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Evening Standard

Lifestyle

Stuart Pritchard

Garmin Venu Sq 2 Review: welcome to the new smart place to be

Garmin Gold GPS

I’d be underplaying things if I were to say that there is a fair amount of choice when it comes to smartwatches these days. Indeed, at last pretend count, between myriad different manufacturers and their many models, I got up to around eleventeen hundred before getting all dizzy and having to stop to breathe into a paper bag.

But out of all the multitudinous smartwatch manufacturers out there, there is one name that stood at the fore of wrist-based GPS digital fitness tracking way back when such tech was the sole domain of the overly enthusiastic exercise addict. That name is, of course, Garmin, itself a portmanteau of Gary Burrell and Min Kao, the founders of the company.

Since they first unleashed early examples of civvy GPS tracking tech back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, their wrist-sitting wonders have seen an incredible technological evolution, piggy backing on that of the smartphone, resulting today in a wide range of Garmin wearables suitable for all walks and, indeed, all our runs of life.

With prices ranging from £70 to £1400, today’s impressive array of Garmins has recently enjoyed an updated addition in the fine form of the new Venu Sq 2, a supremely stylish-looking smart-sports-watch that offers a staggering array of features for a penny under £230.

So, in these financially troubling times, how does such expenditure improve your life? I have dug my non-casual sportswear out of storage and taken to pounding the pavements along the mean streets of Colchester in a sweaty bid to find out.

The Shallow Stuff

Yes, yes, yes, I’m well-aware that fitness tracking and effortless communications technology are what, ultimately, matters here, however, this is 2022 and there’s also a little thing called ‘fashion’ (you may want to look it up). Eye-pleasing aesthetics are equally important. Which is lucky, as the Venu Sq 2 is without doubt a handsome bit of kit, thanks to a squared, minimalist design, fibre-reinforced polymer and anodised aluminium design.

It comes available in Slate Aluminium and Black, Cream Gold and White, Metallic Mint and Cool Mint, Slate Aluminium and Shadow Grey, Peach Gold and Ivory, or Cream Gold and French Grey bevel and case combination finishes.

Paired with bezel-matching silicone straps, the Venu Sq 2 will look equally at home adorning your arm whether you’re knee-deep in nature on some savage cross-country canter, doing the Downward-Facing Dog in a fancy health club, or simply hanging around an independent coffee shop trying to look cool; so a true all-rounder.

Then there’s the face, a 1.41-inch AMOLED display (Corning Gorilla Glass 3) with a resolution of 320 x 360-pixels to ensure all icons and text appears sharp crisp and colourful enough to either read through tears of pain on the track or glanced admiringly across the yoganasium, or whatever you stretchy types call it.

All of which concludes the Venu Sq 2eye-allure part of this review, so if you’d like to grab your reusable stainless steel water bottles and follow me this way, let’s get down to the brawn of the business…

Venu: Veni, Vidi, Vici

As I said earlier, Garmin started out due to an obsession with GPS-based fitness tracking so, as you’d imagine, the new Venu is chockablock with the coolest, most cutting-edge fitness info-garnering features.

It also has super-sensitive sensors to ensure you don’t overdo it and keel over at the kerbside, and an absolute embarrassment of preloaded exercise and workout routines, including all manner of apps covering the sporting spectrum to keep you motivated, moving and at the pinnacle of personal health. These cover activities and their relevant metrics relative to the gym, running, cycling, swimming, golfing, and the more generic ‘outdoor recreation’, so something for everyone.

To aid you in all of these comes constant measurement and recording of your heart rate (resting and in exercise), your respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, and hydration level, alongside a body battery energy monitor to tell you when to take a break, stress trackers, relaxation reminders, sleep monitoring to ensure you’re getting the best from your unconscious hours and, for ladies, menstrual cycle and/or pregnancy info logging.

Plus, of course, on top of all of the inbuilt sports and training app availability, the Garmin Venu Sq 2 also allows you to create your own workouts, employing the Garmin Coach to gentle encourage your training, helping you reach goals and pass mileposts without all the motivational loud-mouthery you might expect from a human trainer.

Naturally, all this varied information is instantly and automatically transferred over Bluetooth to the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone (both Apple and Android compatible), letting you review it all later over a soy latte and set up fresh challenges to face next time. Also, should you be so inclined, you can share details of – what I’m sure is referred to as – your personal fitness journey with friends and, again, should you require such exercise incitement, collect virtual badges for beating your former best.

The Other Smart Part

So, that’s your health and fitness metrics and all types of training held in excellent electronic hands, but what about when you’re out and about in the less testing but perhaps equally demanding day-to-day ordinary world? What does the Venu Sq 2 offer you then, above and beyond the restrictions of the average analogue ticktock?

Well, for a start you can receive emails, texts and alerts right on your wrist, and even reply using an Android phone, you can also wirelessly pay for stuff using Garmin Pay, thus negating the need to carry cards or cash. Finally, covering personal safety, you can quickly share a message containing your live location to preselected contacts (with watch and compatible smartphone paired) should you run into a problem, keeping your back covered at all times.

A mighty new wrist-going whippersapper too, thanks to sizable 190mAh capacity battery, smartwatch mode will give you around 11-days life to play around with, while switching to GPS mode drops that to 26-hours, which is still pretty beefy. Also, normally good to go after a quick 1.5-hour charge, the Venu Sq 2 will, ahem, always be to hand.

Verdict

Garmin craft exceptional smartwatches, with fitness always at the forefront of each model’s mind. The Venu Sq 2 is no different – a worthy replacement to the hugely popular Venu Sq, this update builds upon the strengths of the original and brings even more muscle to your quest for physical fitness perfection.

Okay, at £300, the Venu Sq 2 is still considered well within the ‘entry level’ camp, but for those seeking a sleek, smartwatch that’s rich in features for adding interest to exercise and, indeed, even the drudgery of everyday life, Garmin has hit upon nothing short of wrist-going gold.