With a design reminiscent of a slim Apple Watch Ultra 2 and similar to a Forerunner 970, the Garmin Venu X1 presents a distinctive choice.
What you need to know
– The Garmin Venu X1 is a $799 high-end smartwatch featuring premium tools akin to the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970.
– It boasts an 8mm-thick titanium build, integrated mic & speaker, LED flashlight, and offline map capabilities.
– The 2-inch square AMOLED display is safeguarded by sapphire glass and offers enhanced brightness.
As many Garmin timepieces move to AMOLED displays, it was uncertain how the Venu series that initiated this trend would differentiate itself. We now have our answer: the Garmin Venu X1, a high-end squircle fitness watch equipped with a 2-inch AMOLED and an incredibly sleek design—only 8mm thick, 6.4mm thinner than the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Garmin has evidently crafted the Venu X1 with Apple’s flagship in mind, featuring a slightly larger display, matching launch price of $799, and an eight-day battery life. It achieves a resolution of 448 x 486, while Apple’s is at 502 x 410, with a marginally more pronounced border at the top and bottom.
Despite these similarities, the Garmin Venu X1 and Apple Watch Ultra are distinctly different devices, as Garmin lacks the same apps, processing power, phone compatibility, or a full titanium body.
Nonetheless, Garmin appears to target Apple users who appreciate the titanium aesthetics but prioritize premium fitness features and comfort over peak performance.
The Venu X1 receives almost every feature that was withheld from the Venu 3.
The Garmin Venu X1 provides a more advanced fitness experience compared to the Garmin Venu 3, which serves as more of an all-purpose device and lacks essential training features like Training Readiness.
For runners, the Garmin Venu X1 includes Training Status / Load / Effect, Lactate Threshold, Performance Condition, Daily Suggested Workouts, a Race Glance widget, real-time stamina, heat acclimation, support for multisport activities, Strava Live Segments, Hill / Endurance scores, and a variety of new sports modes.
For hikers, the Venu X1 is equipped with pre-downloaded topo maps that should look stunning on the 2-inch display and make users of the Garmin Instinct 3 extremely envious. Additionally, it offers access to 43,000 golf courses and several useful features like the Virtual Caddie.
On the smart functionality side, the Garmin Venu X1 reintroduces the same mic & speaker, but they now extend beyond simple passthrough voice commands to allow for Voice Memos and on-device voice commands. While it may not compare to Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant, it’s commendable for a fitness watch.
For a complete feature comparison with the Venu 3, reference the Garmin Compare link and select “Show Only Differences.”
The nearest equivalent in terms of features and pricing is the Garmin Forerunner 970, which is $50 cheaper and includes similar premium features such as a built-in LED flashlight, mic & speaker for Bluetooth calls and offline voice commands, sapphire glass protection, and the top-tier Elevate v5 sensor for ECGs and skin temperature monitoring.
Aside from a few premium running tools like Running Tolerance, the main advantage of the Forerunner 970 is a longer battery life of 15 days per charge with 21 hours of dual-band GPS tracking. The Venu X1 lasts only eight days or 14 with all-systems GNSS, lacking a multi-band option.
However, many runners might lean towards the Venu X1, primarily for its lightweight design at 16g less with the nylon band (40g vs. 56g) and a thinner profile by 4.9mm. Garmin focused on slimness and comfort while still providing a week’s worth of battery life, and its second-tier GPS accuracy remains competitive with some of its rivals.
Most importantly, the Garmin Venu X1 provides athletes with a larger area for more glanceable information and multiple complications on the watch face.
The design of the Garmin Venu X1 will excite some and deter others.
Many enthusiasts of Garmin watches may lean towards a circular design, especially the Fenix 8, which features excellent battery life and a completely titanium case—while the Venu X1 combines lighter polymer with a titanium caseback.
Essentially, there’s no way for the Venu X1 to disguise itself as a “regular” watch.
However, fans of the sleek Apple Watch X will be delighted by this design. Additionally, as the Venu X1 weighs about 50g less than the 47mm Fenix 8, it will feel notably lighter during workouts.
We anticipate Garmin still aims to unveil a Garmin Venu 4 later this year, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of the Venu 3. At $450, the third-generation model represents a significantly more affordable alternative, having topped our best fitness watch rankings since.
