Step into a world where the focus is keenly set on Readings For This Week. Within the confines of this article, a tapestry of references to Readings For This Week awaits your exploration. If your pursuit involves unraveling the depths of Readings For This Week, you've arrived at the perfect destination.
Our narrative unfolds with a wealth of insights surrounding Readings For This Week. This is not just a standard article; it's a curated journey into the facets and intricacies of Readings For This Week. Whether you're thirsting for comprehensive knowledge or just a glimpse into the universe of Readings For This Week, this promises to be an enriching experience.
The spotlight is firmly on Readings For This Week, and as you navigate through the text on these digital pages, you'll discover an extensive array of information centered around Readings For This Week. This is more than mere information; it's an invitation to immerse yourself in the enthralling world of Readings For This Week.
So, if you're eager to satisfy your curiosity about Readings For This Week, your journey commences here. Let's embark together on a captivating odyssey through the myriad dimensions of Readings For This Week.
9 great reads from CNET this week: COP26, Star Wars, Mars moon and more
9 great reads from CNET this week: COP26, Star Wars, Mars moon and more
There's been a lot of talk about the climate crisis this week, pegged to the UN's COP26 summit of world leaders in Glasgow, Scotland. It's brought together a who's who of luminaries, from Jeff Bezos to Joe Biden to David Attenborough, all emphasizing the need to act now and act smartly to steer us away from worst-case scenarios.
CNET's Katie Collins has been in Glasgow reporting from COP26, and we've also published a range of articles about efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond that, the CNET Money team has mustered up some practicalguidelines about how each of us can navigate the world with climate change in mind.
Those stories are among the many in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So here you go. These are the stories you don't want to miss.
Researchers look to formidable new allies to rein in methane emissions from agriculture.
Getty/Bloomberg
Here's how to channel those negative feelings into something good.
Westend61/Getty
Injecting reflective particles into the atmosphere could turn down the heat on Earth, but research has been controversial.
Getty
Activists are fighting for it, world leaders agree we need it, but climate justice is still being made to sit on the sidelines at the UN climate summit.
Katie Collins/CNET
Commentary: "She said stop, and he didn't stop."
Disney/Lucasfilm
Japan's space agency plans to find out if the potato-shaped curiosity holds remnants of long-dead microbes.
Realizm
The company is one of many competing to ease your supply chain woes.
Getty Images
Some of the apps are limited to buying and selling and don't let you move cryptocurrency to a wallet. But they might entice beginners to try crypto.
Getty Images
EVs are great for many things -- but towing? Let's see how our long-term Tesla managed with its tow hitch occupied.
Garmin epix review finally a sports watch with an amazing company garmin epix review finally a sports watch with anchor garmin epix review finally a sports watch with heart garmin epix review finally a sports watch with blood garmin epix review finally a sports watch with velcro garmin epix review finally a sports watch with ceramic band garmin epix review finally a sports venue garmin epix review finally a sports channel garmin epix review finally a worthy garmin epix review finally a goddess garmin epix review finally after all these years garmin epix 2 review garmin epix review garmin epix sapphire garmin epix price garmin epix sale rei garmin epix
Garmin Epix Review: Finally, a Sports Watch With an Amazing Screen
Garmin Epix Review: Finally, a Sports Watch With an Amazing Screen
The Garmin Epix breaks the mold for sports watches with its bright AMOLED screen -- and its price. Rather than a transflective display like many of Garmin's earlier outdoor watches, the screen on the $900 (£899, AU$1,399) Epix enhances the overall experience, making it feel more like a true smartwatch. Even better news is this display doesn't come at the sacrifice of battery life, unlike some of its competitors such as the Apple Watch Series 7 or Galaxy Watch 4.
The Epix shares most of its core features with the Fenix 7 series that starts at $700 including extensive sports modes, onboard navigation and blood oxygen tracking, but it has a vastly superior screen.
Like
6-day battery life with always-on display
Comprehensive fitness tracking
Extensive mapping and routing support
Android and iPhone compatibility
Don't Like
No heart health features like ECG
No LTE variant, microphone for taking quick calls
47mm size is too big for some wrists
If you're looking for a watch to help you train and recover, the Epix does that to a tee. There's also suggestions for workouts you can do to complement your existing routine. I found it helpful that the watch would give me nudges to help up the intensity of my workouts to boost my VO2 Max -- which, admittedly, isn't as high as it used to be as I've been enjoying easier workouts during the pandemic.
