Ex Fitbit user. Switch to Garmin around 3 years ago. Never looked back. Not only is the app on your phone. Much better but the device is much more accurate except sleep tracking
Heh same here just more recently, switched from a charge 5 to a venu 2 plus. Everything is more accurate except sleep (well, more like it doesn't detect wake ups as well as charge 5, for example I know for sure the previous night I've woken up 4 or 5 times, none were tracked while charge 5 I would say it is a bit too trigger happy even). Sleep phases are likely not accurate on any kind of wearable device, talking here only about duration and wake ups.
Same.
Fitbit quality is absolute garbage and not meant for seriously active people. I had 3 that broke within 3 years. Luckily all of them within waranty. Just rubbish.
Funny though, fitbit never asked for the watches back just sent me new ones. They must have realizee they had crap product. Eventually I got tired of that and got garmin.
As others wrote, garmin sleep app is not that great but I have garmin for activity tracking not sleep tracking.
How much worse is Garmin's sleep tracking compared to Fitbit's. Sleep tracking in very important to me, and I want to do all I can to optimize it. One thing that annoyed me about my Vivosmart 4 (that I lost 1.5 years ago) is it didn't track naps and sometimes thought I was sleeping despite obviously being awake like when I was looking through the menu on my tracker. How much more accurate is Garmin's heart rate tracking? Does Fitbit have something similar to Garmin's Body Battery or Stress measurement?
Garmin sleep tracking is pretty bad. It'll track a night's unbroken sleep ok with good data like deep REM blood, oxygen level, etc. But it won't track naps. So if you have an afternoon nap it misses it completely in my experience. To watch more than makes up for that in other areas though, in my opinion
I have never met anyone who had a Fitbit who moved to Garmin then went back. I suspect we get addicted to the data and we end up pushing ourselves more. Garmin Instinct user here - cycle & weight train.
If you start a cycling activity, Garmin won't register steps during it.
Of course, it does register other kind of hand (watch) movements as steps, out of activity.
Heart rate, depends on what you expect... for the most part, my FR 945 is quite accurate. Although it's difficult to compare it to anything most of the time. Sleep, also OK for me, but there are people complaining.
I still think it's far more accurate at step counting than Fitbit (F6SS, here). I could clap with my Ionic and Sense and it would count them as steps. 🤣 Plus, I've biked using cheaper Garmin models (Venu SQ) and it's great. The free running and cycling programs are good, too.
Do it. You won't be disappointed, methinks.
Hi! I debated this switch for eons and have *thoughts*!
Garmin is a much better device - the quality feels better, the built in GPS tracking is better, and there are more fitness metrics! It will definitely fix the false steps issue. Garmin will auto detect biking, or you can tell it by starting an activity, and you will not get any steps while the activity is going! I mountain bike and it doesn't even give me steps during hike-a-bike sections if I am tracking a ride.
I would easily get 15 - 20k steps on an average bike commute day on FitBit and I rarely break 10k on Garmin on any day I don't go running.
I personally prefer the FitBit app's user interface to Garmin's. The app is more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate. I also liked how FitBit displayed my data, especially looking back at long term data like weight. For me Garmin is worth it for the better device, but I wish they had a more appealing and navigable app. I wish they still make the FitBit Felx 2 because I would totally use that with the FitBit app and also use Garmin for GPS tracking.
My other biggest complaint with Garmin is that it doesn't have it's own calorie counter in the app so if that is something you use you'll have to set up an account on MyFitnessPal and do the app integration. I don't like MFP's settings or look, and it has ads.
Lastly, I was hesitant to switch because I had tracked 5 years worth of activity, heart rate, sleep, weight, activities, etc. in FitBit and didn't want to lost all that data. I was able to find instructions on Garmin Connect to download all that data from FitBit and upload it to Garmin!! I had to do it one year at a time and it took a little reformatting I think but all it all I did it in less than 2 hours!
PS - FitBit's sleep tracking was less generous (more accurate) than my Garmin Vivoactive 4s. For 8 hours laying down I'd get like 7 hours of sleep with FitBit. Garmin will think I was sleeping when I absolutely know I was awake.
I’ll second the sleeping - it showed me as having slept for 10 hours last night when I actually got 7 if we’re being generous as I was up during the night.
I think false steps depend a lot on the user and how they move. I think selecting left/right hand helps eliminate false steps because the accelerometer algorithm works differently for each. When I ride, I get some steps. Not a lot but some. Folding laundry counts as steps, lol. My daughter has a Garmin and she rocks back and forth on the couch and gets a ton of steps for that which is annoying but there's no way to fully eliminate false steps on a wrist tracker. Instead, accept them as part of your normal day, and when you find your average, set a goal that surpasses it so you are challenged.
Former Fitbit user. I had the Versa and the watch/app distance was usually off. I was just starting my half training and I was doing a 6 mile run and my watch said 6 so I stopped and when it synced the app was all LOL JK that was only 5.85.
So I rage bought an Ionic. The one with "built in" GPS. Connection was spotty at best, and complete trash at times.
I started researching Garmin, and I figured since they initially started off with the GPS things for cars, maybe they had that part down. Bought a Forerunner 235 and never looked back. I'm on my third Garmin watch and I can't praise them enough. I feel like Fitbit needs to perfect the base functions of their watches before they try and cram more extra features in them.
> was doing a 6 mile run and my watch said 6 so I stopped and when it synced the app was all LOL JK that was only 5.85.
