Fitness Trackers / Garmin
Garmin vívosmart 5 (2022)
Nothing paywalled and the best data export in the category — but the GPS is your phone's.
Overall score 6.9/10
Pros
- + Nothing it measures is paywalled — Body Battery, stress, sleep and Pulse Ox are all free, forever
- + Best data portability in the category: per-activity GPX/TCX/CSV plus a documented API
- + Bands are genuinely user-replaceable and come in two wrist sizes
- + Garmin Connect's training and sleep history is deeper than anything Fitbit gives away free
Cons
- − $149.99 for connected GPS only — the $159.95 Fitbit Charge 6 has a real GPS chip for $10 more
- − Four years old with no successor, and the screen is small and dim next to a $52 Xiaomi band
- − Garmin does not publish what all-day Pulse Ox does to the 7-day battery claim
- − No ECG, no AFib detection, no exercise-equipment heart-rate broadcast
- − Yet another proprietary clip charger
Garmin vívosmart 5 (2022) review: what the specs say
Nothing paywalled and the best data export in the category — but the GPS is your phone's. At $149.99, Garmin's 2022 model sits in the middle of the range — the fitness Trackers we compare run from $51.99 to $359. It scores 6.9/10 overall, calculated from published specifications across 8 categories rather than from a subjective impression.
Its strongest showing is Subscription Freedom at 9.5/10 — the category's trap dimension: how much of what you paid for keeps working without a membership. A 10 means nothing is paywalled; a 1 means the hardware is unusable the moment you stop paying.. The weakest is Phone Independence at 3.0/10, which is the trade-off to weigh before buying: if that is the specification you care about most, one of the alternatives below will serve you better.
Worth knowing before you buy: $149.99 for connected GPS only — the $159.95 Fitbit Charge 6 has a real GPS chip for $10 more; and four years old with no successor, and the screen is small and dim next to a $52 Xiaomi band. Every specification on this page comes from Garmin's own documentation or a verified retail listing — where a figure is not published, the table says so rather than estimating it.
Specifications and price last verified . Report an error
Full Specifications
| GPS | Connected GPS — the band has no GPS chip and uses the paired phone's location for outdoor distance and route |
| Display | OLED touchscreen, 66% larger than the vívosmart 4 (Garmin's press release does not state the panel dimensions) |
| Rated Battery Life | 7 days |
| What the Battery Claim Assumes | 'Up to 7 days' in smartwatch mode. Garmin does not publish a separate figure for all-day Pulse Ox enabled, which is the setting that drains it fastest |
| Subscription Model | None for anything on the device. Garmin Connect is free; the optional Garmin Connect+ tier adds AI summaries but gates nothing the vívosmart 5 measures |
| Annual Subscription Cost | 0 $ |
| Water Resistance | 5 ATM — Garmin rates it swim- and shower-proof |
| ECG / AFib & FDA Status | No ECG hardware and no AFib detection on this model — Garmin's ECG app is limited to its Venu/fenix lines |
| SpO2 Sensor | Yes — Pulse Ox, spot-check, all-day or overnight |
| Phone Compatibility | iOS and Android via Garmin Connect |
| Charger | Proprietary 4-pin Garmin clip charger |
| Data Export | Garmin Connect exports individual activities as GPX/TCX/CSV, offers a full account data export, and has a documented developer API |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+ |
| Material | Polymer case with silicone band, replaceable in S/M and L sizes |
| Warranty | 12 months |
Compare Garmin vívosmart 5 (2022) With
Cheaper Alternative
Fitbit Inspire 3 (2022) — $99.95
Premium Alternative
Fitbit Charge 6 (2023) — $159.95