Venu Series

Dito. Venu will offer a tick “sexier” display due to oled, FR will most probably go longer. Might be a case for weekend hike ;)

Just did this. From the series 8 once the battery couldn’t last a day. Ended up going higher to the forerunner (thanks REI 90 day returns) bc the trade offs of losing some of the apple integrations wasn’t enough gained on the venu The activities list is really limited. And its integration with Strava sucked a bit more than the Apple Watch. I could at least pick specific activities through Strava app on my watch if they didn’t come built in on apple activities, but you can’t edit the data fields on that. I wanted both. I only got about 4 days of battery, not super worth it IMO. Just enough I wouldn’t have ti charge it daily but not enough that I wasn’t frequently like “oh, I’m kinda low on battery” No unlocking each other, (phone and watch) or my MacBook for work. I miss it auto doing that the most Media players kinda suck Biggest is custom notifications on my watch vs my phone. I had to basically go in and do an overhaul so it wasn’t constantly pinging me with useless notifications I had silenced on my watch but not my phone Activities pages were limited. They were limited on the Apple Watch too but I was hoping for an upgrade here. I upgraded to the forerunner 970. Big jump. But it has a LOT more data points readily available. It’s more of what I was looking for.

The venu’s activities were extremely limited. It had the basics but that was it. Specifically it didn’t have trail running or backcountry skiing for me, basically my two biggest sports. I’m not sure about tennis. I bet it did tho. So that was probably the biggest reason. Second was the activities data page was limited, only 4 max data points. For backcountry skiing I like knowing distance, current elevation, total ascent, time, and heart rate. For trail running, the same plus pace. So that and I didn’t think I needed the navigation, but Sunday, the day I decided I really should upgrade, I got soooo off course. My bike Garmin would have told me way sooner that I was off course and that’s all I wanted.

One more thing I thought of this morning OP. Since upgrading to the forerunner, I’ve noticed the stress tracking/training elements are far superior. Mentioning it bc you mentioned the stress tracking specifically. I can’t remember if the Venu had a morning AND nightly report, but the training readiness, training status, running tolerance on the forerunner is so nice to have. You might be able to get that through the venu or the connect app, but I didn’t find it easily. But you should def look into this before purchasing. After I bought it I found out the venu is supposed to be more of a “lifestyle” watch. That makes me feel like it’s for the people who want to say they have a Garmin without the bulkiness of one? I think it’s a lower tiered watch with more smart watch integrations like Siri, but I felt it didn’t even do that well. If you’re in the US, I bought my venu through REI because of their return policy and partnership with Garmin. I think you have 90 days to decide if you like it? After not even 2 weeks I think is when I realized I wanted a higher level Garmin and just straight exchanged it for the forerunner 970.

I would personally always take a Forerunner over the Venu series, as I am pretty serious about my fitness. I don't really care much about smart watch features, just need a bare minimum. And the venu series seems to take tradeoffs with fitness features to accommodate the increase in smart features.

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.

Honestly your best bet would be a Venu or an instinct, Venu is Garmin's health and fitness while instinct is there more traditional "G-Shock" style (best way I can describe it) watch, they don't really do the fitness tracker it's mostly all smartwatches. I have the Venu 4 coming from an instinct 2 solar. The vivo moves might also fit you well but they are older in comparison. If you are set on not having a smartwatch you may have to look into another brand, hope this helps, if you have any questions about the Venu or instinct let me know!

I have a Venu S and really appreciate the smaller size. I do occasionally find myself wishing I had more metrics, but it definitely covers all the basics!

You need to ask yourself what she’ll actually be using it for. If you’re just doing basic fitness tracking, then she likely doesn’t need a Fenix and a Vivoactive or Venu series would be the best bet for her. Use the website to compare devices with the activities she does regularly.

Garmin 100%. The Venu series is v good for strength training as well as running

I'm getting a Venu 4. It's 20 bucks less than the 570, and from what I can see, it's missing swim drills, which is something I don't use now. I also like the look of the Venu over the 570, though I wish Garmin would bring back copper/rose gold bezels/cases. I really liked that colour on my original Venu.

For what you want you might want to look into Garmin. One of the best battery life on the market. My 3 year old Venu can still last a week. Thats important if you want sleep tracking, but you want to wear it and thats tough if you take it off every day to charge. I pretty much live and sleep with my Garmin and only take it off once a week. Great heath and activity tracking too. It uses its own OS so it's not and app rich as watch OS but it's worth it if you care about what it can do