Garmin Venu 2 Plus hands-on: Garmin's best smartwatch yet 

Great review! Placed my order on the venu 2 plus today. After using an AW for 6 years, the battery life sucks! Glad Garmin has the voice assistant among other great features!

Love this watch, had fitbits and Samsung watches & had to charge them every night but this Garmin Venu 2 is absolutely fabulous- received it Saturday and today is Thursday and battery is at 28% - none of my watches have lasted this long.

Just bought it. I have the venu 1 and love it, can't wait for the new version

I can honestly say this smart watch is fantastic. Function and ease of use is great. And looks stylish enough as a watch on its own regardless of where I’m going or wearing. Looked at apple as my phone and computers all Apple. But couldn’t do it, square design and I don’t need to text and call from my watch.

finally Garmin sent this new release watches to some body with android phone to test and review it. like always nice presentation.

I've had a Fenix 5X Sapphire for the last couple of years. Loved it, but it was too heavy and I never really got used to it. Got a Venu 2+ and it's half the weight, half the price, bigger screen, and has much more functionality. Only downsides is the battery life is a slight downgrade (9 days instead of 12) and the screen is Gorilla Glass 3, which released almost 10 years ago.

The Venu 2 Plus has the hardware to do ECG and the ECG app was FDA approved 3 weeks ago. It's the only Garmin watch that has the hardware to do it.

I have the Instinct just ordered this one super excited to use it when it arrives

Garmin secretly makes the best range of smartwatches available.

Lexy is one of the few tech reviewers that actually understands the value of a smartwatch and can do a proper review of one

Great review Lexy, you really know how to review a product and provide proper consumer feedback.

THIS was the review I needed! Thank you

Galaxy classic here. This watch looks awesome also.

I have had the Garmin vivo move HR for a few years now. I love that the vivo move still has hands. But I need the functionality of the venu2 plus for work. I dislike it doesn't have hands its the only thing holding me back from buying it

Thanks for your fabulous review. I have couple questions: 1. Do I have to buy cellular to be able to use it without my phone around? 2. Is there a way to listen to music for free on the watch? I just need some sound so that i don't get bored when running. Thanks in advance

Nice review thnx👍🏻 i have one Extra Important Question:) - IS IT POSSIBLE TO SET UP ALARM THERE WITH SOUND +VIBRATION ? This is what i miss in my Garmin Venu 2s compared to my Galaxy watch.

I'm using my student discount to get this watch. I've been eyeing Garmin for a while lol

I like the speaker music for snowboarding.

You're my favorite CNET reviewer, and the prettiest as well.

Great review :)

This looks better than any Apple Watch

Can you fully use voice assistant now to start a workout? What actions can voice assitant do?

Thank you for your great review! I've ordered my first Garmin, the Venu 2 Plus, just yesterday, I'm very excited! Currently I'm using the Galaxy Watch 4, just want to be able to switch a little bit from time to time. :)

Can I save the saved track from physical activity such as trekking or running and export it to another application as a gpx file?

Would you recommend getting this over the Pixel watch?

Is the strap can change to other colour? As i saw online venu 2 had a white and blue one

How's the battery life with the display always on? One of the things I love with my Vivoactive 3 is that I get almost a week of battery life with the screen always on.

I am considering this ones ( both with and without speaking functionality) for my wife, which now is using a first gen. fitbit and she especially complains about battery. However I am really concerned about size (thickness), like how real is to actually sleep with this device on the wrist ? I tried couple of times with my Fenix 5 plus and it was a nightmare (they are really bulky) and giving this experience a sleep tracking is a joke for me.

Is it possible to enable recording on the watch?

Now I can ask the assistant what time it is. Nice.

Does the watch do like reminders when I need to do something and it let's me know on the watch?

Does this have picture previews or just notifications to look at your phone?

Also how well are they paired up with a iPhone?

Makes me so mad they don't have pace pro on it... I only want that running feature and primarily want a smart watch. Don't want to have to get a forerunner or Fenix for that one feature

Can you connect these to Apple or any sort of AirPods? I have an iPhone but looking to get a Venu 2, but have AirPods, do they connect to any AirPods?

I have a little wrist, should I get this one or maybe de venu 2s?

Great review! This watch looks really nice, but the main thing is 8 days of battery! Wow! I get 2 days at most from my Galaxy Watch 4. Functionality seems similar... Next time I will give Garmin serious consideration.

Confused between 40mm and 43mm. Which one to buy? How does it matter? I like to have a huge display! Edit: I am checking in BicCamera, Japan

Is this alright to use for ocean swimming?

Hello , is this watch compatible with the mate 20 pro from huawei please ?

I bought one yesterday set it up, great, this morning green flickering screen at start up, had to return, another on the way to me! , 🙄

If it had solar assist charging I would buy this in a flash, so I will wait hopefully for the solar version.

7+ days with Always on display or raise to wake?

Does the watch has a SOS gps feature?

Why do they never talk about the apps available?

Very cute and thanks !

This one you can text and make calls with iOS. Can you do that with the old one?

