Is the Venu 2 Plus a good idea?

I've owned the Venu 2 Plus for about a year now. I have a simple plastic screen protector on it and it's kept it from getting scratched up on the screen. I find it pretty solid compared to a lot of watches I've had. I use Do Not Disturb for sleeping. From my experience, it has been banged against my desk, got caught in a door once, and I got paint on it, rubbed it against boxes I was lifting...etc. Still looks good. I even dropped it once... But that's just my experiences. 

This. The watch faces on my Forerunner 965 are a joke. Candy-like aesthetics and limited configurability. "Clear & Powerful" from CIQ saved the day for me in the end, but Venu 2 Plus had a much better selection of watch faces out of the box and I could configure something acceptable on the watch itself.

And I guess bands are to match the watch faces. On Forerunner they also designed to impress 7-year-olds, though I liked the elastic feeling of the original Forerunner band. The stock Venu 2 Plus band is a bit stiff, but elegant (as much as silicon can be). I immediately got something more Venu-like for my Forerunner before I commit to something metal.

I'm not convinced that Gorilla Glass 3 has any gorilla in it after my 2 week old Venu 3 cracked, unless it came with a trapped gorilla and it tried to escape! Im super paranoid about knocking it and don't remember any collisions.

Anyways, Garmin Aus will replace with a new item for $226. I was really loving the watch, so I hope my new venu 3 has zero trapped gorillas 

My main problem with the Venu 2 Plus is the lack of meaningful software updates, even though the hardware is more than capable. No HRV Status, no nap tracking, not even Morning Report :(

I would consider Apple or Samsung, if you have a compatible phone. Maybe wait a couple of weeks for the Pixel 2, although Google charges a monthly fee to see your data, which is a deal-killer for me on principle. Mobvoi Ticwatch may be a good fit, too.

Quoting Garmin below

There are no guarantees that when you buy a new watch, what you see as a new feature on the release of another new watch will ever be moved to your watch on a future software update. It is best to always assume the watch you bought only comes with all of the dozens of features that are prominently displayed on our official site at the time you bought the watch. Anything new that might come later with each new software update, will be much more appreciated since they are not guaranteed. 

Not a good option if you're wanting detailed sleep metrics. They keep removing data from the sleep reports. Despite what their website might state about it being a good one for sleep tracking, I'd go with a different brand entirely if sleep tracking and consistency in data access is important to you. I've had mine for only a year and with each update they make, their sleep tracking is less and less detailed. Battery life is also inconsistent- depends on the updates.

At this time, they don't seem to improve access to data or increase detail in reports- they've removed data and simplified their sleep reports. Infuriating to purchase a watch for its advertised detailed sleep data only for them to arbitrarily chip away at displayed metrics with each software update.

The Venu2plus is no longer the watch I purchased a year ago. I would not recommend a garmin product at this time, given their lack of responsiveness to requests for return of detailed sleep reports. I gather this is an issue with other models too.