Garmin Venu 2 Plus review

Finest Costs Immediately: Garmin Venu 2 Plus

With regards to the health monitoring market, Garmin is a family identify, providing a number of the highest quality wearables geared in the direction of well being and train monitoring regardless of your finances – and it appears to be like like that’s set to proceed with the newest wearable from the corporate, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus.

Offered alongside the usual Venu 2 launched final yr, the Venu 2 Plus affords one huge improve; a microphone. Whereas it won’t sound like a lot, you’re capable of not solely entry your digital assistant – together with Google Assistant, Siri and Bixby – however make and obtain calls straight by the watch.

Pair that with in-depth well being and health monitoring, a premium design and an important show and also you’ve bought an important – although not excellent – running-focused smartwatch.

Design & construct

• Related design to plain Venu 2
• 43mm case solely
• New customisable button

At a look, you may be hard-pressed to note a distinction between the Garmin Venu 2 Plus and the usual Venu 2. They each sport the identical normal feel and look with comparable color choices obtainable for each – however look nearer and there are a number of refined variations.

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Essentially the most instantly apparent, should you can name it that, is the case dimension. Whereas the usual Venu 2 is available in 41- and 45mm variants, the brand new Plus mannequin has a single 43mm case – large enough to do the job, however not a lot that it overpowers smaller wrists.

The truth is, the 1.3in AMOLED show at its coronary heart is the perfect dimension for a wrist-worn wearable, with loads of area to showcase customized watchfaces and show reside train metrics. It’s detailed with an honest 414 x 414 decision and it’s shiny sufficient for use in direct daylight.

There’s even an always-on show mode, although that comes at a sacrifice to total battery life.

Smaller adjustments might be discovered on the case itself. One of many huge new options is microphone and speaker assist, enabling additional performance – that I’ll element a bit later – and the flexibility to simply entry your digital assistant with a brand new devoted digital assistant button.

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That new button is nestled alongside the 2 commonplace stainless-steel buttons that sit to the appropriate of the show, and might be reassigned to a different operate should you don’t use your digital assistant all that usually.

With regards to color choices, you’ve bought a number of to select from; silver stainless-steel with a gray strap (as photographed), cream-gold stainless-steel with an ivory strap or slate stainless-steel with a black band.

The stainless-steel is a pleasant contact, including a premium look to the buttons and outer bezel of the show, however the plastic physique of the watch would possibly put some off at such a premium value.

As with options, the usual straps are constructed from sweat-resistant silicone, however you too can go for one thing constructed from suede, leather-based or steel should you pay a bit additional on the Garmin web site.

Smartwatch options

• Can entry digital assistant or make calls out of your wrist
• Fundamental smartwatch performance
• Most apps tailor-made in the direction of well being and health

As alluded to earlier, one of many huge differentiating options between the Venu 2 and Venu 2 Plus is the inclusion of a microphone and speaker, permitting you not solely to entry your digital assistant by way of your wrist however make and obtain calls too. It won’t sound like a lot, nevertheless it’s a transfer that brings it to new heights within the smartwatch world, with it being one in every of few non-Apple wearables to supply the performance.

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In fact, with no LTE assist, you’ll should be in Bluetooth vary of your smartphone, nevertheless it’s a begin. The decision high quality is spectacular too, with no actual complaints from recipients about my microphone high quality, and the speaker embedded into the left of the case is loud sufficient for fast chats.

There’s additionally the protection side to understand, permitting you to make use of your smartwatch in areas the place you won’t really feel comfy getting your cellphone out of your pocket or bag.

You’ve additionally bought the flexibility to set an emergency contact which you can name shortly if wanted, and when working and biking, you’ve bought an Apple-style automated incident detection that’ll detect whenever you’ve fallen. It helps deliver peace of thoughts, not solely when exercising however in every day life.

It’s not only a glorified speakerphone although; there are many good options on provide from the Venu 2 Plus.