The device is now operating at extreme power saving mode. The calling performance will be reduced to conserve battery life, and also the screen vibrancy will be lowered down. The music and voice may be delayed or not getting at all.

Was really paying attention and admiring the watch till heard that price 😂 I got my watcg SE for about $220

RTOS always have better battery life, looking forwards for Samsung and Apple to improve the battery life of their smart watches. However, it is unlikely to see in near future in my opinion.

Good afternoon. I recently bought a Garmin Venu 2 Plus model. I love it and it has everything I need. There is one problem, can you tell me what the essence is. It's about paying with Garmin Pay. I watched earlier reviews in which bloggers claimed that after the watch is put on the hand and the code is entered before payment, then in subsequent times if the watch was not removed, the code does not need to be entered. After entering the code, I still have the opportunity to pay without entering the code for 10 minutes, and then the watch asks for the code again. I deleted and relinked the card but it did not help. I tightened the belt tightly so that the watch always touched the hand, but it did not help. Is it a marriage or raw firmware? It seems that the sensor periodically does not see the watch on the hand? What do you think about this? I really hope you can give me some advice. Reply

Does anyone know if Garmin will be releasing a Venu 3 this year? Or any other new model with an ecg? I'm just wondering if I should go ahead and buy the Venu 2 Plus or wait for a new watch from Garmin.

How long are Garmin watches support?

The only "PLUS" version device on earth that is actually smaller then the basic model 🤣

pretty steep price tho, happy with the venu 2

Looked into Galaxy watch 4 and 2 days of battery tops somw gets 1 day is a bummer.

Will it last more than 8 hours just playing music?

Can u get of social media on this watch

That's too much, and for my next smartwatch I'm hoping for better music control, my Galaxy watch has a hard time playing music just to my Bluetooth headphones when I'm switching albums.

Hmm... The battery life for this watch is amazing, but the UI is very uninspiring. I love the Pixel Watch UI, but the battery life is abysmal... why can't I get a device with both looks and performance?

"Wallet is empty" Story of my life.

I had the Epix 2 and decided to return it since it doesn't really have any "smart watch" capabilities. $1000 and still couldn't use it for calls or texts. Big disappointment. Battery life was awesome though. Not worth sacrificing all the features I utilize daily though.

1. How waterproof is it? 2. Can it control music playing on my phone?

Does it have any kind of app store?

Anyone have recommendations for cheaper alternatives that support offline music? I've never owned a smart/sport watch except for a fitbit charge 2.

BTW, they updated the watch and now has an ECG function.

Does it have alway on display like Samsung watch?

And still, no one can design a smart watch screen without thick bezels since the Moto360 gen 1 and 2. Pretty sad.

You need to play music on your tiny watch because you have shown your kid that it is possible. :D (personal experience)

Does anyone know if this would be good as a fitness tracker for a wheelchair user?

Qi wireless charging ?

Damn, i had no idea this thing existed. Wish it had a bio impedance sensor to measure BMI, and an ECG. I’d buy it right now if it did.

Lexy make a video on the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, it's very similar to this if not better but costs less

If I have the memory of a gnat and I'm looking for something I can speak into and go like, say, "remind me in an hour to switch the laundry" or "make a note: get mom x for her birthday" so I can thumbtack my thoughts on the fly, can I do that with this watch?

I have the Garmin Vivoactive 4. The pulse oxygen meter doesn't work 99% of the time and when it does, it's way off. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't.

I'd like more fitness and less smartwatch like the older garmins

Is this waterproof? as opposed to water resistant?. I do a 45 min ocean swim every day and currently use the Fenix 5s but would like to have the LTE function when I'm at work?. If not anyone have any suggestions on which watch would meet my needs? ( oh and no apple watches thanks) 🤓

Hi there! :) Is it possible to listen to music while running without taking the smartphone with us? Thank you 🙏🏼

Its the best watch but the bezel scratches off easy. That gun metal is white underneath. Lol.

So you have to have a phone near by to take calls or reply to messages and you can't use the assistant to control the watch?? Doesn't sound very well thought through tbh, the regular Venu 2 sounds way more sensible.

It's nice, but $449? A price of $299 to $349 would've been better.

Can you surf with this?

No ecg :( damn and quite expensive

i have no idea why there are like 15 garmin smartwatches and why they are so expensive.. i guess ill just get an apple watch

My samsung galaxy watch which was released 4 years ago plays music over speaker present in the watch ... not sure why this is an exciting feature.

Can you send WhatsApp voice notes through the watch?

Did you really say "music storage"? Wow :-\

Watching this on my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

Touchscreen sucks when running and raining.

Is there a law that prevents decent looking watch faces?

Bixby? LOL

Man 450$ 😔

I don't like touchscreens except smartphones at all. I have a Garmin Instinct and love the simple operation. Also have a Garmin 530, no touchscreen either! Stop making everything with touchscreens!

Reals like u

Lexus you’re beautiful.

GW4 is ~200USD, you can buy 2 and have 50 bucks spare

WOW that $450.00 price, in typical Garmin fashion, is way over priced.

ㅃ

overpriced compared to alternatives

I never seen you and I love your review but I think you are really beautiful girl and I am not flirting I am just stating the obvious