Garmin Venu 2 Plus Review – Great for fitness enthusiasts, not for casual buyers

Garmin Venu 2 Plus comes at a worth of ₹46,990.
It options GPS, coronary heart fee sensor, sleep tracker, and blood oxygen monitor.
The smartwatch claims to supply a seven days battery life.

Garmin has established itself as a outstanding participant in relation to good wearables and fitness. Known for their correct fitness monitoring options and a premium price ticket, the merchandise are excessive-finish in each sense of the phrase. Garmin is to fitness what Dyson is to house home equipment, we all know the merchandise are nice, however the costs preserve nearly all of the buyers away and take a look at alternate options. However, it’s been a go to model for athletes and professionals globally, and with the competitors in advertising and marketing rising by the second, Garmin has taken the highway much less traveled. Introducing merchandise at a relatively lesser worth bracket. Yes, comparatively as a result of they’re nonetheless costly, however not too far to realize.
Garmin Venu 2 plus makes an attempt to faucet into clients who need to check out the Garmin expertise. Customers like me who hit the fitness center daily and preserve a faucet on their routine. I, particularly, have been religiously utilizing their Apple watch for the identical until now. Hence, my overview will evaluate my Apple watch SE 44mm with the Venu 2. So let’s soar into my complete overview after three weeks of utilization.
Price and Availability
The Garmin Venu 2 plus is on the market solely in a single dimension – 43mm. Priced at ₹46,990, you should purchase it from Garmin’s official web site or Amazon India.
Design & Display
Garmin Venu 2 Plus is the primary wearable from the model I’ve used. Looking at it for the primary time was an underwhelming expertise, strictly in aesthetics. The watch contains a spherical dial, with no potential distinction from comparable gadgets out there available in the market. Buyers spending the highest greenback for a Garmin, do anticipate one thing extra to distinguish. Moving previous that, Venu 2 Plus redeems itself with the construct high quality and match. Available solely in a 43mm dial dimension, the smartwatch is the right dimension and will match nicely for each women and men. The variant with me is within the graphite black colour, which fits nicely with each casual and formal outfits. Female buyers can look into the cream gold colour.
The match and end of the watch is high-notch. With a good dial dimension of 43mm, Garmin has managed to ship this package deal in a slim profile. The result’s a lighter gadget sitting in your wrist, which might keep across the clock. The inventory nylon straps on supply are additionally of excellent high quality with Garmin branding on them. I’ve delicate pores and skin, and often, by the tip of the day, my wrist begins itching due to the standard of the strap, nevertheless, that was not the case right here.
Garmin Venu 2 Plus sports activities stellar construct high quality
The light-weight of the watch and the familiarity of a spherical dial helped me get previous my obsession with my Apple watch. The construct high quality of the Venu 2 Plus’s body is product of toughened plastic which encompasses a metal again and a Gorilla Glass 3-protected show. There can be a PVD coating across the bezel for higher safety. For most correct customers, these are some stable specs; nevertheless, Garmin’s monitor file, they’ve held themselves again.
For instance – The new Garmin Fenix 7 options Corning Gorilla Glass DX; the model skipping it on this one looks like a transfer to chop prices.
Moving on, it’s also waterproof upto 5 ATM, and the model claims you may also put on it throughout swimming. While I did not take it for swimming, the watch tread previous wet days outside and intense fitness center classes with no hiccup.

Bundled straps are comfy
A heads up right here, although, like another smartwatch, the again of the Venu 2 Plus begins to take scratches with extended use. Primarily due to sweat, water, and wonderful mud. The scratches are in-line with what I observe with my Apple watch; sadly, the colour of the again makes them extra outstanding right here.
Other design traits embrace three laborious press buttons on the watch’s proper aspect—every with devoted use. In my case, a single faucet on the highest button is a shortcut to your favourite actions like biking or the treadmill. A protracted press on the identical button opens a shortcut menu to varied options like settings, powers, and watch audio profile.
The center button can begin or cease an exercise, and a protracted press offers you entry to the voice assistant.
Garmin Venu 2 Plus options devoted laborious-press buttons

