Garmin Vivosmart 6 vs Vivosmart 5: One big upgrade coming our way!

The design of the Vivosmart fitness tracker is such that you can easily pop off the body of the device out of the band. Garmin offers silicon bands in different colors—black, white, and cool mint—but you can find a plethora of third-party bands on Amazon.

The stock silicon band is quite comfortable, but you can make the device more stylish by opting for a woven one or even getting a metal wristband and turning the Vivosmart 5 into a piece of jewelry.

We don't know the exact size of the upcoming Vivosmart 6, but chances are the new model will be backward compatible with all the bands designed for the previous one. Even if it turns out to be different, expect a wide variety of third-party bands pretty soon after the official launch.

The big news here is that the Vivosmart 6 is expected to sport a dedicated GPS chip. This will change everything, from the ability to leave your phone and go for a run to expanding the activities that the device can track substantially.

According to the latest leaks, the Vivosmart 6 will be able to track 30 different sports—including walking, running, cycling, swimming, and even wheelchair user activities. The info comes from lines buried inside the code of an Indonesian site listing the Vivosmart 6.

In comparison, the Vivosmart 5 lacks a standalone GPS and requires a connection to your phone to be able to track outdoor activities with precision. The last gen can also track only 14 activities—walking, running, cardio, strength training, yoga, Pilates, elliptical, indoor rowing, treadmill, HIIT, and pool swimming—and you can only have 10 of them on the tracker.

In terms of smart features, you get the basic ones on the Vivosmart 5—like notifications, weather reports, music controls, find my phone, reject calls, and text replies. We don't expect much improvement in this area, although some people in the industry suggested deeper health insights, including HRV (heart rate variability) or even ECG. We don't see that happening if Garmin wants to keep the price down on the Vivosmart 6.

There's sleep and stress tracking available on the previous model, the Vivosmart 5, and Garmin's composite Body Battery index, so expect those to be present on the Vivosmart 6 as well.

There are two Vivosmart 5 models, but they're basically one device with different-sized bands. The launch price for the model was $149.99, but you can get the Vivosmart 5 on a deal if you're patient and spend a little time looking for discounts.

The price of the successor remains a mystery at the moment, but if Garmin wants to stay competitive in this segment, the company should try and stick to the same $149 price tag for the Vivosmart 6. Given the GPS upgrade, though, we might see a slight bump up in the price.