Garmin's depth and subscription-free data in a featherlight band — held back by a dated screen and 2022 price.
Garmin Vivosmart 5
Garmin
The way into Garmin's ecosystem — Body Battery, advanced sleep, and stress, all free with no subscription — in a light, sleep-friendly band. But it's a 2022 design with a dim monochrome screen, no built-in GPS, and a $149 price that undercuts its own value.
The Vivosmart 5 is the cheapest door into Garmin Connect, and for the right person that's the whole appeal. Unlike Fitbit, Garmin puts none of its data behind a paywall: Body Battery (a genuinely useful real-time energy gauge), advanced sleep tracking, all-day stress, Pulse Ox, respiration, women's health, and safety features like incident detection are all free, forever, in one of the best companion apps in the business. The band itself is light and comfortable, with a slim profile that's easy to sleep in and swappable straps. But this is a 2022 device showing its age, and the price hasn't kept up. The display is a small, dim monochrome OLED that's hard to read in sunlight — a real step down from the color AMOLEDs on cheaper rivals. There's no built-in GPS (it uses your phone), no ECG, and battery is a rated 7 days that's realistically 4–5 with SpO2 on, over a fiddly proprietary charger. At $149 it costs the same as the color, GPS-equipped Fitbit Charge 6 and far more than better-looking budget bands. Buy it if you specifically want Garmin's subscription-free data and Body Battery in a small band — otherwise the value simply isn't here.
$149.99
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Last reviewed Jul 1, 2026
What we like
- ✓All Garmin Connect data is free — no subscription, ever
- ✓Body Battery is a genuinely useful real-time energy gauge
- ✓Light and comfortable, with a sleep-friendly slim profile
- ✓Garmin's excellent app plus safety and incident-detection features
Trade-offs
- −Small, dim monochrome screen — hard to read in sunlight
- −No built-in GPS and no ECG
- −2022 design that's overpriced at $149 versus color, GPS rivals
- −Real-world battery of ~4–5 days, over a fiddly proprietary charger
Best for
you specifically want Garmin's subscription-free data and Body Battery in a small, light band, and a color screen doesn't matter.
Avoid if
you want a bright color display, built-in GPS, or the best value — cheaper rivals beat it on all three.
Score breakdown
- app experience8.0/10
- health insights7.5/10
- tracking accuracy7.0/10
- battery life6.5/10
- comfort design6.5/10
- value5.5/10
Specs
- App
- Garmin Connect — no subscription, all data free
- ECG
- false
- Safety
- Incident detection & assistance alerts
- Weight
- ~24.5 g
- Display
- Monochrome OLED + physical button
- Metrics
- Body Battery, advanced sleep, all-day stress, respiration, women's health
- Sensors
- Optical HR (Elevate 4), Pulse Ox, accelerometer
- Charging
- Proprietary cable
- Released
- April 2022
- Battery life
- Up to 7 days (≈4–5 with SpO2 on)
- Built-in GPS
- false
- Compatibility
- iOS and Android
- Water resistance
- 5 ATM (50 m)
How we know
High confidenceLast checkedVerdict: Garmin's subscription-free data and Body Battery in a small band — but a dated, overpriced one. The strength every reviewer agrees on is the ecosystem. TechRadar praised it as "a lightweight fitness tracker for anyone who values data above looks," with particularly good sleep tracking and — the recurring headline — no subscription, so Body Battery, advanced sleep, stress, and Pulse Ox are all free in the excellent Garmin Connect app. That's a pointed contrast with Fitbit's paywall. The criticism is just as consistent, and it's about value. DC Rainmaker called it "a rare miss" for Garmin, arguing the $149 price "simply doesn't match the market realities" when color-screen, built-in-GPS rivals cost the same. Reviewers uniformly flag the small monochrome display as dated and hard to read outdoors, the lack of built-in GPS, and real-world battery closer to 4–5 days than the rated 7. For a committed Garmin user who wants subscription-free data in a minimal band, it delivers; for most buyers, newer color bands offer more for the money.
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DesFit — Garmin Vivosmart 5 // In-Depth Review & Tutorial
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