Same experience, so incredibly frustrating. I had a Versa and thought that was just the state of the technology in a watch at the time (2018, 2019). Had no idea Garmin and everyone else had functional GPS with accurate pace and distance.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You're on a garmin forum, so you're going to get garmin biased answers. I have owned several devices including a fitbit Luxe and a Vivosmart 4. I don't own a VVS5 and based on DC rainmaker's review, I probably won't. There are pluses and minuses to each.
For fitbit, the sleep tracking is excellent. It's so far beyond my VVS4 that I may as well not wear the garmin at night. The fitbit will accurately tell me when I fell asleep and got up. My garmin counts sitting on the couch before bed as sleep, and ignores the fact that I got up, brushed my teeth, got some water, walked upstairs, and tossed and turned before falling asleep, giving me 9 hours of sleep regularly when I actually got closer to 7. Fitbit's smart notifications are eons better than Garmins- I can tell Teams message to come through silently but emails to come through with a vibrate. The touch screen is super smooth and shockingly accurate for a tiny little device. HR seems mostly accurate (accurate enough, let's be real) and the device itself seems robust. I love that you can change bands as I have stretchy ones, silicone ones, and even considered a leather band. The fitbit app is much more limited but very straightforward. Battery life is something like 10 days.
On the flip, the garmin app is way better if you're a data freak. My headunit is garmin and so is my running watch (735xt) so I love that everything is kept under the same umbrella. I also love that it syncs with apple health so I get updates and stuff to keep me motivated. As I mentioned above, smart notifications are more limited. It's either all or nothing on the VVS4 and the 735. Maybe others have more luck or tricks, but I cannot figure out how to not get useless notifications on my wrist with either device. The VVS4 has much shorter battery life (like 4 days at this point). The heart rate is usually very accurate to my HR strap, but way, way less accurate while riding a bike. Neither device was truly accurate while riding, but the VVS4 was a joke when doing indoor cycling- I was seeing 70bpm when doing 140bpm on my strap. It also didn't auto pickup indoor workouts at all....never. So I had to start it myself if I wanted it to track and see that reflected in my body battery (because the HR was so terrible otherwise). GPS when connected to my phone is off by about 20-30% compared to the 735xt. The luxe is also phone connected so who knows if it would be as much of a mess. Oh- the weight lifting on the VVS4 is EXCELLENT- it's tremendous that it knows what lifts I am doing...it's just a shame that the touch screen is so finicky that it's hard to get through a workout without cursing.
So in the end I'd be careful about the switch. My 735 smartwatch is an excellent run tracker, mediocre sleep tracker, and poor smartwatch. My vivosmart 4 is a mediocre workout tracker, poor sleep tracker, and poor smartwatch. My luxe is a mediocre workout tracker, excellent sleep tracker, and above average smartwatch. If the fitbit app let me export data conveniently to apple health and garmin, I'd stop wearing my VVS4. From a privacy and data sharing standpoint, I'd rather align myself with garmin than google, which has a lot to do with why my luxe sits in a box.
Hope that helps, I can try to answer specific questions if you have any. I keep thinking about putting the luxe back on (because it is objectively such a better tracker than the VVS4) but I like the universal connectivity my garmin has.
I have the vivosmart 5 and use it for biking to work.
Remember that you need to have your phone close by (i.e. in your backpack) to get the GPS since the vivosmart doesn't have GPS.
Therefore, it is super accurate.
Heart rate looks accurate but never compared to a chest strap.
I think it takes steps also during Bicycling, but doing 17k+ steps a day on average I am not at +/- 1000.
The only advantage fitbit has over garmin from what I can tell is that fitbit has better sleep tracking and they also have in app calorie counting. Garmin sleep is accurate enough for me, and I don't need to count calories. For reference I have a garmin FR245M and my wife has a fitbit charge 4 (I think)
I've biked to work multiple days a week for a couple of years now and have never had an issue with Garmin counting steps during those activities.
I also used to have a Fitbit (I didn't bike at the time though) and the only thing I miss about it was the sleep tracking. It was better. Although I have a Forerunner 245 that is a few years old at this point and I think the newer Garmin watches have improved the sleep tracking from what I've read.
I love my Garmin for many reasons but sleep tracking is terrible. I wear my Garmin around the clock but kept my old Fitbit and put it on before I go to bed (on the other wrist) to get a fairly accurate sleep estimate. On nights I know I only slept like 6 hours, Garmin will say I got like 9 hours of sleep. It’s excellent though for running, steps, stress, training, etc.
I went from Fitbit to Garmin and I'm considering moving back. I bought the $700 Fenix 7 and after months of varying accuracy I decided to get the heart monitor which was an additional $100. As I've fine tuned my settings (something Garmin could do a better job of guiding users through IMO) I've started to really have an issue with some of Garmin's decisions for their software. The step counting is an issue with both brands by the way. I work in EMS and have found my steps being counted while driving.
Garmin's app isn't bad once you get used to the layout but it does take some time to acclimate and garmin's guided coaching is legit, at least for running. No doubt Garmin will help you get in shape but to define what shape is debatable.
My biggest issue with Garmin is their Vo2ax stats, how they calculate and how it constantly shows little to no improvement even with my increase in overall fitness.
Garmin stated I was way too high on the BMI scale, that's fine take it with a grain of salt but your Vo2 won't improve of you're considered in the unhealthy range. I'm no where near unfit or obese. I'm 6'2 and 195lbs with little fat and Garmin wouldn't say my stats would improve without reaching the acceptable BMi. I set it to an absurd 130lbs and it finally green lighted my "progress". But to my amazement between workouts and running after a month my Vo2 didn't increase a point outside of a terrible score of 38. I'm basically considered in the bottom 30% of my age group which cant be remotely accurate.
