Garmin Venu 2 Plus overview

Greatest Costs Immediately: Garmin Venu 2 Plus

In the case of the health monitoring market, Garmin is a family identify, providing among the highest quality wearables geared in 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 most recent wearable from the corporate, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus.

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

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

Design & construct

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

At a look, you could be hard-pressed to note a distinction between the Garmin Venu 2 Plus and the usual Venu 2. They each sport the identical basic feel and look with related color choices out there for each – however look nearer and there are a couple of delicate variations.

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Probably the most instantly apparent, when 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 – sufficiently big 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 dwell train metrics. It’s detailed with a good 414 x 414 decision and it’s vivid sufficient for use in direct daylight.

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

Smaller adjustments could be discovered on the case itself. One of many massive new options is microphone and speaker help, enabling additional performance – that I’ll element a bit of 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 customary chrome steel buttons that sit to the fitting of the show, and could be reassigned to a different operate when you don’t use your digital assistant all that usually.

In the case of color choices, you’ve acquired a couple of to select from; silver chrome steel with a gray strap (as photographed), cream-gold chrome steel with an ivory strap or slate chrome steel with a black band.

The chrome 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 may put some off at such a premium value.

As with alternate options, the usual straps are made out of sweat-resistant silicone, however you can too go for one thing made out of suede, leather-based or metallic when you pay a bit of additional on the Garmin web site.

Smartwatch options

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

As alluded to earlier, one of many massive 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, however it’s a transfer that brings it to new heights within the smartwatch world, with it being certainly one of few non-Apple wearables to supply the performance.

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In fact, with no LTE help, you’ll should be in Bluetooth vary of your smartphone, however 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 security side to understand, permitting you to make use of your smartwatch in areas the place you won’t really feel snug getting your cellphone out of your pocket or bag.

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

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

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

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Nonetheless, it’s definitely targeted extra on well being than basic sensible options with an absence of help for fashionable third-party apps and different sensible options you’d affiliate with a conventional smartwatch.

There isn’t an app retailer on the watch itself, however you may 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 couple of surprises like Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music for streaming, don’t anticipate to see the identical fashionable apps you’d see on the App Retailer or Google Play – the overwhelming majority of apps out there are fitness-based.

In the event you 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 related Bluetooth headphones with out the necessity for a smartphone.

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One other profit is help for Garmin Pay, Garmin’s contactless fee methodology constructed into the Venu 2 Plus. It’s nice to see, permitting you to depart your cellphone at dwelling and be capable of pay for transport and different items, however help 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 person, however there may be higher help 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 could be complicated to newbies

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

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 may 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 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 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.

In the case of monitoring exercises, the Venu 2 Plus is an especially dependable little bit of equipment. The optical coronary heart price sensor embedded on the underside of the case is impressively responsive throughout exercises, a selected 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 out there post-run to not solely present your route and general distance, however while 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 supply a return-to-start characteristic that’ll information you again to your place to begin when exploring unfamiliar areas.

The one ache level is that it’s not all the time clear methods to activate options like HR Zone-based runs from the watch forward of exercises, with the exercise UI seemingly counting on prior data 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 better onboarding course of for these new to the Garmin household.

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

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Apart from devoted train monitoring, the Venu 2 Plus will monitor your vitals all through the day and evening, with all-day coronary heart price monitoring, (non-obligatory) blood oxygen monitoring, steps taken, power used, sleep monitoring and even the flexibility to trace your water consumption – although the latter would require some guide enter.

This information is obtainable by swiping up or down from the watch face on the app, giving an amazing 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 info collected, from devoted exercises to basic health monitoring, could 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 when 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 when you allow options like spO2 monitoring and always-on show
• Awkward proprietary charging port on the rear

As with every smartwatch, the battery lifetime of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus varies relying on what you’re doing and the features you might have 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 right 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 could final 24 hours utilizing GPS to trace train, which must be sufficient for many, although it drops down to simply 8 hours when you resolve to play music from the built-in storage. Possibly go away the music enjoying to your smartphone…

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In the case of 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 fantastic with no fear about it falling out earlier than it has completed charging, however 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 of over 90 minutes, so no less than you received’t must do all of it that usually.

Worth

The Garmin Venu 2 Plus is a premium smartwatch that is available in at a not-insignificant $449/£399, making it one of many costlier smartwatches out there in 2022. That places it up towards the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Traditional, Apple Watch Sequence 7 and Huawei Watch GT 3 Professional.

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

In the event you’re tempted, you should purchase the Garmin Venu 2 Plus immediately 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 most effective smartwatch and finest health tracker.

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Verdict

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

It’s not only for runners although, additionally able to monitoring the whole lot 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 on your cellphone. The one draw back is that, with out LTE, you’ll want a Bluetooth-connected smartphone close by.

Nonetheless, when you’re not a lot of a health fanatic and also you’re after one thing that’ll run your favorite apps, present sensible dwelling shortcuts and extra, you’d be higher off trying elsewhere.

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