Garmin has launched its first fitness band, the Garmin vivofit, to rival the likes of Nike, Fitbit and Misfit.
Although Garmin has already launched a few beefy sports watches so far, the vivofit is the first slimline fitness tracker launched by the company.
“Garmin has been providing fitness monitoring devices for over a decade, and with vívofit we say hello to the fitness band that knows your potential”, said Garmin's Vice President of Worldwide Sales Dan Bartel.
The Fitbit Flex and Nike Fuelband SE rival has a small curved display that runs on a user-replaceable battery that offers around a year of battery life.
Every morning you’re greeted with a personalised fitness goal based on your previous activity as it learns how active you are the more you wear it. Once you hit a milestone, the vivofit adjusts your new one for the following day.
If you get a bit lax, the vivofit will spur you to get off your backside with inactivity alerts too.
The vivofit measures steps taken, distance travelled and the calories you’ve burnt off and can also double as a heart rate monitor. It is also compatible with ANT Plus heart rate monitors.
There’s also a sleep mode to monitor how restless your sleep was during the night.
”Being able to monitor the quality of rest after retiring for the night, being challenged by personalised daily goals and doing so without having to charge it every few days, makes vívofit a fitness band that should be on everyone’s wrist.”
Garmin has also made the vivofit water resistant to 50m. There’s also one-touch synching with the Garmin Connect app, which offers access to an online fitness community.
Garmin Connect also provides you with reports and other information to help track your fitness progress and activity over time.
The Garmin Vivofit will be available in Q1 2014 with black, purple, teal, blue and slate colour options on offer. It will retail for $129.99 (£79), or $169.99 (£104) with a heart rate monitor strap.
Read more: Misfit Shine review