Count on the usual options, like primary notification assist, customisable watchfaces and the flexibility to search out your cellphone remotely alongside Garmin-designed health monitoring apps.

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Nonetheless, it’s actually centered extra on well being than normal good options with a scarcity of assist for widespread third-party apps and different good options you’d affiliate with a conventional smartwatch.

There isn’t an app retailer on the watch itself, however you possibly can obtain the Garmin Join IQ app (a separate app from the Join app used to arrange the watch) to obtain a spread of apps. Though there are a number of surprises like Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music for streaming, don’t count on to see the identical widespread apps you’d see on the App Retailer or Google Play – the overwhelming majority of apps obtainable are fitness-based.

If you happen to aren’t a fan of streaming music, the Venu 2 Plus comes with sufficient built-in storage to retailer as much as 350 of your favorite tunes, permitting you to stream on to a pair of linked Bluetooth headphones with out the necessity for a smartphone.

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One other profit is assist for Garmin Pay, Garmin’s contactless fee technique constructed into the Venu 2 Plus. It’s nice to see, permitting you to go away your cellphone at house and be capable of pay for transport and different items, however assist amongst banks is a far cry from what we see with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

There are a handful of supported banks within the UK, of which I’m not a consumer, however there may be higher assist amongst banks within the US.

Well being and health monitoring

• Spectacular HR monitor & GPS efficiency
• Tailor-made multi-week exercise plans
• New visible guides for pilates and yoga
• Exercise UI might be complicated to newbies

Being a Garmin smartwatch, it ought to come as no shock that the Venu 2 Plus actually excels on the subject of well being and health monitoring – it’s the corporate’s bread and butter, in any case.

You can begin a exercise from the watch itself, monitoring working, biking, pilates, yoga and extra, however the extra superior performance comes by way of the Garmin Join companion app for iOS and Android.

From the app, you possibly can arrange coaching plans for 5K, 10K and half-marathon runs and long-distance biking with a tailor-made multi-week exercise plan designed round your capabilities.

It’s rather more in-depth and personalised than the usual sofa to 5K apps, with voiceovers from prime trainers around the globe that present real perception and motivation on runs. You’ll be able to tweak the plan as you go if it is advisable to miss a day, and crucially, it’s fully free to make use of.

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The truth is, that’s a theme throughout the Garmin Venu 2 and its Join companion app. In a world the place increasingly more corporations – like Fitbit – are placing superior options and metrics behind a month-to-month paywall, it’s refreshing to have the ability to entry all of your information everytime you like with out reaching for the bank card.

With regards to monitoring exercises, the Venu 2 Plus is an especially dependable little bit of equipment. The optical coronary heart fee sensor embedded on the underside of the case is impressively responsive throughout exercises, a specific profit for HIIT and different HR zone-based exercises.

You do have the choice to hook up a chest strap (offered individually) however I by no means felt the necessity to throughout my time with the watch.

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The built-in GPS is correct, even when working in built-up metropolis streets like I do, with a map-based GPS warmth map obtainable post-run to not solely present your route and total distance, however whenever you had been pushing your self most.

Although there isn’t turn-based navigation like with the high-end Garmin Fenix 5S Plus, the watch makes use of GPS to offer a return-to-start function that’ll information you again to your start line when exploring unfamiliar areas.

The one ache level is that it’s not all the time clear activate options like HR Zone-based runs from the watch forward of exercises, with the exercise UI seemingly counting on prior information of how Garmin tech works – and that’s not all the time going to be the case.

After a little bit of swiping and tapping, you’ll get used to it as I did, however I do want it had a neater onboarding course of for these new to the Garmin household.

Operating apart, one other new addition is animated exercises for Pilates and Yoga which you can observe in real-time in your watch. It would sound awkward, however the massive show of the Venu 2 Plus is right, although there are solely three periods in every to on the time of writing so it’s extra tailor-made to newbies than devoted yogis.

