Garmin Venu 2 Plus hands-on: Garmin's best smartwatch yet

Garmin's latest watch is trying to bridge the gap between a true fitness watch and smartwatch. Spoiler alert: It's pretty darn good. It now comes with a speaker and microphone so you can talk to your voice assistant, take quick calls and even play music from your wrist.

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Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Garmin Venu 2
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[doctortray]

Love this watch, had fitbits and Samsung watches & had to charge them every night but this Garmin Venu 2 is absolutely fabulous- received it Saturday and today is Thursday and battery is at 28% - none of my watches have lasted this long.

[xJosefxP]

Lexy is one of the few tech reviewers that actually understands the value of a smartwatch and can do a proper review of one

[MrWhaatay]

The Venu 2 Plus has the hardware to do ECG and the ECG app was FDA approved 3 weeks ago. It's the only Garmin watch that has the hardware to do it.

[flavioinzirillo]

I can honestly say this smart watch is fantastic. Function and ease of use is great. And looks stylish enough as a watch on its own regardless of where I’m going or wearing. Looked at apple as my phone and computers all Apple. But couldn’t do it, square design and I don’t need to text and call from my watch.

[Evan_Rodgers]

Garmin secretly makes the best range of smartwatches available.

[mydjiflights]

finally Garmin sent this new release watches to some body with android phone to test and review it. like always nice presentation.

[jamesrogers]

This looks better than any Apple Watch

[jasminebrown]

Great review! Placed my order on the venu 2 plus today. After using an AW for 6 years, the battery life sucks! Glad Garmin has the voice assistant among other great features!

[crusherman]

I've had a Fenix 5X Sapphire for the last couple of years. Loved it, but it was too heavy and I never really got used to it. Got a Venu 2+ and it's half the weight, half the price, bigger screen, and has much more functionality. Only downsides is the battery life is a slight downgrade (9 days instead of 12) and the screen is Gorilla Glass 3, which released almost 10 years ago.

[NotoriousVictorious]

Just bought it. I have the venu 1 and love it, can't wait for the new version

[SKing]

Great review! This watch looks really nice, but the main thing is 8 days of battery! Wow! I get 2 days at most from my Galaxy Watch 4. Functionality seems similar... Next time I will give Garmin serious consideration.

[thebigsdog]

Great review Lexy, you really know how to review a product and provide proper consumer feedback.

[thanasisoropos]

The only "PLUS" version device on earth that is actually smaller then the basic model 🤣

[slamminsammysw]

I have the Instinct just ordered this one super excited to use it when it arrives

[anarfox]

How's the battery life with the display always on? One of the things I love with my Vivoactive 3 is that I get almost a week of battery life with the screen always on.

[damifash]

Was really paying attention and admiring the watch till heard that price 😂

I got my watcg SE for about $220

[Scott]

Hmm... The battery life for this watch is amazing, but the UI is very uninspiring. I love the Pixel Watch UI, but the battery life is abysmal... why can't I get a device with both looks and performance?

[chuyistheshiz]

Galaxy classic here. This watch looks awesome also.

[TarotandWitchery]

THIS was the review I needed! Thank you

[WristWatcher]

You're my favorite CNET reviewer, and the prettiest as well.