Garmin’s stylish Vivomove Trend smartwatch works with Qi chargers

Garmin’s latest hybrid smartwatch isn’t a reinvention of the wheel, but teeth Added long-awaited feature: wireless charging. The $269.99 Vivomove Trend will be his first Garmin device to add Qi compatibility.

Wireless charging is nothing new for smartwatches. In fact, most modern smartwatches come with some kind of wireless charging magnetic pack.the catch is These chargers tend to be proprietary, even if you have a Qi charger, it may not work with your smartwatch. Or, at least, not for sure. Conversely, Garmin says you should be able to attach the Trend to any existing Qi-certified charger you already have. This is great because losing a smartwatch charger is more of a hassle than a regular gadget. Not only are dozens of USB, micro USB, and USB-C cables likely incompatible, buying replacements from the manufacturer is prohibitively expensive, and third-party copies always work. Not necessarily. .

However, there are pitfalls here too. The Trend does not come with a Qi charger. If you don’t already have one, you’ll have to buy one yourself. (Trend includes a wired charger, which has also been upgraded to USB-C.) Garmin said in a press release that Trend may not work with upright Qi charging stands or charging stands built into vehicles. It also mentions that there is a gender.

Of course, wireless charging isn’t the only new feature trending. The watch replaces the Vivomove 3 in Garmin’s hybrid lineup and adds Garmin Pay, its Sleep Score feature, and a barometric altimeter. Otherwise, it has the same distinctive hidden display as Garmin’s other Vivomove watches.However, the trend is towards monochrome LCDs like the entry-level Sport, and the Style and Luxe.

As a lifestyle watch, the Trend opts for connected GPS over the built-in GPS sensor and has an estimated battery life of 5 days. This is “short” for Garmin. We also haven’t dug too deep into the hardcore workout features found in the company’s more rugged watches. high and low heart rate alerts, Fitness Age, and Body Battery (a Garmin proprietary metric that visualizes how you look). Recovered from stress and activity.

It will be interesting to see how the Trend differentiates itself from the similarly priced Vivomove Style. Style’s color OLED display and all-metal body, or Trend’s wireless charging. I’ve been playing around with trends for a few days now and it looks pretty chic on my wrist even without the metal body. , the trend is in line with what we’d expect from Garmin’s hybrid line.

The Garmin Vivomove Trend Available from today in 4 colors. The Slate/Black and Silver/Mist Gray colorways are $269.99, while the Peach Gold/Ivory and Cream Gold/French Gray versions are $299.99.