Garmin has just announced the Garmin Venu X1, a watch designed to bridge the gap between Garmin’s existing mainstream Venu series (which typically targets recreationally active but not overly serious endurance athletes) and that of their Forerunner series (which typically targets a more serious athletic profile). The result is a watch that might be compared with the Apple Watch Ultra series, though in reality feels absolutely nothing like it in-hand.
To begin, it’s astonishingly thin – reminding me of Garmin’s first Vivoactive watch from more than a decade ago (a square/rectangular watch that was announced/shipping before even the first Apple Watch was announced). In fact, Garmin says it’s their thinnest watch, a mere 8mm. More than that though, it carries with it a massive 2” AMOLED display (the Series 2 Ultra is 1.93”) that stretches right up to the bezel edge. And, unexpectedly for a Venu device, it has an LED flashlight (both white & red). Plus, it includes a fabric band and a titanium case.
But more than the hardware, it’s got many of the software features you’d find on a Forerunner 970-class device. Things like offline TopoActive mapping (with aspects like round-trip routing and on-device course creation), Training Status, Training Readiness, Endurance Score, and more. It has a speaker and microphone, allowing on-device calls (with your phone nearby), and even voice notes (something not found in the Forerunner 970, but seen in the even more expensive Fenix 8 lineup).
Point is, while some might compare it at first glance to an Apple Watch Ultra device, ultimately, if you step away from marketing shots, it frankly doesn’t feel much like it.
What’s New & Different:
It’s somewhat tricky to compare this to previous Venu series devices, usually priced at about $400-$450USD. Sure, it has the same name as a Venu series device, but as noted, the features are basically like those of a Forerunner 970 (sprinkled in with a few Fenix 8 features, like range finder and Voice Notes features). At the same time though, it still maintains the Venu series’ less-button design versus a typical Forerunner/Fenix 5-button design. In fact, the Venu X1 contains only two buttons compared to the Venu 3’s three-button design.
In any case, let’s do a quick comparison to the Venu 3 as a baseline and go from there:
– Rectangular display vs round/circular display on Venu 3
– Much thinner 8mm case size vs 12.5mm for Venu 3
– Larger 2” screen on the X1, than the Venu 3’s 1.4” display (45mm)
– Upgrades to sapphire crystal display glass
– Upgrades to full titanium case
– Substantially brighter display
– Adds in offline mapping capabilities (fully downloadable/routeable maps)
– Adds full suite of on-watch routing features (e.g., round trip routing, route to POI, re-routing, etc…)
– Adds ClimbPro features
– Adds Training Readiness
– Adds Training Status
– Adds Voice Notes
– Adds Endurance Score
– Adds Hill Score
– Adds Strava Live Segments on-device
– Adds Cycling Power Guide on-Device
– Adds Garmin Share
– Adds Focus Modes
– Adds Stamina feature
– Adds full Race Planning suite (including Race Time estimation)
– Added Forerunner 970 Running Metrics: Including Impact Load Factor, Running Economy, Step Speed Loss, and Race Projection – note, these were added a week after launch)
– Additional Sensor Type Support: Extended Display, Club Sensors, Range Finder, Garmin inReach, Shifting, Shimano Di2
– Adds huge pile of new sports profiles (especially for outdoor-focused activities, list below)
– Battery life is less than Venu 3: 8 days smartwatch (vs 14 days on Venu 3), and 2 days always-on display (vs 5 days on Venu 3)
– Switches to included nylon band
– Weighs slightly less, including band, at 40g vs 47g for Venu 3 45mm
– Maintains Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical HR sensor
– Priced at $799USD, vs $449USD for Venu 3
There are more features it has, but that’s just the gist of things. Note that at launch the ECG feature isn’t there. In fact, while it sounded like the hardware was there, upon further clarification, it’s actually not there at all, thus, it won’t be getting the future in the future. That’s pretty mind-boggling to me.
Here’s the battery chart:
Smartwatch mode: Up to 8 days (2 days display always-on)
Battery Saver Smartwatch mode: Up to 11 days
GPS-Only GNSS mode: Up to 16 hours
All-Systems GNSS mode: Up to 14 hours
All-Systems GNSS mode with music: Up to 7 hours
Ultimately, it’s the marriage of a Venu device in terms of the two-button design and UI styling, but with the underlying core software of a Forerunner 970 or Fenix 8 device. As to whether it’s more Fenix 8 vs Forerunner 970, it’s a tough split. It has the waterproofing spec of a Forerunner 970 (50-meters), and thus lacks some of the advanced water sport features seen on a Fenix 8 (and of course doesn’t have diving), yet it has a few more features than the Forerunner 970 has in certain areas, but seems to lack a handful of the more advanced running metrics the Forerunner 970 recently introduced. As always with Garmin, how and exactly which features they include on a given unit is often a mystery to…well…everyone.
I’ll expand out the above details over time, and of course eventually a full in-depth review. Speaking of in-depth reviews, some of you have been wondering about the Forerunner 970 review. That’s basically just about set. Written review done & photographed, video review done, just finishing up the editing. This post/video here kinda ended up side-swiping the Forerunner 970 review. I’ll probably release that tomorrow instead.
A Watch Walk-Through:
First up, let’s look at the unit size itself, because as noted, it’s astonishingly thin, again at just 8mm. If we look at it side-by-side with a Venu 3, you can easily see just how thin it is:
The same goes for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, again, the X1 makes that thing look like a beefcake:
And of course, it’s a substantially bigger display too. That 2” display is just massive. I haven’t quite gotten used to having this wall-mounted TV-sized display on my wrist, despite wearing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 on one of my wrists daily for nearly a year. I don’t really understand why this display feels so much more massive than the 1.93” display of the Apple Watch Ultra 2, but hey, it does.
Of course, up at the top, you’ve got the LED flashlight.
To enable it, you’ll simply long-hold the lower right button, which opens up the controls for it, letting you increase through 4 different white LED brightness levels, and one red LED level:
Looking at the nylon band, I quite like it. It feels pretty soft, while also feeling fairly strong. As always with fabric bands, no matter the brand, you do have the element of wetness after a shower/workout/water, but that’s just the reality of fabric.
Back on the display, cracking open the widget glances, you’ll find these much like the Venu 3 styling. While the underlying user interface flow is that of a Forerunner 970/Fenix 8, the icon styling matches that of the Venu 3. In effect, Garmin seems to be getting closer and closer to having their devices share that underlying code base, even with different UI styles.
Of course, as you go down the widgets, you’ll see ones familiar from higher-end watches not seen on the Venu series, including Training Readiness and Training Status:
However, you won’t find some of the more advanced features seen on the Forerunner 970 and soon Fenix 8. For example, there is no Running Tolerance (or Impact Load), nor is there any Running Economy. Likewise, in the Upcoming Races feature, it’ll show your current estimated time for that race, but not a future predicted time for 4-6 months down the road on race day [Update on this paragraph, as of Jun 22nd, they’ve added all of these in a firmware update. Now, you’ll see these!]
Meanwhile, if you open up the sports menu, you’ll see a more familiar Venu approach to tapping one more time for the activities list, before seeing all your sport modes:
If we were to open up the Run sport profile, you’ll find yourself back in a similar user interface flow to that of the Forerunner/Fenix again, with all of your training & navigation options listed down below:
You can see your courses here within the vast navigation section, with tons of options:
Loading up a nearby route, you can see ClimbPro for the climbs within this particular course. This climb would be a doozy:
If we were to start running the course, we’d get turn-by-turn navigation prompts audibly on the watch (even without headphones), telling you to turn left/right/etc automatically. And of course, we’d see everything on the map display too.
