Both the Venu and Venu 2 are ANT+ compatible, allowing you to sync data with extra sensors such as chest strap heart rate monitors or cycling power meters. They are also capable golf watches when the Garmin Golf app is installed on your phone The aim of the Venu Sq is to really showcase that Garmin is capable of making a square sporty smartwatch that hosts a colour touchscreen display. Although that eye-catching 1.2in AMOLED display does affect battery life, the good news is that it’s not as greedy as you might expect. Indeed, even with the screen set to always-on and using the watch for runs every day, I found the Venu lasted three days between charges. If you only used it for short workouts every other day I’d expect it to last four, which is only one or two days less than we eked out of the Vivoactive 4 with mixed usage.

Garmin’s watches are generally reliable pool swimming companions and that doesn’t change with the Venu Sq. You get a rich set of metrics to look at in real-time and post swim, though it’s not as great to view in the water as the bigger, round Venu. Crucially, it pushed out accurate data compared to the very reliable Form Swim Goggles we pitted it against.Garmin does a pretty good job of getting the best of its smartwatch features into its smaller Venu watch. It works with Android phones and iPhones and we tried with both and didn’t experience any major issues. Available Gym Activity Profiles Strength, Cardio, Hiit And Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor Rowing, Yoga, Pilates And Breathwork One of the key selling points for the Venu compared to rival smartwatches from Apple and Samsung is the range of guided training content it offers. The watch offers guided animated workouts for strength, yoga and Pilates workouts, which is great for beginners who don’t want to fork out on expensive personal trainers or classes. As with most of Garmin’s other new watches, you can also use Garmin Coach, which offers personalised training plans for 5K, 10K and half marathon distances that you can follow directly from your wrist.

With the always-on display mode, it’s more like three days, maybe four depending on what you’re using daily. That is still a good showing, but does mean you’ll be charging it a bit more regularly.It says you can expect to get up to six days in smartwatch mode, six hours in GPS mode with music streaming and up to 14 hours using GPS only. That’s four hours less of GPS battery life than the round Venu. The Venu® 2S has an AMOLED display which produces a clear screen even under bright sunlight. From durable Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 to the sleek stainless-steel bezel and comfortable silicone band, this smartwatch is ready for anything.​ There’s no low power modes or battery saving options, though you can disable features like continuous heart rate monitoring and choose not to use the always-on display mode to push the battery further. Another feature you’re going to miss out on here is the animated workouts feature that was first introduced on the Venu and the Vivoactive 4. This is the ability to follow workouts on the watch screen with animations showing you how to perform the moves and exercises. It’s a shame it doesn’t make the cut and it’s one of the features you’re going to have to pay more for to access. Everything is pulled together in Garmin’s Connect app, which we still think can feel a bit of a daunting place to explore for the first time if you’ve never used a Garmin before. It definitely isn’t as clean as Fitbit’s app for comparison.

With the addition of a colour display, there’s always going to be the worry that Garmin’s usually impressive battery showing will take a hit. On the sensor front, you’re getting built-in GPS and support for Galileo and Beidou satellite systems to give you better mapping coverage around the world. There’s Garmin’s Elevate heart rate monitor, which can be used for training purposes and for health features like abnormal heart rate alerts and continuous monitoring.The Venu 2S has a slightly smaller battery than the full-size version. It can run for up to 10 days in smartwatch mode, or up to 11 days with battery-saver enabled. You can work out with GPS mode and music for up to seven hours, or up to 19 hours with GPS alone. Features Smartwatch features You can view your notifications and you can respond to them when you’re using an Android phone. It’s a smaller, more cramped screen to do it than the round Venu, but it can be done with minimal fiddling. You can also create your own custom workouts in Garmin Connect and sync them to the Venu, which is great for runners, cyclists and swimmers, though I’m not so convinced of how useful it is for yoga and Pilates sessions. That’s because you have to select every single pose of the workout, and if you’re working through a yoga routine with 30 or 40 moves, it’ll take you a fair amount of time to set up. That’s not a problem, however, as there are more than enough premade workouts to be getting on with, including a very useful yoga for runners session. Garmin Venu review: Verdict