This Garmin Vivoactive 5 deal is one of the most underrated Black Friday savings - here's why

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 deal on Amazon is one of the most underrated Black Friday savings right now.

As our Garmin Vivoactive 5 review reveals, it's an excellent smartwatch with a bright display, long battery life, advanced heart rate sensors and health tracking abilities, monitoring sleep, stress, exercise, and more with ease. Put side by side next to the most advanced smartwatches around, you'd be impressed.

Yet it's a fraction of the price - more so now than ever before, with a £71 saving when you shop on Amazon in the Garmin sale.

Garmin Vivoactive 5: was £249.99 now £178.99 at Amazon

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is now £71 off for Black Friday. You'll find the saving on all colourways, including the black and ivory, which are most popular.

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Why is this Garmin Vivoactive 5 deal underrated?

The saving on the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is not one to miss this Black Friday if you're in the market for a fitness tracker. While it might not be the biggest saving (that's on the Garmin Epix Pro at over £200 off right now) but with the £71 discount, it marks the lowest price the Garmin Vivoactive 5 has reached since its release.

If you're considering buying a new Apple Watch, the impressive Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, or a Garmin at a higher price point this Black Friday - like the Venu 3 - take a look at this watch before heading to the check out.

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is the "perfect fitness tracker" for beginners and those looking for a simple smartwatch with advanced health insights, our writer Ciara McGinley found during testing. It's easy to navigate with a bright AMOLED touch screen and manual controls on the side. You can start one of the 30+ workout profiles in just a couple of taps and get unique, sport-specific information for your activity (alongside the basics like heart rate, calories burned, distance for cardio workouts, and so on). For example, you'll see reps and sets for strength training and stress insights during a yoga session. You can also find out your fitness age.

As is standard on many of the best Garmin watches, you can see how many steps you're doing a day at any time by glancing down at your wrist. What's more, the insights are actually accurate and the device is highly streamlined, connecting constantly with the Garmin Connect app on your phone to deliver even deeper insights.

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 also tracks your sleep with metrics like sleep duration, stages (amounts of deep vs light vs REM sleep), resting heart rate, and breathing rate to offer a sleep score every morning. From here, you can use Garmin's Sleep Coach for tips on how to improve your specific routine.

You wouldn't miss out on smartwatch features with the Vivoactive 5 either. This watch can receive texts, emails, and call notifications from your connected phone (Apple or Android), you can make payments, and get your daily weather report. You can also set timers and alarms.

While the Apple Watch Series 9 and SE are excellent smartwatches and a winner for iPhone users without a doubt, the Vivoactive 5 has more to offer in key area: battery life. You'll need to charge your Apple Watch at least every couple of days, while the Vivoactive 5 can last for up to 11 days.

Equally, the Vivoactive 5 measures up against the best Garmin watches. While you won't get on-screen animated workouts, you'll find it has the same amount of workout modes, you can control music playing from your phone into your headphones or speaker, and the Vivoactive 5 is lighter on the wrist.

Are there any downsides to the Garmin Vivoactive 5?

While the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is one of my favourite Garmin watches and will work excellently for most people, it does lack some features.

This watch doesn't have dual-band GPS, unlike the Garmin Forerunner 265S, so if trail running is more your speed than gym workouts then it may struggle to keep up with you as you go into more remote areas. Equally, it doesn't feature in-built maps so you won't be able to get turn-by-turn navigation. You'll want to shop the Forerunner 945 for that.

It also doesn't have a barometric altimeter, which won't matter to some, but if you are a climber or like to keep an eye on your 'floors climbed', then it would be better to opt for a fitness tracker with this sensor - like the Garmin Forerunner 165.

But that's about it! At under £180 in the Black Friday sale right now, it's well worth the spend if you're looking to buy a fitness tracker before the holidays.