And it carries with it the full map overlay options, including numerous layers, and even Garmin’s Outdoor+ map support. Here you can see the toggles for various map layers:
From a data page customization standpoint, you’ve now got the full customization of a typical Garmin Forerunner/Fenix watch, in terms of numerous custom data pages, and upwards of 8 data fields per page:
Somewhat notably though, the unit does not have multiband/dual-frequency GPS, or any of the modes that come along with that. That’s a super quirky design in an $800 watch, though as Garmin has proven time and time again over the last couple of years, their non-dual-frequency GPS watches almost always beat their competitors’ dual-frequency GPS designs. So, as I’ve said previously: I don’t really care how you get accurate GPS tracks, as long as you do. I’ll dive into that in more depth in my in-depth review down the road.
Wrap-Up:
The Garmin Venu X1 is a watch hardware-wise that’s pretty much unlike anything Garmin has released for nearly a decade. It harkens back to mid-2015 when Garmin was aiming to make the thinnest GPS watch in the world, with a new mainstream customer base. Back then it was the original Vivoactive, which would eventually grow up to be called the Venu series. Thus, today’s new “thinnest Garmin watch” completes that circle of life.
Except now, Garmin is aiming to bring their mainstream customer closer to that of a Forerunner and Fenix customer. It’s trying to appeal to the same audience mindset as the Apple Watch Ultra – giving mainstream consumers a much bigger display, and some advanced features. However, Garmin goes far further than Apple does in terms of those sporty features. After all, this has the vast majority of the top-end Forerunner & Fenix features, with only a sprinkling of those watches’ features missing here. That said, there are some odd omissions, like the decision to go with 50-meter waterproofing instead of 100-meter waterproofing. Though, I suspect Garmin decided more people value a thinner case design and everything that comes along with that.
Now, I will note that I don’t really think the Venu X1 name makes a lot of sense. The X1 is actually Garmin’s bow sight/hunting product range, and has been for years. But most people won’t know that – and isn’t why I think it’s a bad name. Instead, the X1 naming simply doesn’t convey or mean anything. I would have thought something like the Venu Pro would have made a ton of sense and conveyed the pro-nature of this device. Granted, Garmin has a wonky history with using the ‘Pro’ moniker as the every-other-year model, but I think they could have broken out of that mold just fine here. Meanwhile, calling it the Venu Ultra would have been a little too on the nose for Garmin.
In any case, setting the name aside, this watch will probably be the most surprising Garmin product launch of the year, and could end up being one of their most popular products. It’ll be super interesting to see where it goes from here, in terms of not just whether customers buy it, but how Garmin treats software updates. The Venu lineup has a very long history of largely being ignored after product launch in terms of meaningful feature updates, while the Forerunner and Fenix product lines get strong feature updates on those watches – at least until Garmin releases a new hardware version. How Garmin treats this watch will strongly drive whether or not people buy future versions of it.
With that – thanks for reading, and stay tuned for a full in-depth review down the road.
Found This Post Useful? Support The Site!
At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase. These posts generally take a lot of time to put together, so if you're shopping for the Garmin Venu X1 or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.
And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Quarantine Corner video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!
hi Ray
does this have ANT+ HR broadcast?
looks an interesting device
thanks
According to their product page, yes:
HR broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+® to paired devices
General connectivity is: wifi, bluetooth and ant+ connectivity.
Any idea if Voice Notes will come to the 970 Ray?
What kind of glass (gorilla/sapphire)? Thanks!
Garmin website says it’s saphire
Did I just miss it…is there a release date?
Around June 18th in the USA
Just when you thought they couldn’t make their lineup more complicated ;) BTW in the pictures it looks ugly as shit, especially compared to AWU :/
Funny. My first reaction was that this looks way better than the AWU (especially in the other colorway). It fully embraces the all-screen design. The AWU reminds me of a Panasonic Toughbook.
Also love that it uses quick release bands instead of quick fit. So many more options.
Yeah, my first reaction was as well: Looks much better compared to the AWU.
Different people, different taste.
Unlike many of their other watches, I don’t think that this one makes their lineup more complicated: this one is different, it’s something specifically offered to all those who would not want a watch resembling any of their other ones. That’s not complicated, it’s simple: you either prefer the non-Venu-X (then the lineup stays exactly as confusing as before) or you actually do prefer the Venu-X, then it’s suddenly very simple.
This is exactly the approach they failed to take when they decided to have both a Venu 3 and a Vivoactive 6.
Actually I don’t even think that their lineup is complicated, outside the occasional hiccup like the “E” variants: yes, they have the Forerunners and the Fenixes, but those are clearly different styles, clear enough. On top of those platforms there are the target group specific variants, but those are the opposite of complicated: they are simply a “marketing helping hand” offered to people who would be happy with a generic Fenix but don’t know it (plus occasionally some certification stuff that would be too much hassle to include in the generic variant)
„AIDS look“? How funny … NOT!
Agree, no reason for comments like that. Missed it in the craziness of travel and such the last few days, zapped it.
I’ve been looking forward to a new Venu but this one certainly isn’t it. I still have a Venu 2 Plus mainly because even the larger size of the Venu 3 is a bit too big, making this definitely too massive for my thinner wrists. Also, I prefer a round design because I prefer analog watchfaces just for tradition’s sake (plus, I’m old!).
Does it, or will it, support a Stryd footpod? Looks really interesting as an option instead of the Forerunner 970.
I think the same way as all the other Garmin watches: with an ConnectIQ App
Looks a dogs dinner! Not great looking
The price of $800 is insane 🫣
It’s not really a Venu. It’s a square Fenix
Exactly!
Square Fenix, yes, except for the abysmal battery life.
Square Fenix sounds like the name of a video game software company
Electronic Farts?
$1,159.99 CAD. I had a chuckle when I saw this.
It’s 8 mm thick. Trade-offs.
Venu goes premium (features and pricing).
Square, light and thin. Flashlight, Mic, Speaker, Music, Maps, Routing, 32 GB. I really like that one.
No ecg?
Plastic back, right? So probably no ECG.
Titanium. But still confirmed no ECG – but because of the front, not the back.
Metal.
800€ for it??? Garmin has really gone insane!
The Apple Watch Ultra still manages to look like a watch. This actually looks like an ugly TV on your wrist
Doesn’t that just mean the screen is bigger?
Help a girl out- where is the picture on your wife’s wrist?
I’m in Canada at the moment, and my (albiet Canadian) wife is in Spain at the moment. So…once I get back home I’ll add.
Or, I’ll just pick a random gal around here and ask to take wrist photos. :)
ok- you get a pass….
Can’t wait for the Chinese knock-offs. Just don’t understand paying $500+ for a fitness watch unless you’re a professional athlete. But let the market decide! Garmin hasn’t exactly been wrong. I’ll stick with my old Venu Sq until this thingy gets a massive markdown…
Professioneel atletes wear what ever their sponsor provides.
And they don’t use the gimmicky features garmin marketing comes up with. They use tests that actually work and are accurate.
Most pros buy their own watches. Very few have a watch sponsor.
Chinese knockoffs? You meant to say an electronics shell with flashy numbers and letters that has no ecosystem and doesn’t sync to any platforms or services. Effectively, useless junk!
No LTE again, hopefully that is not sign to come with the new Fenix too
Given the screen size, that’s the only distinction left to make the watch different from a cheap miniature smartphone strapped to the wrist !)
> while the Forerunner and Fenix product lines get strong feature updates on those watches…
They are departing from that since the epix gen 2 as well. Together with all the new subscription based features I can only assume it will get even worse.
This is by far the ugliest Garmin watch by far. Moreover it lacks the health metrics that are coming up on competitors’ smartwatches such as Blood Pressure monitoring.
No Garmin competitor is going to have blood pressure monitoring anytime soon. Watch-based blood pressure is wildly inaccurate, and it involves major compromises in design that are incompatible with a high end sports watch.
By yourself some dice and roll your BP, it will be the same accuracy than guessing the BP based on your HR measured by an LED. Those watches are doing nothing else.
