Decent price for this Garmin watch.
Got pricematched from OfficeWork at Elizabeth St @482.50$.
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/garmin-ven…
CamelCamelCamel.
This
The new galaxy watch all the way. I have one and its great.
this 100x over the galaxy.
I write why here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/12662715/redir but TLDR, battery life + samsung doesn't play very nicely with non-samsung phones (if you dont own a samsung currently).
Out of all the Garmin, is this the best on when you taking into account sports tracking, battery life, and size? I prefer a slim one
It's a very good all-rounder. If you want more in-depth metrics for primarily running, get the Vivoactive 4, better battery, go for any Fenix, smaller footprint, go for the Venu 2S, literally the same as this but just a bit smaller, or the Vivosmart 4, which isn't half the watch this is, but can be a much more appealing design for some people.
Keep in mind Vivoactive 4 is an older watch that is using 'last-generation' suite of sensors where as the Venu 2 series has the latest suite of sensors in line with the expensive Fenix 7 watches.
I think the Venu 2 hits the right spot for most people in terms of all-rounder, being a OLED screen, price, 7-day battery life (advertised up to 11 day but thats if you don't ever use the gps tracking for any activity).
I personally went for the Instinct 2 Solar because it basically never needs to be charged but its black-and-white Mips screen will leave much to be desired.
I would say the forerunner 255, it's pretty compact and more powerful/better battery than Vivoactive or Venu, but cheaper and more lightweight than a Fenix.
They are very different watches. Samsung watches, in their nature, are smartwatches first and foremost, like being able to reply to texts, and take phone calls, whereas Garmins have always been about activity tracking, but nowadays, they make so many different models, like the Venu series, which is meant to be the most 'smart' of the Garmin watches. It depends on your priorities of what you value the most.
Good watch. Upgraded from my Vivoactive 4, the screen was a night-and-day upgrade (MiP to OLED). Only downside is no VO2 Max and the screen's AOD destroying the battery life.
Curious what sort of battery life you're experiencing with the Always on Display? As that's 100% how I would be running the watch if I bought it.
About 2.5 days, compared to 11 days without it. Honestly, I very rarely use AOD. Comping from the VA4 (which had a Memory-in-Pixel screen, which would be always-on but didn't need a backlight, sorta like e-ink with color, and isn't sluggish AF), I was initially tempted to use it in AOD all the time, but I adjusted to the extra half-second of waiting for the screen to wake up, for much longer battery. The watch also always says exactly how many hours/days it has left, based on what you are doing with it. Right now, I am on 72%, with 9 days remaining, whereas if I'm tracking a GPS workout, it would reduce, and then with Spotify running as well, it would reduce further. I tried switching to a GW4 Classic before going to the Venu, and I took it back within a day or two. Some things just irritated me, like the time it took to charge and the battery life (or the lack of). Just didn't work well for me, I know it works well for plenty of people, but just my personal experience.
Interesting to hear your side of things.
2.5 days would still be a major improvement for me. I've been using the Huawei W1 for the last 5.5 years. Only ever had a 1 day battery, and has even less now.
I'm very much an AOD sort of person though, as I like to be able to surreptitiously glance at the watch without offending others by making a show of checking the time. For me it needs to be a watch first, and smart second.
@Rail Rider95: Well if you are happy with either settling for a less 'smart' watch (Vivoactive 4) or for a much more expensive watch (6s/7s, or you could go for a bigger model if you feel you are comfortable with one) you could get a memory in pixel screen, which is 'permanently AOD' with a backlight turning on with a raise of your wrist.
@scaryspace: I've definitely considered something like the TicWatch Pro 3 with the dual layer screen.
But if you're talking about 2.5 days with the AOD, that's honestly pretty good, even amongst the big names in the industry.
Alas, budget is definitely a constraint for a "non-essential" sort of purchase like this. Even ~$500 would be somewhat of a stretch.
@Rail Rider95: It's a really complete watch, does everything you'd ever want to do/track. Some of the cool crap it does, which you probably already know, golf courses can be synced to the watch to show stats on the holes and keep score, offline Spotify/Amazon music, all the fancy running metrics, Garmin pay, really informative sleep tracking by putting your sleep/previous day into a synopsis, body battery which is reasonably accurate at measuring how energized/tired I am etc etc
@scaryspace: If you don't mind me asking, what phone do you have it paired with?
As I'm looking for something that will work 95% as good on either Android or iOS (currently on iOS for work, have used Android before, and can see switching back in my near future).
@Rail Rider95: I have a S20 FE which is about a year and a half old. I notice no extra battery drain or anything of the sorts.
@Rail Rider95: Yea I ended up getting a near new galaxy watch active 2. Does pretty much everything with a 2-3 day battery life, or 1.5 with AOD. And I bought it for like $220. Track my runs, play spotify to my bt buds etc etc.
Are you very sure about the missing VO2 Max? Do you mean on the watch itself? It should (at least) be under Performance Stats in the Garmin Connect app on the phone.
Well it is only an estimate on this watch, compared to all Forerunners, vivoactives etc, which actually measure it. It only estimates on runs under 15 minutes, whereas the others can use it on bike rides as well I believe.
Ah, didn't know that.
@humptydumpty: The only reason I'm mentioning it as a drawback is that it doesn't actually measure most of the time. Up until a week ago, my last VO2 measurement was from my old VA4, with plenty of runs in between.
@scaryspace: It's good to know. Just googled your issue and yes, there are a bunch of requirements before it measures your VO2 max. See: My Recorded Activity Did Not Update My VO2 Max Estimate.
Uhh, VO2max is an estimate on all sports watches. To actually measure it you need to measure oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in your inhalation and exhalation during stress.
@callumds: Well Garmin differentiates their watches that estimate it and 'meaaure' it, however they do that.
Can this one make phone call?
No. Venu 2 Plus is the only Garmin watch that can so far. The only difference between this watch and the Plus is it is in between the Venu 2 and 2S size-wise, has 2 days less battery life than this watch, and has a mic and speaker, which can make phone calls via phone, use your phone's voice assistant and can let you play stored Spotify songs on the speaker.
Those who have access to Good guys commerical:
Garmin Venu 2 Plus - Slate Bezel Black Case - $504
https://www.thegoodguyscommercial.com.au/garmin-venu-2-plus-…
Garmin Venu 2 45mm - Slate/Black - $454
https://www.thegoodguyscommercial.com.au/garmin-venu-2-45mm-…
Excellent watch, had it for a few months now. A good mix of a smart watch and a fitness watch.
yeah I have the apple watch Ultra so far I get close to 2 to 3 days of battery life so far from testing apple rate it for about 60 hours. Just curious what is the Garmin equivalent?
That would be Garmin Epix 2 or Fenix 7. Battery life is 2-3 WEEKS on normal settings.
Even my Fenix 5 I see the battery down to ~20% and I think I probably need to charge it within the next couple of days. Last for ages.
Although the Apple Watch does have me intrigued as a contender for my next upgrade. But really doesn’t look worth it being on boost they don’t support eSim. Doesn’t seem like a real advantage without cellular.
does it have dual band GPS, and a dive computer?
Yep lose the ux and apps, and gain battery life
Charmaine cannot beat the New Ultra, not even their Fenix line
I was very close at the weekend to buying the Venu (1) from Amazon for $287 and it’s gone, now much higher for the colour we were after for the wife
This is a big jump, is it worth the difference?
These reviews go indepth about this watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rPAuDfiEsQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biKP9hBeumE
I have this watch for the past couple of months. I have to say it’s a pretty goof watch. I would recommend it for general use.
This is now $448 on Amazon!
This or the new galaxy watch (nonpro)