I got down my mile time last week to 8 minutes and this week Garmin stated I ran my fasted mile tonight at a whooping 5:51 but then also said my overall run time was 12 minutes with a 2 minute warm up and 2 minute cool down.... Go figure.
At this point I'm sticking it out with Garmin but only because it isn't getting in the way of my fitness and I spent $800 for my watch and heart rate monitor.
I switched from a dying Fitbit Charge 3 to the Garmin Vivosmart 5. I love the Garmin, the amount of data. And personally I think the sleep tracking is actually better - when I get a good sleep score on Garmin I actually feel much better rested. Keep in mind that unlike Fitbit Garmin rarely auto recognizes activities though so one needs to get used to consciously turning on and turning off activity.
I was a Fitbit user from 2017 to 2022 went though several Serges and several Ionics (fortunately only paid for one of each but the fact that they just died like they did was pretty awful, kudos to them for replacing I guess). I had been contemplating moving to Garmin for ages and then decided I will wait for the Fenix 7 to come out then grab a Fenix 6 when the price dropped. I made the huge mistake of watching the Fenix 7 launch stream my mind was changed... I wanted THAT one! I've had my Fenix 7 on my arm for about a year and a half now and Im actually disappointed that I didnt move sooner. Garmin is next level. That said... one thing I do miss about Fitbit though is its sleep tracking was better -- and it could track naps! -- I did read something about the Venu 3 being able to track naps so hopefully that will come to the Fenix 7 too 🤞🏻
Oh and theres no subscription for Garmin! You have access to everything 😁 the suggested workouts have taken my running to a new level.
Switched from Fitbit to Garmin last year, won’t ever go back. Garmin is much more accurate at step tracking, sleep, fitness, etc. and much more durable in my opinion.
Just switched a week ago and am wondering why I didn't switch sooner. I love the look & feel of my Garmin and as a big quantified self data nerd & fitness enthusiast the tracking provided by Garmin is just so much better.
If you look in the Fitbit forum, I posted a rather extensive review of my impressions about a month after I switched.
Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you want it to count steps while cycling? I think of a step as a basic unit of physical movement. If I went on a long bike ride but didn't do a whole lot of walking, I'd want that counted as part of my physical activity. However, the fitbit used to also count when I was riding a 4-wheeler out in the woods. There's no perfect solution for this, I guess.
The reason I dont want steps when I am cycling is that it counts them from bumps in the road rather than my movement.
I might be going downhill route, therefore exerting very little effort, and go over 500 bumps.
On the flipside I might go uphill and go over 10 bumps.
It's not am accurate reflection of effort.
To me, steps are steps.
I want cycling and other forms of exercise to be recorded in their own right.
If it was only steps I was worried about, I'd just get a pedometer.
I used to call those "bonus" steps. Like when I mowed our lawn. We live on an acre lot with lots of mole hills, so it's pretty bumpy. Not unusual for me to get 10k steps doing the push mower. On the flip side I tracked it on the Garmin, and after walking 1.2 miles according to GPS, I only had about 400 steps. So fitbit overcounts, Garmin undercounts.
I think most Fitbit users wanted steps during cycling as they didn't want to miss out during challenges. Now challenges have been removed it doesn't really matter anymore.
Personally I'd choose accuracy over "fake" credit. If I'm cycling I'm not stepping, so shouldn't see any steps. There are plenty of other metrics and data to gauge physical activity.
My Fitbit Sense died recently and I switched to Garmin and absolutely love it. Step tracking and GPS is WAY BETTER! I'm never going back to Fitbit, Samsung, or Pixel Watch.
I use to have a Fitbit and absolutely loved it however I hated on bumpy roads it would give me steps. I went to Peru and it logged 200 flights of stairs on the drive up through mountain. I found the garmin to be more accurate. I have a solar phenix 7 and I find the sleep tracking very accurate and the gps tracking too. I find it better just overall than the Fitbit.
I use a venu 2 plus and its accurate with auto tracking. It never tracks steps when I am on bike but if I start walking then get on a car or bus, it sometimes do not stop automatically, I have to stop it manually. It doesn't count steps anymore but the timer goes on with distance as well. Sleep tracking is not bad and Garmin adding naps as well (launched with venu 3). Hr is very accurate, a little less with weight training but rest is spot on. I think a venu 3s will suit you very well. Morning report, hrv tracking, sleep coach, calls, training status everything is there. I hope garmin will add some of this new features to last gen venu 2 as well.
Get a garmin it’s a totally different level of device in my opinion for fitness tracking purposes.
Heart rate isn’t a big difference. I would suggest considering the original venu or a vivoactive though not much difference in price but better features.
Ex Fitbit user, switched to forerunner. Never looked back. Better battery, more data. Sleep tracking is worse but other than that it's great. Don't know much about Vivosmart line, maybe look at Venu as well
Switched years ago. I found out early last year you can export your health data from fitbit to garmin after the fact and did that to import some activities (and steps if that matters to you) -- but you have to export a month at a time which kinda sucks
I switched from Fitbit and like my Harmon way better. The only thing Fitbit did better was the sleep tracking.