Even medical grade BP devices can’t measure accurate when the patient is moved (for example in an ambulance), those use a cuff and an accelerometer. Without a cuff you just can’t measure BP.
Trends. I am only interested in trends, not actual BP reading. If the watch says it’s trending higher (or lower) I will use my Withings BP cuff monitor to check the exact readings. And I believe that’s what Whoop (and maybe Samsung as well) offers and this is what Apple Watch might offer as well in the next iteration.
Checking every day your BP using a cuff is very cumbersome, i.e., need to be still for 5 minutes then check 3 times with 60″ in between each reading and get the average. My Whithings BP monitor does this automatically (and many others) but I still find the whole process cumbersome.
When the only reviewer complaints are about the name, it seems they’re onto something here.
Wasn’t expecting anything like this product at all. Very interesting.
It’s early days, I’ll have other things to complain about in my proper review.
Lack of ECG being the big one.
Can I ask why? I’ve never understood the fixation on ECG. You can ‘t use it durning an activity. If I had a medical condition requiring regular checking, I be looking for a medical grade wearable that could do a better job. Personally, blood sugar and most importantly blood pressure would be far more useful, but even there I wouldn’t necessarily trust a device on my wrist that does a lot of other things.
Same here! I had it in my Venu 2 Plus and could not care less. Enabled it (remember location spoofing?), used once for fun, and never since. Now I have a Forerunner 965 and don’t miss this feature at all.
I use HR and HRV, those are useful for training and understanding body reactions. I particularly value continuous monitoring (for workouts I get better results with a strap). But ECG? Maybe if it could detect asymptomatic heart issues through continuous/regular monitoring I’d be interested just in case. But otherwise? If I feel chest pain, or have other symptoms which get me worried, I will see a doctor and demand a thorough check, rather than just have my watch check for AFib.
Ray, honestly, how often do you use the ECG feature? Or under what circumstances do you expect it to make a difference?
For us folks with a fib, it’s a game changer. That said, I do recognize we are a small audience,
In my experience, from a practical standpoint it takes so long to get into the ECG reading app and take the reading that I’ve missed most of the events I was trying to capture.
Same, used it once…
I do wish Garmin would take the ECG and automatic arrhythmia notifications more seriously.
I’ve been suffering with Atrial Fibrillation since 2019, the Apple Watch alerts have been helpful and now as a diagnosed sufferer the atrial burden feature is great to track weekly ups/downs.
I wish Garmin would compete in this area.
Marcin,
>> Maybe if it could detect asymptomatic heart issues through continuous/regular monitoring I’d be interested just in case.
The Apple Watch is very good at detecting arrhythmias and notifying the user. I’ve AFib and have been to hospital a number of times, the cardiologists report that the AW has alerted many people to issues they knew nothing about.
Just to clarify I’m not an Apple fan boy, I wore Garmins for years before I developed the issues.
I still think Garmin’s ECG is mostly useless until they add passive Afib detection such as Apple. Until then, it’s easy and cheap enough to have a Kardiamobile in your pocket that is far superior to even the Apple watch as far as standard ECG.
ECG isn’t a concern of mine – it has nothing to do with activities — and half the time it says my HR is too low to measure so I have to go do something stupid to get it to even read.
At a price point above the 970 though – it should include every feature possible with its hardware to sit between the 970 and the Fenix though.
No news if Garmin will ever go back to LTE? What is the point of getting mic/speakers in all the models now without connectivity, one still needs to have the phone always in reach.
“Battery life is less than Venu 3: 8 days smartwatch (vs 14 days), and 5 days always-on display (vs 3 days)”
Is the 2nd part a typo? I assume it should read “3 days always-on display (vs 5 days)”
I was wondering about that as well. From Garmin’s web site it says: Always On mode – 2 days.
link to support.garmin.com
I was about to post and ask the exact same question. That was my interpretation (swapped) as well.
Sorry, fixed (again). Had it fixed, then added some other stuff it it zapped my fixed stuff. Sigh.
I’m not an AMOLED display fan, but I do like this watch. Gives you the sense it’s a lifestyle watch with all the hidden advances sports features. But at $800, it’s a touch pill to swallow
I’ll buy the AliExpress version for $80.
Garmin’s pricing has gone off the rails. I have owned a ton of Garmin watches but I can’t see myself spending the amounts they want when I need to replace my current one. I realize these are tiny wrist computers, but the pricing is just crazy.
Out of curiosity, given this is basically a blend of a FR970 + Fenix 8, and those are priced $750 to $1,000 (non-sale prices), how is this out of line there?
(Not saying Garmin’s pricing as a whole aren’t crazy, but at least this is consistently crazy)
If we accept the premise of your first sentence and just compare to the Fenix and 970, sure it’s in line. But I am speaking of all of their watches as a whole. Insane pricing, and an insane trajectory given electronics typically get cheaper over time (adjusted for inflation). Today I can get a well equipped mac book pro for $2k which is about what it cost for a similarly (relative to the period) equipped computer that I took to college in 1996. TVs are another example, cost comes way down.
Think back to the forerunner 310xt, the highest end garmin triathlon watch in 2009. $349 bucks which comes to $524 inflation adjusted. But the current top end tri watch is now $750. Their pricing is insane. It’s pricing me out for sure.
But they ARE getting cheaper over time. Garmin has entry level models that are superior to their flagships of ten years ago.
And apple has macs that are lower end that are cheaper and have more capability than earlier flagships. But flagship to flagship stuff their computers are cheaper when adjusted for inflation. This is how consumer electronics generally work.
Look at powermeters as a sports fitness example. Or trainers.
Looking in their sales, people buy like crazy, so complaining on the price is… if sales go up, price is ok
Garmin prices are high, for sure. However, I just picked up a Forerunner 965 from Bike Tires Direct for $419 on sale as a bday present for my daughter two weeks ago. I think that was a steal considering the capability. So, you have to look around for the best deal and sometimes go with the next to current model. Also, Garmin customer service is excellent. When my Fenix 3hr went down, Garmin sold me a refurbished Fenix 6x for $250 when the new ones were still selling online for $600. Garmin has allowed me to essentially upgrade for cheap when an old model has quit. I don’t know many other companies with this type of excellent support. Garmin is premium brand just like Apple computers are higher than Windows machines. It usually worth it in the long run.
We can all moan as much as we like about pricing, but then look at our wrists $$$
Garmin have consistently pushed margin as far as they flipping can without killing sales….they’re very good at positioning on price IMHO
I’m not really sure who this watch is for. The Venu has been for the more casual athlete, with more non-sport watch features and less advanced sports features at a more “casual” price. Why, exactly, would someone who wants these features not get the Fenix, or if they are looking for something less clunky, the Forerunner? $800 is a lot of money for a watch! I can’t imagine that this will sell to anyone who wouldn’t have been a Forerunner or Fenix customer who just likes the slimmer design (and the square watch face??).
I do think that at $450 it would be a winner, though ;) All the Venu owners with Fenix envy.
I agree with statement a lot. Generally speaking, if you wanted a good sports watch you’d go Garmin, lifestyle Apple/Android. Now if this watch came with a splatter of useful lifestyle apps….WhatsApp, Uber, Weather, email….you get the point, then it would be VERY attractive. But it doesn’t, so it needs to stand on its own as a sports watch. Now many people will like the form factor, weight, thickness…..and the bigger, squarer screen. So for me, comparisons to Apple watch are senseless; comparisons to FR970 and Fenix 8 very sensible. I don’t think many existing owners will ‘trade-up’ (down) from these devices, so that leaves new to Garmin customers who wouldn’t want a thicker, circular watch…..basically a handful of blokes with tight shirt cuffs. It’s a small market…..
numerous reason not to get the Fenix. 1) Fenix is $200 more for the cheapest model. The Fenix E is the same price with a lot less features.
