I have been working with a few Garmin customer service reps regarding the wildly inaccurate heart-rate readings out of the Venu series of devices. As of the last email, "John" from Garmin product support stated that the Venu's HR readings are not meant to be used for anything that would require accurate data. I asked him in response if the HR capabilities of the watch were more of a novelty than something of any real use and he re-stated that the HR readings are not to be used for anything that requires accurate data.
Meanwhile, the Venu's page on garmin.com reads as follows:
The optical wrist heart rate (HR) monitor for Garmin wearables is a valuable tool that can provide an accurate estimation of the user’s heart rate at any given point in time.
I feel terribly misled by Garmin on this issue. The watch is quite clearly sold with an emphasis on the ability to use HR tracking during your workouts to gauge effort and burn, but now Garmin is walking back those claims and essentially saying that the readings are not accurate nor should be used with any serious intent.
If you feel the same, please PM me. Maybe we can spin up a class action suit. This is deceptive advertising.
