Training effect on Venu/Vivoactive 4s

I don’t work for Garmin but I’m pretty sure they will never do this because they want you to buy the more expensive running watch if you want “running” features.

Garmin loves market segmentation, which is why they have dozens of models. They want you to buy a certain watch and discover it’s missing that one feature you wanted, in the hopes that you’ll buy the more expensive watch next time. Just like 245, 745 and 945 all support 7-day training load, but 245 does not support showing the individual training load for a single activity. Or how Vivoactive 4 has a baro, but the more expensive 245 does not. If you want a running watch with a baro, they want you to spend even more money.

I mean I think it’s a pain in the neck, but it seems to work for them. As others suggested, it would be great if Garmin divorced the software and hardware (as much as possible) so that you could pay for software features on whatever device (assuming it has the required hardware, such as a barometer/altimeter), but I’m pretty sure they would never do that. (If they did, it would probably be bad for customers, as it would probably end up being subscription based, kind of like how FirstBeat works on Apple Watches.)

I know your pain, and I was voting to get it on our devices as well. Originally I didn't want to have button only watch, that's why inclined to get Vivoactive 4 over 245 which has some metrics, in fact I didn't know much about them back then anyway.

FlowState explained their motivation pretty well. Previously, many people wanted to have touchscreen but functionality of Fenix which has those metrics, and we have more chances for this feature to be implemented but now when Fenix 7 rumored to have a touchscreen I'm not sure they would add training metrics anytime soon to their "entry level watch"(which main mission is to introduce you to their ecosystem and wish for more expensive and advanced models).

The only chance that new higher-end models will become way more advanced with features like solar charging, ECG and other which make them distinct by other stuff and they could include some basic recovery and training metrics to Venu and Vivo lines(if latter will not be discontinued totally).

For now, I'd advise you and anyone interested in this feature to leave your vote in here(I did it a while ago myself): https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/ideas/

And you can view your training metrics and recovery using one of these services Runalyze or Tredict they are both cool in its own way, and I'm yet to make up my mind which I like the most, as each one let you review your training from a slightly different perspective. I used it all the time while trained with Vivoactive 4 but still do even now when have Fenix 6 and the access to Training status.

Thank you for the  reply. 

That's a shame, now I need to look elsewhere. 

I understand the business module but unfortunately the design of the watches you mentioned are not appealing. I think this feature is essentially in every activity watch.