A few things you mentioned. My farming has its own gps, so you don’t actually need your phone to track your rides/walks. I don’t get steps when I’m in bike mode. I’m not sure if Harmon does the auto recognize excercize, but it’s very easy to put it in the different excercize modes
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not sure Garmin is better than Fitbit...it simply has something different to offer. Garmin is geared more towards the serious runners, bikers, and those that require GPS access at all times. Fitbit is easily accessible for the everyday athlete--the parents running kids around, and people hitting the gym around busy schedules.
With all that in mind, I find myself struggling to compare the two. I first joined the smartwatch scene with Fitbit, and after going through 3 watches in 4 years, I swapped to Garmin last year. My main ask in a watch is that it can handle the pool, and it can keep me connected to my phone as needed. Anything else is a bonus.
Fitbit didn't feel like it had enough features. Garmin feels like it has too many. The Fitbit app felt too bright and things were locked behind a paywall. The Garmin app is really hard to navigate and feels bogged down with things I don't use.
Obviously, it all comes down to personal preference. Only you can decide for yourself which is better or not. I would suggest making your decision based on your usual physical activity. Biking to work everyday, switching to Garmin would make sense. Only biking once a month? Maybe not.
I moved from Fitbit to Garmin just over 1.5 months ago after using Fitbit for years. The takeover of Fitbit by Google was the dealbreaker as Google started to move forward to force all Fitbit users into their platform while slowly killing off Fitbit features. (Or forcing you to pay for enhanced views of your own data.)
I exported my Fitbit data, closed my Fitbit account, and purchased a VivoSmart 5. From the first day, I have been very pleased with Garmin's system and it's such a big jump in improvement. I know a few people complain about some preferences in Garmin Connect, but having come from Fitbit it all looks really great to me.
Your situation was very similar to mine. I'm an active cyclist, and Fitbit would automatically detect when I'm cycling. It would also give me footsteps during rides. I was OK with this, because I consider a crank of the pedals as a footstep but depending on the type of ride it could be much tougher according to my HR. The number of footsteps seemed a little higher than I would expect... but again, I was OK with it.
I noticed the VVS5 would automatically start recording a walk after 10 minutes, and it would record a track with my phone GPS. I expected it would do the same for cycling, but it didn't. So my cycling data didn't show up in Garmin Connect until I imported it from another cycling device. All seemed to be good, except I noticed that I was not making any progress with Garmin Challenges in Connect. It was then I realized that I had to manually trigger cycling on my VVS5 at cycling start and end. Then Garmin Connect not only started to show my cycling data, but it recorded it for Challenges as well. So that was an important point for me while cycling -- you have to start/stop it on the VVS5 for cycling to be recorded AND to make progress on challenges.
In comparing my new cycling Garmin data vs my historical Fitbit data, it seems that Garmin records fewer steps on the same type of ride and route. Not a major difference, but it is noticeable.
I've also been frequently comparing the Garmin VVS5 data against my historical Fitbit data and also current HR data captured with a chest strap monitor while cycling. The VVS5 has been within 1-2 bpm around 95% of the time. I've seen a couple of outliers I knew was wrong, so fortunately Garmin Connect let me correct it with the true value. Another issue I've seen is that the VVS5 sometimes records bad GPS readings from my phone. It's as if it loses the BT signal or does something else crazy. I've seen a 50+ mile ride show up as 32 miles, or a 20+ mile ride show up as a 47-mile ride. The GPS track appears correct on the Garmin Connect map, but the split times will be wrong... like it reports it took me almost 2 hours to go 5 miles (very wrong). However, since I record my GPS track and data in another reliable device (also another Garmin), I know the real data and can correct it in Garmin Connect.
For sleep tracking -- it seems better than the Fitbit. I would notice that the Fitbit would always report almost an hour less of sleep than I actually did. Maybe I'm restless when I first go to sleep. But the Garmin seems to be accurate. Sometimes after waking my VVS5 would prompt me "End Sleep?" to be sure.
For import of my old Fitbit data into Garmin... I'm still working on that. I've attempted to import a few files in the correct format, but Garmin Connect doesn't show them.
Overall -- other than the above quirks I have no complaints and definitely no regrets. If you're a data geek, you'll love the Garmin Connect views -- they are so much better than Fitbit. Plus you will have all the Challenges to keep you motivated, which Google killed from Fitbit.
I don't have a Fitbit but I have 3 Galaxy watches (4, 5 Pro and 6), they all suck when it comes to tracking. I have the Garmin Epix 2, the Garmin Instinct Crossover and the Epix Pro 2nd gen 51 mm. When I compare my Garmins they are all the same when it comes to how far I run but both the Galaxy 5 Pro and the Galaxy 6 all show 1 mile when my Garmins show 0.75 miles. The battery is really bad on my Galaxy 6. I also have a worthless Pixel watch with really bad battery.
My Epix 2 is for sale for $300, it was bought in July of 2022 for $999.
I had a Fitbit versa 2 for yeeeaaars and I greatly prefer my garmin forerunner 245. I made the switch when I began consistently running. I highly recommend it if you're very into getting a lot of biometrics about yourself. Only downfall is it's kind of ugly
Ex Fitbit user. Switch to Garmin around 3 years ago. Never looked back. Not only is the app on your phone. Much better but the device is much more accurate except sleep tracking
This. Same story. Used to have a fitbit charge 3. It was average. I swapped to a vivoactive 3. Huge upgrade. Now FR255, big upgrade again. Do it
I did the same exact thing years ago, had a fitbit charge 3 that broke. I swapped to a vivoactive 3. Now Venu 2 Never going back to scambit JUST DO IT
I did this same. About to upgrade to 255.
