Garmin Venu X1 Review: This sports watch might also be Garmin's best golf watch

I've never been entirely bowled over by the idea of spending big money on a golf-specific smartwatch. While they're undoubtedly a great investment on the course, even the best golf watches tend to be a little too, well, golf-y to use smoothly day-to-day.

Recently, however, more options have begun to emerge for the golfer who sees the game as a larger extension of their lifestyle. The Apple Watch can sync up with a host of golf apps to deliver yardages and scoring, as can the new Amazfit Balance 2. Garmin, of course, are the industry leaders in both, and as such have explored this area extensively.

Their most complete and style-forward fitness watch yet, the Venu X1, has been out for just over a year. Naturally, I became curious as to just how well it would double for someone like me, who wants a smart watch with golf functionality, rather than the other way round. 

After being given the chance to test one out, I ended up pretty impressed, and thoroughly hesitant to give it back. 

Scroll on to read our detailed thoughts. Let us know what you think of the watch in the comments below.
 

Looks & features

It's hard to know where to start with a watch as fully featured as this, so we'll start with the looks. This is Garmin's slimmest, but largest sports watch, with a 51.2 mm case that's shaped quite a lot like an Apple Watch with its rounded-off square profile.

The Venu X1 is very much designed as a general purpose fitness watch first, and has all of Garmin's most advanced running and workout features. Garmin has partnered with mapping company TopoActive to provide mapping of high-traffic areas for activities like running, and of course uses its industry-leading GPS tech to provide accurate data on runs, walks and hikes.

It also has a full suite of health tracking features, tracking things like your heart rate and sleep, while displaying in-house metrics like training readiness and Body Battery, which is a general measure of your energy levels throughout the day.

 Out on the course, the Venu essentially functions like that of a high-end Garmin sports watch like the S60 or S70. It has full GPS data and full-colour CourseView maps for 43,000 courses, provides live distances to greens, layups and hazards, and has a full suite of scoring features.

Day-to-day, the Garmin is as practical as ever, with water and dust-proofing, an 8-day battery life that blows the Apple Watch out of the water, and a massive, super-responsive 2" AMOLED touch-screen that's bright and legible in just about all conditions.

What we like

A watch like the Venu X1 worms its way into your life as a daily wearer very quickly, and I was shocked at how seamlessly it manages the transition between life a day-to-day wellness tool and that as a functional tool out on the golf course.

Garmin still has the measure of the industry in the way it presents data out on the course, giving you a full suite of distances depending on where you are out on any particular hole. It's unbelievably smooth to use for everyday rounds, and I'd feel more than comfortable leaving my rangefinder in the bag on most shots if I weren't taking the outcome of my round super seriously. It also syncs up with the Garmin Golf app super easily for scoring and tracking purposes, and that's just in its base mode. 

If you spring for the Garmin Golf subscription, you can sync it up with a Garmin rangefinder to get distances on your watch based on what you shoot with the laser, and will also receive full green maps with contour and speed data. However this is a £99.99 per year luxury.

I've always been a fan of Garmin's running watches, and the Venu provides an even more elevated experience as a day-to-day watch. It looks great in casual wear and at the gym, performs fantastically out on runs, and is second to none in the way it presents data to keep you feeling informed on your daily health.

What we don't like

There's not a whole lot to report here, as the Garmin is a pretty adept performer in pretty much every scenario you throw at it. There are a few nitpicks to consider, though.

The Venu X1 is on the bigger side for a smartwatch, with a 51.2mm display that's much larger than most conventional watches. This is great for legibility when walking and golfing, but will look pretty oversized if you're a player with smaller wrists.

The other thing to consider is the battery. While Garmin's golf watches tend to have more juice to cater to the fact they're using their GPS functions for long periods of time, the Venu's slimmer build means really needs to be fully charged to last a full round. We took it out one morning with around a quarter battery left remaining, and it didn't even last nine holes. Again, this isn't a deal-breaker, but something to consider when using it day-to-day.

Being placed at the very upper end of Garmin's sport watches, it's priced as such. The Venu has an RRP of £600 (although you can score it pretty easily for under £500), which is about as expensive as a golf watch gets unless you opt for something like a TAG Heuer.

Should you buy the Garmin Venu X1?

I was curious as to whether or not a general-purpose smartwatch with golf features is actually a better day-to-day investment than a purpose-built golf watch, and after a time with the Venu X1 I'm firmly convinced it is – at least for me.

As someone who values the ability to track other health metrics as much as my golf, the Venu X1 is pretty much the perfect lifestyle companion for my needs. It's among the best general fitness and running watches around, and performs out on the course as well as any purpose-built Garmin smartwatch, bar perhaps the Approach S70, which doesn't look as stylish and at £500, is pretty expensive for a watch really geared towards golf. 

I'd personally pay the touch extra and just get the Venu, but both are great choices.