I've been wearing the Epix for a month and although it's missing some features like solar charging and a speaker and mic for taking quick calls on your wrist, it really does feel like the best high-end Garmin watch if you're tossing up between the Fenix 7 and Epix -- especially if $900 for the best fitness tracking sounds worth the investment.
It's all about that screen
Without a doubt the standout design feature of the Epix is its 1.3-inch AMOLED display. It's bright and easy to see in direct sun. There's also the option to leave the display always on so the time or your workout stats stay visible.
The Epix only comes in 47mm size. I have small wrists and while the Epix admittedly does look a bit big on me, it doesn't feel too overwhelming. For those with even smaller wrists than mine, you might want to try the Epix or look at the smaller Fenix 7S before buying.
The Epix on a small wrist.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
Garmin has really built this watch to withstand the elements. You get the choice of two versions, either a stainless steel version that comes with a Gorilla Glass DX screen, or a titanium version for $100 more with a sapphire crystal face. These metallic finishes may lead to some of the watch's heft, which I found too heavy for me to wear at night despite sleep tracking being offered as a feature on the Epix. I'm an active sleeper, so I was always concerned I'd accidentally knock my teeth out with the watch if I wore it to bed on the regular.
Like the Fenix, you can use both the touchscreen and physical buttons to interact with the watch. By default, the touchscreen is disabled during a workout to avoid accidental presses. All five buttons have a satisfying click to them and the interface is pretty responsive overall to touch, although some screens have a split-second lag that I've learned to live with.
You swipe up or down from the main watch face to access glances, which is a summary screen of metrics like heart rate, blood oxygen, step count, notifications and training status or VO2 Max. This is all customizable, so you can easily swap in metrics like respiration rate instead of the weather if you like.
The Epix also uses Garmin's quick fit watch bands so you can switch them out with the press of a button. There are third-party watch faces available through the ConnectIQ store, a separate app to the Garmin Connect app you need to download on your phone to sync the watch. I ended up sticking to the watch's first-party options as they had enough complications and widgets I could change to show my favorite metrics at a glance.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
The Epix has more sports tracking modes than you could ever want
The Epix has so many health and fitness options, it can feel overwhelming if you're a more casual athlete like myself. Fortunately you can customize the interface and workout types to only surface the activity types you want to track and the data that actually matters to you. If you're a serious athlete, there's more than enough to sink your teeth into with over 30 different activities, plus a multisport mode so you can seamlessly transition between workout types.
For runners, PacePro calculates when you should increase or decrease your pace depending on the course you're running. There's also real-time stamina that helps you work out how much you have left to give in the tank when running or cycling. I like the idea of seeing my stamina levels on my wrist, but it's better for long-distance or endurance runners who want to avoid burning out rather than more casual runners like me.
You can also get general guidance with daily workout suggestions for runs and rides that take your training status into account. Like the Venu 2 and Venu 2 Plus, the Epix has animated workouts for cardio, weights, yoga and Pilates. Skiers will appreciate a dedicated activity type for backcountry ski and a ski power metric to show the load of your cross-country workouts, though you do need a separate chest strap for this feature to work. Surfers also can see tides, wave height and winds on the Epix too, while golfers will appreciate being able to track scores and see courses on their wrist.
A strength workout animation on the Epix.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
Post-workout screens show metrics like pace, distance, a map if it was an outdoor GPS activity, as well as aerobic and anaerobic load, plus recovery time.
Heart rate accuracy is good on the Epix when compared to a chest strap, but results varied depending on the workout type and how tight I fastened the watch. Cycling, for instance, caused some big variances in readings particularly during the first few minutes of my ride. Because the Epix is so big on me, it did bounce around more than smaller watches, even when tightened securely, which affected some readings.
The Epix (purple line) matches up well to a chest strap for the most part, with a little variance at the start of my run. Heart rate accuracy will vary across individuals too due to other factors like fit and activity type.
Screenshot by Lexy Savvides/CNET
The Epix also has other health and fitness features found on more recent Garmin watches:
Body battery: An indicator that takes activity level, heart rate variability and stress into account to indicate if you're ready to take on a workout or take it easy.
