Garmin Venu – Battery miracle
The Garmin Venu’s battery runs and runs and runs tirelessly in the test and is the highlight of the smartwatch. Otherwise, there are standard good ingredients such as always-on display, water resistance and a lot of activity and sports functions, which all in all make the user-friendly Venu a good, not very cheap wearable.
Garmin Venu Review: Long battery life is the main selling point
With its battery, the Garmin Venu leaves more than just a scent mark: we measured a full 87 hours of runtime in the test. And that with a full charge that only takes around 1 hour. No other smartwatch from our list of the best is currently even close.
For comparison: the previous leader, the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro, has a running time of over 41 hours. Unfortunately there is no inductive charging, which could have been included at a price of around 340 euros, as the competition from Samsung, for example, shows.
There is also no microphone or loudspeaker, and SIM cards are also not provided, which is why LTE is also no longer necessary. On the plus side there is a round 1.2-inch OLED display with high pixel density (326 ppi) and always-on function. WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC are also included, as are sensors for position, acceleration and pulse.
Technical tesst data on Garmin Venu Specification:
| Operating system: | Garmin 3.4.0 |
| Random access memory: | n / a |
| Dimensions: | 43.2 x 43.2 x 12.4 mm |
| Flash storage space: | 4 GB |
| Display pixel density: | 326 ppi |
| Display type: | OLED |
| Display size: | 1.2 in |
| Display form: | round |
| Product: | Garmin Venu |
| Battery charging time measurement: | 1:02 hours |
| Battery runtime measurement: | 87:06 hours |
| Battery capacity: | n / a |
| Inductive charging: | No |
| Bracelet material: | plastic |
| Compass: | Yes |
| Display colors: | 24 bit |
| Microphone: | No |
| Easy to change bracelet: | Yes |
| LTE module: | No |
| NFC: | Yes |
| Sim card slot: | No |
| eSim: | No |
| GPS: | Yes |
| WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS: | Yes |
| Position sensor: | Yes |
| Heart rate monitor: | optically |
| Pedometer: | Yes |
| Brightness sensor: | No |
| Control smartphone music player via smartwatch: | Yes |
| Speaker: | No |
| Waterproof: | suitable for swimming |
| Altimeter: | Yes |
| Bluetooth: | Yes |
| Weight: | 46 g |
| Accelerometer: | Yes |
Wide range of fitness tracking options
Mountaineers are also happy to receive a compass and altimeter, as well as emergency assistance and accident notification for certain activities. In general, there are some functions from the fitness tracker area.
In addition to step counter, sleep monitoring, calorie consumption, floors climbed and the distance covered, there are others. Various sports such as cardio, strength, yoga, Pilates, swimming, cycling, skiing, snowboarding, running and a few more are tracked.
Alternative: The Samsung Galaxy Watch R810 offers great value for money
The “very good” Samsung Galaxy Watch R810 offers a great price. For around 240 euros you get a smartwatch that is easy to use and has great fitness features. In addition, it has convenient functions such as inductive charging, microphone and loudspeaker.
The battery cannot keep up with that of the Garmin Venu, but with a runtime of almost 37 hours and a charging time of around two and a half hours it is still in good shape.
Garmin Venu Pros:
- Outstanding battery
- High pixel density display
Garmin Venu Cons:
- Price-performance not quite balanced
- No inductive charging
- No microphone / speaker for voice control