Garmin Venu 2 Plus review: More tempting (and expensive) than ever

With a lot of buttons, robust tracking software, and tons of battery life, it's easy to see why serious athletes would pay a premium for a fitness watch. The Garmin Fenix 6 has 10 ATM and upgraded gps for hikers, while the Forerunner 955 is for runners and has full-color maps.

The Venu 2 is from last year and defies categorization. It was a pleasure to use because of its beautiful display and 11-day battery life. It was a $400 plastic watch that was competing with lifestyle watches in price without essentials. The Venu 2 Plus has a mic and speaker as well as a third button for quick access.

The Venu 2 Plus has the same display and feel as the Venu 2, but with a different look. It's only the best option for a very specific niche of fitness freaks, and it's only against the other great brands. We can help you decide if you should look somewhere else.

Garmin Venu 2 Plus: Price and availability

The price of the new Venu 2 Plus increased by a small amount. The Venu 2 Plus was launched worldwide.

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Slate with black band, Silver with gray band, and Light Gold with ivory band are available. You can swap out the watch bands if you need them.

My colleague's Venu 2 review sums up a lot of what makes the Venu 2 Plus so enjoyable to use. Most of the others are washed out and barely visible outside. The Venu series' AMOLED displays enable you to add a custom watch face with any photo as your background, adding a lovely bit of charm and personalization that the other Garmins cannot match.

The Venu 2 (plus) has button navigation that makes it easy to navigate while working out. Your heart rate, SpO2, altitude, sleep patterns, and stress are tracked by both watches. Thanks to built-in music storage and onboard gps, you can listen to workout beats on your earbuds without a phone.

The Venu 2 Plus' key upgrade is a built-in mic for answering phone calls, which is not as appealing as the last one. Even if it can work on its own, you want to keep your phone with you.

There is a third button between the two navigation buttons. You can use it to set up two different shortcut buttons, such as accessing music controls, stopwatch, or your phone's assistant. It's a good idea to choose the ones you need most because most settings and apps are hard to access during a workout.

The Venu 2 Plus will work for a variety of sports modes because of its water resistance and light design. It's the best fit for athletes who want to do some serious indoor strength training or cross-training.

From self-guided workouts to reps that require gym equipment, there are dozens of workouts to choose from.

You can choose from pre-made workouts of varying levels of intensity, or you can design your own workout. Select the mode you want to use, then you can start working out. You can see an animated Gif of how to complete an exercise if you don't know how to do it. It will save you time and allow you to start working out.

Intervals and rest periods will be used to create your workout and you can use different high-intensity interval training (HIIT) timers. You can see which muscles you worked out when you check your activity profile on the watch. If you've neglected a part of your body, you'll notice it. You can check intensity minutes based on how much effort you put into it.

Every time you hit a daily fitness goal, you'll get a cute animated sequence themed to your achievement. You can see a ball bouncing up the stairs if you hit your daily goal.

The Venu 2 Plus is an excellent choice if you can afford it.

Garmin Venu 2 Plus: What you won't like

The Venu 2 Plus experience will depend on how you feel about the buttons on the watch. My fitness watch hierarchy is crown, buttons, and touchscreens, and I always appreciated how most watches didn't include touch navigation.

It had fewer issues than other watches' screens that I've tested, and some of my colleagues prefer touch to the usual left side buttons for up/down scrolling, which I fully respect. This is more of what you might not like.

If you exchange the Plus's new mic for the base Venu 2, you'll only get two days of battery life. This mostly applies to general drainage over time. Both the Plus and the base watch last for 8 hours of gps tracking with music, but the Plus lasts 24 hours without music. Both watches won against most of the other watches. This isn't a big deal for most people.

My voice came through clearly to the people I was talking to on the other side. The speaker sounded loud in a quiet room but it was hard to hear in the world. You have to hold the watch to your ear to hear, then bring it to your mouth to say something.

How expensive the Venu 2 Plus is is the biggest problem here. It is self-sufficient without a phone, even though it is less expensive than the Forerunner 955. If you're looking for a good watch, you can get one for half the price of the Plus. They don't have a screen that is capable of proper animation. Is that worth the extra cost?

I didn't like the app that came with it. It is a maze and puts all other fitness apps to shame. Are workouts under activities, activity tracking, or training? Search all three until you locate them. It can take a long time to sync the workout to your watch once you add it. I didn't like the fact that I had to download a second app to get watch faces.

New features are usually added to the old watches after the initial launch. This makes sure the watch stays fresh for a long time after it's launched. New features have been added to the Venu 2 Plus.

• Added tennis and pickleball sport modes.
• Detects time spent sitting, walking, or running during a workout.
• Revamped sleep tracking with new "restlessness score."

Garmin Venu 2 Plus: Competition

With a price tag of $450, the Venu 2 Plus is one of the more expensive fitness watches on the market.

If you're looking for a running watch, look at the newer Garmin Forerunner 255. It looks worse than the Venu series, but it has running features that the Venu series doesn't. You get full triathalon support, heart rate variability for stress and sleep tracking, multi-bandGPS for improved accuracy, and a 14-day/ 30GPS-hour battery life, all for $100 less.

I'm a huge fan of the Coros Pace 2, an ultra- lightweight watch that lasts for 30 hours of gps activity. It's not Venu 2 AMOLED but it's a reasonable alternative and costs just $200.

Do you want a watch that has a lot of fitness and health features? The Venu 2 Plus is not recommended by the SAMSUNG GALAXY WATCH 4 It weighs less but has a bigger screen. It doesn't have an altimeter, but it does have BIA and EKG sensors for better health readings. The Wear OS 3 watch has a lot of third-party app support.

The Apple Watch Series 7 is the premium watch in both hardware and software. The Venu 2 Plus is more expensive than the other two, but neither has the specialized software that comes with the watch.

Garmin Venu 2 Plus: Should you buy it?

If you do, you should purchase this.

• You want to cross-train regularly across a wide range of sports regimens
• You regularly train outside and need a bright screen
• You want to answer calls via your smartwatch

If you buy this, you should not.

• You want lots of third-party apps
• You have a limited budget
• You want to work out without your phone nearby

The Venu 2 Plus is a good option for people who want to start a fitness routine. There is a variety of sports and gym workouts prepared for you, as well as a display that will show you how to complete moves you have never heard of before. The Venu 2 is for people who want to keep up their fitness routine. If you've tried couch-to-5K before but can't keep it up, you might want to try a cheaper fitness tracker.

You will not regret buying the Venu 2 Plus if you can afford it. If you don't bring your phone with you for workouts and don't want to wear it outside, you could buy the Venu 2. If you plan on wearing it regularly for health and step tracking, it's worth the extra $50.

The changelog should be reviewed.

The article was first published in January. The changes were made in June 2022.

• Fixed formatting issues that arose from site migration.
• Added Updated Features section.
• Added Garmin Forerunner 255 to Competition section.