It takes time to know the controls on Venu 2 Plus

The backside button is about to be an exit change by default. It allows you to get out of a menu.
These shortcuts could be difficult to study, particularly in case you are spoiled by the comfort of the crown with an Apple watch. It took me two days to study these; nevertheless, muscle reminiscence does its job as soon as accustomed to them.
I used to be initially not offered with the concept of too many buttons on a smartwatch, however we have to perceive its goal. For instance, whereas exercising, it’s extra handy simply to press a button to pause or take a look at the metrics. And the tactile really feel additionally provides a extra dramatic impact to the expertise. Although that is nonetheless a subjective problem, I, for one, have change into extra welcoming to them for the utility, like on this case.
Before closing this part, it is also vital to the touch upon the show. The Venu 2 Plus contains a 1.3-inch AMOLED display with very skinny bezels. The show high quality is high tier, and it’s nicely-lit, with me dealing with no points it beneath direct daylight. It is essential, given a watch is our go-to gadget for notifications and, in fact, time at any given location. In addition, the colour copy is correct, and icon notifications could be distinguished simply.
It additionally has an at all times-on performance, a should-have on any smartwatch to save lots of battery for situations while you simply need to look on the time.
The contact response of the show can be passable. The watch has not missed any gesture in my two weeks of utilization. (*2*), like most shows, be it on a smartwatch or in any other case, it does not work if you happen to put on gloves. Something I want smartwatch manufacturers work on particularly. A smartwatch actually is a cell gadget, which needs to be accessible in each scenario, like driving a motorbike with my gloves on. Yes, you need to cease to have a look at notifications, however eradicating your gloves altogether defeats the aim.
While many actions on the watch could be accessed with the laborious press buttons, the show works in sync. This delivers a hybrid expertise, which I appreciated.
But show is barely pretty much as good because the consumer interface it initiatives, so let’s transfer on to that.
OS and consumer interface
For starters, the pairing technique of the watch together with your smartphone is easy. First, you need to obtain the Garmin Connect App and pair the watch together with your devoted gadget utilizing Bluetooth. For Apple Watch customers, downloading the app is one further step, however it’s positively not a deal breaker.

You get an interactive OS on the Venu 2 Plus
This course of stays the identical on Android gadgets as nicely.
Moving previous that, you need to create a Garmin account and feed in your knowledge like title, age, top, physique weight, and targets. So sure, the fitness aspect of issues begins to point out up early.
Overall, organising the smartwatch from scratch ought to not take greater than 10 minutes.
Once the watch is about up, you can also make customized modifications to your wrist or use the app for intensive modifications.
Now, coming to the precise consumer expertise. The Garmin Venu 2 Plus makes use of Garmins personal OS, which has some stable options and a few not-so-favorable add-ons.
I’m beginning with what I appreciated. The OS is exclusive and breaks away from the mundane or minimal execution we often see on high-tier smartwatches. Case in level-each apple watch and Google Wear OS gadgets.
The UI is colourful and pops out with out wanting cheesy. The steadiness of colours and animation is surprisingly nicely put and grows on you over time. The UI tends to mix minimal execution with fairly packaging efficiently. Vanity on the UI is kind of generic; you possibly can customise the theme of the watch with completely different wallpapers, icon shapes, and shortcuts. While being somewhat excessive, the animations add a way of accomplishment. My favourite is the one which pops up while you obtain your step rely for the day. It reveals infinite quantities of trainers strolling on the show, with the haptic suggestions kicking in.
You may also arrange a custom-made train routine from the watch, which may be very handy. Sliding previous your knowledge can be straightforward, and the UI aids your efforts by displaying the the exact data you’re looking for.
Garmin additionally gives a voice assistant on the watch, the execution of which is a bit uneven. Having been accustomed to only saying hey Siri with my Apple Watch, the step of urgent the button to activate voice assistant demanded effort.
And after I did use the voice assistant, the expertise was not very satisfying. To start with, the voice assistant, typically, tends not to reply your voice immediate until I unlock my cellphone. This is a significant dud. I’m not saying simply when it comes to fast internet searches that I can do with each different high-tier smartwatch but in addition vital actions like dialing up a quantity with voice prompts.
While driving, I needed to dial up a quantity from my wrist, which I do lots with my Apple watch. But I couldn’t do it right here with out unlocking my gadget. Fortunately, we will choose up calls from the watch and have a dialog. So, that is a 50-50.
The audio output from the watch, although, is a bit low, and I discovered myself switching over to my earphones extra typically than not.
Another essential comfort I missed with the Garmin OS was the textual content reply function. I’ve an Apple watch SE; whereas it misses out on a keyboard to answer to texts, the audio dictation is usually exact. Wear OS additionally gives a keyboard and audio dictation.
We have none on Venu 2 Plus, so you possibly can solely take a look at the notifications and not reply. I perceive not everybody makes use of their watch to reply, however it turns out to be useful extra typically than not. I hope Garmin works on it, given the {hardware} is already out there on the watch.
Another side I’m not an enormous fan of is the notifications administration on the watch. When you obtain a notification and do not clear it proper then, they are usually held again within the bar. That signifies that even when you have learn them and even replied to them out of your cellphone, they may stick there.
Not solely this, in contrast to a Wear OS gadget or Apple Watch, you possibly can’t clear all of them with only one faucet. Instead, it’s a must to choose and clear them out individually. It will get tiring after some extent, and I needed to flip off most notifications, besides for messages and electronic mail, to keep away from this case.
Another function I didn’t use that customers would possibly discover useful is faucet to pay with Garmin Pay.
A covid particular OS function that iPhone customers would possibly miss is that the Apple Watch can unlock your iPhones. It is essential, given all of us put on masks now.
Overall, the Garmin OS as a package deal holds up fairly nicely and may remedy the problem I discussed with an over-the-air replace.

