Venu 2

I'm 5'2'' I have the Venu2S and it's a perfect size for my small wrists. This is a feat considering every round smart watch I've used so far has had both a strap that was too long, and a watch body that was too large. It comes in a gold and rose gold model, as well as a cream and black option, and is quite inexpensive as far as Garmins come. It supports vo2 max but not lactate threshold (but that can also be calculated manually or using an online calculator by plugging in the run data from your watch).

Not lactate metrics but it does have vo2max. I can see it on my garmin connect app.

I use a Garmin venu 2 for running and golf. It’s great

Since no one is actually answering your question and instead inserting their opinions on literally everything else - I switched from the AW to the Garmin Venu2S when I first made the jump. I loved the look of it, didn’t have a million fitness/data points I wasn’t going to use, but looked really sleek and had everything I needed for general fitness and fitness classes. After a year or two (or within their return/exchange period) you can decide if you want more or less features, if you even like Garmin, and decide to upgrade. The Venus series, older or less flashy Forerunner models, Vivoactives or Lily would be the place to start. You can call Garmin Support and have them make recommendations based on your activities and get side-side comparisons on anything! The Fenix and Forerunner series are awesome (I switched to the 970 recently after careful consideration and years with my Venu), but I would have been soooo overwhelmed jumping from Apple to either one of those first go.

I have a Venu (from 2021) and it is still receiving updates

yesterday my Venu s2 just wouldn't work...wouldn't charge and all kinds of weird fading and plain unresponsive...this a.m. I pick it up and it is back to normal....lol Maybe its life is coming to an end....

same problem over the years with the cord....

Garmin Venu 1, 2, or even one of the newer Vivoactives would be great. You can get a Venu 2 for probably about $100-$130 on Facebook Marketplace right now. You can also get one of the older Garmin Forerunners for about the same price as well, if not a little cheaper

I have a Venu 2 and mostly do peloton cycling and yoga/strenght classes. Finally we have some basic integration and can only dream that one day garmin would release a garmin watch for peloton users (seems more useful than the marvel watches). In the meantime should I consider upgrading to the venu 4 for better sleep and health metrics?