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I returned Venu 2 - here is why...

MWBZ
over 3 years ago

Hello everyone

I was a proud owner of an F5X+ for a couple of years, but then I decided to change it for a better screen smartwatch and I chose Honor GS PRO.

It was a fantastic smartwatch, beautiful AMOLED screen, 14 days battery (8 days with AOD), ALL the training stats: Training Effect, Recovery, etc.
However, the lack of SUPPORT AND UPDATES after Honor separated from Huawei, no integration at all with 3rd party such MFP, Strava, or Fit, the poor design app (compared to Garmin), and the lack of a web option to track your data (compared to Garmin again) make me rethink it after 2 months.
When I saw the news about Venu 2, I was excited and decided to give it a try so I purchased one.

Nice screen, reply to notifications, sleep spO2 analysis, integration with MFP, FIT, etc, Total calorie count (not just the exercise) were nice features to have back.

But then I started to realize that the look of the watch is "cheap" plasticky for a 520$CAD watch, plus no training effect, training load, recovery, a battery that last ONLY 2 days (with all sensors, spO2 ONLY for sleeping track), NOT using the AOD... my excitement started to transform into disappointment.

I had issues with spO2, where values dropped to a low 80%! Even my F5X+ with an older sensor never ever give me lower than 90%, the battery never lasted more than 2 days with only 1 hour of exercise with GPS enabled per day, watch face selection was not good either...

It was too much for me to keep the watch. So I sent it back and I bought Huawei Watch 3 Active for 20$CAD more...

Yes, I will have to deal with the terrible app, no webpage, no integration, but at least I have the features that I want (and I think most people want).

I could accept the cheap look of the watch, the 2 days battery, and even the spO2 readings, if I have the other features (TE, TL, R, etc).

For me, The stupidity of the Garmin management to artificially remove features and continue the disappointment of their users forced me to switch to Huawei.

That is my story.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to who knows

    900$ FR945

    165$ GSPro

    There is no worst blind people that those who don't want to see...

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to sensovision
    sensovision said:
    I guess that's the same logic used by Garmin when they decide what features they would enable on certain device, but here is the deal, some would like to pay extra for an ultimate device

    You can, just as I did.  Take the Forerunner series for example. You have the 45/55, 245, 645 745, 935 and 945.  I wanted maps on my watch, so I got the 945.  I know you're not going to like it, but the higher you go in Garmin's product line, the less important it is for user's to have features like touchscreens or AMOLED.  Those features are just not practical for those type of watches and how they are used.  Do you really think people conducting activities such as triathlons, mountaineering, rock climbing, skydiving, rafting or kayaking in rapids, etc. prefer a touchscreen?  Trust me, as one who's done all of these I can tell you a touchscreen would hinder the experience.  

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ

    The Huawei Honor GS Pro looks very interesting. I'm not leaving the Garmin ecosystem. At least not yet. At $165 might be fun to have a 2nd watch. ,  I can't find it at that price. More like $280 USD, or am I not looking in the right place? I have the Forerunner 945. I believe I paid $600 last year.

    $

    The flaws stated in the review (a few additional minor flaws)

    1. Cannot export data from the Huawei Health app
    2. Doesn't sync with Strava
    3. GPS accuracy

    Hopefully these could be fixed with an update.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ
    MWBZ said:
    900$ FR945

    Where are you shopping that a 945 cost $900?

    $165 GS PRO - And you get what you pay for. Competes with Garmin my ass.  I Googled Honor GS PRO reviews and only had to read the final thoughts or verdict on independent reviews for the first five.  They're all the same. Pretty display and for the rest...meh.

    www.google.com/.../

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ

    I had the same troubles like you, missing especially training load features, but like an other member already wrote, there are other platforms were you can get e.g your load or recovery for free by syncing your data with them. On iOS there’s an app called RunGap who syncs automatically to and between dozens of services. So you can track all your data with a Garmin but track your cardio load e.g. with Polar Flow or your Training Load with Sports Tracker (Amer ≈ Suunto). Of course that won’t make your battery stay longer but for me it gave me the possibility to take the sportswatch I want and use the platforms I need for the metrics I want… as long as I  wait for the Fenix 7 Joy

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to who knows

    That review is biased..

