Garmin - Venu

My partner and i have venu watches for health and fitness monitoring, we also had a stronger use case for health. Ours don't have the ekg function, but do provide the sleep tracking, hrv/stress scores as body battery, and the spo2. On that - the battery does drain easily if you have that on 24/7, at least on our watches! 

Absolutely in LOVE with my 265s. Although I prefer the look of Venu with the metal bezel, eventually went with 265s for the run stats. QI got the black/yellow 265s, which I feel is the most versatile for swapping for different color watch bands to soften the sporty look for everyday wear https://preview.redd.it/7xxfhw5jpa1e1.png?width=1891&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c07e0b0ac25789a46b475035072de284fad2bcb

Oh man, so many. Training readiness, training status, adaptive workouts, multi-sport tracking for triathalon training, etc. before 265s, I actually never used these features because I just used my watch to track time/distance.. But I was pleasantly surprised at how these stats are motivating me to do more and be more structured even when I’m not training for a race At the end of the day, for me it comes down to identity. I really loved the look of venu but after wearing it for a week it just didn't "feel" right; I feel more like a badass athlete with the 265s. And when i swap out the watch band with neutral colors i feel it’s not that out of place with my business casuals There is nothing wrong with the Venu for a casual runner esp if the look is important! Maybe chat with her first about why she wanted a garmin over an Apple Watch in the first place :)

Venu? No it doesn’t have pace pro

I have used a Vivoactive 3, Venu, Venu 2s, and Venu 3s for swimming and other activities. If your focus is on swimming, and the other activities aren't as prominent, why not try the Swim 2? https://www.garmin.com/en-CA/p/665374/pn/010-02247-00

Gotcha. I'm happy with the Venu line, as I don't need all the running metrics as most of my focus is on pretty much everything but cycling. The Venu 3 has the newer HR sensor, does naps (though sleep tracking still isn't the best) and now allows open water swimming.

Garmin venu for sure

Had Apple Watch 3 and it was terrible in the pool. Switched to the Garmin Venu and now on the forerunner 955. I’ve had no issues with the Garmin, you can select the screens/info you want and it even logs drill sets. Most people I swim with use Garmin. Just make sure that you check the specifics of the model you get as some have more swim features than others.

It is very overwhelming. Some are better for runners, hikers, swimmers, some have better music options, some are solar powered, some are smaller. There are quizzes online and Garmin has a comparison tool on their website. I have a Venu, chosen because I was quite disabled for years and didn't need a lot of fitness features and it is more feminine, but now that I'm up and running again, I'm saving for a forerunner. I tell you this because I would be disappointed in your current choice. There are only 5 families. You could simply choose a family based on your lifestyle, then it will be easy to narrow from there. Take a few days and watch some YouTube videos. These watches are amazing, but they're expensive!

I used an Apple Watch for years until it died. Decided to replace it with the garmin venu and I’ve been happy with it. Did the whoop for a bit and didn’t like not having a watch face.

Pretty much all Garmins do. Vivoactive or Venu is a good place to start.

I like the channel but it does seem slightly bias toward Apple. I have a Venu and Apple Watch Series 6. I did a 5 mile run with both watches. All the stats, pace, HR, cadence were all within about 1-2 of each other. HR 186 vs 188. Pace 9.58 vs 9.57. Cadence 160 vs 161. It’s consistent through each mile as well. So they both appear to be accurate. The only thing that seems out is resting HR. One day 55 vs 56, another day 58 vs 58, then 58 vs 66 (Apple Watch). The Garmin seems consistent whereas the Apple Watch is up and down. I had a Fitbit Charge 6 before and that was more in line with the Garmin, so I think Apple isn’t that accurate for resting HR. I think the reason is both Garmin and Fitbit record the HR more frequently, and tend to more accurate. What’s does everyone think?

I love my Oura ring and Garmin Venu!

My advice is don't byut a watch for your current fitness needs but one that would serve you well if your needs expand. Fitness needs have a high rate of expanding upon the purchase of a watch. Anything from the FR265 upwards is ideal. I would say the Vivoactive and Venu range might leave you wanting later down the line as they are closer to lifestyle than fitness.

If all she wants for running is something that will tell her her pace and heart rate, venu is fine. If she wants a coach on her wrist, 265s is the way to go.

I have a Venu 3 and I find it extremely useful as both an everyday watch and for my strength training and cycling. The GPS boots quickly, battery life w/out gps is over a week/ 7 days with two gps events. There are more fitness activities loaded on it then I could ever find time for, and it has never failed on me (to start, track, boot...whatever). It connects to all of my power meters, my Wahool Kickr, HR monitors, cadence/speed sensors, bike lights and Varia radar. I have yet to swim with it, but I did have an original Venu that I snorkeled with in the Galapagos and that watch did not disappoint. I would guess that those with gripes are used to "smart" watches and not true fitness watches. My girlfriend has a Samsung watch that she has to charge everyday! I find that appalling!!

