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I returned Venu 2 - here is why...

MWBZ
over 4 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 MWBZ

    Waiting for Apple Watch 7.

    3 weeks since bad firmware 4.67 and no patch.

    Apple Watch 7 will be announced next week. 

    i think I will return venu 2, because of bad software !

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ
    MWBZ said:
    I am very happy with my purchase, I am keeping the PRO and I am selling the Active now that testing is complete

    Thanks for the feedback about your usage experience, and I'm glad that you've found the watch which is working for you! I had no idea that Adidas has integration with it already, but I've seen that Runalyze is looking into integration of Huawei Health which would be really cool.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ
    MWBZ said:
    Regarding the ship from AliExpress it took 2.5 weeks to get the watch on my hand (Alberta)

    4 weeks now and still haven't gotten it. Worried

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 2271429

    Do you have the tracking info?

    I only had one problem that I bought a Honor Scale 2 and did not arrived (the tracking number never worked...) But I got the refund

    Bought again from different store and I received 3 weeks after.

    Care to share the screenshot of your tracking page?

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Latest update: Health Sync and FitnessSyncer are compatible with Huawei Health. However, the app is still far away from Connect..

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ
    MWBZ said:
    Latest update: Health Sync and FitnessSyncer are compatible with Huawei Health. However, the app is still far away from Connect..

    I tried to use FitnessSyncer a while ago to send my wife's data from Huawei Health to Runalyze but it didn't work smoothly back then, have they fixed it already?

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I sold my fenix 6x pro about 6 months ago due to garbage SPO2 measurements and a little mediocre HR performance. My sister has an Apple watch 6 and sometimes i wear it for testing. Apple was thousands of light years away from Garmin in terms of HR accuracy. For running the Garmin was good but for walking (especially incline walking) and intervals, doesn't come close to an Apple Watch. For instance, whenever i carry 5 gallon bottled waters in my both hands from my car to my apartment, the Garmin shows my HR as 80-90, whenas it pulses around 130-140 or above. The Apple realizes immediately on the other hand.

    I haven't tested Venu 2 yet but according to some reviews i saw on the net, the newer elevate sensor is better. 

    I think Apple seriously threatens Garmin. If Garmin keeps sleeping, they will lose most of their customers to Apple. It's so strange that a smartwatch is way better capable of measuring HR than a sportswatch !

    I guess Apple will solve the battery problem soon, may be using power-saving micro led technology or their superb software engineering. If Huawei achieves, then Apple can do as well. Also their sensor supplier Rockley Photonics has developed glucose, blood pressure and body temperature measuring technology. They will add those health features to their watches in the near future.

    To me, Venu 2 is a good looking device but a little too plasticky. Especially the plastic point of body junction to straps doesn't let me use a different colour strap because it looks ugly. I prefer metal or stainless steel body at least. Then any straps in any colour will suit it.


    Or they should remove the junctions like Apple watch to let us use different coloured straps.

    Also, the colour options for 45 mm Venu 2 is so limited. For example, i'd like to wear white colour but it's only available for S model and it's too small for me. Garmin just took the easy way out for for designing the Venu 2 by using the same body with Vivoactive 4. It's the same with Vivoactive 4; only bezel is different.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to cyayon

    make the switch,you will be happy. I used Garmin for 7 years and my only problem really was the HR sensor. Totally off during workouts which= garbage in garbage out.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Hello everyone

    I shared with you guys & gals my experience with Huawei Watch. I would like to know is the Venu 2 doing for you?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MWBZ

    @MWBZ  It's great.  My music stopped working though and it took a while to get the WiFi working so it would re-download my playlist but it seems sorted.  Other than that, I haven't had any significant problems.  If anything, I like it even more as I learn how to use it and customize all the screens. I am finding the online challenges and free coaches very motivating- maybe too much so. I need to slow down a bit!