Garmin Vivoactive 4S GPS Smartwatch, Silver

Those of you more interested in fitness first, smartwatch features second, will really enjoy this watch. My Vivoactive HR just died after having it for over 3 years, so I upgraded to the Vivoactive 4. This is a major upgrade in terms of looks and features. Here are all the things I love: 1) Two buttons - I originally bought the Vivoactive 3 Music because it was on sale for $200, but I quickly realized that missing the second button was a major pain point for me. Having the two buttons is so much more convenient for overall navigation. Also when you're in a workout, the second button can be used for setting a lap (instead of the vivoactive 3 where you have to double tap the screen). The second button alone was worth the extra spend. The vivo3 had a 20mm band, where the vivo4 is 22mm. The bigger band makes it look a lot better. The extra 0.1in screen space is well utilized also. It does make a difference. 2) Touch screen - I also tested out the Fenix 5 Plus for a while; now that is a great watch. The only issue I had with the Fenix was that you had to navigate all with buttons. The buttons are great for fitness and water sports, but when you're in the office, it's a little awkward when you're sitting in a meeting pressing buttons to navigate through texts or emails. Fenix was an amazing fitness watch, don't get me wrong, but it didn't work for my professional life expectations. Because it felt weird to have to press 5 buttons on the Fenix at the office, I wanted to go back to the touchscreen. Touchscreen is so much quicker and easier than the buttoned Garmins. It also looks cooler, and makes it truly feel more like a smartwatch. 3) Fitness features - If you're never had a Garmin before, they are amazing tools to help your fitness. The data it collects is leaps and bounds better and more accurate than any other smart watch. This watch has way more than the average athlete would ever need as it pertains to fitness features. There are tons of apps available, and its so easy to navigate and customize to your need. I use it mainly for running, golf and open ocean canoe paddling, using the SUP app. Though it's a touch screen, it still responds decently well when you're using it on the water soaking wet. You just have to kinda dry it off before you try to navigate while on the water. But here's the deal, if you're truly serious about your training, you're probably working too hard to even mess with your watch during the workout anyway, so focus on your training, not tapping away at your watch. I set it to buzz after every mile so I can see each mile pace. It works well for the 5-10+ mile sessions when I'm trying to beat my time. I listen to music when I'm out paddling, and it's a really nice feature. Haven't had any issues connecting to my waterproof earphones, even with all the movement during a workout. I use the Mpow Flame waterproof earphones. Golf app is awesome: front, middle and back of the green yardage. 4) Battery life - this is the biggest reason for me to get a Garmin instead of an Apple, Fossil or Samsung. I didn't want to be glued to my charger every night so instead I got this and get a full week's worth of battery. The always-on display is bright enough to see in daylight and at nighttime, but technology is what helps it save energy instead of the higher end amoled screens. It charges really quickly too so if I forget to charge it, I can just juice it up really quickly. A 10 minute charge gets me about 30% of battery. 5) Smart features - The fact that Garmin has begun to integrate smart features to their watches is amazing. Yes, you can't do everything one would like to do on a watch like talk to siri, look at pictures, or make phone calls. But why are you looking on your watch for all that stuff anyway? Is it really necessary when our phones are so advanced now? I get all my selected phone notifications, I can read texts and preview emails, and that's really all i need. Remember, fitness first, smartwatch second. All in all, this is an amazing fitness watch, and I'd definitely recommend if you're in the market for a new watch. Totally worth the spend, and for my needs I'd say it is a major upgrade from the apple/samsungs.