The Garmin Vivoactive 3 Verizon watch has intrigued me since launch last January. Specifically, I like that it can connect through LTE, allowing you the ability to leave your phone home on a ride or run and still have a means of communication. You can’t call, but you can two-way text, and you can quickly send an emergency message with your location. An Apple Watch with Cellular Connectivity can do that too, (and voice) but, being a Garmin device, the Vivoactive does some bike-specific things the Apple Watch can’t…like give you haptic feedback when your Varia Radar triggers. Oh, it also holds music so you can run with tunes without your phone.
It was originally $379, but the price has dropped this week down to $239 as the entire VIvoactive 3 line has been on sale to make room for the Vivoactive 4. Thus far, Garmin hasn’t announced an LTE version of the 4.
@toyman mine shipped today as well and arrives Fri. I am in GA so very close from the shipping location. I also got the 20% off deal. Very happy and looking forward to getting the trainer. I am thinking the pulley will be all good.
As much as i hated to send the Neo2T back it still has wheel slip and obviously $600 less is always welcomed which I put some towards a couple other things.
Ugh, talked to Verizon, found out service this would be another $20 above my current plan. Ended up getting the basic Vivoactive 3 (no LTE, no music) from Walmart for $116.99.
These are on sale for $5. I bought two, one for me and one for my wife. When paired with a quadlock or other phone mounting system, they are a really nice way to use your phone for training.
Amazon is out today with a $125 Wahoo ELEMNT. It has a ton of features for the price point.
I owned this unit for two years, and I liked it until the battery took a death spiral and would no longer hold a charge. Wahoo did not stand behind its product and invited me to pay them $150 for a refurb unit of the ELEMNT just a few weeks ago. The battery is not replaceable, and if you look around you will see a lot of reviews where premature battery death is raised as an issue. So…buyer beware?
But if this is your dream GPS it’s a good price for it.
Just as a heads up to folks, Competitive Cyclist is running a one-day 20% off sale, inclusive of some trainers (not Wahoo/Tacx/Saris though). They’ve also got some ongoing NEO 2 & Kinetic R1 deals that beat that anyway. This is today only:
Elite Direto X - 20% off
Elite Suito - 20% off
Elite Drivo II - 20% off
Kinetic R1 - 28% off
Tacx NEO 2 - 25% off
I bought this watch the other day and am having some issues having past zwift rides pushing to the watch. My coach recommended this watch as an alternative to using a Whoop, but I don’t think this is it. I think I"m going to return it and look for something else.
Oh, it also holds music so you can run with tunes without your phone.
