Venu Sq

mine has been game changing. if you think it's too strict or not strict enough, you gotta adjust the settings or your pacepoints budget. but it helps me pace my days and avoid flares, which has helped me stay more active overall however, the subscription cost stinks 😔 my Garmin Venu Sq (first gen) does something similar (Body Battery) without a need for a subscription. so i would perhaps recommend looking at multiple options unless you really love the form factor of Visible!

Over the last 3 to 4 years I’ve used a FitBit Venu Squared, which honestly I loved the most. When I accidentally killed that, by ahem— deciding it would be ok in my sonic jewelry cleaner machine— and it definitely was not ok. I felt sort of lost. I wanted something else but the choices for non-apple products were slim. My husband decided he really wanted a Garmin at the time, and he chose it because he’s been trying to get ahead of his sleep issues. Ironically I think that thing is the worst for tracking his sleep. A friend of ours gifted us a Galaxy Watch, Gen 6 I believe ? I liked it a lot. BUT the battery power- not so much. To get it to even last through the day I had to keep it on low battery all the time, which to me negates a lot of the tracking abilities. In low battery mode it didn’t automatically track a lot of the things I wanted it to like HR or breaths. My work has recently assigned me an iPhone and an iPad and since I’m CoS I was having a hard time keeping up with my notifications. So I just broke down and bought an Apple Watch. I didn’t want to like it. Honestly. BUT I love it. It does everything and then some. It connect seamlessly to all my menstrual tracking apps, like Stardust. It reads my HR, and can even perform an ECG. It checks my pulse ox. And has training feedback for if I overdo it on my exercises- I’ve been working with a physical therapist to broaden my exercise tolerance as it often causes endo flares for me. But the ability to track my stress from it is insanely helpful. It really does do it all, even things I don’t need it to do. I’ve heard mixed reviews on previous models that their battery wasn’t great and since that was my biggest annoyance with my Samsung watch I went with the newest version. If I hadn’t cared as much to integrate with my Apple products, and wanted to do it on a budget, I’d hands down buy a Fitbit Venu again. I liked that it was lightweight. I could respond to text messages. I couldn’t answer directly on my watch for phone calls but I could answer if I was connected to something like Bluetooth headphones and just talk. I was water resistant. It monitored HR easily, steps and the app integrated with my Samsung health app well. It tracked sleep as long as I slept more than 3 hours. And it could easily log workouts. And the battery life was insanely helpful- like 2 to 3 days. The ONLY reason I didn’t get it again is because I’m moving to Apple devices so the Apple Watch just made sense. But I think you would be really happy with a FitBit 1) especially if you use Android devices and 2) if you want it to be lightweight and feel like you’re wearing nothing and 3) but something that does all you’re wanting without breaking the bank.

Garmin now has smaller, less expensive options (no chest strap) like the Venu SQ that are great. You can get one for under $200 and you get all the tracking, heart rate data. Lower models just don’t have all advanced metrics and setting.

Might just depend on the amount you want to spend vs what you are going to get out of it. You could get a less expensive Garmin like a Venu Sq ($100-$150 refurb) that gives you body battery, sleep score, steps, heart rate, etc. The standard run of health metrics that can help with recovery and measuring general activity. I wear a gamin daily and do a lot of weight training. I can confirm that it doesn't do well at measuring anything related to lifting. You'll get a standard heart rate increase, but even intense weightlifting sessions aren't able to trigger the auto activity sensor. I still appreciate the data though. but you don't need a $1,000 Fenix to get helpful data. That is the one thing I wish I would have known before buying a Fenix.

Fenix 5 for long trail runs/ultras. Venu SQ because I don’t like having a dinner plate on my wrist 24/7.

We have the Garmin Index S2 scales. I wear a Garmin Venu Sq and my husband has a Garmin Instinct Solar. TBH we would not buy anything else!

I’ve rowed for years with my Concept 2 and my old Venu Sq. I use a chest strap because the arm isn’t great for activity where the wrist is constantly moving like rowing. RowErg links up with Garmin Connect and adds the activity after it’s synced. I’ll have a new 955 tomorrow so we’ll see how all the additional training metrics are affected by the rowing and running. Just keep in mind if you want to trend VO2Max data over time you’ll need to run or walk occasionally for Garmin to give you an estimate.