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, but not forward production)
– 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:
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.
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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.
Same lol. Thickos seem to think the absolute AIDS look of the Apple Watch is somehow appealing. Ugly AF? Check. A battery made of cheese? Check. Has and Apple logo on it so idiots think it’s cool. Check.
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!).
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?
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…
> 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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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.
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??).
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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).
…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…
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).
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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.
Same lol. Thickos seem to think the absolute AIDS look of the Apple Watch is somehow appealing. Ugly AF? Check. A battery made of cheese? Check. Has and Apple logo on it so idiots think it’s cool. Check.
Yeah, my first reaction was as well: Looks much better compared to the AWU.
Different people, different taste.
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.
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?
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
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.
No LTE again, hopefully that is not sign to come with the new Fenix too
> 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,
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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..
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).
…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…
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!!!!!