Garmin Venu, GPS Smartwatch with Bright Touchscreen Display, Features Music, Body Energy Monitoring, Animated Workouts, Pulse Ox Sensors and More, Light Sand with Rose Gold Hardware

Product Information

Check how well your absorbing oxygen with the Pulse Ox sensor to spot check your blood oxygen saturation at any point during the day, or for part of the night as you sleep. Yes, this does have a colour touchscreen display, but if you want the most vibrant screen Garmin has to offer right now, you’ll need to pay out for the other Venu. As such, the only real qualm I have with the screen is that it doesn’t add any functionality per se.

As such, I almost always woke to a Body Battery rating of 100, despite the fact that I run every day and have a baby in the house who wakes me up every hour or two at night. The Garmin Venu and Garmin Venu 2 offer a similar range of workout tracking modes, but the Venu 2 also includes dedicated modes for hiking, hill-climbing and bouldering.

You can also pair cycling speed/cadence sensors, but not power meters, which Garmin again restricts to higher-end devices like the Fenix 6 or Forerunner 945. The Venu has GPS and optical heart-rate monitoring built-in, too, and if you’re a fitness newbie, you’ll benefit from its animated guided workouts and Garmin Coach. If you’re hoping for an abundance of rich training analysis, that’s something you’re not going to get here. The Venu 2 lasts up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, which can be extended to 12 days in battery-saver mode. When not in use, the Venu displays a simple time or time and date watch face, depending on which watch face you choose, and if you set it to do not disturb at night, the screen blacks out completely.

One of these is hydration tracking, where you log what you’ve drunk each day to ensure you’re getting enough water, and there is also a new period tracking feature. The watch offers guided animated workouts for strength, yoga and Pilates workouts, which is great for beginners who don’t want to fork out on expensive personal trainers or classes. Despite moving away from the very practical transflective displays of the most Garmin watches, though, I found the Venu’s screen easy to read in all conditions, which isn’t always the case with this type of smartwatch display.Both the Venu and Venu 2 are ANT+ compatible, allowing you to sync data with extra sensors such as chest strap heart rate monitors or cycling power meters. Both watches have all-day stress tracking, but the Garmin Venu 2 also allows you to take a 'health snapshot' at any time. That said, I wasn’t using the music for all of those runs, and it would certainly hit battery life hard if you did. So you’re getting a watch with a 5ATM rating, making it suitable for showering and going for a swim with it on. While the Sq’s screen didn’t really serve up any major issues in terms of visibility or brightness, the difference in quality from what you get on the other Venu is very clear to see.

Previously editor of Wareable, he also co-ran the features and reviews sections of T3, and has a long list of bylines in the world of consumer tech sites. You don’t get breadcrumb trails in real-time or the ability to upload routes, but it does include Garmin’s Back to Start feature to help you get back home or wherever you started off your activity. That means you aren’t able to track elevation whether that’s stairs climbed during the day or if you’re taking on a hilly running or cycling route.On the sensor front, you’re getting built-in GPS and support for Galileo and Beidou satellite systems to give you better mapping coverage around the world. The Garmin Venu Sq is a cheaper alternative to the Garmin Venu, giving you similar features to the best fitness trackers and some of the best smartwatches, but now with a square display. That’s because you have to select every single pose of the workout, and if you’re working through a yoga routine with 30 or 40 moves, it’ll take you a fair amount of time to set up. This problem is easily fixed by pairing an external heart rate strap with the Venu via either ANT+ or Bluetooth.

The different bezel colours are attractive, with silver, gold, black and rose gold models all available, but the watch itself is rather chunky at 12. If you're looking for something smaller and more streamlined, you might be interested in the newer Garmin Lily. Garmin’s sports modes are detailed, reliable and very easy to use, and the Venu covers an impressive range of activities that includes running, cycling, pool swimming and even golf. That not only saves precious battery but also means there isn’t any unwanted light being emitted when you’re trying to sleep. With the addition of a colour display, there’s always going to be the worry that Garmin’s usually impressive battery showing will take a hit.If you want a good, cheap fitness watch with Google's Wear OS, the Ticwatch E2 is essentially your only option. What you’re getting is a lighter, smaller watch, though we’d argue you’re not getting a nicer looking watch. Michael is a keen swimmer, a runner with a number of marathons under his belt, and is also the co-founder of YouTube channel The Run Testers. Both watches deliver equally impressive everyday activity and sports tracking, alongside music storage. It’s a shame it doesn’t make the cut and it’s one of the features you’re going to have to pay more for to access.