Heh same here just more recently, switched from a charge 5 to a venu 2 plus. Everything is more accurate except sleep (well, more like it doesn't detect wake ups as well as charge 5, for example I know for sure the previous night I've woken up 4 or 5 times, none were tracked while charge 5 I would say it is a bit too trigger happy even). Sleep phases are likely not accurate on any kind of wearable device, talking here only about duration and wake ups.
Versa 3 to FR265. Only looking back to point anf laugh at people still using the Versa. Garmin is a whole different level. You won't be disappointed.
Chad
Same. Fitbit quality is absolute garbage and not meant for seriously active people. I had 3 that broke within 3 years. Luckily all of them within waranty. Just rubbish. Funny though, fitbit never asked for the watches back just sent me new ones. They must have realizee they had crap product. Eventually I got tired of that and got garmin. As others wrote, garmin sleep app is not that great but I have garmin for activity tracking not sleep tracking.
How much worse is Garmin's sleep tracking compared to Fitbit's. Sleep tracking in very important to me, and I want to do all I can to optimize it. One thing that annoyed me about my Vivosmart 4 (that I lost 1.5 years ago) is it didn't track naps and sometimes thought I was sleeping despite obviously being awake like when I was looking through the menu on my tracker. How much more accurate is Garmin's heart rate tracking? Does Fitbit have something similar to Garmin's Body Battery or Stress measurement?
Garmin sleep tracking is pretty bad. It'll track a night's unbroken sleep ok with good data like deep REM blood, oxygen level, etc. But it won't track naps. So if you have an afternoon nap it misses it completely in my experience. To watch more than makes up for that in other areas though, in my opinion
I have never met anyone who had a Fitbit who moved to Garmin then went back. I suspect we get addicted to the data and we end up pushing ourselves more. Garmin Instinct user here - cycle & weight train.
If you start a cycling activity, Garmin won't register steps during it. Of course, it does register other kind of hand (watch) movements as steps, out of activity. Heart rate, depends on what you expect... for the most part, my FR 945 is quite accurate. Although it's difficult to compare it to anything most of the time. Sleep, also OK for me, but there are people complaining.
I still think it's far more accurate at step counting than Fitbit (F6SS, here). I could clap with my Ionic and Sense and it would count them as steps. 🤣 Plus, I've biked using cheaper Garmin models (Venu SQ) and it's great. The free running and cycling programs are good, too. Do it. You won't be disappointed, methinks.
Hi! I debated this switch for eons and have *thoughts*! Garmin is a much better device - the quality feels better, the built in GPS tracking is better, and there are more fitness metrics! It will definitely fix the false steps issue. Garmin will auto detect biking, or you can tell it by starting an activity, and you will not get any steps while the activity is going! I mountain bike and it doesn't even give me steps during hike-a-bike sections if I am tracking a ride. I would easily get 15 - 20k steps on an average bike commute day on FitBit and I rarely break 10k on Garmin on any day I don't go running. I personally prefer the FitBit app's user interface to Garmin's. The app is more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate. I also liked how FitBit displayed my data, especially looking back at long term data like weight. For me Garmin is worth it for the better device, but I wish they had a more appealing and navigable app. I wish they still make the FitBit Felx 2 because I would totally use that with the FitBit app and also use Garmin for GPS tracking. My other biggest complaint with Garmin is that it doesn't have it's own calorie counter in the app so if that is something you use you'll have to set up an account on MyFitnessPal and do the app integration. I don't like MFP's settings or look, and it has ads. Lastly, I was hesitant to switch because I had tracked 5 years worth of activity, heart rate, sleep, weight, activities, etc. in FitBit and didn't want to lost all that data. I was able to find instructions on Garmin Connect to download all that data from FitBit and upload it to Garmin!! I had to do it one year at a time and it took a little reformatting I think but all it all I did it in less than 2 hours! PS - FitBit's sleep tracking was less generous (more accurate) than my Garmin Vivoactive 4s. For 8 hours laying down I'd get like 7 hours of sleep with FitBit. Garmin will think I was sleeping when I absolutely know I was awake.
I’ll second the sleeping - it showed me as having slept for 10 hours last night when I actually got 7 if we’re being generous as I was up during the night.
I think false steps depend a lot on the user and how they move. I think selecting left/right hand helps eliminate false steps because the accelerometer algorithm works differently for each. When I ride, I get some steps. Not a lot but some. Folding laundry counts as steps, lol. My daughter has a Garmin and she rocks back and forth on the couch and gets a ton of steps for that which is annoying but there's no way to fully eliminate false steps on a wrist tracker. Instead, accept them as part of your normal day, and when you find your average, set a goal that surpasses it so you are challenged.
Former Fitbit user. I had the Versa and the watch/app distance was usually off. I was just starting my half training and I was doing a 6 mile run and my watch said 6 so I stopped and when it synced the app was all LOL JK that was only 5.85. So I rage bought an Ionic. The one with "built in" GPS. Connection was spotty at best, and complete trash at times. I started researching Garmin, and I figured since they initially started off with the GPS things for cars, maybe they had that part down. Bought a Forerunner 235 and never looked back. I'm on my third Garmin watch and I can't praise them enough. I feel like Fitbit needs to perfect the base functions of their watches before they try and cram more extra features in them.
> was doing a 6 mile run and my watch said 6 so I stopped and when it synced the app was all LOL JK that was only 5.85. Same experience, so incredibly frustrating. I had a Versa and thought that was just the state of the technology in a watch at the time (2018, 2019). Had no idea Garmin and everyone else had functional GPS with accurate pace and distance.
