It has been two years because the Venu 3 was launched, and the Venu 4 is following up with a brand new look and a few new options. Nevertheless, Garmin saved the Elevate sensor largely the identical, which is not essentially a foul factor. As we have seen with the Venu X1, this sensor manages to be fairly correct.
I have been utilizing the Garmin Venu 4 for a few weeks as my important exercise wearable. I’ve in contrast it to the Garmin Venu 3 to see how issues have modified (if in any respect), and towards the Pixel Watch 3 to see the way it stacks up towards my favourite smartwatch.
Health options I really like
In contrast to the Forerunner collection, the Garmin Venu 4 is extra of an all-rounder, which means there’s an general deal with health, not simply operating. Subsequently, Garmin has stuffed a bunch of health options into the watch, constructing on high of earlier fashions whereas making it superb for anybody to strap one on and simply go.
There are many helpful and new coaching options that can assist you get probably the most out of your exercises, however the one I pay most consideration to is Coaching Readiness. This takes under consideration varied elements, together with sleep, restoration time, and acute load, to find out how exhausting it’s best to push your self in upcoming exercises. In idea, it is a good strategy to keep away from overexerting your self, which might negatively have an effect on your efficiency.
The Venu 4 additionally helps extra teaching, which has allowed me to expertise a greater mixture of exercises to vary up my regular routine. This feels rather more tailor-made and different, and followers of the Venu collection ought to discover this handy. Weightlifters reminiscent of myself may also benefit from the watch’s potential to rely reps and units extra precisely than even the Venu 3, which interprets to extra correct train and muscle categorization in post-workout stats.
You will additionally obtain extra different instructed exercises if you do not have a training plan enabled, which is a pleasant evolution of the Morning Report on the Vivoactive 6.
After every exercise, the Venu 4 supplies a abstract of the exercise, which incorporates metrics like coaching load, which gauges the depth of your exercise. You will additionally see a quantity that signifies your restoration time, which straight impacts your coaching readiness. That is principally your downtime between strenuous actions, together with sleep. It is Garmin’s approach of telling you to sit back.
Coronary heart price
As coronary heart price sensors, smartwatches are pretty dependable, however in the end, they’re imperfect. How properly the watch detects your coronary heart price can rely upon numerous issues, together with the match, placement, cleanliness, and even the kind of band. And whereas Garmin’s Elevate V5 coronary heart price monitor on the Venu 4 has confirmed itself through the years, it is not infallible.
Normally, the Venu 4 gave the impression to be in keeping with expectations throughout my exercises. I have been understanding with smartwatches lengthy sufficient to know roughly what the readings needs to be. Nevertheless, there are occasions once I’ll discover that the watch will take a second to truly get there, as you may see within the charts under:
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As you may see within the first chart, the Venu 4 stayed properly under the Pixel Watch 3 throughout my run. I seen this in real-time, and could not decide why the readings had been so off, as each watches had been match snugly on my wrists. Thankfully, the watch appeared to appropriate itself as soon as my tempo quickened, nevertheless it undoubtedly threw me off throughout my run.
Subsequent runs didn’t seem to have any main discrepancies, and each watches had been largely in keeping with one another. Nevertheless, issues obtained just a little bizarre when testing the Venu 4 towards the Venu 3 throughout my HIIT exercises.
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HIIT exercises are usually extra different than runs, so my coronary heart price was in every single place. Nevertheless, the Venu 4 skilled a number of quick but important dips throughout a few of my exercises, which the Venu 3 didn’t. What makes it extra attention-grabbing is that the 2 smartwatches use the identical Elevate sensor, so I am unsure the place these dips got here from, however happily, the Venu 4 was in a position to appropriate itself a lot of the time.
For probably the most half, the Venu 4 coronary heart price sensor will likely be on the mark, with a number of anticipated minor blips right here and there.
Step counter
I took the Garmin Venu 4 on two abridged variations of my typical strolling check, strolling for a complete of two,000 steps on every event. I in contrast the step counts with the Google Pixel Watch 4, Venu 3, and the Oura Ring 4 whereas utilizing a guide step counter on my telephone to trace my steps. The outcomes had been pleasantly shocking, notably for the Venu fashions.
| Step check | Check 1 | Check 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Garmin Venu 4 | 2,000 | 2,016 |
| Garmin Venu 3 | — | 2,000 |
| Google Pixel Watch 3 | 1,998 | — |
| Oura Ring 4 | 1,935 | 1,944 |
As you may see, on each events, the Venu 4 or Venu 3 hit precisely 2,000 steps, which is sort of spectacular. The Venu 4 was an enormous hit on the second check, however not by a substantial quantity. In the meantime, the Pixel Watch 3 got here shut throughout its check, because it was off by simply two. The Oura Ring 4, in the meantime, was off by the same quantity on every event, counting 65 and 56 steps fewer than anticipated.
Whereas I have not had a possibility to place the Venu 4 by means of its paces to actually check the brand new dual-frequency GPS, the step check exhibits that even throughout a brief stroll, the Venu 4 (blue) seems usually extra steady than the Venu 3 (orange), as seen within the map above.
Vertict
Regardless of some hiccups, the Venu 4 appears like a well-rounded health companion, because of acquainted options and {hardware} in addition to newer options and insights. Whereas it will’ve been good to see an upgraded Elevate sensor, the Venu 4 proves that it nonetheless has some life in it but. And with new coaching options, customers ought to be capable to get extra out of their exercises to optimize their efficiency.
