Garmin Vivoactive 4S – water proof and music features

Garmin Vivoactive 4S sits in the segment of Fitbit Sense, right under Apple’s watch 6. You could call Vivoactive a budget series of smart watch from Garmin. It is priced almost half of the fenix 6 series smart watches. But, it does afford all the desired functionality for non-sports persons. It offers fitness tracking on a budget. Fenix 6 series watches are for people who are really into fitness and tracking of outdoor activities for fitness. Below we look at some of the common queries about Garmin Vivoactive 4S. The part number Vivoactive 4S is 010-02172-31.

Is Vivoactive 4S water proof?

Vivoactive 4S smart watch comes with a 5 ATM water rating. Which basically means that the watch is safe up to a depth of 50 meters below water level for a period of up to 10 minutes only. To put it in other words, the Vivoactive 4S watch is able to withstand a pressure of 5 atmospheres for a period of up to 10 minutes. In terms of depth in feet , the Vivoactive 4S can sustain depth pressure up to 165 feet below water level. So, technically speaking, the Vivoactive 4S watch adheres nicely to the water proof characteristic of the watch.

The 5 ATM water rating of the Vivoactive 4S puts it in the same range of the Apple watch 6 and Samsung watch 4. All these watches can be used while swimming in the indoor pools. As long as you are swimming in shallow pool waters, you are fine in wearing the Garmin Vivoactive 4S watch. Swimming in open water is not so straight forward. Generally, you must avoid wearing a smart watch in saline water of oceans or seas. Saline water can be detrimental to any smart watch, be it an Apple, Fitbit, Garmin Vivoactive 4S or Samsung.

Besides the 5 ATM rating on the Garmin Vivoactive 4S watch, we also need to ensure general good upkeep of the smart watch from water. There are some well-defined practices to keep your watch protected against incidental water damage. We list some common sense protection for the smart watches, including the Vivoactive 4S below:

• Please do make sure that the watch is not exposed to extremely high temperature of water. Adverse temperature can cause damage to the watch. You must not wear the Vivoactive 4S in a sauna bath.
• Avoid exposing the watch to extreme changes in air or water temperature.
• Do not use any 5 ATM watch for scuba diving. This can wreak your watch in no time.
• When ever you will handle your watch, please do ensure that your hands are not wet. Watch fitment parts need to be protected and using dry hands to handle the smart watch must be a habit for effective upkeep of the smart watch.
• You must protect your watch from the water source that is running the water at a high velocity or speed. Using a smart watch under a water fall or strong shower can pose serious detriment to the watch.

Good upkeep of the smart watch is a set of best habits that you inculcate over a period of time. Water proof watches add to water resistance, but we still need to take good care of the watch anyways.

Does the Garmin Vivoactive 4S have music?

Yes, Vivoactive 4S comes with music. Garmin Vivoactive 4S gives you three different sources to play music.

1. You could play the on-device music.
2. Or, you can control music on your smart phone through the watch. These are the two ways of using music on the Garmin Vivoactive 4S smart watch.
3. You could connect to a 3rd party music site to stream music from the Internet. To make use of a 3rd party music source, you need the Vivoactive 4S to connect to the WIFI network for streaming the music.

We look at each of these music options in detail.

On-device music storage on Vivoactive 4S

On-device storage on the Vivoactive 4S smart watch allows you to store up to 500 songs or music files on the watch. Most folks would be happy with the on-device storage limits afforded by a Vivoactive 4S watch. And, if you run out of the device storage for storing music locally, you could go ahead and use the watch to control the music on the paired smart phone.

To store music on your Vivoactive 4S smart watch, you will need to download the music files from the computer. So, you will connect to the Garmin express app on your computer to push the music files from your computer to the Garmin Vivoactive 4S smart watch’s device storage.

To download music files from your computer to the Vivoactive 4S device, follow the instructions below:

1. Connect the Garmin Vivoactive 4S device to your computer using the included USB cable.
2. On your computer, open the Garmin Express application, select your device, and select Music. Garmin Vivoactive 4S supports music from Windows and Apple Mac computers. On Mac computers, we use iTunes as a music source for the Vivoactive 4S device.
   3 In the My Music (Windows computer) or iTunes Library list (Apple Mac computer), select an audio file category, such as songs or playlists.
   4 Select the checkboxes for the audio files, and select Send to Device.

This will send the music file to your Vivoactive 4S device.

To listen to music stored locally on the Vivoactive 4S device, you will need to make use of Bluetooth headsets.

1. Bring the Bluetooth headsets within 2 meter distance of the Vivoactive 4S device.
2. Enable pairing mode on the headphones so that the headphone can be detected by the device.
3. Hold B to initiate Bluetooth pairing between the device and the Bluetooth headphones.
4. Select > Music > Headphones > Add New.
5. Select your headphones to complete the pairing process.

To listen to music from Garmin Vivoactive 4S smart watch, we will need to follow the instructions below:

Listening to Music on Garmin Vivoactive 4S

You could listen to music from all the three sources on your device.

a) To listen to music downloaded to the watch from your computer, select My Music.
b) To control music playback on your smartphone, select Phone.
c) To listen to music from a third-party provider, select the name of the provider and select a playlist to
download.
5 Select to open the music playback controls and manage music through the Vivoactive 4S smart watch.

What dial options are available for the Garmin Vivoactive 4S?

Garmin Vivoactive 4S comes in 2 dial sizes. There is a 40 mm dial size and a 45 mm dial size. The 40 mm dial comes with multiple color options.

The 40 mm Garmin Vivoactive 4S smart watch comes with the following part numbers and color options –

1. Part Number – 010-02172-31 – Garmin Vivoactive 4S 40 mm watch with light gold stainless steel bezel and pink or dust rose silicone band.
2. Part Number – 010-02172-21 – Garmin Vivoactive 4S 40 mm watch with rose gold stainless steel bezel and white silicone band.
3. Part Number – 010-02172-01 – Garmin Vivoactive 4S 40 mm watch with silver colored stainless steel bezel and gray silicone band.
4. Part Number – 010-02172-11 – Garmin Vivoactive 4S 40 mm watch with slate or black colored stainless steel bezel and black silicone band.

Aside from these 4 models that come with 40 mm dial size, the Garmin Vivoactive 4S watch comes in 2 variations of the 45 mm dial size.

1. Part Number – 010-02172-01 – Garmin Vivoactive 4S 45 mm watch with silver colored stainless steel bezel and gray silicone band.
2. Part Number – 010-02172-11 – Garmin Vivoactive 4S 45 mm watch with slate or black colored stainless steel bezel and black silicone band.

Essentially, Garmin Vivoactive 4S is more suitable for ladies. The dust rose color and white silicon bands along with rose gold stainless steel bezel appear to be ideal Vivoactive 4S options for ladies.

Summary

Garmin Vivoactive 4S is a very good option for a smart watch. It sits in the segment that is largely dominated by the Apple watch 6 and Apple watch 7. Vivoactive 4S offers you diverse options to listen to music and also allows you to wear the watch while swimming. The Vivoactive 4S is a water proof watch with 5 ATM water rating. The 40 mm dial size and 45 mm dial size come in multiple color options. 40 mm dial option come in 4 colors, while the 45 mm dial size comes in 2 colors.

Vivoactive 4S is a definite option to consider for someone looking to buy a smart watch for its inherent qualities and reliability.