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Except for devoted train monitoring, the Venu 2 Plus will monitor your vitals all through the day and night time, with all-day coronary heart fee monitoring, (non-compulsory) blood oxygen monitoring, steps taken, vitality used, sleep monitoring and even the flexibility to trace your water consumption – although the latter would require some handbook enter.

This information is offered by swiping up or down from the watch face on the app, giving an important snapshot of your exercise stage on any given day, and you should utilize the Garmin Join app to drill down into the specifics.

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All the information collected, from devoted exercises to normal health monitoring, might be shared with third-party apps together with Apple Well being, Strava, MyFitnessPal and extra, with automated syncing everytime you open the Garmin Join app – an enormous plus should you depend on a number of apps to trace your well being.

Battery life & charging

• As much as every week of cost
• Count on much less should you allow options like spO2 monitoring and always-on show
• Awkward proprietary charging port on the rear

As with all smartwatch, the battery lifetime of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus varies relying on what you’re doing and the capabilities you’ve gotten enabled. With its default setting – i.e., with the always-on show disabled – Garmin claims you’ll stand up to every week of use, and that’s about proper in my expertise.

I’ve discovered it drops all the way down to across the five-day mark when enabling additional performance just like the always-on show and blood oxygen monitoring, and it’ll additionally drain sooner the extra you employ the superior health monitoring performance talked about above.

For context, Garmin claims that it may possibly final 24 hours utilizing GPS to trace train, which ought to be sufficient for many, although it drops down to simply 8 hours should you determine to play music from the built-in storage. Possibly depart the music taking part in to your smartphone…

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With regards to charging, the Venu 2 Plus utilises the identical proprietary port on its rear as the remainder of the Garmin assortment. It snaps into place simply high quality with no fear about it falling out earlier than it has completed charging, nevertheless it’s nowhere as slick because the contact charging employed by most smartwatch rivals – particularly at a premium value level.

The excellent news is that it’ll go from flat to full in a bit over 90 minutes, so not less than you received’t have to do all of it that usually.

Value

The Garmin Venu 2 Plus is a premium smartwatch that is available in at a not-insignificant $449/£399, making it one of many dearer smartwatches obtainable in 2022. That places it up in opposition to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Basic, Apple Watch Collection 7 and Huawei Watch GT 3 Professional.

The excellent news is that Garmin is holding each fashions of Venu 2 on sale side-by-side. That approach, should you like the thought of the Venu 2 Plus however don’t need options like a built-in mic, it can save you your self $50/£50.

If you happen to’re tempted, you should purchase the Garmin Venu 2 Plus straight from Garmin in addition to third-party retailers like Amazon at a reduced $415/£298 on the time of writing.

For extra inspiration, check out our decide for the perfect smartwatch and greatest health tracker.

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Verdict

The Garmin Venu 2 Plus is a good all-rounder should you’re available on the market for a smartwatch that focuses on well being and health. It’s ultimate for runners and cyclists, with customized multi-week exercise plans obtainable, correct HR readings and spectacular GPS efficiency – even in built-up metropolis streets.

It’s not only for runners although, additionally able to monitoring all the pieces from rowing to {golfing} and snowboarding, and the brand new animated yoga and pilates workouts are a pleasant contact.

New additions together with a microphone and speaker enhance the smarts on provide, with on-demand digital assistant requests and the flexibility to take calls mid-run with out reaching to your cellphone. The one draw back is that, with out LTE, you’ll want a Bluetooth-connected smartphone close by.

Nonetheless, should you’re not a lot of a health fanatic and also you’re after one thing that’ll run your favorite apps, present good house shortcuts and extra, you’d be higher off wanting elsewhere.

Whereas there’s a Garmin Join IQ app retailer, the overwhelming majority of apps are fitness-focused, and at this value, you might purchase a extra succesful Samsung Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch.