I used the Vivoactive (1st gen) for years before upgrading to a Fenix5. Worked great for what you are looking to do with it. Only switched because the Vivoactives don't work with power meters (Garmin's way of differentiating products, not a limitation of the watch hardware...grrr).

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I wear a Vivoactive 3 now and had one of the earlier generation Samsung smart watches. The Vivoactive is much sleeker and more comfortable to wear, though perhaps the newer Galaxy watches are less bulky than what I had. I find the Vivoactive to have all of what I need for running, hiking, and alpine skiing tracking, and excellent battery life. I am not familiar with the swimming functions. Seems like the Vivoactive is overshadowed by the Forerunners and the Fenix series, but it is perfect for me. I recently replaced my Vivoactive 3 with a new Vivoactive 3 with Music and Verizon text capability. I found an online store that had brand new old stock for $130.00.

Bumping this thread as im on the brink of getting a Samsung active watch, basically need it predominantly for monitoring swimming, running and cycling linking on to strava.

Im sure their is better out there but I can pay monthly for this watch which is the attraction, does anyone want to put me off?