Garmin Venu 2 Plus: A Scientist’s Review

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In this video I scientifically review and test the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. I test the sleep tracking, heart rate accuracy, SpO2, oxygen saturation and GPS accuracy. I also compare the Garmin Venu 2 Plus against the Garmin Venu 2, Garmin Vivomove Sport and Apple Watch Series 7. The Garmin Venu 2 Plus is quite good at heart rate tracking, though surprisingly it is not as good as the Garmin Venu 2 that I tested in a previous video. The Apple Watch is a really good heart rate tracker, and it basically outperforms all other watches when it comes to heart rate accuracy. The Garmin Vivomove sport performed much better as a sleep tracker, which is surprising, given that it is much cheaper.

Intro: With the new Garmin Venu 2 Plus, Garmin is moving more and more into full smartwatch territory, as the Venu 2 Plus now includes a speaker and microphone, allowing you to take calls on your wrist and integrating voice assistants. However, the price-tag is also higher, with a release price of 450 dollars, which is even more than what you pay for the baseline model of the latest Apple Watch. The release price is also 50 dollars more than the very similar Garmin Venu 2. So, is the Venu 2 Plus worth that kind of money?
I will scientifically test the accuracy of the different features of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. I will look at the sleep tracking, heart rate measurements, oxygen saturation measurements and GPS accuracy. I will also compare it to the “normal” Garmin Venu 2 and the Apple Watch 7, and finally I’ll briefly compare it to the new and much cheaper Garmin Vivomove Sport. Spoiler, the Vivomove Sport actually vastly outperformed the Garmin Venu 2 Plus in one area.

Conclusion:
However, taking into account all features, I have mixed feelings about the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. The original Venu 2 performed better at heart rate tracking when I tested that a few months back, even though the sensors are the same as those in the Venu 2 Plus. I am not sure if anything changed internally in the watch that could cause some interference or if something changed in the processing of the signal. Alternatively, it could be just a fluke, and with more testing it could perform better. Still, the Venu 2 Plus is among some of the better wrist-worn heart rate trackers out there. On the other hand, the sleep tracking is pretty bad, and weirdly the much cheaper Garmin Vivomove Sport performs consistently better.
Nevertheless, if you are a runner or a cyclist, and you want to track your heart rate and your GPS position, I think the Garmin Venu 2 Plus is a good choice. However, since personally I do not really use the voice assistant integration, and I am also not a fan of taking calls from my wrist and playing music on a watch, I would rather opt for the original Venu 2, which you can probably find for 100 dollars less than the Venu 2 Plus. If you are an android user, you might actually also want to take a look at the Huawei Watch GT 3, which has great heart rate tracking and that video is linked here. If you want the best smartwatch experience and great heart rate tracking, the Apple Watch 7 is an even better choice. However, the Apple Watch has much poorer battery life and also requires an iPhone.

Timestamps:
00:00 Most important background
01:17 Sleep Test
07:34 Heart Rate Test
12:33 Oxygen Saturation Test
13:21 GPS Accuracy Test
14:35 Recommendations