Step tracking? Pulse monitoring? Yesterday’s news. The thing your smartwatch must do this year is track your blood oxygen levels. Garmin’s Venu Sq GPS Smartwach uses their Pulse Ox sensor to estimate how well your body is absorbing oxygen. Like the Apple Series 6, it’s not trying to replace a medical screening and professional equipment, but it can help give some insight into your overall health and levels.
Exclusive to Garmin, the Body Battery monitors your energy levels throughout the day to help you figure out when to rest and when to move, and the stress tracker will let you know if you’re getting stressed. (It’ll even suggest a breathing exercise.) For physical exercise, the Venu Sq is hard to beat. Preloaded cardio and strength workouts, along with GPS running, walking, and cycling apps give you a ton of ways to get moving. And you can download more workouts — all for free. There’s even the free Garmin Coach that will help you train for your next half-marathon.
Tracking is precise. As in, you’ll get more info than you’ll know what to do with. Tracking for steps, intensity minutes, calories. There’s even a way to send your location to your contacts (if you have your phone with you) and a safety feature that’ll alert a specified contact automatically if your watch detects an incident.
Standard smartwatch features apply here — notifications, pay options, music storage, downloadable apps and watch faces, and sleep monitoring. Coming in about $200 dollars cheaper than the new Apple Watch, and granting up to six days of battery life (14 hours in GPS mode), the Venu Sq is a well-packed option for anyone on a smartwatch hunt.
Disclosure: Clicking on these links and making a purchase may earn us a small referral fee, at no extra cost to you. Learn more here.
