Garmin’s trendy Vivomove watch has a ‘hidden’ touchscreen

When you think of Garmin wearables, you probably imagine the company’s smartwatches for runners: they’re chunky, but they have a durable build and solid GPS to boot. In recent years, however, the company has made an effort to diversify its fitness niche with a range of hybrid watches, some of which debuted at CES 2022.

Garmin’s latest wearable offering, announced Wednesday, is the $270 Vivomove Trend. The hybrid watch is both a smartwatch and an elegant wristwatch. It has watch hands, but there’s also a full hidden display for notification alerts and activity tracking. According to Garmin, these watch hands “move away dynamically”, making it easier to view smart notifications and health monitoring information, including heart rate, sleep, stress tracking and energy levels. oxygen in the blood.

The slim Vivomove Trend is made with domed glass, a stainless steel bezel, and a silicone strap. The band and goggles can be swapped out to mix and match, according to Garmin. The watch is available in black, silver, ivory, gold and gray. The Trend also counts Garmin Pay, its contactless payment solutions, in its list of features.

Learn more: Don’t Buy a Smartwatch Without Asking These Questions First

Unlike smartwatches, hybrid watches are designed to be more discreet with their digital elements. Thanks in part to their smaller screens, hybrid watches tend to have significantly longer battery life than smartwatches – one of their biggest advantages. Garmin is promising five days of battery life for the Vivomove Trend along with wireless charging, which is Qi compatible in a first for the company. However, the trade-off is that a hybrid watch sacrifices some of the smart features you can find on devices like the Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch.

Garmin has long been a household name in the world of fitness and running watches. In recent years, the American company has been trying to diversify into hybrid watches as it faces increased competition from Apple and Samsung in the fitness segment. In September 2022, Apple launched the Apple Watch Ultraits biggest competitor yet to performance watches like those made by Garmin.