Garmin Venu: Two Month Update
Last month, I wrote a lengthy blog post about my Garmin Venu. You can find that post here!
After wearing it for a couple of months, I wanted to write an update to share my current thoughts, things I've been loving, and the features I've used most often!
A little background
If you didn't read my previous post, I'll give a brief synopsis of how I ended up with the Venu!
If you've been following me for a while, you know that I wore an Apple watch for about two years up until last summer. I loved my watch, but after awhile, I realized I was wearing it for the wrong reasons.
I started to focus on the calorie burn on my watch, closing my rings, and my step count, rather than enjoying my workout, or doing it because it made my body feel good to move and be active.
I started to feel oddly pressured by my Apple watch reminders to "get moving" all the time, yet I started to feel the opposite of motivated when I wore it. I started to dread putting it on in the mornings.
I gave my watch up cold turkey and haven't looked back since. I'm no longer worried about a calorie burn, and I don't look to the number on my wrist to determine how great my workout was, or if I should work out that day.
Fast forward to this November. Garmin reached out to me and asked if I'd be interested in trying their Garmin Venu watch. Based on my experience with the Apple watch, I was hesitant. I was justified in giving my Apple watch up, so I didn't want to fall back into the same obsessive trap. But I agreed to try it out to see how I felt.
I ended up loving it, and here we are. Full disclosure, I am paid to write these blog posts, but all opinions are my own. I didn't have to continue with Garmin if I was unsatisfied in any way, or if I felt like this watch wasn't a good fit for me.
However, I’m happy to report that after wearing the watch for two months now, the calorie burn feature of the watch hasn’t bothered me a bit. I’ve realized that over the last 18 months, I’ve found my love for working out again, aside from the calories I burn while doing them. I work out to feel good, to better my mental and physical health, regardless of calorie burn.
While the calorie burn can be a helpful tool, the Venu is about so much more than that, and that is truly one of the reasons I love this watch so much. Its focus is so much more lifestyle, and overall health and wellness, rather than just workouts or fitness, and that is exactly what I needed.
I have genuinely loved the watch and have willingly worn it every single day since I got it. After writing my last post, I realized just how many of you were in the same boat with your Apple watch that I was. I had a ton of you reach out and say that you've been struggling with the same issues and were feeling the same way I felt.
That said, I'm so happy to be able share my experience with the Venu with you guys. Those of you who have purchased have told me how much happier you are with this watch, and that's my whole goal!
Features I use the most
There are so many features to this watch, and all are listed out in this post here. But after two months of wearing the watch, and as with any piece of technology, there are obviously things I use more often than others!
FIND MY PHONE
Like the Apple watch, it does have the “Find My Phone” feature, so you’re able to locate your phone by using your watch if it’s within 10 meters.
I use this almost daily, as embarrassing as that is. I am always losing my phone, even if it's within the walls of my own home. This feature is so nice!
NOTIFICATIONS
The Venu does have the ability to have your notifications sent to your watch screen. You can see and read alerts, but you can’t respond.
This was something so many of you asked me about after my last post. Many of you wondered if I missed being able to respond to calls and messages like I could on my Apple watch. Plain and simple, the answer is no. I think I speak for the general majority of people when I say that the last thing any of us need is to be more connected to our phones.
I like the fact that I can see messages, just in case there were to be an emergency or something I absolutely needed to respond to, but I don't miss having a second phone on my wrist at all times. Even more so during a workout. It allows me to focus on what I'm doing, and not be caught up in doing things on my phone during the one hour a day I'm trying to disconnect.
SLEEP TRACKING
While you are sleeping, the device automatically detects your sleep and monitors your movement during your normal sleep hours. You can set your normal sleep hours in the user settings. Sleep statistics include total hours of sleep, sleep levels, and sleep movement. You can view your sleep statistics on your Garmin Connect account.
This has been something I didn't think I'd be all that interested in, but has been so interesting to me. I never did any kind of sleep tracking before now, so analyzing it and seeing my sleep data is so interesting.
I typically take some form of melatonin or magnesium to sleep, so it's been really helpful in trying to decide what has benefitted my sleep most/helped me get the highest quality sleep when I'm using a supplement of some kind.
GARMIN PAY
The Garmin Pay feature allows you to use your watch to pay for purchases in participating stores using credit or debit cards from a participating financial institution.
I didn't think this was a feature I'd use very regularly, but let me just say, being able to pay for something with your wrist is pretty amazing. I had an incident (the 238rd time I have done this) where I left my wallet at home last month, and just as I was starting to full on panic in the checkout line, I realized I had set up Garmin pay.
It worked like a charm and now I use it everywhere I go!
BATTERY LIFE
The battery life on the Venu is 5 days, which is incredible. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to charge my watch every single night. This is also helpful because it measures the quality of your sleep. It can’t do that while on the charger so that’s why it’s able to go so long without charges; its expecting you to sleep with it on!
Obviously the battery life is not something I can use / not use, but it is hands down my favorite aspect of the watch. Going from charging my Apple watch every night, to being able to go 5 days in between charges is so convenient.
Shop the Venu
Click here to shop the Venu, or to learn more about its stats!