Forerunner is extremely plasticky.
The screen is bigger on this watch than the Fenix which is a god send to older eyes. Most people don’t use all the Fenix features anyway. I haven’t.
I love it when people say “I don’t’ know who’d buy this watch” for nearly every Garmin that has come out in the last 10 years
My wife has been waiting for a new Venu 4 since hers is getting on 6 years old. She’s very disappointed in this. Might as well buy a 3. This seems like a device no one asked for.
Seriously! I’ve been waiting not-so-patiently for a Venu 4 announcement. And I really hope this isn’t it.
Obviously a Venu 4 will happen at some point, but it also makes sense from a business standpoint to launch the higher end version first, and then launch the Venu on their usual/historical early September timeframe.
And maybe that’s the reason why the launched it without ECG. To have time until September, and time until Apple releases new stuff as well.
Most probably it wasn’t planned like this, but they simply could not hold until it was approved?
Also at 2″, that screen is going to be bigger than many women’s wrist!
Not seeing the ECG app for this one. Dealbreaker for me.
Love it. That large rectangular display makes the AWU look like a television from the 1960s.
Looks like a Bounce for adults…I’ll pass, but I am very curious about the all incoming reviews.
With my kids having the Bounce watch, this is about half the thickness (without looking up specs). Of course, more importantly, the Bouce is basically a giant purple brick, this…well…has some style.
Garmin has plenty of watches “for almost everyone”. Meaningful extensions to their lineup must aim for the niches left uncovered. “Bounce for adults” is exactly that kind of niche.
And taking aim at thickness is long overdue, too bad it only happened after the “AMOLEDization”, when battery runtime has become basically proportional to battery volume per screen area, or proportional to battery thickness, when you divide both sides of the equation by area. A “solar” version would be outright provocative, though certainly even more niche. Well, not so much solar but MIP, but solar has effectively become the Garmin marketing term for MIP+solar and that is actually quite effective communication, even if not all that all that effective at extending runtime over MIP-only ;)
Cannot make an MIP (touch)screen that thin, unfortunately.
All the existential angst from the Garmin User Masses is funny to see. ‘What is this thing? A super-expensive Venu? A little-less costly Fenix? A square Forerunner??’ I do find that most Garmin users want their device expectations to fit neatly into a very rigid system of pre-defined designs, features, and cost structures. Then something like this thing comes along and upsets all those nice little check boxes that everyone is used to using.
Give Garmin some credit here for not standing pat and doing just the same things over and over. Doing THAT (even if that’s what most Garmin want) is for sure the fastest path to techno-extinction. If nothing else, all the Fenix Mafia (as I call them) should be happy that at the very least Garmin is making plans to be around for the long haul. Out-of-the-box designs and thinking like this thing proves that. I say: “Good job Garmin! Way to surprise us!!”
I was dreaming about rectangular Fenix, as circular screen on digital watch is quite nonsensical. And – this has everything I need… but damn: this thing is ugly, at least on pictures. And the Garmin GUI on this large screen looks fugly.
But if this sell well, maybe we will see other variants – like Fenix X1.
the price …. what a joke when you know that Venu 2 plus and Venu 3 are hardware capable regarding map/navigation.
and during that time, system software are released with a ton of bugs impacting the Customers, thank you Garmin
Is it a given these days that any Garmin sports-oriented and waterproof (of any variety) watch has both lap and open water swim options and accuracy?
I had/have (cracked face) the original Vivoactive, and loved it, though have the Epix now.
The small form factor is tempting, as are the flashlight, speaker and microphone.
Curious about the resilience of the face to scratches and cracking, since that ultimately killed my Vivoactive (and also a 230, and long ago, a 405).
I still wish they’d move the flashlight to between the buttons on the front/hand-facing side.
Yes, I think basically every Garmin watch that’s over $299ish these days have openwater swim features.
This is a sapphire glass display, fwiw.
1) This has a Sapphire Crystal Lens, which is a completely different quality and upgrade from anything previously in the Venu/Vivoactive line.
2) Your last comment is very Right-hand user biased lol. What would Left-handed users do? Blast themselves in the eyeballs with the flashlight?
Most Garmin asymmetric button watches already have a problem with button position for LH users.
I believe (but have not confirmed) that at least some of such Garmin watches remedy this by being to invert the watch display, such that the buttons are always on the hand-facing side.
And if they don’t do that, they should.
This would invert the buttons, as well, so either the functionality would be inverted, or they could likewise invert the functionality with the screen (which would also seem to be easy, thru software).
I have the Venu 3s and love it. It’s my third Venu. This one doesn’t do it for me. While I do like the square aspect, the fabric band is a deal breaker for me. I’m a female and my watch needs to look more on the “nice” side than the “sporty” side. I like it to work with basically all attire. This watch screams manly to me. Hoping for a Venu 4 soon!
Seems quite a good watch but the price. Garmin’s strategy on pricing seems to be we can charge whatever we want.
No you can’t, but miss here, are we going to see this quietly shelved due to no sales or massive price drops after a few months
This will sell like hotcakes.
Since there is no Epix 3, there is room with this name. I hope for a rectangular Expix 3 Pro. Rectangular like the Epix 1 was. Just a rectangular Fenix 8 Pro and I hope they have next to all F8 features MicroLED and LTE with call/sms feature and data mode.
But the main question is, is there still a Venu 4 coming? This does not seem to succeed the Venu 3.
Historically, Garmin has launched new Venu units ~first week of September or last week of August.
You had me right up until no dual band gps…
Yeah, it’s a disappointment, but ultimately, as long as it’s accurate – that’s what matters.
We’ve seen that Garmin’s non-multiband/dual-freq performance is often (if not almost always) better than their competitors multiband performance.
Again, things I’ll dive into with more testing, including in the mountains over the next few days.
Do we know how bright the display is? I have the Fenix 8 and I feel like it doesn’t get quite bright enough in the direct sunlight. Which is 1k nits
Garmin isn’t saying nit values, but seems like 2,000 nits. Same as FR970, and it’s crazy bright (so bright that frankly I’m turning down the brightness because it burns too much battery), and even then, still totally visible/better than other units.
How is the brightness when it isn’t in the “high output” mode – e.g. resting on your wrist? I found the lower brightness mode to be disappointingly low – watch faces looked great in the high power mode but really bad in the lower brightness “rest” mode.
Would this and Samsung phone be good alternatives to apple world?
I would say no. Garmins are good for sports. The smartwatch features are not comparable to the apple world and the third party app support is slim to not existing.
Eh, Apple Watches are way more capable in theory, but in practice, hardly anyone does anything with them that you can’t do with a Garmin. There is almost zero app development in the watch space. People basically want notifications, fitness tracking, and weather.
I wonder if this precludes a genuine evolution of the V3 coming out, which I was waiting for. Otherwise, this may be what finally pushes me to an Apple Watch.
They need some good UI designers. This looks like a cheap chinese watch, and that is mainly because of the cluttered watchface, font and animations.
I thought the same thing, seeing the images. I had an Amazfit Bip. For the price, pretty incredible. But the lack of polish, especially in the cluttered, goofy watch faces? Usg. Now $800 Garmin watches have the same terrible, inelegant watch faces. More design effort Garmin, please, for nearly a kilobuck…
Here I am, looking for the sports profile list
Right there on the Garmin website…
Curious Why is your daily driver apple watch, not Garmin, Polar, Suunto, etc.
Meanwhile out of a sence of nostalgia I am currently charging my Motorola MotoActv watch and it seems like I’ve
seen this format before ………lol
Tried to edit my typo into “sense” and it came back “undefined” and then posted the bad one anyway and now I cannot edit…….
I like the concept but not sure if that 8 mm are just a marketing thing considering the bump of the HR sensor… I mean, I know all companies measure the thickness of their watches without the HR sensor but in this case its massive, like 3-4 years old sensors… is it comfortable or its the comeback of the sensors digging into our wrists?