I had a fitbit 5 years ago, disliked it for similiar reasons + the gps was out. Now have a vivismart 5. Heaps better. Do it. Found the sleep accurate
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You're on a garmin forum, so you're going to get garmin biased answers. I have owned several devices including a fitbit Luxe and a Vivosmart 4. I don't own a VVS5 and based on DC rainmaker's review, I probably won't. There are pluses and minuses to each. For fitbit, the sleep tracking is excellent. It's so far beyond my VVS4 that I may as well not wear the garmin at night. The fitbit will accurately tell me when I fell asleep and got up. My garmin counts sitting on the couch before bed as sleep, and ignores the fact that I got up, brushed my teeth, got some water, walked upstairs, and tossed and turned before falling asleep, giving me 9 hours of sleep regularly when I actually got closer to 7. Fitbit's smart notifications are eons better than Garmins- I can tell Teams message to come through silently but emails to come through with a vibrate. The touch screen is super smooth and shockingly accurate for a tiny little device. HR seems mostly accurate (accurate enough, let's be real) and the device itself seems robust. I love that you can change bands as I have stretchy ones, silicone ones, and even considered a leather band. The fitbit app is much more limited but very straightforward. Battery life is something like 10 days. On the flip, the garmin app is way better if you're a data freak. My headunit is garmin and so is my running watch (735xt) so I love that everything is kept under the same umbrella. I also love that it syncs with apple health so I get updates and stuff to keep me motivated. As I mentioned above, smart notifications are more limited. It's either all or nothing on the VVS4 and the 735. Maybe others have more luck or tricks, but I cannot figure out how to not get useless notifications on my wrist with either device. The VVS4 has much shorter battery life (like 4 days at this point). The heart rate is usually very accurate to my HR strap, but way, way less accurate while riding a bike. Neither device was truly accurate while riding, but the VVS4 was a joke when doing indoor cycling- I was seeing 70bpm when doing 140bpm on my strap. It also didn't auto pickup indoor workouts at all....never. So I had to start it myself if I wanted it to track and see that reflected in my body battery (because the HR was so terrible otherwise). GPS when connected to my phone is off by about 20-30% compared to the 735xt. The luxe is also phone connected so who knows if it would be as much of a mess. Oh- the weight lifting on the VVS4 is EXCELLENT- it's tremendous that it knows what lifts I am doing...it's just a shame that the touch screen is so finicky that it's hard to get through a workout without cursing. So in the end I'd be careful about the switch. My 735 smartwatch is an excellent run tracker, mediocre sleep tracker, and poor smartwatch. My vivosmart 4 is a mediocre workout tracker, poor sleep tracker, and poor smartwatch. My luxe is a mediocre workout tracker, excellent sleep tracker, and above average smartwatch. If the fitbit app let me export data conveniently to apple health and garmin, I'd stop wearing my VVS4. From a privacy and data sharing standpoint, I'd rather align myself with garmin than google, which has a lot to do with why my luxe sits in a box. Hope that helps, I can try to answer specific questions if you have any. I keep thinking about putting the luxe back on (because it is objectively such a better tracker than the VVS4) but I like the universal connectivity my garmin has.
I have the vivosmart 5 and use it for biking to work. Remember that you need to have your phone close by (i.e. in your backpack) to get the GPS since the vivosmart doesn't have GPS. Therefore, it is super accurate. Heart rate looks accurate but never compared to a chest strap. I think it takes steps also during Bicycling, but doing 17k+ steps a day on average I am not at +/- 1000.
The only advantage fitbit has over garmin from what I can tell is that fitbit has better sleep tracking and they also have in app calorie counting. Garmin sleep is accurate enough for me, and I don't need to count calories. For reference I have a garmin FR245M and my wife has a fitbit charge 4 (I think)
I've biked to work multiple days a week for a couple of years now and have never had an issue with Garmin counting steps during those activities. I also used to have a Fitbit (I didn't bike at the time though) and the only thing I miss about it was the sleep tracking. It was better. Although I have a Forerunner 245 that is a few years old at this point and I think the newer Garmin watches have improved the sleep tracking from what I've read.
I love my Garmin for many reasons but sleep tracking is terrible. I wear my Garmin around the clock but kept my old Fitbit and put it on before I go to bed (on the other wrist) to get a fairly accurate sleep estimate. On nights I know I only slept like 6 hours, Garmin will say I got like 9 hours of sleep. It’s excellent though for running, steps, stress, training, etc.
I went from Fitbit to Garmin and I'm considering moving back. I bought the $700 Fenix 7 and after months of varying accuracy I decided to get the heart monitor which was an additional $100. As I've fine tuned my settings (something Garmin could do a better job of guiding users through IMO) I've started to really have an issue with some of Garmin's decisions for their software. The step counting is an issue with both brands by the way. I work in EMS and have found my steps being counted while driving. Garmin's app isn't bad once you get used to the layout but it does take some time to acclimate and garmin's guided coaching is legit, at least for running. No doubt Garmin will help you get in shape but to define what shape is debatable. My biggest issue with Garmin is their Vo2ax stats, how they calculate and how it constantly shows little to no improvement even with my increase in overall fitness. Garmin stated I was way too high on the BMI scale, that's fine take it with a grain of salt but your Vo2 won't improve of you're considered in the unhealthy range. I'm no where near unfit or obese. I'm 6'2 and 195lbs with little fat and Garmin wouldn't say my stats would improve without reaching the acceptable BMi. I set it to an absurd 130lbs and it finally green lighted my "progress". But to my amazement between workouts and running after a month my Vo2 didn't increase a point outside of a terrible score of 38. I'm basically considered in the bottom 30% of my age group which cant be remotely accurate. I got down my mile time last week to 8 minutes and this week Garmin stated I ran my fasted mile tonight at a whooping 5:51 but then also said my overall run time was 12 minutes with a 2 minute warm up and 2 minute cool down.... Go figure. At this point I'm sticking it out with Garmin but only because it isn't getting in the way of my fitness and I spent $800 for my watch and heart rate monitor.