High and low heart rate alerts.
VO2 Max that also adjusts for trail running and heat or altitude.
Blood oxygen sensor for spot, all-day background and sleep readings.
Sleep tracking with sleep stages and score.
All of this information is surfaced on the watch itself, or you can look through the Garmin Connect app on iOS or Android to see all your metrics. There is a lot of detail in this app and for first-time users it can feel overwhelming, but fortunately you can pare it down to just the essential fields you want to see if you spend some time customizing the app.
All of the data you see in the Connect app is reflected on the watch too.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
For sleep tracking, similar to other Garmin watches I've tested, the Epix does tend to overestimate my total time in bed as well as underestimate my awake time during the night.
It is a shame to see the Epix lacks an electrocardiogram or ECG app given its price. While this might not be a dealbreaker for some, it does feel like a big omission considering the Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch and Fitbit all have this option, and all are hundreds of dollars less than the Garmin.
Maps to get you anywhere you need to go
The Epix also offers extensive onboard mapping and navigation tools. It has turn-by-turn navigation, golf and ski maps, round-trip routing and multiband GNSS support. Overall GPS performance has been great, with the signal locking on within seconds after starting a workout. Accuracy matched up to route and distance data captured from a control phone.
My favorite mapping feature that makes the most of the bright AMOLED display is round-trip routing. It suggests a couple different routes for riding or running based on distance and routes back to your starting point. It's been on Garmin's Fenix line for a couple generations now, but I've found it's helped me find a couple new routes to try.
Maps look great on the AMOLED display.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
Garmin offers Live Track which broadcasts your location so friends or family can know your location during an outdoor workout like a run. This does require you to take your phone with you for all activities where you want Live Track, as the Epix does not come with an LTE variant like the Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, or Garmin's own Forerunner 945 LTE. While cellular would cause more battery drain during a workout, again for the price of this watch, it feels like an omission to not have that option.
There's also incident detection onboard that can alert your emergency contacts during certain activities if the watch senses you have had an accident. Over the past month, the Epix has given me two false positive incident detection warnings, including after I vigorously brushed sand off my dog at the beach. All of a sudden, I felt lots of buzzing and a loud sound coming from the watch and I had to cancel the incident detection before it sent a text. So it does seem to be a little sensitive to particular motions it associates with an incident.
It's a sports watch, but has some smart features too
There are just enough smart features on the Epix to help it keep up with the competition, but unfortunately it's missing a speaker and mic for taking quick calls on your wrist, or interacting with a voice assistant. The Garmin Venu 2 Plus, also released in 2022, has this onboard if that's a dealbreaker for you.
The screen makes reviewing notifications a breeze, although you won't be able to respond to any notifications or text messages from the watch if you're paired with an iPhone. Quick replies are only an option on Android. The Epix uses Garmin's own operating system and there are a couple third-party apps available on the Connect IQ store, but not as extensive as those offered on other watches like from Apple or Samsung.
Music apps on the Epix. Bluetooth headphones and earbuds connect seamlessly as well.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
But the Epix supports multiple music apps including Spotify, Amazon Music and Deezer. You can store music offline from these services or transfer songs to the watch. The stainless steel variant has 16GB of storage while the sapphire version comes with 32GB. All versions come with Garmin Pay for contactless payments from your wrist.
The Garmin Epix battery life goes on and on… and on
Garmin has somehow managed to get six days of battery life from this AMOLED watch, with the always-on display active. That's way more than Apple and Samsung watches under the same parameters. If you don't use your watch to track sleep and turn it off overnight as I have been doing, you can even get up to one week before you need to charge.
If you turn off the always-on display and just use raise-to-wake, that extends to 16 days battery life in smartwatch mode. Of course if you're doing a lot of GPS activities you might not meet these numbers, but even with a 60-minute outdoor walk each day, I still met the Garmin claims for battery life.
Sure, this isn't as long as the Fenix 7 series -- which can last several weeks between charges -- but for the display and capabilities of this watch, I was impressed.
The Epix (left) side-by-side with the Fenix 7X (right).
Lexy Savvides/CNET
I also really like how some of the watch faces show battery life remaining in a time format rather than as a percentage. For example, it says something like two days or 14 hours. The watch uses Garmin's standard 4-pin charger.