It’s kind of weird with the gadgets these days.
Garmin is pushing the prices up extremely and / or permanently dropping features…
Polar doesn’t bring a new watch OS and no new Polar app…
Apple brings out a lame watchOS 26 and I don’t think an AWU 3 will be that great either.
It’s currently no fun to spend money on such gadgets….
So what’s left?
Buy a Nintendo Switch 2 :P
PS: Garmin’s mistake with this watch:
– No ECG
– much too big display!!
– the hardware design
– the OS design.
I wouldn’t even buy this thing for 500-600€.
This is a big hit from Garmin! Congratulations
In the video it looks like the watch is showing a full Garmin Coach Triathlon Plan while the Garmin web page only mentions support for Run, Ride and Strength. Does it support the triathlon coach or is this something that will “break” on the back end in the future.
I’m asking because I’ve got money to hand Garmin but not while they are strangely withholding their adaptive coaching in arbitrary ways on new watches.
It’s showing up just fine for me.
I’m not an apple fan at all, but I would get the Apple Watch Ultra instead of this… Garmin lost the plot this year.
Google search
Garmin Venu X1 mil-std
Doesn’t give results, so this has no mil-std, maybe not very durable if you drop it? Compared to Apple Watch Ultra 2, which has mil-std.
How long is the warranty in Europe?
Sadly you can buy the watch with one band-type only. You can choose band color and that’s it. Nailon fabric band.
Too expensive if no promise of software updates. Compared to Apple Watch.
As RainMaker wrote in previous blog post:
WatchOS 26 (26 is short for year 2026) will be available for Apple Watch Series 6 and higher, including Apple Watch Ultra 1, Ultra 2, and Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen). This means all Apple Watches announced from September 2020, with the exception of Apple Watch SE (1st Gen), which was announced September 2020.
mil-std is mostly a markting tool/gimmick. None of the Garmin Forerunners are mil-std certified either.
IPX rating is much more relevant.
Yes, nylon band only for the stock watch. But plenty of QR band options from third parties.
Oh, and warranty in Europe follows market regulations. 2 years in most places I think, but some countries are different (3 years in Spain?).
Garmin makes amazing hardware but despite the efforts the UI to me still feels outdated and unrefined. The color palette is dull, the typeface is generic and the interface feels more functional than designed. I’d love to see a serious visual refresh of the Garmin’s UI to match the quality of its hardware.
Yes, more than hardware I feel like this would be the greatest driver for Garmin. They have shown they can do all sorts of watches, different approaches to fitness and great battery life in all watches, but then one looks at the UI-UX and it’s stuck in the past.
Thanks Garmin, you gave your fashion runners topo map and your expedition climbers a fancy look, what about doing it the other way next time?
the elevate 5 sensor is getting a little long in the tooth. surprised we haven’t seen a new debut here
I don’t think I missed this detail but does anyone know if this watch will feature blood oxygen percentage? I had completely moved away from using a watch and then started using an altitude tent to sleep in (I live at sea level but most of competition in the Masters race space are Colorado guys who get altitude for free. The watch (a Forerunner I think) is able to capture that data thru the night and include it in the sleep summary so I’d know if we’re hitting the target percentage. Anyone know if this feature is present?
Garmin’s website states the watch has Pulse Ox, so in theory you should be able to turn it on during sleep. But historically battery life takes a big hit with Pulse Ox on.
A new square Venu watch you say. I was hoping it was the SQ 3, as my wife likes a square watch and is still waiting to upgrade her SQ 1, but not at this price.
I’m not familiar with all the Garmin watches, but I am pretty familiar with their Edge devices. How does this watch compare to Edge devices in terms of cycling features? Is it a good alternative to an Edge device?
No watch is a good alternative to an Edge. Unless you mount it on the handlebars, they’re in the wrong place, and anyway much too small. Watches are good for cycling only if you do multiple types of activity and you want only one device. For example, maybe you care about such things as “body battery”, which you only get if you’re wearing your watch all of the time, or you’re a triathlete. I use an Edge 1040 for cycling, and have an Epix 2 for hiking and cross country skiing. So far as I know, the Epix can do everything the Edge can do, even such things as being a radar display or pairing/controlling my e-bike, but I never use it for cycling.
Pretty much agree with Paul, but there are some exceptions. E.g.
1. if you only want very basic information displayed during the ride (say, speed/power/cadence). Maybe even get some basic navigation (realistically TBT prompts only, the map will be useless).
or
2. if you just want to _record_ cycling activiites without lookig at any data/navigation during the ride (i.e., you want the workout data for Connect/Strava/Training Peaks _after_ the ride).
For 2. you probably want to mount the watch on the handlebars (alhtough it is possible to just glance at your wrist) but for 2. you can just wear it normally.
I do either occasionally.
Make sure that the watch has all the cycling features and metrics that you want – e.g. older Venu models and the current Vivoactive do not connect to cycling power meters.
I use my fenx 7x for cycling as well and although a larger screen might be very handy in certain situations it certainly works good enough not to think about buying an edge, only reason why I have been thinking about one is heart rate. When I put my watch on the handle bars I need another hr measuring device. Although I have a chest strap I tend to use my fenix 5 plus unless I change clothes anyway (not the case for most rides)
I much prefer the way traffic detection of my radars is shown on the fenix over the way it is done on edge devices.
Only real downside now is that I would suggest to use a custom map because since Garmin changed the map theme it really is terrible in a lot of situations, it seems they don’t really test those changes in the field and different areas. They changed to a single colour line and use the same one for other things.. different colour choices also look very similar, so you just can’t see some roads/tracks on the screen unless you really take your time to look at the screen, time you don’t have while cycling..
Replying to Paul S, SG, and spinnekopje. Thanks for your assessments. Yep, I understand wrist vs bars, display size, etc. I’ve used Edge devices starting with the 705 in 2010 and its dinky crappy screen. What I’m after is what it has a distinct cycling features, sensor compatibility, etc… DCR used to put truth tables of features in these reviews which I found very helpful.
I’m sure that will be in his full review, and Garmin probably already has that information up on their site. There’s probably nothing in the way of cycling sensors that this won’t pair with that an Edge will. Maybe electronic shifters; I’m not sure the watches do that, and maybe the extra cycling metrics (left right balance, etc.). It will have a much crappier radar display because of the size. There’s even one thing that my Epix 2 still does that my 1040 no longer does, control my VIRB 360. (My Edge used to start the camera when I hit the start button and stop when I stopped, and there was a camera control/status widget. No longer.) So maybe this will control a VIRB, too. It probably won’t control a GoPro until Garmin fixes their ConnectIQ widget, since that has stopped working on my Epix.
Yeah, I need to build out that table for the Venu X1. Probably my transatlantic flight thing here shortly.
I thought I had written down the sensor types up above (along with sport profiles), but apparently just wrote them in the text of my video. Will get them added to above.
In short though, for sensors: eBike, Extended Display, External HR, Foot Pod, Club Sensors, Rangefinder, Headphones, inReach, Lights, Power (Cycling), Radar, RD Pod, Shifting, Shimano Di2, Smart Trainer, Speed/Cadence, Tempe
For all those types above that have ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, it supports both sides.
Gen5 sensor but no ECG certainly is interesting. I wonder if they hoops that need to be jumped through to get such things approved are not seen as worth it for garmin?
Personally I find taking ECGs interesting, although I do wonder at the cost benefit of putting such a finicky reading in the hands of millions of amateurs like us. The sheer amount of health anxiety these things must introduce into the world may not be worth it overall.
The ‘hoops’ in this case are mostly hardware design related. ECF takes more than just the Gen 5 sensor, it needs a lead/connection to the front bezel in turn requiring additional engineering, manufacturing complexities etc. The new case design of the VX1 might have contributed to those issues.