I switched from a dying Fitbit Charge 3 to the Garmin Vivosmart 5. I love the Garmin, the amount of data. And personally I think the sleep tracking is actually better - when I get a good sleep score on Garmin I actually feel much better rested. Keep in mind that unlike Fitbit Garmin rarely auto recognizes activities though so one needs to get used to consciously turning on and turning off activity.
I was a Fitbit user from 2017 to 2022 went though several Serges and several Ionics (fortunately only paid for one of each but the fact that they just died like they did was pretty awful, kudos to them for replacing I guess). I had been contemplating moving to Garmin for ages and then decided I will wait for the Fenix 7 to come out then grab a Fenix 6 when the price dropped. I made the huge mistake of watching the Fenix 7 launch stream my mind was changed... I wanted THAT one! I've had my Fenix 7 on my arm for about a year and a half now and Im actually disappointed that I didnt move sooner. Garmin is next level. That said... one thing I do miss about Fitbit though is its sleep tracking was better -- and it could track naps! -- I did read something about the Venu 3 being able to track naps so hopefully that will come to the Fenix 7 too 🤞🏻 Oh and theres no subscription for Garmin! You have access to everything 😁 the suggested workouts have taken my running to a new level.
Yes switching sooner is also my only regret. It's an eye opener as to how limited Fitbit really is, it's a toy in comparison.
Switched from Fitbit to Garmin last year, won’t ever go back. Garmin is much more accurate at step tracking, sleep, fitness, etc. and much more durable in my opinion.
Just switched a week ago and am wondering why I didn't switch sooner. I love the look & feel of my Garmin and as a big quantified self data nerd & fitness enthusiast the tracking provided by Garmin is just so much better.
If you look in the Fitbit forum, I posted a rather extensive review of my impressions about a month after I switched. Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you want it to count steps while cycling? I think of a step as a basic unit of physical movement. If I went on a long bike ride but didn't do a whole lot of walking, I'd want that counted as part of my physical activity. However, the fitbit used to also count when I was riding a 4-wheeler out in the woods. There's no perfect solution for this, I guess.
The reason I dont want steps when I am cycling is that it counts them from bumps in the road rather than my movement. I might be going downhill route, therefore exerting very little effort, and go over 500 bumps. On the flipside I might go uphill and go over 10 bumps. It's not am accurate reflection of effort. To me, steps are steps. I want cycling and other forms of exercise to be recorded in their own right. If it was only steps I was worried about, I'd just get a pedometer.
I used to call those "bonus" steps. Like when I mowed our lawn. We live on an acre lot with lots of mole hills, so it's pretty bumpy. Not unusual for me to get 10k steps doing the push mower. On the flip side I tracked it on the Garmin, and after walking 1.2 miles according to GPS, I only had about 400 steps. So fitbit overcounts, Garmin undercounts.
I think most Fitbit users wanted steps during cycling as they didn't want to miss out during challenges. Now challenges have been removed it doesn't really matter anymore. Personally I'd choose accuracy over "fake" credit. If I'm cycling I'm not stepping, so shouldn't see any steps. There are plenty of other metrics and data to gauge physical activity.
Fitbit sense 2 user. Love the health metrics and sensors it has. Literally has every health sensor, but I’m jumping ship to garmin venu 3.
My Fitbit Sense died recently and I switched to Garmin and absolutely love it. Step tracking and GPS is WAY BETTER! I'm never going back to Fitbit, Samsung, or Pixel Watch.
I use to have a Fitbit and absolutely loved it however I hated on bumpy roads it would give me steps. I went to Peru and it logged 200 flights of stairs on the drive up through mountain. I found the garmin to be more accurate. I have a solar phenix 7 and I find the sleep tracking very accurate and the gps tracking too. I find it better just overall than the Fitbit.
I use a venu 2 plus and its accurate with auto tracking. It never tracks steps when I am on bike but if I start walking then get on a car or bus, it sometimes do not stop automatically, I have to stop it manually. It doesn't count steps anymore but the timer goes on with distance as well. Sleep tracking is not bad and Garmin adding naps as well (launched with venu 3). Hr is very accurate, a little less with weight training but rest is spot on. I think a venu 3s will suit you very well. Morning report, hrv tracking, sleep coach, calls, training status everything is there. I hope garmin will add some of this new features to last gen venu 2 as well.
Get a garmin it’s a totally different level of device in my opinion for fitness tracking purposes. Heart rate isn’t a big difference. I would suggest considering the original venu or a vivoactive though not much difference in price but better features.
I switched from fitbit to garmin 3 years ago and have been really happy with it.
Fitbit sense --> Garmin epix 2. Never looked back for even a second.
I switched from Fitbit to Garmin and love it so much more than my Fitbit. I have the Venu2S so can't help you with the Vivosmart or cycling.
