Venu X1

I have a Venu X1, it performs great for running and golf which is exactly what I bought it for 👍🏼

Venu X1. I wanted to track sleep and fitness. I used to have a Gshock mud master and a whoop band. I wanted to consolidate the two and have something a little smaller and less noticeable than the gshock. The other outdoor models are too similar to the gshock and a little too big to wear to bed. I'm happy with the decision

I gave up and did both - Venu X1 on my left wrist and AWU3 on my right one. Initially I noticed some weird glances and then I stopped caring. It’s my body, my tech, my money, and each is a tool for a different purpose in my usage pattern. At 20+ fulls, I’m personally at the point where I run mostly for fun and the love of the game - but I want texting during my runs, I want Tapbacks, and I also want all my Garmin stats! 🤣 The X1 is one of Garmin’s best sleeper Pro watches imo - I’ve used them all up to the F8Microled and there’s just something ridiculously special about the X1’s minimalistic case design (note that I’m typing this from an iPhone Air, so perhaps I have a type) whilst still maintaining crazy accurate GPS.

Ah, so that’s where the real crazy comes in. 😜 For the most complete data, you’ve got to be willing to wear both, 24/7 (which I do). Garmin’s PhysioTrueUp (I think they just call it Device Priority now) helps keep everything in sync across the Garmin-verse. If I need to make things less showy for any reason I’ll sometimes keep the Garmin in my pocket’s coin pouch (less movement) since it’s reading from my Polar H10 anyways and doesn’t have to be on my wrist, and the entire point of the AWU3 for me is Tapbacks, SMS voice replies, and FindMy on my wrist via 5G. Sleep-wise, the Venu X1 barely feels like it’s even there, but even the Fenix8 MicroLED (the thickest of the lot) didn’t bother me for sleep comfort during the week that I was testing it, so perhaps I’m just an anomaly since I know many people (including my partner) don’t tolerate bigger watches during sleep - the Garmin Index Sleep band is a good workaround, but then you keep going further and further down this rabbit hole of more $ and niche tech.

Hmm, venu x1 is the most Apple Watch resembling, forerunner is great for running, Fenix is versatile, outdoorsy and rugged, instinct fits the g-shock aesthetics and is mainly for outdoor sports, venu is the more “smart” watch focused watch. If runnings your primary, then go for forerunner, but know that with any of these models, you lose the apple exclusive features like Siri, drawing on iMessage, Apple Pay, HomeKit and other controls (from what I could remember) battery life was important to me so losing those features didn’t mean much but if that’s something you do enjoy using, retain the awu

Check out the Venu X1. It gets a lot of hate but once you wear one, it’s awesome. It is super light and has most of the features of the Fenix 8.