    I have the GSPro, is faster that the Venu 2,

    The GPS was on par with Venu2, and all other .etrics such as spO2, HR, steps and cal

    Buggy software? How come? What did he/she do that was buggy?

    Doesn't last??? I charged berry 2 weeks without the AOD on, then I went full throttle and switch it on... 7 days!!!

    You choose what you want see...

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to who knows
    who knows said:
    Are you saying the Honor GS PRO could compete with an AMOLED 945 or Fenix?  Why haven't they done so yet?  They can't with Garmin now.

    give it a time, they are slowly working on it. Just like they do on mobile and other fields, and their aggressive pricing is something Garmin will have hard times to compete with. I think the quote from Sun Tzu would fit well in here: If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by.

    who knows said:
    You can, just as I did.  Take the Forerunner series for example. You have the 45/55, 245, 645 745, 935 and 945.  I wanted maps on my watch, so I got the 945.  I know you're not going to like it, but the higher you go in Garmin's product line, the less important it is for user's to have features like touchscreens or AMOLED.  Those features are just not practical for those type of watches and how they are used.  Do you really think people conducting activities such as triathlons, mountaineering, rock climbing, skydiving, rafting or kayaking in rapids, etc. prefer a touchscreen?  Trust me, as one who's done all of these I can tell you a touchscreen would hinder the experience.  

    Frankly saying I don't care for maps, I dont' see how would I use them in my daily life  especially in current times when I can't travel anywhere. Neither I care about AMOLED, it's good for mobile phones but nothing is better than MIP, that was the partial reason why I decided to give another try to Garmin. Previously I was using Huawei Band and later switched to Amazfit Bip which had MIP display too and was very customizable, in fact all their watches are rather open to public and therefore get a lot of popularity too.

    What I do care though is UI and UX, I like to use touch screen for my watch, I don't mind buttons and I'm sure that can learn them and use without looking just like I do by blindtyping with my keyboard or using dSRL without looking. But I found touchscreen to be darn good for my case uses so far. It would take me more clicks with buttons.

    who knows said:
    ou have the 45/55, 245, 645 745, 935 and 945

    no, I'm not, none of those devices has Breathworks, they are unique to Venu and Vivo, and Fenix. You can think that it's quite useless but they are not. When I was buying my watch I was kinda skeptical but gave it a try and I can see results, they really help to relax and what's more important I use it everyday before falling asleep and they do magic so next my watch should have it for sure.

    who knows said:
    Those features are just not practical for those type of watches and how they are used.  Do you really think people conducting activities such as triathlons, mountaineering, rock climbing, skydiving, rafting or kayaking in rapids, etc. prefer a touchscreen?  Trust me, as one who's done all of these I can tell you a touchscreen would hinder the experience.  

    yes, I'm quite sure that when water engaged then buttons are more practical and I wouldn't argue with that, but there are plenty of people who love to run, do HIIT and go to gym, they rarely go hiking to need built-in maps or have ability for kayaking, that's my case scenario and I don't really need buttons, I'd buy Fenix if it has touchsreen but for now I'll wait for the next series and see what will come up. If not possibly I'll give a try to buttons and see if they would be as good for me or not.

    Anyway there is demand for such a product and either Garmin will do it or other company would take this niche.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ
    MWBZ said:

    cal

    Buggy software? How come? What did he/she do that was buggy?

    I don't know what that particular reviewer tested.  Probably something similar the other reviewers did that came to the same conclusions. 

    MWBZ said:
    You choose what you want see..

    I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. Do you want me to cherry pick through the reviews, find one that's favorable and dismiss all the others?  Wouldn't that be doing exactly what you just accused me of doing? I read the first five independent reviews on the watch and the concensus was the same. I'm sure I could find a write up that says it's a great watch, but the fact (that anyone can verify by searching "Honor GS PRO review" as I did) is the vast majority say it's product that lacks and needs work.  If you have an issue with that, contact the reviewer or their employer and tell them how they're biased and wrong.