Note that Garmin left out the ECG hardware from the FR570 which also has the Gen 5 sensor.
The challenge with the X1 design is that there’s no metallic bezel. That in and of itself is not insurmountable, because Garmin previously did the Venu 2 Plus with the button design instead. However, the X1 being as thin as it was, that too introduced new complications, notably that with the button that thin, you’d be accidentally touching your skin with your finger on said button, leading to user-failures (these could be caught in software, but would increase user friction). All of which would then require recertification.
Ray:
How does the flashlight brightness compare to the Fenix?
Actually are there differences in the brightness level of the different Garmins with the feature (Fenix cf. Enduro cf. Instinct cf. 970 et al)?
It’s in the same overall ballpark, but not quite as bright.
The Fenix 8 uses two LED white lights + one red light. Here they went with one LED white + one red light. It was a choice between going with two white (but no red), or one of each.
I don’t have a good way of measuring/etc the exact lumen difference. But indoors you won’t notice much of a difference. Outdoors, if setting up a campsite, you’ll notice it’s not quite as bright, but not enough that you’d be upset about it. Somewhat shrug territory, where the bit extra is nice-to-have, but what you have on this is still far far far far better than a display-only flashlight. I’m perfectly happy with the brightness.
By the way: Garmin is increasingly competing with Apple. With the 2-day AOD, they’re almost on Apple’s level…
And btw: when will Garmin finally release a watch with wireless charging? This has so far been completely ignored by Garmin.
They did two years ago: link to dcrainmaker.com
The ultimate problem though is that when it comes to wireless charging and wearables, there isn’t a good real-world standard. Sure, Qi can be a standard, but when it comes to coil size/design, everything falls apart. It’s why Apple/Samsung/Google all have essentially different chargers, that largely aren’t compatible (and heck, even Google backtracked to non-wireless charging in their latest models). The secondary complication is the OHR bumps on all watches further cement challenges with a single cohesive way to charge.
The chance that Samsung & Apple are going to find middle-ground here? Approximately zero.
Ultimately, there honestly isn’t much real-world demand for it. At least until there’s a standard that would work at the wearable size level.
Ah, ok. Missed that. Apparently it wasn’t very effective, otherwise we would have seen it on other watches?
Correct. It’s just not an awesome solution unless you control it end-to-end, which then increases cost without actually delivering anything of value (just another proprietary charger).
I find it really difficult to get good connections with the current Garmin proprietary format. The smallest bump knocks the cable off, and after about six months, the contacts start wearing out so it gets even worse. It’s happens all the time that I want to go for a run and I realize that my watch hasn’t actually charged at all in the last four hours because somebody lightly bumped the nightstand and the cable was no longer plugged all the way in.
I really wouldn’t mind paying $20 for a Garmin wireless charging cable if it worked as well as Apple’s, but I’d also be happy with a return to the clip system.
…as I told you, idiots at Garmin, the recatangular shape should have been kept at Forerunner series forever…
your policy is now a desperate Copy+Paste. If the competitiors do it, we do it aslo…
Garmin’s revenue in 2024 was $6.3 *Billion* dollars, so those “idiots” seem to be doing alright without having taken “ReHMn’s” anonymous internet comment advice lmao
Good point… The idiots turned sporting features into a business, neglecting what the sportsmen want.
If you list Garmin’s revenue globally, do not forget the Aviation, Marine and Car industry also…
If your measure is just revenue, keep Elon Musk’s example in front of you. He should have been penalized for space littering when he shut out his crap.
Please name one feature not developed based on the project manager’s idea, but from the market/users themselves?
One can certainly debate whether or not Garmin’s jumped the shark with their pricing this year (since Fenix 8), and whether long-term that might hurt them. One could even try and debate whether the X1 is priced wrong (I’d actually argue that the price is correct, given the rest of Garmin’s price, albiet crazy, but at least crazy consistent).
However, one cannot argue that people don’t want Garmin’s watches/features. Factually speaking, you can’t. The market has shown – overwhelmingly, that they do. Their revenues and sales have never been higher, and it’s clearly coming at a cost to their competitors. Again, this isn’t factually debatable.
Likewise, they’re simply rolling out features the market/users have asked for. If they rolled out things nobody asked for, then nobody would buy it. But again, people keep buying it. While features might not appeal to you specifically, they clearly do appeal to the market.
Thanks for the blog post :-)
overall a nice addition to the lineup i think. Still weird that they do not just say “Fenix 8 but square”. Some features are there, others are not. Just WHY???
Could you kindly ask Garmin, if they do a unified software development approach now or if this will be another sufferfest of different competing software branches on each watch model? The bugs on existing models are still there.
Interesting with a 2″ AMOLED screen and full routable outdoor maps, when the small handheld Garmin eTrex 22x/32x has a 2,2″ screen. I think the Venu X1 could be a eTrex killer.
Return of the King aka original square EPIX!!!
I hope we will get in-depth review for this one (was waiting really long for the first Epix review and ended up with F3 back then).
If you’re going to go to battle with Apple, and more specifically AWU, you need to do better!
The fact it doesn’t have 4G/LTE/5G will be a massive negative for people who are doing a head-to-head comparison between the two watches.
800€???? what???? maddaiiiiiiiii!!!!!!! Tienilo!!!!!
Ahahah had to use ChatGPT to translate but got a good laugh out of it 🤣
Interestingly, the Venu X1 seems to have all of the golf features from the Approach line. The giant screen and full vector maps could be a winner for golfers.
Bezels too big, sides too rounded like on regular Apple Watch, thus making it less durable when used outdoors, overall square design in this size/ratio looks like a childs toy smartwatch. Totally lacking style.
The bezel around the screen’s face is tiny and basically nonexistent… Did you actually look at the pictures? You’re probably thinking that the glare on the rounded sides of the screen are bezel, which seems to be the result of Ray taking these pictures outside. The whole thing is screen.
No sleep tracker? If it had that, it would sell a lot more, I suspect. I’m not a buyer without.
It has sleep tracking.
Has anyone else noticed that each new relase is bringing slightly worse battery life than before.?
I have a funny feeling we’re going to see Garmin tweak the battery stats on both this and the Forerunner 970, which share the same brightness logic on these new higher-nit displays.
TLDR: They set the default brightness values *FAR* too high, and are absolutely torching battery for no good reason.
When set at more normal levels (still far brighter than previous gen units), you’re basically doubling those battery stats. In discussions with Garmin about it this week, they agree things need tweaking.
Man I’ve been DYING for the Venu that I love in a SQUARE body. But not for almost double the price. This is so disappointing.
Love it.
Will never buy it. This should be $399-$450. I’ve been with Garmin for around 20 years. I think I’m finally done. Even if I won the lottery I’m not interested in these prices.
Now I’m just hoping Amazfit changes their name and stops plastering a dinosaur name on their watch and I’ll buy the update every 2 years.
Garmin good be so good. But their product portfolio is a hot fucking mess, same as the software and what watch offers which features. Fucking hell, nobody understands.
I’m looking to upgrade from an Epix (non-pro) to either the Fenix 8 or Venu X1. Primary use is as HR for cycling computer, general health metrics and occasional stand alone bike computer. Seems from the review, the Venu could do this all very well with similar battery and a bigger screen for my slowly declining vision :)
Ray, occasionally when there is a significant jump in form factor like this, I would love to see a side by side photo of the new watch and the Forerunner 305. It’s amazing how far the technology has come! Commenting this makes me feel old. I’m going to go dig out my 305.
I don’t think the Garmin lineup is difficult by any means. It pretty much comes down to preferences, and I must say I think the Venu X1 is a great addition. Doing an ECG on the go is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in general, so I do not miss that feature at all. Wrist-based ECGs are mostly very inaccurate — they only record a single lead and often give false positives or miss actual issues. They’re nowhere near as reliable as a proper medical-grade ECG, so the feature feels more like a gimmick than something genuinely useful.