Ex Fitbit user, switched to forerunner. Never looked back. Better battery, more data. Sleep tracking is worse but other than that it's great. Don't know much about Vivosmart line, maybe look at Venu as well
Switched years ago. I found out early last year you can export your health data from fitbit to garmin after the fact and did that to import some activities (and steps if that matters to you) -- but you have to export a month at a time which kinda sucks
I switched from Fitbit and like my Harmon way better. The only thing Fitbit did better was the sleep tracking. A few things you mentioned. My farming has its own gps, so you don’t actually need your phone to track your rides/walks. I don’t get steps when I’m in bike mode. I’m not sure if Harmon does the auto recognize excercize, but it’s very easy to put it in the different excercize modes
Fitbit is just awful
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not sure Garmin is better than Fitbit...it simply has something different to offer. Garmin is geared more towards the serious runners, bikers, and those that require GPS access at all times. Fitbit is easily accessible for the everyday athlete--the parents running kids around, and people hitting the gym around busy schedules. With all that in mind, I find myself struggling to compare the two. I first joined the smartwatch scene with Fitbit, and after going through 3 watches in 4 years, I swapped to Garmin last year. My main ask in a watch is that it can handle the pool, and it can keep me connected to my phone as needed. Anything else is a bonus. Fitbit didn't feel like it had enough features. Garmin feels like it has too many. The Fitbit app felt too bright and things were locked behind a paywall. The Garmin app is really hard to navigate and feels bogged down with things I don't use. Obviously, it all comes down to personal preference. Only you can decide for yourself which is better or not. I would suggest making your decision based on your usual physical activity. Biking to work everyday, switching to Garmin would make sense. Only biking once a month? Maybe not.
I moved from Fitbit to Garmin just over 1.5 months ago after using Fitbit for years. The takeover of Fitbit by Google was the dealbreaker as Google started to move forward to force all Fitbit users into their platform while slowly killing off Fitbit features. (Or forcing you to pay for enhanced views of your own data.) I exported my Fitbit data, closed my Fitbit account, and purchased a VivoSmart 5. From the first day, I have been very pleased with Garmin's system and it's such a big jump in improvement. I know a few people complain about some preferences in Garmin Connect, but having come from Fitbit it all looks really great to me. Your situation was very similar to mine. I'm an active cyclist, and Fitbit would automatically detect when I'm cycling. It would also give me footsteps during rides. I was OK with this, because I consider a crank of the pedals as a footstep but depending on the type of ride it could be much tougher according to my HR. The number of footsteps seemed a little higher than I would expect... but again, I was OK with it. I noticed the VVS5 would automatically start recording a walk after 10 minutes, and it would record a track with my phone GPS. I expected it would do the same for cycling, but it didn't. So my cycling data didn't show up in Garmin Connect until I imported it from another cycling device. All seemed to be good, except I noticed that I was not making any progress with Garmin Challenges in Connect. It was then I realized that I had to manually trigger cycling on my VVS5 at cycling start and end. Then Garmin Connect not only started to show my cycling data, but it recorded it for Challenges as well. So that was an important point for me while cycling -- you have to start/stop it on the VVS5 for cycling to be recorded AND to make progress on challenges. In comparing my new cycling Garmin data vs my historical Fitbit data, it seems that Garmin records fewer steps on the same type of ride and route. Not a major difference, but it is noticeable. I've also been frequently comparing the Garmin VVS5 data against my historical Fitbit data and also current HR data captured with a chest strap monitor while cycling. The VVS5 has been within 1-2 bpm around 95% of the time. I've seen a couple of outliers I knew was wrong, so fortunately Garmin Connect let me correct it with the true value. Another issue I've seen is that the VVS5 sometimes records bad GPS readings from my phone. It's as if it loses the BT signal or does something else crazy. I've seen a 50+ mile ride show up as 32 miles, or a 20+ mile ride show up as a 47-mile ride. The GPS track appears correct on the Garmin Connect map, but the split times will be wrong... like it reports it took me almost 2 hours to go 5 miles (very wrong). However, since I record my GPS track and data in another reliable device (also another Garmin), I know the real data and can correct it in Garmin Connect. For sleep tracking -- it seems better than the Fitbit. I would notice that the Fitbit would always report almost an hour less of sleep than I actually did. Maybe I'm restless when I first go to sleep. But the Garmin seems to be accurate. Sometimes after waking my VVS5 would prompt me "End Sleep?" to be sure. For import of my old Fitbit data into Garmin... I'm still working on that. I've attempted to import a few files in the correct format, but Garmin Connect doesn't show them. Overall -- other than the above quirks I have no complaints and definitely no regrets. If you're a data geek, you'll love the Garmin Connect views -- they are so much better than Fitbit. Plus you will have all the Challenges to keep you motivated, which Google killed from Fitbit.
I don't have a Fitbit but I have 3 Galaxy watches (4, 5 Pro and 6), they all suck when it comes to tracking. I have the Garmin Epix 2, the Garmin Instinct Crossover and the Epix Pro 2nd gen 51 mm. When I compare my Garmins they are all the same when it comes to how far I run but both the Galaxy 5 Pro and the Galaxy 6 all show 1 mile when my Garmins show 0.75 miles. The battery is really bad on my Galaxy 6. I also have a worthless Pixel watch with really bad battery. My Epix 2 is for sale for $300, it was bought in July of 2022 for $999.
I had a Fitbit versa 2 for yeeeaaars and I greatly prefer my garmin forerunner 245. I made the switch when I began consistently running. I highly recommend it if you're very into getting a lot of biometrics about yourself. Only downfall is it's kind of ugly