Gadgets | Garmin Venu: Thoughts/Opinions/Review

Garmin Venu, black/slate

I'm not an athlete or a sports-minded person. In fact, I'm a couch potato. But recent developments in my health prompted me to go out and move more. This 2020, I renewed my #sitlessmovemore mantra once again. And my companion in this endeavor is my new Garmin Venu smartwatch. Thanks to my very dear BFF who sponsored it. Otherwise, I would have to be contented with my phone's fitness app. BFF knows that I like smartwatch with fitness tracker so instead of buying some other gift last Christmas, he gave me the money to buy the wearable that I want.

I initially wanted to have Samsung Galaxy Fit but reading through lots of reviews made me end up with considering a full-blown smartwatch rather than just fitness tracker. Last December, I checked out and read and viewed lots of reviews about the 4 smartwatches (Samsung Active 2, Fitbit Versa 2, Apple Watch 3 and Garmin Vivoactive 3 element) I'm considering. I'm an iPhone user so Apple Watch is really recommended but they're really not my type, not because of anything but more so because of its shape. I'm not a fan of square/rectangular shape watches. Fitbit Versa 2 was also eliminated from consideration because of its shape. Also, Fitbit Versa doesn't have a GPS so it does not fit with my requirements. So there, it's Samsung Active 2 vs Garmin Vivoactive 3.

Samsung Active 2 is not available in most stores I checked until early January this year. Same with Garmin Vivoactive 3, it's out-of-stock and sales clerk don't know if and when they will have it. Besides, she said Vivoactive 3 is an old version and will not be released anymore, though they have the updated version Vivoactive 3 Element and Music. I went to several stores of both Samsung and Garmin several times to try the models that I'm considering just to decide which one I should buy. In the end, I bought Garmin Venu, one of Garmin's newest smart/sports watch. Following are my opinions/thoughts/review on my new Garmin Venu.

Garmin Venu Sleep Tracker

Of the many features of Garmin Venu, its sleep tracking is the most inaccurate in my experience. I set my usual sleep and wake-up time at 12MN-6AM but I usually am in bed before 12MN browsing and reading  online. The next morning, when I wake up and sync my watch with my phone, Garmin Venu registered my sleep time way too early than my actual sleep time. Since I'm just lying in bed reading and not actively moving, Venu misinterpreted my activity and included my reading time as sleep time. Even when I woke up in the middle of my sleep and couldn't get back to sleep at once, tossing and turning in bed for minutes, sometimes hours, Venu still registers it as sleep time. Another thing, Venu shows very little deep sleep time, normally less than an hour, which I think is not correct since I usually wake up well-rested and energized. Garmin, in their forum site, mentioned to correct and set the correct sleep time through the phone app and it will eventually learn from it. So far, my Venu hasn't learned from it, yet.

Garmin Venu Heart Rate and Respiration

In terms of heart rate and respiration, I couldn't compare Venu with other wearables out there but I have a BP monitor which I usually use every morning to check my BP and the readings are not that diverted, just a few points difference so I guess it's somehow accurate.

Respiration on the other hand, registers a pretty normal range except when I was doing exercises and while I'm sleeping. By the way, although my Venu doesn't report my actual sleep time accurately, I find my respiration data quite right. (I wouldn't say "accurate" since I've no other basis but the normal range I read online.) During sleep time, my respiration goes below normal range, which I guess is correct, since I normally snore loudly during sleep causing my breathing to go slow or stop maybe. During the day, the respiration readings are within normal range again except on times that I'm active and doing my exercises when respiration shoots up.

Garmin Venu Smart Notification

Venu's smart notification feature is a handy feature specially during busy times when I couldn't always check my phone or when I accidentally left my phone's sound alert turned off or when it's in my bag or pocket. With this feature, I could immediately get on to my phone when there is emergency. But actually, the best thing for me is that I could read the messages and ignore or delay responding to them without letting the sender know I've read his/her message. Sorry peeps, I'm just quite busy sometimes. But I eventually turned off this feature after a few days as it eats up on Venu's battery life. My Venu lasts only for about 2 days when smart notification is turned on. Please note that my notifications get pretty crazy during work days as my work (and work mates) uses online communication pretty much.

Garmin Venu Fitness Tracking/Steps Tracking

For health reasons, I'd like to track my movements/steps on a daily basis. My goal is to at least do 8K steps a day and eventually get it to at least 10K a day. And this is one of the reason why I bought a smartwatch or sports watch. Although I can use my phone to track my steps, I couldn't always bring my phone wherever I am so a wearable is my best option to keep track of my movements. Based on my phone's data (using a different app), I could say it's pretty correct. I also like that this watch alerted me to "move" every time it detects that I'm not moving in quite a while.

Garmin Venu VO2 Max Estimates

Last September, I had a check-up in a clinic because of chest pains. I'm quite a worrier when it comes to my health so the doctor ordered a full cardiovascular check-up which include ECG, 2D-Echo and treadmill stress test. Thankfully, the results are all okay except for my stress test which pretty much shows how poor my fitness level is. I actually was able to reach maximum heart rate for my age and gender without a hitch. The thing is, I reached it just after 3 minutes of treadmill workout, just a few seconds after the warm-up stage. I felt like a weakling that time haha.

Good thing that this Garmin Venu has this VO2 max estimates which shows the fitness level of its users. For me, this is the best feature that Garmin Venu has. Venu's VO2 max is just estimates, but it helps me in my fitness journey and it somehow encourages me to continue improving my fitness level. So what does Venu tells me about my fitness? Venu told me my fitness age is 58 and that I'm at the bottom 25% of people of the same age and gender. Gosh, it's so shocking! I really need to move, and keep on moving. Anyway, I'm doing this sort of VO2 max training (my version) so hopefully, my fitness level will eventually improve.

Garmin Venu VO2 Max estimates

Garmin Venu Battery Life

Garmin website says that Venu battery could go as long as 5 days on smartwatch mode. And this is one of the reasons why I bought this watch, the longer battery life compared with Samsung Active 2's 2 days. I intend to use it 24/7, at least during the first few weeks or months of use to establish data accuracy. However, in my experience, the battery only lasts for about 2 days with 24/7 heart rate monitoring on and smart notification turned on (as I said above, I get lots of notifications during work days). I also noticed that the Venu battery drains pretty quickly after using on GPS-tracked activity even though I'm actually done with it. I searched online and found a recommendation to turn it off and reset the watch. So now, every time I'm done with my GPS-based activities, I turned it off for a while to reset (I don't know how to reset it without turning off, didn't do some googling yet) and then continue to use it, as usual. 

Connectivity, Watch Face, Etc.

I'm glad that Garmin watches, Venu in particular, can be used with either iPhone or android phone so it's a plus feature for me. It can also be connected to other third-party apps like MyFitnessPal and Strava. I'm not using Strava but I track my calorie intake using MFP so this is another plus feature. I also like that there are so many third-party developers supporting Garmin that you have an array of watch faces to choose from. Just download Connect IQ and look for the watch face that matches your style and personality. Another thing, if you like to share your stats on social media like instagram and facebook, you can use any of your photos as background of your statistics. Overall, though there some features that need improvements, I would say I'm quite happy and satisfied with my Garmin Venu; and this is now my everyday watch.

my everyday watch face

Valentine Watch Face

Garmin Photo Stats, for social media sharing

There you go, my personal thoughts and opinions on Garmin Venu after using it for more than 2 weeks. Take note, I'm no expert in smartwatch and I don't have other smartwatch to compare it with, I just want to share my thoughts and opinion on Garmin Venu as an ordinary user, that's it. 'Til next time... (hopefully, I can post more articles this year).