Same goes for wrist-based blood pressure readings — they’re often wildly inaccurate unless you’re sitting perfectly still, in the right position, and using a cuff-style sensor. Most of the time, the readings are inconsistent or just wrong, so I don’t see much point in having that feature either.
“Wrist-based ECGs are mostly very inaccurate — they only record a single lead and often give false positives or miss actual issues.”
Numerous full-blown medical studies on medically certified devices from a number of major companies, by both the EU & FDA says quite clearly otherwise.
Now as for wrist-based blood pressure, that’s totally different (and also, notably, not medically certified), and I agree, is a hot mess.
Ever thought about an AED (automated external defibrillator)? It is a life saving medical grade device that uses jus a single lead ECG from to pads that are also designed to confer the energy of the therapeutic shock. The same holds true for the first generations of manually triggered defibrillators like the lifepak 10 (those were the days..). Just one lead at a time but totally sufficient to make a decision and sometimes quite an impact (Ouch..). If you want to answer more subtle therapeutic questions, you need a different device. But Afib/Aflutter or VT/VFib are easy to diagnose with a single lead device and a Mark One eyeball Ask me how I know.
I prefer the square watches from Garmin, like het Venue Sq2 I own now. As an Android guy, I always liked the style of the Apple watches, but as we all know that doesn’t match. So settled on the garmin, witch is fine for me so far (running, cycling). Have multiple Garmin devices, and got used to their software too. Wish the Sq2 was more accurate though and it has other drawbacks. Indeed this watch does not seem to be updated very much. But a $800 upgrade for what looks too big, and has far less battery life (as compared to the 10 days of the Sq2) surely isn’t for me. The map feature looks nice, but I always have my phone with me (and powerbank if needed). No need for that too. So, will stick to my old Sq2 for now. No market in it for me.
My wrists are only 14cm…will this be too big? I tried the apple watch ultra on and it felt uncomfortable.
Has your wife tried it on Ray? If so what does she think?
Thanks
Ok, just got back today, and got her to stick it on her wrist. My wife has a wrist size of 14cm (or 5.5 inches) and is 5’2”/158cm tall. While visually it looks fine-ish, it’s definitely a bit big.
However, more importantly is the band isn’t awesome for her. She uses up every bit of the band to get it halfway snug, but it wouldn’t be great for intervals. That said, in looking at the accessories, you could get the smaller band, but that’s an additional $69 for the set.
Pic 1 attached…
And pic 2 attached.
Hey Ray, happy father’s day!! Thank you for all the content :D
This watch has some interesting features, but I’m not personally too fond of the reduced battery life (I get that they made it super thin, but…I wouldn’t have cared if it was a bit thicker if it gave longer battery life) and I kinda prefer round watches over rectangular watches. Not to mention this is more than double the price of a Venu 3 (which has been discounted to $350). If I was going to spend that much, I might rather go a bit higher for a Fenix 8 to get recreational diving support. Have been waiting for a Venu 4, thinking it might be announced this summer, but I dunno if this will push back a potential Venu 4…
Thank you. I can’t decide if it looks good or stupid. It certainly looks big.
Yeah, in general I’d say the Venu X1 is a watch that looks far better in person, than it does on either computer renders from Garmin, or many photos. You sort of have to catch it in the right light/angle/etc photographically to make it look nice.
Some watches photograph really well/easily (e.g. Fenix or Apple Watch Ultra series), and some just don’t photograph well (e.g. Pixel Watch), but still look good in person.
My 2c worth….it’s oversized on that wrist and as well as poor aesthetics, it’s going take a lot of punishment hitting stuff
It looks too big for a lot of women. Any idea if we are getting a Venue 3 SQ anytime soon?
Maybe I am in the minority but…I love the form factor – square and thin. I love the FR-like level of features. But that this price? NFW. I have a FR955. I like the features that are beyond simple tracking of training. Do I *need* those features? Nope. Here is what I need, beyond the basics that everyone has…multisport capable. Mapping. Uhhh…hmmm… A couple of times per year I use the watch to control my bike trainer – nice to have but not essential. What else is Garmin-specific and essential? Nothing. I can see me headed to Coros for my next watch, unless I can hold out for a 2 yr old Garmin xyz on a BF deal at $400…
“square and thin”, like many of my running friends 😂
Thank you for all your hard work and efforts as always!!
Is it possible to show a pic of the AOD display vs the Apple Watch Ultra? Not so much when either is displaying the seconds, but rather when just the basic display is show (not any raise to wake)?
-Jan
Here ya go, in dimmed state (so before gesture kicks in). In this case, during daylight hours, whereas at night, it’d be dimmer. Likewise, in other lighting conditions the Apple Watch Ultra 2 changes based on lighting conditions better, whereas the Venu X1 either doesn’t have an ambint light sensor (or, doesn’t bother to leverage it).
Thank you so much!!! That was exactly what I was looking for!!
Much appreciated!!!!!!
So the display doesn’t adjust as well as the 970? I like the way the 970 adjusts in low light.
Hi Ray,
Just a few minor suggestions you might not have thought about to pimp up (even more) your upcoming in-depth-review of this device:
– Please take a nap with it and tell us whether its reduced thickness makes it more comfortable than other Garmin watches (just to tell you where I am coming from: Sleeping with my hand under the pillow always makes me remove my FR945 with the undesired effect of missing out on its sleep and recovery tracking functions).
– During a pool swim, please check whether the readability under water is better than on Garmin’s round watches (on my good old FR945, I barely manage to read a single figure. It would be cool to be able to capture 2 or even 3 data points at a quick glance).
– Please expand a little bit on the way the altimeter (and if present temperature sensor) works and is built in compared to older watches (I manage to kill the altimeter of Garmin watches at a fairly steady rhythm of one per 12 to 18 months simply by swimming with it in a pool roughly 2 to 3 times per week).
Thank you in advance for yet another incredibly detailed and certainly helpful review!
I’d like to add to this list a request for an outdoor activity with the map page displayed and navigation on — how long would the battery last?
Thank you for taking the time to make this review!
hear me out
just entertain me for a second
Garmin Venu W
W for wearos
All the fitness stuff is handled by Garmin a la Fitbit for the Pixel Watches
Unmatched interoperability with Android and best in class fitness tracking
$549
I’d love to see a future Forerunner with the Venu X1’s square AMOLED display. Even if it means sacrificing some battery, the improved visuals for maps, workouts, and data fields would be a huge win — especially with dual-band GPS and full training metrics (Running Economy, Tolerance, etc.).
Slim form, pro features… shut up and take my money, Garmin.
while this watch gets me interested, it feels like it could potentially be another Epix link to dcrainmaker.com from nearly 10 years ago.
When Garmin tries new things they can abandon them pretty quickly. I wonder what your thought are on that.
When will there be a full in-depth review of FR 970 and Venu X1 and a in-depth comparison ?
The FR970 In-Depth Review is already out. The Venu X1 review…I haven’t quite decided. Crazy busy next 10 days with Eurobike coming up, and a strong backlog of other products.
I’m figuring out my plan one day at a time this week…
Hi Ray,
Greatly appreciate your comparison between X1 and 970 side by side and I’m seeing mixed reviews on the brightness on X1 compared to 970 and Fenix 8. Is X1 identical to 970 and Fenix 8 in terms of brightness in full sun and in low light? Also, with single band GPS on X1, how comparable is to with 970 and Fenix 8?
It’s an identical screen (brightness level), with identical default settings. However, the X1 screen is fundamentally bigger, so it will put out more overall light in a dark room.
The Fenix 8 is a ‘lesser’ bright screen, and should/could be seen as previous-gen in terms of Garmin’s display brightness.
