Garmin Venu Review
Disclaimer: I only promote products that I fully endorse and believe in. I’ve been a Garmin loyalist ever since I started running and am honored to be an ambassador for them! If you decide to purchase a watch because I’ve inspired you, I’d love if you could use my affiliate link where I get a commission. Also if you are interested in becoming a Garmin ambassador, check out their application!
As I mentioned, I’ve been running with a Garmin ever since my first marathon back in 2009. My first watch was the Forerunner 405 which was pretty darn bulky. I’ve had a few upgrades since then but when the Apple Watch came out I was tempted to get it. The screen had better graphics and it was less bulky. However, I feel that the Garmin data is more reliable. Lately I’ve been loving my Fenix 6 despite it still feeling a little bigger than my ideal size.
Once the Venu ($399) was announced, I got really excited because it feels like it is working towards a competitor of the Apple Watch for athletes. I’ve worn it for a few weeks and here are my initial thoughts about it…
what I like
AMOLED Screen - The screen feels modern and the graphics are beautiful compared to other Garmin models.
Custom workouts - I can still create workouts to get my speed work done without a track. You can do it without this feature by seeing what distance you are at and hitting the lap button, but I like not having to think about when to start/stop so that I can focus more on my form and breathing.
Easy to use touch screen - Coming from the old school watch, I was hesitant about the touch screen. I tried it on another version of a Garmin a while back and found it a little difficult to work when I was tired during a long run. Although the screen doesn’t feel as responsive as the touch screen capability of a phone, it is pretty easy to use and fairly responsive.
Two buttons - I am so accustomed to having buttons on my watch so find it helpful that this watch still has two buttons. It is helpful to know by feel rather than having to look at my watch to touch the screen.
On screen workout animations - I still have to play around with these more but I can see this being really helpful for lifting. Right now I will have a workout planned on my phone and have to unlock it every time I want to remember what I have to do next. This feature will make it so easy because I can just hit a lap button once I’m done and be told what to do next.
Always on mode - You can have the screen set to always on mode or just always on for activities. DC Rainmaker found the battery to last 2-3 days with always-on mode. I just switched to try it with always on mode so will let you know how that goes!
Controls Menu - The controls menu has customizable shortcuts. I haven’t actually used Garmin pay yet but I want to try it out. This menu will make it easier.
Emergency Assistance - After you enter emergency contacts into your Garmin app, you can hold the top button down to activate “assistance”. Your name, Livetrack link and your GPS location will be sent to your emergency contacts.
Bonuses…don’t need but nice to have!
Tracking water - The watch comes with a water tracking app. It’s really easy to use and I like the graphics.
Body Battery - This feature uses heart rate variability, stress and activity to estimate energy reserves throughout the day. A higher number means higher energy. Read more here.
Respiration rate - You can now track how often you inhale/exhale in a minute. An increase in respiration rate reflects the increased oxygen demand of producing aerobic energy. Read more on firstbeat.com.
Pulse Ox - Pulse Oximetry measures the saturation of oxygen in your bloodstream. Read more here.
could be improved
Only one official shortcut - You can swipe to the right to get to a shortcut which is nice but wish it would bring you to a screen like you see with the Apple watch with all of the different widgets and apps at once. An option could be to add shortcuts to your controls menu but I think the default settings for the controls menu make sense.
No Training Status, Training Load, Effect, Training benefit, Recovery time - I love the Training Status feature. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I found the insights actually very helpful!
Lag during workouts - I didn’t initially have the watch set to always on. When I was running and turn my wrist to see what my pace or distance was, it would lag to turn on the screen. When I was tired, it was frustrating and I had to move my wrist around more than I would like or tap the screen. If you don’t want to set the screen as always on all the time, there is a setting to have the screen always on only for activities!
No PacePro feature - PacePro helps you understand if you are ahead or behind for your goal time.
No Running dynamics - Cadence is not measured with the venu.
Who should buy a Venu?
The Venu is great for the everyday person who wants to get into working out and needs a nice looking fitness tracker to the someone who wants to get a PR. It’s got all the basics plus some bonuses. The Venu is much more affordable at $399.99 compared to the Fenix 6S at $699.99.
Having said all that…I will be wearing my Fenix 6 most of the time leading up to my marathon in December. It’s not because I don’t think the Venu can do the job, but because I am a data dork and also really like the Training Status/Load/Effect, Recovery time, running dynamics and PacePro feature for racing. Once my marathon is done, I think I may switch over to the Venu for my everyday use.
Want more info?
Check out the full list of Garmin Venu specifications and read the really in depth DC Rainmaker Review.
Below is a quick little video if you want to see what it’s like to scroll through the different screens!