Garmin Venu 2 Hands-on and GIVEAWAY!

There are a lot of reasons why a smartwatch is beneficial for your busy and active lifestyle. Besides the versatility of having advanced features on your wrist, they’re customizable and provide conveniences on the go. Recently, we’ve been using Garmin’s GPS sports watch, the Venu 2, which is one of those well-rounded kinds of smartwatches. Keep on reading for our initial thoughts.

Even if it’s a sports watch, Garmin managed to build the Venu 2 with a reasonably light structure. Weighing 49g, we get a 45mm watch with a vivid AMOLED display that’s protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

It’s a touchscreen, and there are also two physical buttons on the right side.

Clicking the top button once will trigger the activities and apps, while long pressing on it will show a shortcut for the controls menu that includes your stopwatch, Do Not Disturb mode, GPS, Find My Phone, Music, and Garmin Pay. The top button also serves as the start and stop button for activities.

On the other hand, the bottom trigger serves as the back/exit button, and it also doubles as a manual lap/set command. Long-pressing it will lead you into the main settings.

The watch has a silver stainless steel bezel with a textured silicone band in Granite Blue color. It’s also available in Black if you’re interested. The straps are easily detachable, so you can use other compatible styles to match your outfits.

Wearing the watch feels comfortable on the wrist even when you’re sleeping or working out. It doesn’t feel too stuffy except when you lock it too tight, of course. It’s water-rated to 5 ATM, making it perfect for a swim or shower.

To connect the Venu 2 to your device, you first need to download the Garmin Connect app that’s available for Android and iOS. Afterward, besides turning on your phone’s Bluetooth, the app will then breezily guide you through the pairing process.

Going around the watch’s OS can take some getting used to if you’re new to Garmin’s interface, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll see how highly customizable it is. You can even download the Garmin Connect IQ app to access compatible apps that you can use on the watch, together with other attractive watch faces (some are paid) that you can download.

One of the things that we highly appreciate about the watch is its Smart Notifications. Not only does it support emojis accurately, but you can also personalize some quick replies for when you don’t have your phone near you. The only thing missing, in this case, is a voice assistant. But additionally, the Venu 2 also allows you to store music natively and pair it directly with Bluetooth earbuds.

Another thing that we like about it is how you can control music playback on your phone seamlessly, even if Garmin doesn’t support the app natively.

And since this is a sports watch, there are tons of features on board that can be useful for people with an active lifestyle—or if you aim to have one. There are over 25 sports apps pre-installed in the watch, including walk, run, bike, strength training, pilates, bouldering, golf, and even HIIT. Some of which support animated on-screen workouts that you can follow.

You can also plan workouts and take advantage of the Garmin Coach feature via the Connect app to help you train for your next 5K, 10K, or half-marathon.

And if you think that’s it, the Venu 2 is more well equipped with tracking features. First, there’s the GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, heart rate, stress, sleep, hydration, and respiration tracking. There’s also women’s health tracking to monitor your menstrual cycle or pregnancy, a Pulse Ox sensor to spot-check your blood oxygen saturation, and body battery energy monitoring which is a real step up to remind you of taking care of your mental health.

As for the battery, Garmin claims that it can last up to 11 days which is fairly true if you don’t maximize the vibration, display brightness, and screen timeout. But even if we maximized the display settings, we still got at least 9 days, and that’s great.

The Garmin Venu 2 is officially priced at PHP 22,995USD 392INR 33,219EUR 373CNY 2,854, and it offers highly comprehensive fitness and wellness tracking features for busy and active people. So this is something you can wear every day, either you’re feeling sporty, formal, or casual. And we must say that it’s a GPS sports watch that can definitely compete with top brands in the current market.

GIVEAWAY!

Our friends from Garmin Philippines have decided to give away one brand new Venu 2 smartwatch to one lucky reader. All you have to do is follow the mechanics:

1. Share this article on your Facebook page.
2. Write in the caption why you want to win a Garmin Venu 2 smartwatch.
3. Add the following hashtags: #GarminPH #WorkOnABetterYou #Venu2 #GarminxYugatech
4. Post and make sure that the post is in public.

The contest will run for 7 days. The winner will be contacted on Facebook using our official account.

[Update: The contest is now closed.]