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Venu long-term water resistance (and Garmin devices in general) vs competitors?

7523092
over 4 years ago

Hello,

I made an account just to ask this question since I still don't own a Garmin device but I'm seriously considering one.

I have had 2 different Fitbit devices fail on me due to water damage. First a Versa Lite and then a Versa 2 which let sweat get in (they advertise it as 50m water resistant). The problem with Fitbits is that the adhesive/glue/sealant they use around the screen and on the back around the sensors degrades with time so water can easily find its way through. It takes about 10 or so months for problems to start to develop and usually the device simply dies. Their forums are littered with water damage complaints and since support is not honoring my still-under-warranty watch, I'm jumping ship (honestly I should've done it long ago).

Now, I don't swim, I don't take showers with my smartwatches but I do routinely wash my cars and I do Crossfit which makes you sweat a lot. For those of you who have had your Garmin devices for a while (1+ year), have you ever been afraid of their advertised water resistance, or even worse, had a device fail on you?

Finally, do you recommend a Venu? I do want something that looks a bit more "mature" than the Versa but that can still handle rough days.

Thank you!

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I've had a Fitbit Ionic for 3 years and never had any water related problems with it, showering, swimming, working out, running in rain. It never failed. I switched to Garmin Venu a month ago and so far so good. It seems like Venu's built is slightly more solid. For Crossfit one thing you need to consider when picking up venu is that it's a bit bulkier than Versa or Ionic. It's very light and and not too big on the wrist but it is definitely thicker than Ionic or versa.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 4703647

    Thanks a lot. I consider the Ionic a different beast compared to the Versas. Versas always seemed to me as the more "commercial" option, not to mention that the Ionic was back from the time of the Charge 2 and other trackers which were still built like tanks. It seems to be that Fitbit changed their manufacturing process somewhere around 2018 and that's when most of the problems start.

    I've seen plenty of reviews of the Venu and Vivo 4/4S already so I have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting into in regards to size and features. What I do when my watch gets in the way is turn it around on my wrist, so it faces "down". For some very specific exercises I do take it off altogether. I also know that compared to Fitbits, the sleep tracking is pretty rudimentary, but that's OK.

    My main concern was with Garmin's long term water resistance because I'm already traumatized after 2 different Versas failing on me due to that, but Garmin has swimming-specific models so I suppose they know what they are doing.

    I already ordered a Venu, BTW.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 7523092

    Just don't press a button on your Garmin device while in the water. Lots f reports of issues when people do that. I believe it's also in the documentation somewhere.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to pshare

    Got it. Thanks for the tip! I'm not what I would call a great swimmer so I don't plan to submerge the watch, but I suppose not pressing buttons also applies when washing my car or dishes and such. I'll keep it in mind.