Performance
This is the place the Garmin Venu 2 Plus is in its factor. Although a price range providing, the Venu 2 Plus delivers commonplace Garmin efficiency, for which the model is understood for.
Like an ordinary Garmin smartwatch, you get a preset of actions loaded on the watch. It contains bike rides, bouldering, mountain climbing, pilates, elliptical, and HIIT coaching.
Venu 2 Plus tracks exercise progress mechanically
Once you arrange the watch together with your targets, you don’t essentially must test in on an exercise each time you utilize it. So, for instance, if treadmills/walks are in your schedule, it would mechanically feed the info while you do it—not want you to click on on an icon to start the info entry.
Similarly, the HIIT coaching is actually nicely-detailed, even displaying which a part of your physique will almost certainly be sore after the routine.
I’ve been coaching with the watch strapped on for greater than two weeks now, and the small print are pretty correct to this point. The step counter and the gap coated work completely wonderful. Calorie monitoring often reveals the identical knowledge I obtained on my Apple watch, primarily based on which I observe my food plan chart. So that’s additionally excellent news.

Touching upon the monitoring and motion, the Venu 2 Plus by no means appears to overlook the rely. I’ve completed full-physique exercises, single-physique components, freestyle weight lifting, and the rep within the talked about conditions, and the rely was correct.

Venu 2 Plus options all of the neccesary sensors for a modern smartwatch
The smartwatch additionally options GPS monitoring, which is useful for biking if you happen to navigate utilizing the smartwatch. The knowledge right here can be exact, reflecting correct distance and time.
The watch additionally contains a SpO2 or blood oxygen sensor in layman’s phrases. While they’re often not very correct, the outcomes had been nearer to my oximeter.
You additionally get a sleep tracker on the watch, which is usually right however tends to confuse idle sitting round sleeping time as sleeping hours. However, it’s usually correct when the info is recorded in favorable circumstances. Linked with the sleep tracker is the physique battery indicator, signifying the physique’s capability to maneuver at any given time.
Hardware selections on Venu 2 Plus additionally test the containers. Like the interior storage of 7GB, that can be utilized to retailer music on the watch. I’m not an enormous fan of this since I exploit Spotify, however I perceive it is a go-to spec for people doing hardcore coaching or tenting with out community protection.
The battery life is the strongest USP for the Venu 2 Plus. In my day-to-day utilization, with 24×7 coronary heart fee monitoring and at all times on show, I used to be getting mileage of 5 days on the smartwatch. The quantity could be elevated to seven days if you happen to activate the battery saver. It is a major quantity, primarily as a result of the gadget was at its peak efficiency all through the week.
As for the charging time took me about 1.5 hours to cost from 0 to 100%, with the proprietary charging dock we get with the smartwatch.
I could be nitpicking right here, however in contrast to the Apple Watch, which has a plethora of third occasion charging options out there like charging pads, Garmin Venu 2 Plus has none. While most individuals ought to not have an issue with this, the comfort of charging pads is one thing I wish to see on extra gadgets.
Verdict Garmin Venu 2 Plus has a transparent client circle for which it suits nicely. If you might be into fitness and have concrete targets which can be in tandem together with your way of life, there is no such thing as a higher gadget out there on the worth level. This a part of my verdict implies to each Apple and Android customers.
But, in case you are casually wanting for a smartwatch and take into account it a luxurious expense, there are pocket-pleasant alternate options in respective ecosystems. Especially for iPhone customers, the comfort of the Apple ecosystem is a trump card over each smartwatch available in the market in the present day.

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