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Get a Garmin Vivomove Sport fitness tracker for $46

Originally $150, this stylish wristwatch can track steps and sleep for a full year. Plus: Enter for your chance to win an SNES Classic console!

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
3 min read

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The Vivomove: stylish watch first, basic fitness-tracker second.

Garmin

Want to dip your toe into fitness-tracking, but don't want a clunky, over-complicated, over-priced gadget strapped to your wrist?

How about this instead: A nice-looking watch that has fitness features baked in and can run for a full year on its replaceable battery.

That's the Garmin Vivomove in a nutshell, and while there are caveats to consider, let's start with the deal: For a limited time, and while supplies last, BuyDig has the Garmin Vivomove Sport for $45.99 shipped when you apply promo code C101017X30 at checkout. The Sport is available in either black or white and it originally sold for $150.

That code will also knock the Vivomove Classic (again, black or white) down to $49.99. The only real difference between the two: sport band vs. leather band. Finally, there's the Premium model, available in stainless or gold-tone steel, for $99.99.

Nice watch!

As you can tell from the photos, the Vivomove is a very attractive watch. And, honestly, that's its core competency, but with some Fitbit-style extras.

Here's what it doesn't have: notifications, vibrations or heart-rate monitoring. I prize notifications above fitness tracking, so this isn't the watch for me. But the Vivomove does do more than just tell time and look good on your wrist.

If you look closely, you'll see two small gauges on the watchface. The left one shows how close you are to reaching your daily step goal, while the right one tracks inactivity: it slowly fills with red bars for every 15 minutes you're sitting still. Neat!

Of course, without any kind of alert, you'd have to keep glancing at the watch to check your inactivity status. Not so neat?

I haven't used a Vivomove myself, but I can tell you this: The reviews range from mixed to mostly favorable -- starting with CNET's, which awarded the watch a 7.8 out of 10. That's actually pretty good, and most other professional reviews I've checked are in the 3.5-4-star range. But check user reviews and you'll see a lot of dissatisfaction with Garmin 's app and the syncing process. (The latter issue was raised in CNET's review as well.)

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Win this!

Has Garmin worked out those bugs? Perhaps, as it's been a year since the Vivomove hit the market. Or perhaps not, in which case you still get a nice-looking waterproof watch with two cool activity-monitoring gauges (which, incidentally, work independently of phone connectivity). For $46.

Your thoughts?

Giveaway: Win a Nintendo SNES Classic console! I guess I'm not the nostalgic type, because I cannot for the life of me understand the rabid standing-in-line fervor over this thing. But, man, is this the must-have item right now... and CNET is giving away two of them!

So get on over to the giveaway page and get your entry (or entries) in -- you've got until Sunday to do so. Good luck!