This Premium Garmin Watch Was A Sleeper Hit For Me In 2025 - And It's $200 Off Right Now

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Garmin Venu X1 is disposable successful 2 colour options for $599 (on sale).
• The large 2-inch show is fantastic, nan LED flashlight is brilliant, nan bladed lawsuit and ray set make it a joyousness to wear, and nan calculator now has a extremity button.
• The always-on mode reduces artillery life significantly, nan watch is expensive, and dual-band GPS is not installed.

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I've been utilizing Garmin sports watches for complete a decade and person beautiful clear expectations for erstwhile caller models will beryllium released, but I was caught wholly disconnected defender by nan announcement of nan Garmin Venu X1 during nan summer.

It's unsocial for Garmin, but it intelligibly looks for illustration a reasonably nonstop competitor to nan Apple Watch Ultra.

Also: The champion Garmin watches you tin buy: Strong search tech for fitness, sleep, and more

The Garmin Venu X1 stands retired pinch its bold, almost quadrate creation and a vivid two-inch AMOLED surface -- nan largest ever connected a Garmin smartwatch. It offers noticeably much surface existent property than moreover nan Watch Ultra 2, making room for up to 8 information fields during workouts. The result? Crisp, easy-to-read stats astatine a glance, moreover for aging eyes for illustration mine.

I've worn Venu models before, but usually only for a period aliases 2 earlier switching backmost to a Fenix, Enduro, Instinct, aliases Forerunner for my regular use. The main logic was that nan Venu bid relies heavy connected a touchscreen pinch conscionable 2 hardware buttons, and aft getting utilized to Garmin's five-button setup, nan UI requires immoderate adjustment.

That said, nan Venu was nan first Garmin watch pinch an AMOLED display, and nan X1 takes things to nan adjacent level pinch this new, bigger shape factor.

Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Like nan Fenix 8 series, nan Venu X1 features a speaker and microphone, allowing you to make and person calls from your wrist, grounds sound notes while exercising, and activate various power functions pinch your voice. 

Also: As a golfer, this is nan smartwatch I urge astir connected nan course

Three shortcuts tin beryllium assigned to nan 2 buttons, allowing you to quickly entree regular functions without swiping aliases tapping connected nan display. I person them group to sound command, flashlight, and alarms, giving maine much inferior quickly.

Speaking of nan LED flashlight, Garmin positioned 1 disconnected to nan correct broadside of nan apical connected nan Venu X1, and it has nan aforesaid 4 achromatic levels and 1 reddish ray level that look connected nan show aft activation. Strobe and different precocious LED ray controls during activities tin beryllium enabled connected nan Venu X1, and I've recovered them to beryllium plentifulness agleam and useful erstwhile retired astatine nighttime successful aliases darker environments.

The Venu X1 (top) is overmuch thinner than nan Apple Watch Ultra 2 (bottom).

Matthew Miller/ZDNET

A insignificant characteristic of nan Apple Watch Ultra 2 that I usage regularly is nan easy extremity calculator recovered successful nan calculator app. I was pleasantly amazed to spot Garmin see a extremity fastener connected nan calculator, and these mini functions thief easiness nan modulation from an Apple Watch to nan Venu X1.

Matthew Miller/ZDNET

One cardinal differentiator of nan Venu X1 compared to nan Apple Watch Ultra 2 is nan overmuch longer artillery life. If you move disconnected nan always-on show mode, you tin expect up to 8 days of artillery life. Fortunately, nan twist-to-turn-on useful flawlessly, truthful I'm not missing nan always-on mode. 

In fact, I recovered that nan always-on show trim down Garmin's artillery life to astir 2 days, reminiscent of nan constricted artillery life of nan Apple Watch Ultra. With a afloat charge, GPS search mode should supply 14-16 hours of activity tracking.

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Despite nan ample show size, nan watch is very lightweight astatine conscionable 40 grams, acknowledgment to nan incredibly ray and comfortable caller ComfortFit cloth band. The Venu X1 is besides bladed astatine conscionable 7.9mm, which makes it an moreover amended watch for slumber tracking. However, nan bladed shape facet and ample surface whitethorn make maine discuss connected artillery life compared to different Garmin devices.

Matthew Miller/ZDNET

The Garmin Venu X1 is simply a amended GPS sports watch than nan Apple Watch Ultra 2 acknowledgment to its customizable information fields, autochthonal support for much activities, and longer artillery life. However, it lacks cellular connectivity, which would person been beneficial for information reasons, akin to nan aged Forerunner 945 LTE.

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This caller watch is not really a Venu successor, but much of a slimmer, sleeker Fenix pinch a ample quadrate display. The deficiency of multi-band GPS and ECG support is simply a spot of a miss astatine this value point, but nan bladed shape facet whitethorn person constricted soul space, and I'm consenting to springiness up those specs for this shape factor. 

Die-hard Garmin users whitethorn not for illustration it, but it is simply a awesome modulation instrumentality for Apple Watch Ultra (and different wearables) fans.

ZDNET's buying advice

Many of america were caught disconnected defender by nan motorboat of nan Garmin Venu X1, and it remains somewhat polarizing owed to its ample screen, constricted artillery life, and precocious price. However, aft testing it for months now, it has been a awesome surprise. 

For those seeking a much tin wearable akin to nan Apple Watch Ultra, nan Venu X1 is simply a invited summation to Garmin's lineup. The ample display, slim shape factor, and extended Garmin customization options group person travel to emotion are each recovered successful this compelling smartwatch.