I got my wife a Venu on clearance before the Venu 2 came out and it’s really nice with the NFC, music, and health tracking. I particularly like the automatic tracking it does (apparently it just starts recording when she starts running by itself) which would be fantastic for counting my commute on the bike.
I prefer the look of the SQ, and while I don’t really need the music on the watch, having a payment method on me when out on rides without a need to bring my wallet is very appealing.
Can say the Venu2 will start automatically tracking walks and runs. The move IQ will sense what you are doing. They can be configured to do that after a certain time.
There isn’t the option there for cycling in that menu location though it will show on connect somewhere (maybe stress location) cycling sensed.
(keeps classing my motorbiking as cycling so glad it doesn’t auto record for me!)
I don’t believe it will auto start an activity recording for anything other than run/walk. Not sure with Venu SQ, something that’s worth investigating for you before buying.
NFC is great, in UK as so few main stream banks are suppprted I’ve got the Curve card but going to change to prepaid financial services card, Will ensure £50 is always topped up on the card for payments whilst out cycling!
I’ve had the Venu SQ for about a month now. I really like it. I was already immersed in Garmin ecosystem for my cycling, so it’s nice to have other activities and general health stuff in there as well. I don’t use the SQ for cycling (edge 520 does that job), but walks are automatically detected, recorded and uploaded by the SQ.
I can’t use the NFC payment option because my bank (one of the biggest in UKj hasn’t signed up to Garmin Pay yet, so maybe check out your own bank if that’s something that’s important to you. I’m sure I’ll have full functionality on that at some point but it’s still relatively early days for Garmin Pay compared to Apple and Google.
I love my Coros Pace 2. The charge lasts at least a week, even using GPS. The app is intuitive. I also use it as a cyclecomputer when I’m traveling. It is light and inexpensive.
I’m a +1 for this comment but I would add that for me personally I do not have any issues using the watch as a cycling computer on Garmin’s quickfit mount and I have 8 data screens on my main page. It’s definitely clearer on an Edge but if you want a watch that does everything exceptionally well then you cannot go past the 6X.
I’ll second this. I use the Venu 2. Indoors I have a Peloton, outdoors an Edge 1030. But I always track with the Venu 2, and then discard the data at the end of the ride. Why? Backup! This way if the Edge crashes (happened once) or dies because I forgot to charge it I still get most of my data for a ride (sans power meter). I also let the Venu 2 provide HR to the Edge since it’s “accurate enough for me.”
I’m super into watches and for cycling data rely most on my wahoo’s (roam and bolt), sometimes for running i’ll use my apple watch. I do however ride with a normal watch either automatic or quartz and even race with it. In particular dive watches with the bezel markers are nice because you can set a feed time, lap time or alike just to look at the dumb arrow pointing at where you want to be/feed/came through previous etc. Also why waist precious screen real estate on time when you can just have it on your wrist. My goto when racing is one of my Seiko divers (6309 or my tuna) super durable and big markers. I’ve ridden with nicer watches in my collection and have had close calls…one was my rolex GMT master (16710) came off (spring bar failure) while i was road riding on the road and almost got run over by a car. For MTB i try to use quartz watches. I am in the hunt for a Suunto but need to do some research.
shot racing with my Seiko 7549 Tuna…f’n love that watch
I double arm it a lot too…the apple watches functionality can’t be beat and if you are out there and have the cell service its a back up incase things go bad. People comment on the double wrist sometimes but if you have time to explain yourself its not bad.
I don’t wear a watch while riding because it’s not comfortable (even my lightest gshock) and just not necessary since I have time on my Wahoo. Watch wise I own 3 G-Shocks and a dozen or so mechanicals/autos. This is my flavor for the week
Citizen Brycen eco-drive, titanium. Looks like classic stainless, but all the benefits of titanium. Never needs to be charged. Just rattles a hair too much to wear while riding over and through pot-holes. So it gets left at home a lot when I’m commuting. I’ll eventually end up with a Garmin Fenix, but it might be series 8 or 9 before I commit to spending that kind of money.
Edited to add stock photo since anyone curious enough to care couldn’t find my version on their website anymore. In normal light, the face looks way less green and more midnight blue, but in bright light by the pool it does end up picking up a tinge of green as shown.
Instinct solar for me as I use my garmin 530 for cycling. Tracks all the measures I’m into, battery usually lasts me about 17days and still looks like a regular watch and gives me notifications. I do wish the rep counter on the strength setting was better but all in all it’s been good.
If I were to wear only one watch, it’d undoubtably be my Fenix 6X Sapphire with a leather or titanium band rather than the standard silicon one.
The watch looks good and is extremely durable. As a sports tool, the watch does far more than you’d possibly need. As a tracking device, I appreciate being able to track HR and sleep metrics, and Garmin does a decent job.
However, I like to swap watches, so I’ve started using an Ouraring, which seems to agree with Garmin in regards to what my HR is and how much/little I sleep (+ sleep quality), so it may be that my Fenix will be relegated to use only when I am out running, skiing or hiking.