The Garmin Epix checks almost all the boxes you could want in a sports watch. But if you need more flexibility with a smaller watch face, built-in flashlight or a solar charging option, take a look at the Fenix 7 series. You'll really notice the difference in screens between the two watches side by side, though. If you like the sound of the Garmin Epix and are looking for more of a hybrid smartwatch but can't stomach the price, the Venu 2 or Venu 2 Plus is a great alternative for hundreds less.
Garmin Lily review: One of the best smartwatches designed for women
Garmin Lily review: One of the best smartwatches designed for women
The Lily's circular design and slim bezel comes closer to the look of a traditional women's wristwatch than any other smartwatch I've tested. That's because the $200 Garmin Lily is one of the first smartwatches designed specifically for women. Despite its smaller footprint, the Lily doesn't miss out on key health features you'd expect from a watch released in 2021. It offers SpO2 (or blood oxygen) readings, sleep tracking, workout tracking and 24/7 heart-rate monitoring with high and low heart-rate alerts.
If you want the fitness chops of a Garmin watch without the bulk, then the Lily is your jam. But if you want the Lily to act as a true second screen for your phone, this is not your watch. It doesn't have built-in GPS and it falls short on smart features offered by many other watches in the same price range. It's missing a voice assistant, contactless payments, music storage and the ability to run third-party apps.
A round watch face with a distinct style
The Lily is a petite 34mm circular watch with a simple touch screen and no physical buttons. It looks completely different from any other smartwatch that Garmin (or any company, really) has made before. It's also a far cry from some of Garmin's other sports watches, which have thick bezels and multiple buttons. There are two versions of the Lily: a $200 Sport edition with a silicone band and aluminum bezel, and a $250 Classic edition with a leather band and stainless steel bezel. I've been wearing the Sport edition for over a week and it's been comfortable to wear all day and all night. I sometimes forget it's on my wrist because it's so light at 24 grams (0.8 ounces).
Lexy Savvides/CNET
I've been wearing smartwatches for so long now that I've almost forgotten how clunky they can look on me. Even though I'm just shy of 6 feet tall, I have fairly small wrists and even "small" smartwatches like the 40mm Apple Watch ($349 at eBay) or 40mm Galaxy Watch Active 2 ($200 at Amazon) seem to overpower them. The Lily is the first smartwatch I've tried that almost looks too small for me, so it would be perfect for even daintier wrists than mine. That said, I've never had an issue with reading text or interacting with the watch and I've mostly gotten used to the small size.
Rather than a color OLED display like some of the smartwatches mentioned above, the Lily has a monochrome LCD touchscreen that disappears into the background when on standby. There's also a cool pattern that's etched in the background of the watch that gives it a unique look when the screen is on or off.
There's also a haptic button in the lower part of the screen you can use to bring up the main menu to access workouts and settings.
The screen quality is not as disappointing as I expected after reading the specs on paper, even if it's not as sharp as some of its competitors. Text is legible, the icons are easy to recognize and the haptic button works as promised to bring up the main watch menu. The sacrifices in screen quality meant that I didn't have to charge this watch every day like some of its competitors, which felt like a fair trade in my book. I managed to get around 3.5 to 4 days out of the Lily before needing to charge. Unlike other recent Garmin watches that use the same charging cable, the Lily uses an alligator-style clip charger that clamps over part of the screen. It's a bit awkward to use. You'll be able to change out the band with a special tool that comes when you buy a replacement from Garmin.com.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
The Lily's biggest downside
Garmin's focus on size and simplicity also meant the Lily doesn't have onboard GPS, which is something I look for in a smartwatch, particularly one that's main focus is fitness. Instead, it relies on connected GPS from your phone in order to track your distance and route information. This means you have to take your phone with you on an outdoor bike ride, run or walk.
It was especially disappointing after just having reviewed the Garmin Venu Sq ($200 at Crutchfield), which does have built-in GPS and costs the same as the Lily. If you're looking to track your steps, yoga, Pilates or stationary weights sessions, for example, the Lily is ideal. But runners or cyclists will probably want a watch that can track routes without a phone.