That said, I have no issues with any of them, and in fact turned down the X1 & FR970 screens because they were just too bright IMHO (specifically burning too much battery, but also even in darker settings like on a plane at night and a theatre).
For single-band on the X1/FR970/Fenix8, you can (barely) spot the difference. Here’s a hike I did around Banff this past weekend in the mountains, with big tall alpine trees and occasional cliffs. link to analyze.dcrainmaker.com
As you can see, there’s a very slight difference on how tight the tracks are, but you have to zoom WAAAAY in to see those slight differences. Most people would never notice the differences.
Looking at today’s openwater swim (X1 vs FR970), they were both identical, and also both seemingly fine. I haven’t loaded the reference track (swim buoy) against it and created a set yet, but a quick eyeball of the tracks doesn’t show anything obvious of concern.
Put this screen on a Fenix and you have my attention. I very much need the buttons, battery life and a metal bezel.
Awesome Ray. Feverishy waiting for your X1 review. Possibly tomorrow? Btw, curious on your thoughts on Huawei Fit 4 Pro? I see it as a direct competitor in addition to ECG, Afib capabilities.
Agree to this! Fenix screen looks dull in comparison
Does it have offline music, I don’t think I saw mention of it?This is a pretty interesting watch, if it has offline music I’d be very interested.
Yes, it does.
Yup–looking at the pics of this thing on your wife’s wrists, and it’s absolutely going to be too big for me. That said, if Garmin is going to insist on producing these huge watches anyway, why can’t they come up with an LTE version of at least one of their products? I’m a woman, I run in a rural area and I take my (Android) phone with me for safety at all times. Every time Garmin introduces yet another great sports watch without LTE, I go thru the Should I Switch To Apple struggle. It’s annoying.
Just take your phone. All LTE does it cost your more per month on your mobile bill and drain the watch battery like mad.
Oh, come on. You can’t seriously pretend like it isn’t understandable that people don’t want to carry phones while running. They’re heavy and uncomfortable.
This is almost the perfect device for me as a runner except for the 2 buttons. I like scrolling screens, especially on long runs. I’m guessing the default for the 2 buttons are light on/off and lap buttons.
Ray how is the touch screen responding during runs for swiping between data screens?
I’m due an upgrade from my 2 year old 965 and the 5 buttons is the only feature pulling me towards the 970. I really like the thin profile of the Venu X1 but not sure I can cope with only 2 buttons.
I feel like scrolling might be less important with a screen that can display 8 fields with so much brightness, but it does feel like a miss. I probably use the extra buttons the most for skipping tracks while listening to music.
Hi Ray, in all the pictures you show us (thanks), the apple watch ultra 2 (44 mm x 49 mm) looks a bit smaller than Venu X1 (41 mm x 46 mm), there is something wrong with the Garmin specifications or It is just a visual effect.
I just double-checked the measurements, and they are all correct.
The key difference is slightly optical illusion, in that Apple’s Ultra 2 case basically tapers downward/outwards from the bezel, so the frame is ‘smaller’, but as you get to the band attachment points, you essentially gain ~2mm on top/bottom, which doesn’t show-up well on camera due to depth. Versus Garmin’s size is pretty much identical to the bezel itself.
Hi, is there the Surf Mode?
thanks
If I was just getting into the market for a sophisticated sport watch…the Venue X1 features and price point would totally steer me away from Fenix and many others, unless I had a small wrist :-)
How is the map drawing performance compared to Fenix lineup?
Roughly the same, so-so.
You mean as bad as…?😇
It’s not great, but it’s also not horrific. It’s simply a balance.
At one end you’ve got Google Pixel watch (and sorta Apple Watch) with ultra fast maps, but of no usefulness while actually doing the sport (either because they don’t have data beyond tiny areas, don’t have POI, can’t actually re-reoute, don’t have ability to create routes, etc…), or finally, simply only get 1-2 days of battery life.
In the middle, you’ve got something like the COROS Pace Pro, which has really fast map rendering, but again, far less data than Garmin. So it renders those basic topo maps, but they aren’t routable, there are no POI, no shading, etc…
And then you’ve got Garmin, which is generally in the same speed camp at the other Polar/Suunto/Coros devices (sometimes slightly faster, sometimes slightly slower, depending on a slew of factors), but the maps have all the actual data, all the POI, all the routing, all the relief shading, populairty/heat map data, etc…)
At the end of the day, the core difference between Garmin & Apple/Google is simply the processor and in turn battery life.
Will there be a biceps band for it? Yes, it is expensive but with the minimal thickness – I can imagine wearing it as a whoop band during sleep or even during the day sometimes? Is this feasible?
I doubt it. Garmin’s never made one before for it.
I just posted a response to similar comments on the Index Sleep monitor review, but one of the challenges here is the poles stick out/downwards a fair bit, making it…umm…less awesome to put in that kind of sleeve. Whereas just a longer strap would work. In fact, given it simply uses standard watch pins, you could easily likely find something on Amazon, like exactly this (except for 24mm instead of 22mm): link to amzn.to
For what it’s worth after playing with the X1 for several hours
The brightness is WAY the heck too bright even on “Low” call that “Looking slightly left of the sun”
The default watch faces suck really bad (but trying some from the store) – Face It would be fine if they would let you format the time — and add more than 4 data fields
The band is too small so I have to finigle my hand through it even at its largest setting – then it’s fine once on my wrist.
Time will tell. I like the form factor so I’m going to try to make it work…
Chris do you know a site that shows the default watch faces?
I don’t – but it’s not that difficult for me to take a screenshot of every one of them. Here you go.
Just be warned – I used a connect iq watchface and the battery was at 92% when I went to sleep and 45% when I woke up. The battery is the single reason I’m sending mine back.
Here is a picture of all of the watch faces. Of course accent color and data color can be changed on all of these as well.
Again ugly millenial watchfaces. And once again, only one with PIM data (Telegraph). Without notifications tho. I don’t understand why Garmin allows calendar and notification expansion only on ONE watchface on each model (incl Fenix). That is so useful. Don’t need tons of metrics, need TEXT of upcoming events and notifications. This is not watches for sportmen, not even Fenix was.
It feels like a 12 year old came up with the watch faces. I just wanted something like the 970 watch face or even the 945/955. Face It only allows 4 data fields and you can’t add notifications – so yeah…
But if Garmin had made the watch thicker and put a bigger battery in it (still thinner than the AWU) – they would have destoryed the market IMHO. This is going to flow HARD if they don’t fix the battery life. I shouldn’t lose 50% battery overnight from a custom watch face. I’m on a standard watch face now, with the screen turned off and gesture turned off so I have to tap the watch face to see the time and it’s holding battery better now. Still not great – but better.
Does the X! have options after pressing pause (on a run) like resume later and recovery heart rate
Yup, just checked, has both.
Not sure if it’s something you’re even able to fix because of their screwy naming – but when you search “Venu X1” in the search on your site – the X1 is the 12th result back. Just FYI.
Interesting as it’s exactly the model to fill the gap between to consumerish Venu and too sportish Fenix. I literally wanted a Venu with display/chassis protection and light, and it’s here.
But the price is insane. Looks is not great. And the battery life is terrible.
Better come up with Venu 4 with sapphir glass.
Why has hardly anyone mentioned the original square Epix from 2015?? I loved that watch and still have it and it still works. That was an experiment and I’m sad they didn’t stick with it.
I’m a Fenix 8 user now but have been dying for a square one with a bigger screen.
Ray, should’nt they just make the Fenix have a round version and a square version with a big screen? And the X1 can be the Apple Watch competitor (if they get LTE on it).
Why would anyone mention a 10 year old watch? I have one, and it still works, although I don’t use it any more. It was good in its time, but it pales in comparison to the Epix 2 or the Apple Watch Ultra I use now. Garmin gave up on it quickly, but it spawned some of the current watches they have now.