Garmin Venu 4 Review: A Stylish but Costly Upgrade

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Price When Reviewed

$549.99

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On the lookout for a smartwatch that puts style and fitness tracking front and center? Sounds like you might need the Garmin Venu 4.

The first Garmin watch I ever owned was the original Garmin Venu which came out all the way back in pre-pandemic times, and I loved my time with it. Even though I recall encountering a few moments of slowdown and the odd glitch when it came to offline music playback, it was still a great watch to use and set a great precedent as being one of the very first Garmin smartwatches to feature an AMOLED display.

That trend has only continued as Garmin has slowly moved away from its old school memory-in-pixel style panels and embraced AMOLED almost across the board, but that does mean that the Venu series’ original key feature no longer stands out quite as much, so I was eager to see how the Venu 4 might reel people in under this new landscape.

After spending a few weeks with the watch, I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised but there was a big hiccup that I did not anticipate.

Design & Build

• 41mm and 45mm options available
• More durable stainless steel chassis
• One of the most stylish smartwatches around

One of the key aspects that always separates the Venu series from the slightly more affordable Vivoactive range is that the former would generally have a bit more going for it as a fashionable accessory. Much like the way that Huawei has reinvented its Watch GT series in recent years, Venu watches are designed to be worn out to dinner and not just at the gym.

The Venu 3 did a good job of keeping up that tradition but one thing that irritated me was that the most eye-catching options were limited to the smaller 41mm model, which had a total of six colorways, while the larger 45mm version only had three. Thankfully, Garmin has seen fit to fix the imbalance this time around by having four unique options available for each model, and the 45mm ‘Silver with Silver Grey Silicone Band’ pick that I’ve been wearing over the course of this review is easily one of the nicest looking watches I’ve tested all year.

The watch band has a wonderfully understated aesthetic, and when combined with the rather alluring silver border around the display, it reminds me of the Withings Scanwatch 2 which, at a distance, can be completely mistaken for an analog wearable. I’ll admit, it probably felt a little too fancy for the gym, but I have very much enjoyed wearing it throughout the majority of any given day.

Even with the attention paid to its style however, Garmin has made sure not to forget about the Venu 4’s durability as the bezel and case are now comprised of stainless steel (the latter was plastic on the Venu 3). In the time that I’ve been using the watch, it hasn’t picked up any noticeable scratches, nor have I seen any general wear and tear after several pool swims and other workouts.

Eagle-eyed readers might have noticed that the Venu 4 now has one less physical button than the Venu 3, doing away with the central right-facing shortcut button. Given that the input was only around for a generation, and you can set shortcuts to a long-press of either of the two remaining buttons, I can’t say that I miss it all that much.

One aspect I am torn on however is the thickness of the Venu 4. At 12mm thick, the watch isn’t exactly chunky, but compared to the 7.9mm Garmin Venu X1 or even the 9.7mm Apple Watch Series 11, it does feel like an uptick on where the market has shifted to. Still, it’s a reasonable trade-off for the battery gains that you get from the added real estate, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t miss just how sleek the Venu X1 is by comparison.

Screen & Audio

• Brighter AMOLED display is very easy to read
• Colors pop on watch faces and menus
• Built-in speaker gets the job done for podcasts

Just like how the build quality has been given a subtle upgrade to make it more durable, it’s a similar situation with the display this time around. Instead of increasing the size, which did happen in the jump from the Venu 2 to the Venu 3, Garmin has opted for an uplift in the realm of screen brightness, and it’s beautiful.

Although Garmin has been coy about what the exact specifications are (and there’s some conflicting data out there), I will say that I have had no trouble with reading the Venu 4’s display at all hours of the day. Whether that be a quick glance at the slightly dimmer, always-on display whilst working at my desk, or actually interacting with the watch outdoors and against direct sunlight, I’ve never needed to squint to read what’s there.

Working in tandem with the AMOLED panel is Garmin’s intuitive use of color. Not too dissimilar to how Apple approaches its watchOS UI, Garmin keeps much of the screen in the dark, whether that be in navigating its menus or looking at your chosen watch face, but as a result, the sections that do have color are really able to pop in an engaging way.

If you forget to bring your earbuds with you, or you need to take a quick call on your watch whilst your phone is buried at the bottom of your gym bag, the Venu 4’s built-in speaker can do the job in a pinch. It certainly does a good job at elevating vocals, which works rather well during podcast playback, but I don’t think I’ll be using it to listen to music anytime soon.

Playing Charlotte by Kittie (a staple in my running playlists), so much of the guitars just gets lost in the soundscape, so you’re far better off bringing a