SpO2 and sleep tracking, but no new health features
There are no big surprises with the health tracking features on Lily, especially if you're familiar with any other Garmin watch. It tracks your sleep and gives you a breakdown of the different stages of sleep (REM, light or deep sleep) through the Garmin Connect app when you wake up. There's also a pulse oximeter that can give you a spot reading of your blood oxygen on demand and also takes background readings while you sleep. The app then uses all this data to come up with a body battery score for the day which gives you a sense of how rested you are and help you determine what kind of exercise (if any) you should focus on for the day.
Sleep tracking on the Garmin Lily.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
The Lily also has health tracking features specifically for women, like pregnancy tracking and cycle tracking, but they're not exclusive to the Lily. Garmin's most recent smartwatches like the Garmin Venu Sq have them as well.
All your health and fitness stats are consolidated in the Garmin Connect app which makes it easy to interpret your data. You can read my full review of the Venu Sq for a deeper dive into all the health tracking features that are shared with this watch.
Note that the Lily doesn't have fall detection like the Apple Watch SE ($280 at eBay) or Series 6, or the Galaxy Watch 3 ($399 at Amazon). But Lily does support Garmin's LiveTrack, which lets you send your location during a workout to specific contacts in case of an emergency.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
Smart features are pretty bare bones
This watch feels more like a sophisticated fitness tracker than a fully fledged smartwatch. You can do the basics on the Lily, like seeing notifications from your phone on the screen, but there's no voice assistant, third-party app support, or third-party watch faces to download. There's also no onboard music storage (although you do get music playback control) and it also lacks a speaker and microphone to dictate text responses, or taking a quick call from your wrist.
The watch is compatible with both iOS and Android phones, but only Android users can respond to text messages using quick replies. The vibration motor is a little noisy when you get a notification, or when you want to start and stop an activity, but it's strong and I never failed to notice it buzz on my wrist. I also found I needed to turn gesture sensitivity to its highest setting so raising it to wake the screen would work reliably.
There's also a calendar, alarms and the ability to ping your phone from the watch if it's in Bluetooth range.
A pretty watch that's more fitness tracker than smartwatch
If you've been put off by chunky sports watches before, the Garmin Lily is a capable fitness watch alternative that offers style and substance. It's ideal if you've never owned a smartwatch before, or you're looking for an upgrade from a basic fitness tracker.
But looks (and maybe battery life) are pretty much the only things setting this smartwatch apart as there's no shortage of competition in the $200 to $300 range from other unisex options (including Garmin's own Venu Sq) which offer more smart features and built-in GPS.
Garmin venu sq review a solid fitness tracker without watch garmin venu sq review a solid fitness tracker without iphone garmin venu sq review a solid is a state garmin venu sq review anime garmin venu sq review article garmin venu sq review air garmin venu sq review atlas garmin venu sq music garmin venu sq user guide garmin venu sq smartwatch garmin venu 2 garmin venu vs vivoactive 4
Garmin Venu Sq review: A solid fitness tracker without the frills
Garmin Venu Sq review: A solid fitness tracker without the frills
The $200 (£179, AU$300) Garmin Venu Sq has almost every fitness- and health-tracking feature you could want in a smartwatch for less than competitors like the Apple Watch ($349 at eBay) and Fitbit Versa 3 ($170 at Target). It has a bright LCD touchscreen, built-in GPS, SpO2 (blood oxygen) tracking and up to six days of battery life, which makes it a compelling buy, especially if you want a watch that's compatible with both Android and iOS.
It's not the most premium-looking smartwatch out there and it misses out on features like a voice assistant and altimeter, but it makes up for it in health and fitness features that elevate it from the rest.
A functional watch without the wow factor
Like the name suggests, the Venu Sq has a square watch face with rounded edges, unlike the original Garmin Venu and almost every other Garmin sports watch with circular designs. Its 1.3-inch color LCD display feels a bit cramped compared to other Garmin watches, but it's clear and easy to read even in bright sunlight and you can keep the screen set to always-on. Having used the larger Garmin Venu for a while, the smaller size of the Venu Sq took a bit of getting used to, especially during workouts when I couldn't see as many stats at a glance and had to scroll to find the right metric like heart rate, which was all the way on the last page.
