Garmin 010-02427-02 Venu Sq, GPS Smartwatch with Bright Touchscreen Display, Up to 6 Days of Battery Life, Orchid Purple

My Fitbit Versa 2 broke, I upgraded to a Sense which I returned after just one day (too many things wrong with it, most of all the counting of floors climbed). But then I missed the features of a smart watch too much to be without one, so I started looking for better option - the Venu Sq fits that bill!Pros:- All the tracking that I want! I am not a serious athlete, I want to track my walks and steps, heart rate and sleep: check! The GPS tracking is really nice and easy to use.- Amazing battery life: I easily get 7 days out of the Venu Sq even when using the GPS to track my morning walks.- Answering my phone from the watch works (as opposed to the Sense; I'm using Bluetooth headphones, I'm glad there is no such gimmicky stuff as trying to use the watch to make the calls with integrated mike and speakers)- Move Bar: I think it's better than Fitbit's implementation, because it doesn't allow you to game the system (walk 250 in the first few minutes of an hour and basically get 2 hours for free), but on the other hand it's not possible to set a cutoff time (e.g. you can tell Fitbit to leave you alone after 7pm)Cons:- Watch strap length: you only get one strap that's supposed to fit small and large wrists, which would be fine if the excess would be tucked under the strap, but it's not, so it easily gets caught on things if you have small wrists. Not a big deal, I just bought me a pack of 3rd party quick release watch straps, problem solved. Added benefit: I can color coordinate with my clothes.- Watch faces: I haven't found a whole lot of really nice faces yet that are made specifically for the square format of the watch (especially ones with the move bar front on it) - maybe I need to create my own at some point.- Other than that, I can't really think of anything I don't like about it.

I am an average, everyday user. I don't do triathlons. Just 10k steps a day and weight training a few times a week. I have been a Fitbit user for many years, but grew tired of their crappy quality, poor customer service, and software downloads that always seemed to cause problems.I waited six months to write a review for my Garmin Venu SQ. It was on sale for a deep discount when I purchased it so felt this was a good entry into the Garmin world. I can't wear the wristbands supplied from either Fitbit or Garmin so it was easy to find alternate ones on Amazon due to my child size wrists. My Venu SQ has been reliable and the app on my Iphone works like a charm. I was a little taken aback of the size of the watch but have grown accustomed to it. I charge it every 6th or 7th day but make it easy on myself by putting it on the charger while I am taking a shower.The ONLY thing I do not like about the Garmin are the sleep metrics. Fitbit wins on this. But really, I only want to know how long I slept overnight. It does not pickup on naps I take.I debated on giving myself an upgrade because I expect them to go on sale for Thanksgiving or Christmas but this one is still taking a good beating and plan on keeping it. I like how sturdy it is and the metrics on the app other than sleep have been pretty much spot on.

I got this watch so that I could track my triathlon and long distance running training. I got it when it was on sale and it was definitely worth the money. The watch tracks running, swimming, and biking very accurately with it's GPS and the battery life is long. It it is very easy to pause activities and resume by pressing a button. There are options to get phone notifications from this app and other fitness reminders but it is also very easy to turn those features off if you want. I like the color and how it looks very sleek too. Sometimes the sleep tracking isn't super accurate but you can edit the sleep times if you want.

Since I got into fitness, I was a Fitbit user. Unfortunately, I was allergic to my Fitbit tracker that I absolutely loved and wanted to try a different brand that offered something similar for me. There were many things that I liked about the Venu Sq, but there some key factors that I didn't.Pros:I liked the light-weight feel of it along with the color I got.The band and watch itself never felt sweaty, even after really intense workouts. I work at a summer camp in the summer where I was in the pool, outside in 90+ degree weather, and truly sweating up a storm. I never broke out from the watch, it never stopped working after I got it wet from the pool or rain, and was very reliable.It always stayed connected to my bluetooth. I never really had trouble pairing it or keeping it paired. Likewise, it connected to my phone's apps like Spotify and messages and worked brilliantly.The 6 days of battery life rang true. I really liked that it updated me when I had 20% and 10% left. This gave me a nice reminder to charge it!The GPS for running was really accurate!Cons:The biggest con for me is that it stopped working after a year. I did honestly really like it, but all of a sudden it stopped holding a charge, it wouldn't find my phone, and wasn't syncing. Like most watches, it syncs to your phone, the clock on your phone, and all the messages. I no longer had the correct time and I could not receive messages. I would fully charge it only to have it die the next day within a few hours.While in any workout mode, I was not able to see the time. Oftentimes, I would push my workouts up against a tight deadline and I had to pull out my phone to check what time it was to ensure I wasn't late. I had the automatic walk/activity setting on which would automatically start that activity if my watch sensed I was performing that activity (which I really liked), but then I could no longer see the time on my watch which was a big issue.As I said before, I was a Fitbit user. In my opinion, navigating the watch and the app was a bit confusing. After a year, I still wasn't using my watch to the best of its abilities because I didn't know where everything was located, how to get back to the main screen, or where everything was. Likewise, the app was not as streamlined as I would have liked it to be and not as easy to find items and check stats.I oftentimes used my timer/stopwatch feature when I had my Fitbit but I could not easily access this feature with this watch.Overall, I think this is a good watch. I feel like if I started with the Garmin brand, I would have really enjoyed using this watch a lot more. The biggest flaw for me was the fact that it stopped working after a year. When it was working, I did enjoy using it.