Garmin has been making significant strides as a company whose premium smartwatches are seen sold alongside analog brands at retailers such as Kay Jewelers, Chronos and Watch Hut.
A new Venu X1, which launches today, is a welcome addition to the line-up as one of the slimmest and most feature-laden models in the broad and deep Garmin portfolio.
Its ultrathin case stands just 8mm high, but still packs a bright and pin-sharp 2-inch AMOLED touchscreen display protected by a scratch-resistant sapphire lens.
A titanium case back with curved ends makes it both lighter and more comfortable to wear.
Techradar calls it a competitor to the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which has a 1.9-inch display and stands 14.4mm tall.
Garmin’s has incorporated a in-built speaker and microphone, so people can make calls from their wrist, and provided enough battery power to last for up to eight days between charging in smartwatch mode.
“Venu X1 is the perfect blend of form, function and style. Not only does it pack all of Garmin’s most popular features into a slim profile, but the large display makes it easy to see everything from preloaded maps and workout stats to health insights and smart notifications with stunning clarity,” says Susan Lyman, Garmin vice president of consumer sales and marketing.
The watch needs to be paired with a phone for some of its features, including using it to make and receive calls or dictate WhatsApp messages.
Being a Garmin, it is packed with over 100 of its sport and fitness-related apps to track health and wellness metrics including HRV status, advanced sleep tracking, Body Battery energy monitoring, Pulse Ox and more.
An on-board Garmin Coach will encourage you through programs for running, strength and cycling.
You’ll never get lost with TopoActive maps from around the world installed. In addition, for golfers it has CourseView maps loaded for more than 43,000 golf courses around the world.
It is water-resistant to 50 metres.
Venu X1 has a suggested retail price of $799 and is available from June 18.