The overall build quality is sturdy enough thanks to an aluminum bezel, although the plastic case and buttons make it feel like a cheaper watch than it actually is, especially compared to something like the Apple Watch SE ($280 at eBay), Galaxy Watch Active 2 ($200 at Amazon) or Fitbit Versa 3 for example, which all have metal finishes and OLED displays. The Venu Sq has two side buttons: one to start/stop activities and the other to navigate back and forth between menus. Once I figured out which did what, it took me a few days to get completely comfortable using them to navigate the interface.
My biggest complaint with the Venu Sq's design is the vibration motor, which is not particularly strong. Half the time it was the buzzing noise, not the vibration itself, that clued me in on a notification.
Blood oxygen monitor and heart health alerts
Garmin's biggest strength is in health and fitness tracking, with the Venu Sq squarely hitting the mark. It has an SpO2 sensor to identify blood oxygen levels, either as a spot check or automatically throughout the day and night, similar to the $399 Apple Watch Series 6. Although setting it to monitor constantly will reduce battery life a lot faster. It's also hard to find the SpO2 option in the menus and I found that adding it as a widget in the settings is the best way to get it to pop up on your wrist.
Unfortunately I didn't have a pulse oximeter to compare the readings from the Venu Sq to determine accuracy. Either way, it's important to note that the Venu Sq has not been approved to be used as a medical device and should not be used for diagnostic purposes. Always consult with a physician or other qualified health provider about any health-related issues you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
Though the Venu Sq doesn't have an ECG, or electrocardiogram, like the Apple Watch Series 6 and Galaxy Watch 3 ($399 at Amazon), it does give you the option to receive high and low heart rate notifications that will let you know if your heart rate spikes above or falls below what it considers to be a healthy threshold.
The Venu Sq also uses heart rate variability to determine your stress levels, but doesn't really offer much guidance on how to decrease your stress. I found Garmin's Body Battery meter, which takes into account heart rate variability readings, activity levels and sleep, a more accurate representation of how my body was working that day and helped me decide what kind of workout to do and how hard to push myself. It works better than the Stress Management Score in the Fitbit Sense ($240 at Target) that is a bit more difficult to interpret for me.
Garmin also offers breathing rate and estimated VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise, which can be used to gauge and improve athletic performance. The higher the number, the more fit you are.
Screenshot by Lexy Savvides/CNET
Sleep tracking is also great on the Venu Sq and clearly identifies your sleep stages of REM, deep and light sleep. You'll also be able to see breathing rate and SpO2 levels in the morning. The downside is that the Garmin Connect app doesn't give you any tips on improving your sleep quality. Menstrual cycle tracking is also available on the Venu Sq and like other Garmin watches, it offers pregnancy tracking to log symptoms and monitor baby movement.
The Venu Sq has a range of workouts preloaded onto the watch, including cardio, strength, Pilates and yoga, so you can follow along with a preset routine on your wrist. There aren't any visual cues on the screen though, just text cues, so if you're doing yoga for example, you'll need to know what "standing forward bend pose" or "low lunge pose" means to get the most out of the routine. You can also build your own workout, such as a circuit of weights, a Pilates routine or a run, within the Garmin Connect app and sync them to the watch. There are also over 50 additional Garmin-created workouts you can load.
On top of these preloaded routines, the Venu Sq can track more than 20 different workout types, from the usual running and walking variants to golf and pool swimming. There's also a personal running coach you can use to help you train for a race or to hit a set goal. It doesn't give you personalized feedback on your form or audio cues like the Galaxy Watches ($295 at Amazon), for example, instead it's more a guide for when you should warm up or how long you should run for, displayed on your wrist.
The Venu Sq has built-in GPS, meaning you don't have to rely on your phone for distance tracking when you're outside. Just be warned that it does take at least 30 seconds to lock on to a GPS signal when you are outside (regardless of whether you have your phone with you or not), which seems like an eternity if you're an impatient runner like me who just wants to get on with it. Once it finally locked though, it tracked my route accurately.
The downside is that there is no gyroscope or altimeter on the Venu Sq, so if you need accurate elevation data you'll likely want to look elsewhere. The Garmin Connect app does a good job of clearly showing you all the details after your workout, but it doesn't dive any deeper into metrics than what similarly priced rivals like the Apple Watch SE or Fitbit Versa 3 offer.
