I wanted to love the Garmin Vivosmart 4 back when it launched in 2018. It was a chic yet capable fitness band, with a great set of fitness tracking features for the price. It was almost perfect, except for one major flaw: the touchscreen. Swipes didn\u2019t register like they were supposed to, and the capacitive button was even more finicky. So when I first unboxed the $149.99 Garmin Vivosmart 5, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. There, at the bottom of the display, was a beautiful, physical button.<\/p>\n

Adding a button might not seem like a game-changer, but in this case, it most certainly is. The Vivosmart lineup has always been plagued by unresponsive touchscreens. Sure, the Vivosmart 4 was an improvement on the Vivosmart 3, but it was still frustrating to use. Swipes wouldn\u2019t register properly, and sometimes you ended up smacking your wrist just to start an activity. It\u2019s the sort of annoyance that builds up over time until one day you just leave an otherwise excellent tracker to collect dust in a drawer.<\/p>\n