The Venu 2 Plus is possibly one of the best GPS smartwatches of 2022 with advanced health and fitness tracking features that help you better understand your body. It is aimed at those who need a serious smartwatch that can last over 5 days with all features on and has impressive fitness tracking capabilities. It is also the first Garmin watch with a speaker and microphone, allowing you to receive and make calls.
When connected to your smartphone, whether it's Android or iPhone, it offers the convenience of leaving your phone in your pocket and receiving or making calls directly from your wrist.
It has the voice assistant of your smartphone to respond to messages.
During workouts, it is a real tool with exercises accompanied by animated graphics and over 25 built-in sports apps. The built-in music storage and playback feature allows you to have your favorite songs with you, and if you have Spotify Premium, it automatically syncs and downloads playlists to play on the watch without the need for a phone.
As a smartwatch, it offers:
CALLS FROM YOUR WRIST
VOICE ASSISTANT: (Siri, Google Assistant, or Bixby)
AMAZING DISPLAY: Bright AMOLED display with always-on function if desired
SAFETY AND TRACKING FEATURES:
In case of an accident, if it is connected to a mobile phone, it automatically notifies and sends coordinates to selected contacts.
SMART NOTIFICATIONS: You can view and respond to messages, calls, and emails, but not with a keyboard, only with predefined text entered through the Garmin app on your phone.
MUSIC: It can hold up to 650 songs or download playlists from Spotify Premium, Amazon Music, or Deezer, and connect wireless headphones to listen to your music or podcasts without a phone. It is also one of the few watches that can play music directly from its speaker without the need for headphones.
GARMIN PAY CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS: The evolution of payments allows me to leave home without anything and make payments normally without a phone.
BATTERY LIFE AND FAST CHARGING: Garmin claims up to 9 days of battery life, but in practice, it's about 5 days in smartwatch mode with all features on, while an Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch only last 1 to 1.5 days! It also has fast charging, with 10 minutes giving you a day of smartwatch use, and an energy-saving mode if needed.
But where it stands out is in the Fitness Features:
BUILT-IN INDOOR & OUTDOOR SPORTS APPS: It has over 25 built-in sports apps for indoor or outdoor activities such as walking, running, cycling, swimming, golf, hiking, indoor climbing, and many more.
FITNESS AGE: This is fun as it reads and tells you your age based on your physical condition.
It uses chronological age, weekly intense activity, resting heart rate, and body mass index (BMI) or body fat percentage to calculate if your body is younger or older than it actually is.
While it even gives advice on how to lower your physical age and warns when your heart shows irregular function or when you have high blood pressure.
EXERCISE: It offers preloaded exercises with animated graphics that include aerobic, yoga, strength training, HIIT, and pilates, while one can create their own exercises from the Garmin Connect application. It also has Garmin Coach for those who run, with free customizable running training programs.
Wellness Features:
HEALTH MONITORING: Health Snapshot and the very good Body Battery where you see how much energy you have, it also measures sleep score, physical age, and stress levels.
As a watch, it is quite small and lightweight, you forget that you are wearing it, but it has a large screen and accepts 20mm straps that you can easily change.
As for its water resistance, I have it with me in the shower and I wash it after every workout without any problem, but I wouldn't put it in the sea because I'm afraid for the speaker.
Garmin did an excellent job, and if I have to mention any downsides, it is definitely the price, which is around 450 if you buy it from an official representative, and the limited range of applications that you can install compared to an Apple Watch or an Android Wear watch. However, the accuracy it offers in fitness tracking and the battery life compensate for all the downsides.
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