Like other Garmin watches, the Venu Sq has Garmin Live Track which lets you share your location with a safety contact when you are doing an outdoor workout. It does however require a cellular connection, so you will need your phone with you to use this feature.
You can customize the options on this screen to show only your favorite workout types to track.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
Just enough smarts for most people
While the Venu Sq is geared towards fitness and health tracking, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll miss out on smartwatch features. Like almost every other watch, the Venu Sq displays notifications from your phone and pings your phone to locate it if you lose it within Bluetooth range. You'll be able to see call notifications come through regardless of which phone you have the watch paired with, but only Android users will be able to decline calls and respond to text messages from the watch with prewritten responses. There is no speaker or mic onboard so you can't use voice-to-text responses.
The Venu Sq runs Garmin's own operating system (Garmin OS) which is not as seamless as that of Apple or Samsung's smartwatches, but I found it to be stable and more responsive than the Fitbit OS. It's faster to sync updates and doesn't experience any lag in selecting menu options or opening apps.
The biggest pain point for me when using the Venu Sq paired with an iPhone ($500 at Best Buy) has been notifications. The Garmin Connect app on iOS doesn't let you filter out what notifications come through on your wrist and simply mirrors whatever notifications you have set up on your phone. It might not be a deal breaker for many, but I like to push only the most important notifications such as calls and text messages to my wrist, rather than everything that my phone shows. Android users get more control over which notifications come through.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
If you want onboard music storage, you'll need to opt for the music edition of the Venu Sq that costs $50 more, which is the version I tested in this review. The Venu Sq Music lets you store music for offline listening from apps like Spotify (with a Premium subscription) or songs you already own. It's also the watch to get for faster data transfers as it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, whereas the regular Venu Sq only uses Bluetooth.
Garmin has plenty of watch faces to choose from, including third-party options to help personalize the look, plus a fairly wide selection of apps through the Connect IQ Store (a separate app you need to download on your phone). You can also make contactless payments with Garmin Pay on all versions of the watch. The main Garmin Connect app is where you see all your stats and change settings on the watch, while the Connect IQ Store is for adding apps and watch faces.
The Venu Sq, however, lacks a voice assistant, a feature that by now has become standard for most of its similarly priced competitors. This might not be a deal-breaker for you, but it means you miss out hands-free voice control, which I like.
A week's worth of battery life
The Venu Sq has great battery life and you can get up to six days worth of use before you'll need to charge it up, though that number may start to whittle down if you're using it for a lot of GPS workouts, listening to music or continuously tracking your blood oxygen levels. Garmin quotes up to eight hours of battery when playing back music, 14 hours if you are using it in GPS mode, or up to six hours with GPS and music playback.
A great fitness watch without extra bells and whistles
If you're willing to sacrifice a few smart features for better health and fitness tracking, the Garmin Venu Sq is a solid choice that works with Android or iOS. That said, I do wish that Garmin wouldn't charge the extra $50 for the music version, as it does alter the value proposition quite a bit, particularly if you are an iPhone user who might also be considering the Apple Watch SE which, at that point doesn't cost you that much more.
Apple watch 7 makes me think bigger upgrades synonym apple watch 7 makes me think bigger upgrades from the commonwealth apple watch 7 makes me think maybe god s a woman apple watch 7 makes me think synonym apple watch 7 makes me think of carbohydrates apple watch 7 makes me want to shout apple watch 7 makes merry apple watch 7 make ship apple watch 7 makeshift apple watch 7 makestar apple watch 7 series apple watch 7 features
Apple Watch 7 makes me think bigger upgrades could be coming next year
Apple Watch 7 makes me think bigger upgrades could be coming next year
The Apple Watch Series 7 has some new features, a bigger screen and upped durability. It charges a bit faster, apps load quickly and is fitted with WatchOS 8. But as I flick through it and its watch faces, I have to ask myself: Has anything really changed?
Of course things have changed, a bit. But the newest Apple Watch feels like a careful polish on the same ideas the Series 6 had. Or, the Series 5 before it. There isn't one big new thing that stands out. Now that the Apple Watch feels like it's cleared the experimental zone of wearable tech and become a mainstream product like the iPhone and iPad, maybe this is the watch's destiny. I still see some clear areas where the Apple Watch should evolve, and the larger-screened, quicker-charging Watch 7 makes it more obvious than ever. Maybe the rumored Apple Watch Series 8 will bring some larger upgrades.
