Garmin Venu 2 Review

Intro

I’ve had the Garmin Venu 2 for six months now, and I’ve been meaning to give it a thourough review. In short, it’s the best smart watch with a huge array of fitness features, and Garmin continue to deliver high quality devices.

Venu 2 looks

The Venu 2 look sleek and has a circular look which is great if you want a smart device that looks like a classical watch. It’s not too heavy, and not too big at 45mm.

The screen on the Venu 2 is bright and very attractive. I love how it has most of the data that I need on first glance including steps, heart rate, battery, and the day (including day of the month). My background has coffee beans which is very me.

You can also download and use an app called Garmin IQ which allows you to install other apps and designs onto your Venu 2 device. Personally, I don’t like many of the apps and designs, and they can slow the watch down. I recommend choosing a limited amount of apps and designs for the Garmin Venu 2.

You can also swap the straps if they break, or you fancy a different strap. I have kept to the same strap, and so far, it’s served me well.

Listening to music through the Garmin Venu 2

Garmin gives you a choice of music apps for listening to your favourite tunes. Unfortunately, the Garmin Venu 2 doesn’t have cellular data which means you can’t stream. Fortunately, you can use the onboard storage to download a playlist or songs onto the device.

You can then pair your favourite earphones or headphones via bluetooth to listen to music. This means you can leave your phone behind and won’t add unneeded extra weight.

Personally, I don’t run long distances very often so I haven’t throughoughly used the feature. I did set up Spotify and downloaded a dynamic playlist which updates every week. I have connected my earphones and gave it a little listen, and it works great.

Other than that though, I haven’t used it while doing any workouts. If I get out on a long distance run, then I will update this section.

Exercises

The Garmin Venu 2 has a range of exercise choice such as walk, run, cardio, strength, yoga, breathwork and more. I mostly use strength which has been very accurate when choosing single strength movements.

For example, if I choose to deadlift, then it measures the reps accurately. If I choose to do a subset of deadlifts with pull-ups, then the rep count is very innacurate. However, you can go into the app later and update the movements and rep schemes with weights.

I have also recorded walking exercises and found the GPS data to be pretty accurate. It also measures my heart rate, average pace, speed, elevation and so much more. The data of each exercise gives a very deep insight into how your body is working.

I have recently started to give breathwork a go in order to alleviate stress and become calmer. Today is my second day, and it is helping me concentrate throughout the day. I love the little vibrations it gives to notify you when to breathe in, hold or breathe out.

Smart-watch features

The smart-watch features on the Garmin Venu 2 have been really nice. I have an iPhone and don’t get pre-written replies which is no fault of Garmin. iPhone won’t alow third-party device to access messages which is unfortunate.

However, I can read messages, notifications from all apps including Twitter, Facebook, Todoist, Signal etc which can be cleared from the phone using the watch.

A handy feature of the Garmin Venu 2 is the ability to find my phone. It works on both Android and iPhone, and makes a loud beeping tone. I have managed to find my phone every time using this feature.

Social features

The Garmin ecosystem allows you to add friends, challenge them, like their exercises and even comment on them. You can also earn badges and join or create personal challenges.

Conclusion

Like I said at the beginning. The Garmin Venu 2 is one of my favourite fitness watches, and I believe it’s worth every penny. If you have any questions on the watch, please feel free to comment and I will try my best to answer them.

If you enjoyed this post, then you might like this one Goodbye Microsoft Band 2, hello Fitbit Surge.