-30 yards at times.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

still for the life of me can't figure out why I can't get accurate yardages on this thing. Tried in on a bunch of courses and it's off by 10-30 yards at times.

Maybe time for another call to Garmin? I've called twice and found their support to be excellent. Yardage accuracy with mine has been excellent.

[NativeTX]

We'll see how it goes later this afternoon as I play round #1 with mine. I'll give some feedback when I'm done.

[NativeTX]

Just some input after just one round with the Vivoactive 3

 

Accuracy - Seemed pretty spot on but not sure on how exactly accurate. Next time I plan on bringing my old Garmin that I know is spot on and doing some comparing.

Battery Usage - Way better than expected. Only used about 30% of the battery and finished the round with 60% left. I took the advice form earlier in the thread and turned the backlight off. Really no need when outside.

Usability - Nice interface that keep things clean and simple. I really like the look of the display during the round. The yardage to hazards is pretty nice too. It's easy to get to and easy to scroll through to the specific hazard you're looking for.

Features - The scoring was pretty easy to use and it prompted me as I switched holes. Sometimes it prompted me while still on the green but no biggie since I'm not looking for yardage while on the green. While it is interesting to see but not something I see as a must have the Accushot feature seemed hit or miss. I know I was hitting my driver more than 202 yards. The pin placement feature is pretty worthless. Maybe it's a result of fat fingers, but it's hard to move the pin where you need it. I just stuck with front, middle, back yardages and was all good.

Issues - The only real issue I noticed already was that sometimes during my swing I'd hit the push button on the side of the watch which takes you to the menu. While it's not a big deal because with one swipe you're right back to where you were it's a bit of an annoyance. May be as easy as moving the watch next time but we'll see. If you're like me and leave your phone in the cart then make sure you turn the phone connection notifications off or the watch will be vibrating every time you walk away and back to the cart. Learned this real quick but was afraid to leave the round and go to the settings and turn it off since I wasn't sure if it would lose the round or not. Not a big deal but a nice tip to anyone taking it out for the first time.

Overall - Really pleased with everything. The watch itself is SUPER light and slim. I was not expecting it to be so light and was actually skeptical about the size, but it's not near as big as pics make it look and it's very light. I was pleasantly surprised at the overall look and usability of the golf feature. Again it's really clear, simple, and gives you what you need without cluttering things up or overwhelming you. Some of it took some learning as far navigation and how to get in and out of things, but that will come as you use it more. So far I give it two thumbs up and would recommend.

[jcorna01]

You can set it to flip the watch orientation around so the button is on the other side. Default I believe is toward the hand on a left wrist and I flipped it to elbow side...much easier for running (for me) and I haven't had issues for golf.

 

There is also a setting that disable phone notifications while in an activity, which is just another way to disable it I guess without having to re-enable after your round.

[jeffc]

still for the life of me can't figure out why I can't get accurate yardages on this thing. Tried in on a bunch of courses and it's off by 10-30 yards at times.

Maybe time for another call to Garmin? I've called twice and found their support to be excellent. Yardage accuracy with mine has been excellent.

 

finally got through to them. They said there is a bug in the settings of the overall units of measurement in the garmin connect app. If set to metric which is what I want for runs, bikes, etc. this inadvertently switches the golf measurements to metric. Switching it to statute fixes the problem but I have to remember to switch it back before I run, They said a fix was being worked on but I am not holding my breath

[Bobcat43]

Looking for some longterm reviews. Anyone still using the VA3?

[jcorna01]

Yea I’ve had it over a year. Still happy with it as a golf gps/running combo watch.

[tjl48]

I had mine for the last couple months of the golf season last year, and will continue using it. I have been a fan as well.

[ShakeyT]

Digging up an old thread because I just ordered the Vivoactive 3. It's available for $130 on Amazon now.

I wanted the Shot Scope V3, but who knows when they'll be back in stock.