Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) vs Garmin Vivosmart 5
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): 2023
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: 2022
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) is a top-tier multisport GPS smartwatch designed for demanding athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, featuring a vibrant AMOLED display and extended capabilities. It provides precise activity tracking for steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with customizable daily goals. Its extensive range of activity profiles and advanced performance metrics cater to a wide array of sports and adventures, offering detailed data for performance analysis and improvement.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Garmin Vivosmart 5 offers foundational activity tracking, diligently recording steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed, and intensity minutes. It provides inactivity alerts to encourage movement and incorporates Body Battery energy monitoring, a valuable feature for optimizing daily activity planning based on physiological readiness.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): This device features continuous heart rate monitoring, advanced physiological metrics including VO2 max estimation, real-time stamina, and training status. It also tracks respiration rate, Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation, and offers in-depth sleep analysis, providing critical health and recovery data essential for optimizing training and overall well-being during intense activities.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Continuous heart rate monitoring is provided by Garmin's Elevate wrist-based technology, offering insights into resting heart rate trends and real-time heart rate zones during activities for enhanced fitness analysis. The integrated Pulse Ox sensor enables blood oxygen saturation monitoring, particularly relevant for comprehensive sleep analysis.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) delivers impressive battery life, offering up to 20 days in smartwatch mode and up to 60 hours with continuous GPS tracking. The integrated solar charging capability further extends these durations with sufficient sunlight exposure, enhancing its utility for prolonged expeditions and multi-day events.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 boasts a robust battery life, lasting up to 7 days in smartwatch mode. This extended duration minimizes the need for frequent charging, ensuring consistent tracking of daily activity and sleep metrics.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): Advanced sleep monitoring on the Epix Pro (Gen 2) meticulously tracks sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) and utilizes the Pulse Ox sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep. This provides valuable data for assessing recovery quality and informing training decisions, crucial for athletes managing demanding training loads.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Advanced sleep tracking on the Vivosmart 5 analyzes sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) to provide a detailed understanding of sleep architecture. The inclusion of the Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring blood oxygen levels during sleep, adding another dimension to sleep quality assessment.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): Equipped with advanced built-in GPS capabilities, including multi-band GNSS support, the Epix Pro (Gen 2) provides highly accurate outdoor activity tracking and navigation without requiring a paired smartphone. It offers detailed preloaded mapping features, essential for precise route planning and navigation in diverse and challenging environments.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: This device does not feature built-in GPS. However, it supports connected GPS, leveraging the GPS capabilities of a paired compatible smartphone to accurately track outdoor activities such as running and cycling, providing pace and distance data when your phone is with you.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) supports an extensive and customizable range of multisport and individual workout modes, including profiles for running, biking, swimming, hiking, trail running, skiing, strength training, and many more. Its comprehensive real-time data screens provide detailed metrics for immediate feedback and post-activity analysis across virtually any sport.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 supports a variety of activity profiles, including walking, running, cycling, yoga, strength training, and swimming. It displays real-time statistics such as heart rate and calorie burn during these workouts, enabling users to monitor their effort and progress.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring seamless recording of basic movements within the overall activity log, complementing its specialized sport profiles.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Garmin's Move IQ technology is integrated to automatically detect and record common activities such as walking, running, and swimming. This feature streamlines activity logging, ensuring that these basic exercises are captured without requiring manual initiation.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications, ensuring users remain connected and data is readily available through the associated mobile application.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 is compatible with both Android and iOS devices, connecting via Bluetooth. Synchronization with the Garmin Connect app provides a platform for detailed data tracking, analysis, and progress monitoring.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): Synchronization with the robust Garmin Connect app is fundamental, providing in-depth analysis of all tracked data, performance metrics, training insights, and recovery recommendations. The app facilitates the creation and syncing of detailed training plans and courses, along with extensive customization options for the watch settings.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Garmin Connect app serves as the central interface for the Vivosmart 5, offering detailed health insights, workout summaries, and long-term progress monitoring. It also facilitates synchronization with popular third-party fitness platforms like Strava and MyFitnessPal, allowing for data integration into a broader fitness ecosystem.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): In addition to its core athletic functionalities, the Epix Pro (Gen 2) includes practical smart features such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments and offers on-device music storage with compatibility for streaming services, providing convenience during both training and daily use.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Essential smart notifications for calls, texts, and app alerts are delivered with vibration, keeping users connected. Additional features include music control for a paired smartphone and a find-my-phone function for added convenience.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): With a robust water resistance rating of 100 meters (10 ATM), the Epix Pro (Gen 2) is engineered to be fully suitable for swimming, showering, and various water activities, making it a reliable and durable device for triathletes and those who train in or around water.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: With a water resistance rating of 5 ATM (up to 50 meters), the Vivosmart 5 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a durable companion for everyday wear and aquatic activities.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) features a bright and vibrant AMOLED touchscreen display with high resolution, offering stunning colors, deep blacks, and exceptional brightness. This display provides excellent readability in various lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, enhancing the visual experience for mapping and data review.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Featuring a larger OLED touchscreen display compared to its predecessor, the Vivosmart 5 offers improved visibility and usability for reviewing stats and notifications directly on the wrist.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The device offers a dual interface with reliable buttons and a responsive touchscreen, providing flexible and easy navigation through menus, data screens, and mapping features. This dual interface is designed for intuitive operation and quick access to critical information during both activities and daily use.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 utilizes a swipe-based touchscreen interface complemented by a physical button, providing a user-friendly navigation experience. Wireless syncing with the Garmin Connect app ensures effortless data transfer and tracking.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) features a premium and durable design with a high-quality titanium bezel and stainless steel or DLC coating, built to withstand extreme conditions while maintaining a comfortable fit for all-day wear and extended outdoor use. The design balances robust construction with aesthetic appeal.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The design of the Vivosmart 5 is slim and lightweight, featuring an interchangeable silicone band that contributes to comfortable all-day wear. The band can be easily swapped for personalization.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for on-demand spot checks and continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels. This feature is particularly valuable for acclimatization at altitude, monitoring sleep quality, and assessing overall physiological status during demanding activities, with solar charging supporting continuous data collection.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring of SpO2 blood oxygen levels, particularly emphasized during sleep tracking, providing insights into respiratory well-being during rest.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): It is important to note that the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: It is important for potential users to note that the Garmin Vivosmart 5 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) monitoring.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote mental well-being alongside physical training and recovery.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Stress levels are tracked based on heart rate variability (HRV). The device includes guided breathing exercises, offering a practical tool to help users manage stress and promote relaxation throughout the day.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The device provides advanced recovery insights, including a daily readiness score, recovery time advisor, training status, and training load focus, offering detailed guidance to help athletes understand their recovery needs and optimize their training schedule to prevent overtraining and improve performance.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy levels based on HRV, stress, and activity data. This assists users in optimizing their daily energy management and making informed decisions about when to prioritize rest and recovery.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): A key benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Epix Pro (Gen 2) are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality, advanced training analysis, or mapping features, providing comprehensive value for a premium, performance-oriented device.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: A key advantage of the Garmin ecosystem is that no subscription is required to access the full feature set of the Vivosmart 5. All data and insights are available through the free Garmin Connect app.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): $1,099.99
Check Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) Price *2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: $149.95
Check Garmin Vivosmart 5 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you