Read more: How the Apple Watch 7 compares to the Apple Watch 6 and why you might want the Apple Watch SE instead.
Better battery life
There are clear limits on batteries and small devices. Some fitness trackers last up to a week, but make sacrifices when it comes to performance and features. High-powered smartwatches tend to never make it past two days, max. Still, the Apple Watch has hovered at about a day and a half of battery life for years. When will better battery life finally happen? That 18-hour-plus range keeps getting bonuses in performance: an always-on display, a larger screen, faster processor. When will the scale tip and allow longer battery life, like what's been happening on recent iPhones and MacBooks?
Some people are fine with daily charging. It seriously hampers the Watch's use as a sleep tracker, though. Apple suggests a quick recharge in the morning or a top-off at night to make it through a night's sleep. But a lower-power sleep mode seems like a clear need, or some other way to get the battery through to a couple of days (or more). Turning off the always-on display or other features could help the watch extend its battery life, sure. I think about that Apple Watch battery more than ever as something that needs to evolve.
The Apple Watch has lots of watch faces. But they never feel like enough, and their customization has limits.
Scott Stein/CNET
A watch face store
Apple's watch face collection is extensive and customizable, and the watch faces look good. But it's also limited. With Apple investing so much in larger displays and high-performance processors, the lack of a watch face store is a wasted opportunity. I keep trying to find watch faces to show off the larger Watch 7 screen and use it in all sorts of new ways, and I hit limits. I want to show just how many bits of info I can layer (complications, they're called), for instance.
One of Apple's new Watch Series 7 faces, Modular Duo, shows two rows of rich information for apps that support it: a heart rate graph and a weather chart, for instance. There aren't that many apps that use larger complications like this. I'd prefer a way to show a bunch of smaller ones, but also lay it out the way I'd like. There's room on the screen now, so why not? I can't, though, not really.
I've said this a ton of times : Apple Watch is the only major smartwatch that doesn't have an open watch face store. There could be so many more interesting designs on tap, but right now Apple still hasn't made it happen.
Full watch independence
The Apple Watch is nearly a self-contained device, now: a fast wrist computer. It does a lot more than it did back in 2015. But you still need to pair it with an iPhone.
Recent Apple Watch updates allow you to pair a watch for someone else and have them wear it on their own, but you still need an iPhone for it to link to at the start.
Opening up the Watch to Android would be great, but there's an ever simpler path: It should just work on its own without a phone. You should be able to set it up and fully operate it as its own device. And then, optionally, pair it with whatever phone you have.
The Apple Watch Series 7's display is so large, it wraps around the side a bit. But the sensors on the back are the same.
Scott Stein/CNET
More sensors, or a more complete sleep-to-wake awareness
The Apple Watch's fitness and health features keep expanding, but it still doesn't have a feature that I've started appreciating on a few other watches and rings: a daily health score.
Fitbit and Oura wearables both have a morning score that can be interpreted as a sort of barometer of wellness or stress levels. The scores can seem arbitrary, sure. They're dependent on multiple readings ranging from sleep quality to resting heart rate to even heart rate variability and daily activity the day before. And yet, over weeks and months, I came to love the idea. I find that these scores help remind me of some things I haven't been tending to (not getting enough sleep, not getting up or being active enough), but in ways that are more proactive than the end-of-day activity ring goals the Apple Watch has.
Sometimes these scores remind me to take it easy, too. They can feel, at times, like a form of subtle alert system that can sometimes (not always) correspond with not feeling well.
The Apple Watch doesn't have onboard temperature sensors, and it still doesn't break down nightly sleep in as detailed a way as other trackers do. Sleep tracking is an imperfect science on smartwatches right now, but I still find sleep scores to be helpful reminders (and motivators).
The more I might wear an Apple Watch all the time, the more I'd expect a little more awareness of my health than the three-ring fitness metric I've started to ignore since being at home a lot.
Series 7 is the perfected Watch as we know it, but what's next?
I can see the Apple Watch as a fast, large-screen wrist successor to the iPod, and going a lot more places next. I love the bigger screen, but it also feels like an opportunity that's not being taken advantage of enough. And that makes me more frustrated than ever that I still have to take it off every day for a charge-up.
