Garmin Venu 2, GPS Smartwatch with Advanced Health Monitoring and Fitness Features, Slate Bezel with Black Case and Silicone Band

I have (had) many Garmin and Samsung watches over the last 6 years, including the fenix series.I go back and forth on fitness/battery and smartwatch/pretty screen. Venu 2 corrects the pretty screen and battery life is excellent. With 30 minutes of GPS per day and typical settings, text and email notifications, Sp02 turned OFF, I could easily go 6 days. But my typical pattern is use it for 3 to 4 days and charge when it's under 50%. Takes 30 minutes to charge in 50% battery scenario. Battery charging time is around an hour and very fast to 90%.New interface with glances is basically awesome. The old way of swiping through every widget is cumbersome and was one thing I love about Samsung with the physical dial, to quickly scroll through widgets. The glances are more like scrolling a web page and clicking a link and it makes total sense.I exercise regularly. I have used the typical routines many times. Run, Walk, Cardio, Bike, treadmill, they all work about the same as any previous units. I do like pairing to HR monitor for the HIIT, weightlifting, cardio, but not always. Heartrate accuracy is probably a little better than previous units, but it clearly still gets lost and can be slow to respond on cardio, HIIT and for sure on upper body weightlifting. If it makes you mad and it's not recording your Intensity Minutes because of it, pair it with a chest strap. It's the only way. : - )One thing is for sure, Garmin will ALWAYS be recording something for HR. My Samsung watch will sometimes record HR, stops, starts again, and then estimates the calories based on an algorithm with very little input from intensity or HR.I do love Garmin for the App, the way it tracks calories, and weekly intensity goals. It might overestimate calorie burn a little during workouts, but you won’t get too much extra credit for just being active otherwise during the day.I have taken the “My Day” snapshot a few times. I have been notified my “Fitness Age” is dropping. These are new items on the Venu 2. Probably a little gimmicky, but I am sure it’s a good selling point for some. I do wish Garmin would add the advanced exercise options from the fenix or forerunner series. I don’t like digging through a bunch of menus to find my VO2 Max. That should be a glance! It makes no sense, and the competitors are putting the V02 Max and other advanced running information front and center now.Last, and maybe the most important for many. Smartwatch. I do have an amazon prime account so it's nice to get that music on the unit "for included price". I realize many have Spotify, but I don't, so Amazon Music is nice for me. Although, I don't listen to music while exercising often. The notifications are bare minimum just like what pops up on the phone. It's Garmin, it's how it's always been and it's not the greatest if you want to interact with apps. You can respond with canned responses, but I really like my Samsung and interacting directly with text app and email app from watch. I just get tired of charging the Samsung.

I got my Garmin Venu 2S in June of 2021. It was quite the investment back then at $400 but it has proven to be worth it.I wore fitbits for the five years before that and always had to replace them after 18 months or so because they’d just start malfunctioning. This watch has paid for itself alone in place of what would have likely been 3 more fitbits.What I really wanted at the time I bought it was a fitness watch and a round watch face that would feel more stylish than a rectangle Apple Watch or Fitbit. This watch is so cute. It’s got an 18mm watch band so you can replace the band with any 18mm band you find. I’ve used a Timex mesh stainless steel and now am using a vegan leather brand that makes the watch look super sleek and less nerdy. I didn’t like the silicone band it came with which gave me a weird red dry skin patch, even when I cleaned the band each day.But it’s so much more than a Fitbit. It tracks reps and sets for workouts, is still pretty accurate with steps, and I just use it all the time for little things like timers and finding my watch around the house. Sometimes I switch up the watch face to match my needs: minimal for anxiety, lots of data when I need it. Once I even got a Disney watch face that reminded me of my childhood watch.I love the built in GPS for walks and hikes. And twice I’ve fallen and the watch has asked me if it should contact my emergency contact. I never ended up using it to make payments with credit cards but it has that capability too. It does a good job of tracking my sleep and sleep score and feels a lot more accurate than my Fitbit did tracking sleep.The Garmin app used to be pretty bare bones, which I why I switched to fitbits back in 2016, after having a Garmin watch for a while, but it has gotten significantly better over the last few years. It tracks my period for me, which I love, and all the other “At a glance” things it tracks look nice. It frequently updates, and doesn’t crash, like, ever. It’s not as interactive with challenges and interactions with friends as Fitbit, and that’s the only drawback between the two brands. Still, the quality and functionality make it worth it.This Venu doesn’t let you text back or answer calls and that was the only drawback compared to an Apple Watch, but if I remember right, the new Venus do one or both of those things now. Compared to the Apple Watch though, this was a waaaaaaay better choice as a fitness watch when I bought it.I did a lot of research before buying it, and in reviews this watch was listed as the best fitness watch choice when compared to both Apple Watch and Fitbit.All this to say, I can’t imagine my watch needing a replacement in the next couple of years, and maybe even longer. I imagine I’ll want to replace it long before it needs replacing, so I’ll probably have it in perfect shape for 6 or 7 years total.