The Smart Alarm concept is obviously not unique to Garmin, and I'm sure the way its implemented works for many Garmin users, but for myself and at least some others I have seen posting on various forums, it doesn't work well.
Here's what I understand the implementation to be:
- User sets alarm for 8am
- Venu 4 measures sleep cycles, and tries to find a time between 730-8am when the user is in light sleep
- Venu 4 vibrates lightly, once (?) during light sleep to gently bring the user out of sleep
- Venu 4 vibrates strongly, repeatedly at 8am
This differs from, for example, Other Brand's Smart Alarm which is implemented:
- User sets alarm for 8am
- OB measures sleep cycles, and tries to find a time between 730-8am when the user is in light sleep
- OB vibrates at full power (configured at system level), repeatedly during light sleep to wake the user
- OB vibrates at full power repeatedly at 8am if the alarm has not gone off yet, or if the user is still measured to be sleeping
For me the Other Brand style of implementation works much better, for these reasons:
- The OB's repeated and full power vibrations let me know definitively that it is time to get up, which helps me because it's normal for me to wake up multiple times during the night when I should _not_ be getting up
- The OB's full power vibrations give me a small jolt that helps me with waking
- It was several weeks of wearing the Venu 4 before I realized that the Smart Alarm feature was even working - the light vibration didn't wake me, or it felt like naturally waking up and I couldn't tell the vibration had happened - and this made me trust the alarm function less during those weeks
- Since the OB definitively woke me during light sleep, it was safe for the 8am alarm to be turned off - with the Venu 4, the alarm still needs to vibrate at 8am even if I am awake, to be safe (this is only a small annoyance for me, but I see many posts from others complaining about this)
The actual impact, for me, is a tremendously better feeling of waking when using the Other Brand watch. With the OB watch I almost always wake before 8am, and with the Venu 4 I almost always wake at 8am. Switching to Venu 4 has felt like a big step back in my energy in the morning, even though there are so many other benefits that I get from the watch.
I understand that this is my body's preference, and I'm not suggesting that the main Smart Alarm function changes as that would surely be against other user preferences. But a simple configuration option for the normal 8am alarm experience (strong, repeated vibrations with alarm screen) to trigger in that moment of light sleep would be a huge benefit for myself and others. And for new purchasers of the Venu 4 it would be much easier to confirm that the Smart Alarm is working properly.