Garmin Venu 2 Plus hands-on: Garmin’s best smartwatch yet
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Garmin’s latest watch is trying to bridge the gap between a true fitness watch and smartwatch. Spoiler alert: It’s pretty darn good. It now comes with a speaker and microphone so you can talk to your voice assistant, take quick calls and even play music from your wrist.
Read more about the Garmin Venu 2 Plus:
Garmin Venu 2 review (previous model):
You can see the products featured in this video here 👇
Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Garmin Venu 2
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I’ve had a Fenix 5X Sapphire for the last couple of years. Loved it, but it was too heavy and I never really got used to it. Got a Venu 2+ and it’s half the weight, half the price, bigger screen, and has much more functionality. Only downsides is the battery life is a slight downgrade (9 days instead of 12) and the screen is Gorilla Glass 3, which released almost 10 years ago.
Hi there! 🙂 Is it possible to listen to music while running without taking the smartphone with us? Thank you 🙏🏼
overpriced compared to alternatives
Very cute and thanks !
Does the watch do like reminders when I need to do something and it let’s me know on the watch?
THIS was the review I needed! Thank you
Can you send WhatsApp voice notes through the watch?
Hmm… The battery life for this watch is amazing, but the UI is very uninspiring. I love the Pixel Watch UI, but the battery life is abysmal… why can’t I get a device with both looks and performance?
Would you recommend getting this over the Pixel watch?
Does the watch has a SOS gps feature?
I am considering this ones ( both with and without speaking functionality) for my wife, which now is using a first gen. fitbit and she especially complains about battery. However I am really concerned about size (thickness), like how real is to actually sleep with this device on the wrist ? I tried couple of times with my Fenix 5 plus and it was a nightmare (they are really bulky) and giving this experience a sleep tracking is a joke for me.
Can you fully use voice assistant now to start a workout? What actions can voice assitant do?
Will it last more than 8 hours just playing music?
And still, no one can design a smart watch screen without thick bezels since the Moto360 gen 1 and 2. Pretty sad.
Damn, i had no idea this thing existed. Wish it had a bio impedance sensor to measure BMI, and an ECG. I’d buy it right now if it did.
Good afternoon. I recently bought a Garmin Venu 2 Plus model. I love it and it has everything I need. There is one problem, can you tell me what the essence is. It’s about paying with Garmin Pay. I watched earlier reviews in which bloggers claimed that after the watch is put on the hand and the code is entered before payment, then in subsequent times if the watch was not removed, the code does not need to be entered. After entering the code, I still have the opportunity to pay without entering the code for 10 minutes, and then the watch asks for the code again. I deleted and relinked the card but it did not help. I tightened the belt tightly so that the watch always touched the hand, but it did not help. Is it a marriage or raw firmware? It seems that the sensor periodically does not see the watch on the hand? What do you think about this? I really hope you can give me some advice.
Reply
apple and samsung dream of that kind of a battery life.
Does this have picture previews or just notifications to look at your phone?
Needless to say Garmin: shittiest watch. I got the Fenix and Vivomove, both died. What’s worse, display died, can’t sync issue, etc. It’s way overpriced for its limited features too. Piece of sorry crap, I bought other brands like xiaomi and amazifit etc, worked best, no issue,
Garmin = Overpriced, crap,
Is there a law that prevents decent looking watch faces?
I never seen you and I love your review but I think you are really beautiful girl and I am not flirting I am just stating the obvious
The Venu 2 Plus has the hardware to do ECG and the ECG app was FDA approved 3 weeks ago. It’s the only Garmin watch that has the hardware to do it.
I had the Epix 2 and decided to return it since it doesn’t really have any “smart watch” capabilities. $1000 and still couldn’t use it for calls or texts. Big disappointment. Battery life was awesome though. Not worth sacrificing all the features I utilize daily though.
BTW, they updated the watch and now has an ECG function.
Thanks for your fabulous review. I have couple questions:
1. Do I have to buy cellular to be able to use it without my phone around?
2. Is there a way to listen to music for free on the watch? I just need some sound so that i don’t get bored when running.
Thanks in advance
I have a little wrist, should I get this one or maybe de venu 2s?
If it had solar assist charging I would buy this in a flash, so I will wait hopefully for the solar version.
Looked into Galaxy watch 4 and 2 days of battery tops somw gets 1 day is a bummer.
If I have the memory of a gnat and I’m looking for something I can speak into and go like, say, “remind me in an hour to switch the laundry” or “make a note: get mom x for her birthday” so I can thumbtack my thoughts on the fly, can I do that with this watch?
Confused between 40mm and 43mm. Which one to buy? How does it matter? I like to have a huge display!
Edit: I am checking in BicCamera, Japan
Won’t be buying. My music is on my phone! 🤯
Hello , is this watch compatible with the mate 20 pro from huawei please ?
Does anyone know if Garmin will be releasing a Venu 3 this year? Or any other new model with an ecg? I’m just wondering if I should go ahead and buy the Venu 2 Plus or wait for a new watch from Garmin.
Seems to me like garmin has made a masive blunder not puttingtext and call on fenix pro 7 and epix 2 ud think at 1000$ theyd at LEAST be able to do that And they would end up being the best smart watches ever