I have had the 3 since November '24 and not a scratch on it. My old original Venu was a little over 4 years old when I swapped it out and it has one minor scratch (across the face, but thin), and some other minor scratches. I've owned analog watches that suffered worse. My original Venu survived hikes in AZ, Maine, NM, and cycling trips all over the US. And I wore it every day of those 4 years.

Garmin Venu. Had a bunch of the mainstream ones. I can't go back to 2 day battery. The Garmin seems a bit more accurate in the workout side, which is useful for me.

I think that we can't really believe anything on internet anymore. When i wanted to get my first Garmin(after being unsatisfied with my Fitbit Versa) i was a bit worried regarding the sleep tracking as many reviews were talking bad about Garmin. Decided to go with a VA4 and never had any big issue with it but didn't like the MIP display(was my first MIP watch). Decided to switch to Venu, Venu 2 and, now, Epix 2. GPS with Venu was not that good but Venu 2 was a lot better and Epix 2 is on another level. No issues with sleep tracking at all...some small weird stuff from time to time but nothing different from Fitbit or from Oura for example. I'm aware that some people have more problems than me but that's why you should try personally and then decide. Quantified scientist looks a lot apple pro and while it can be accurate i don't believe it's perfect. A friend of mine has an apple watch and we did some runs together and the HR data was not that good with some weird stuff here and there. Not saying apple is bad but you still need to wear it correctly and it still can give you some bad data because that's how optical sensor works...there's no way that apple can catch everything perfectly when the optical sensor itself can't be perfect. I'm not following him anymore but i remember that. at a certain point, he started to do double reviews of the same watch(one of himself and another one with another person) and the data from the other person were much more different than with him meaning that it's not only about the tech but also about the person. You can't know if Garmin's algorithm work well, with you, without trying.

I like the venu for running, I’ve got the venu sq 2

Garmin. Better privacy policy than most of the others. Some concerns, still, but if you want you could keep everything on your watch, not connect it to your phone, and just get your data off periodically via usb and then use an open source 3rd party desktop app for analysis. Also pretty reasonably priced, since they'll sell the older models new at a discount and these are more than good enough unless you really want serious tracking of lots of specialised activities. You can get the 's' versions of e.g. the Venu which is a smaller face and thinner strap.

Not a Venu if you are serious about running. There are running metrics the FRs have that the Venus don't But not wearing modern training watches 24/7 will not get you training related data, only single activity related data. So a 255 would be the most expensive I'd recommend.

That sucks that youve had that experience. Ive had my garmin venu for 5 years now and its going strong.

Have a look at the other Garmin Watches as well. The Venu is more lifestyle oriented but should offer similar swimming performance. I use a Fenix7s as I also do open water swimming

Most people coming from apple go vivo active or venue. Venue being closest to a smart watch. Personally, I'm a instinct guy. Although I'm wearing a Fenix today since I didn't charge my Instinct for 2 weeks and it died before bed. I've swam tens of thousands of meters (more like hundreds but..) in pool, open and salt water with my Garmins. Done free diving (only to about 40ft, I'm not very good) and press the buttons regularly sub surface. I've also done cliff jumping with every watch, and haven't lost a garmin to water intrusion. I would definitely select a 100m rated model for water sports. Any watch can fail but I've had 6 garmins and none have. I also had a bunch of Casio and Timex over the years and not one failure.

From what you have written, budget is not a constraint for you. I'd go for a watch. Tracking sleep is very useful. I am implementing small changes to improve sleep and the data from the watch is helpful. Eventhough it's not perfect. If i could afford it, I'd buy a Garmin Venue right now. Also, while a chest strap may be a tad bit more accurate for heart rate tracking, it is not something you want to wear for hours at a stretch every day. There a watch is useful.

I've never watched the quantified scientist, but I don't see how an "average" rating can be anything but qualitative. Even if it's looking at, for example quantitative measurements of HRM accuracy, the act of saying that's the right metric for choosing a watch is inherently qualitative Without knowing what it's being compared against, my perspective is that Garmin watches have the most complete feature set for fitness activity tracking especially for triathletes and outdoor activities. They're not full on smartwatches though in the sense that Apple and Android watches are. With the Venu series, your not getting 100% of the hardcore fitness stuff that you would on a Fenix but you're getting a few more smartwatchy features while still getting Garmin battery life. You didn't mention which features are most important to *you* or what you are comparing against so hard to say much more

People have to stop comparing these. These are for two different people. I would never wear an Apple Watch based on battery life alone. I specifically got the Garmin for a wrist based gps and mapping tool to track and orient myself. You buy an Apple Watch to use smart features and be connected to your phone. Garmin has never been in that market. It’s a whole company based on gps systems for outdoor activities . You buy an Apple Watch to have Apple ecosystem. you can’t use half the feature of the fenix on an iPhone bc they only want you to use their watch… Garmin are all specifically made for their audience even down the the model . Apple watches are just to keep you plugged into your phone and have no bearing on actual outdoor activities despite calling it ultra. The Millitary has been orienteering with Garmin wrist based gps systems forever. You’d never catch an Apple Watch on patrol in Afghanistan. 😂