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Looking for the best Apple Watch alternative? Paul decided to ditch his Apple Watch after 5 years and get a Garmin watch instead to bring you a long-term, buy or skip-style Garmin Venu 4 review. For this video, Paul wanted to see if stepping outside the Apple ecosystem is actually worth it. He'll break down ghis full experience switching from Apple Watch to Garmin, including what surprised me, what I love, and the tradeoffs you need to know before buying.
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0:00
Believe it or not, I've been rocking my Apple Watch Series 5 for almost seven years now
0:04
and I decided it was time for an upgrade. Instead of getting the new Series 11, I got the Garmin Venue 4
0:11
Wearable tech is having a big moment. I wanted to see what stepping outside of Apple's ecosystem actually gets you
0:16
In this episode, a buy or skip. Let's start with compatibility because for a lot of people
0:27
this is going to be the deciding factor. While a lot of smartwatches these days lock you in, Google Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch are Android only, and Apple Watch is obviously for iPhone only, the Venue 4 works for both iPhone and Android, and I love not being handcuffed to one ecosystem
0:43
That said, I found pairing it with my iPhone does come with a few drawbacks, which I will get into in just a bit
0:50
Design is how the Venue 4 won me over, and I've never really loved the square face on an Apple Watch
0:56
The Venue 4's classic rounded design, stainless steel case, vibes more with my style
1:01
It comes in two sizes. I went with the larger 45mm, which has a 1.4-inch AMOLED display, but there's also a 41mm option if you prefer something a little bit smaller
1:11
The Venue 4 does have two side buttons for menu navigation, but no wheel or crown here, although if I'm being honest, I didn't really miss it
1:20
And when you pair it with a clean watch face and a nice band, I'll link a few of my favorites, this thing looks pretty slick
1:27
Garmin has always been the gold standard for fitness and health tracking
1:32
Coming from an Apple Watch Series 5, the jump in depth and accuracy was immediately noticeable
1:38
You getting very accurate GPS workout tracking a sleep coach stress monitoring recovery time suggestions training readiness scores body battery energy along with HRV status and ECG
1:51
All of this is working together to help you know exactly how hard you can safely push yourself to train better
1:57
There are over 80 built-in sports apps that it can track, and if you're serious about fitness data, this watch gives you more to work with than pretty much everything else at this price point
2:06
And here's something that's pretty cool. If I'm not in my target zone, this is something I haven't actually seen on other watches
2:12
It will tell me I am out of the target heart rate. So just a moment ago, it told me you're too low
2:18
It knows your limitations. It knows your safe workout zones. So it wants to push you
2:23
Yeah, too low. You see that? It has a target for how hard it wants me to work out
2:28
So that way I know I'm pushing myself to my limits in a safe way. So even though I'm doing the same types of workouts that I was with my Apple watch
2:36
the Garmin Venue 4 is pushing me to train harder. But now let me tell you the single biggest reason I was motivated to make the Switch
2:45
Battery life. My Apple Watch was barely lasting a full day. But with the Venue 4, I'm easily hitting 10 plus days on a single charge with normal use
2:55
And when you compare that to even the newest Apple Watch Series 11, which only gets 24 hours
3:00
I no longer have any battery anxiety here. And I'm maybe charging this thing three times a month
3:05
which really makes us feel more like a normal watch. So that's what I like about the Venue 4, but here's what I wish were different
3:15
Just sticking with battery, the Venue 4 does not have wireless charging support
3:19
I finally have enough wireless charges scattered around my house now, but they no longer work with my Venue 4 and I actually have to go back to charging with a cable So if you thinking of switching from Apple Watch to Garmin the biggest limitation I found is the inability to reply to notifications from your watch
3:38
The Venni 4 receive notifications just fine. Texts, emails, app alerts, they all show up with the right icons and everything
3:44
but you cannot reply to them from the watch at all if you are using an iPhone
3:50
On Android, this isn't an issue, but on iPhone, you are in, let's call it, read-only mode
3:56
And to be honest, it kind of sucks. Having to reach for my phone more often isn't a deal-breaker for me personally
4:02
But if you rely on quick wrist replies throughout your day, this is going to be a real adjustment that you need to know going in
4:11
On a similar note, media controls work pretty well here, but they're not quite as seamless as what I was used to on my Apple Watch
4:17
The Venue 4 can pause, skip, and go back on whatever's already playing on my iPhone, whether that's a video or music
4:24
The catch is that the controls aren't surfaced right away on the watch face
4:28
You instead have to open the music widget, which is going to be an extra step each time
4:33
And two, well, I'll get into in just a second. It's worth knowing that the Venue 4 also supports Spotify, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music for offline playback directly from the watch
4:43
You can either listen straight out of the watch speakers, but don't be that person. and you can, of course, pair it with Bluetooth headphones
4:49
And if you want to, leave your phone at home and still listen to your music or podcast on the go
4:54
To no surprise, though, Apple Music support is unavailable, so that sucks for me and everyone else who subscribes there
5:00
But now let's go back to that second point. If you decide to connect to one of those streaming services
5:05
YouTube, Spotify, whatever, to your watch, guess what? You can't easily switch back and forth between those different apps
5:11
nor can you switch back to controlling your media from your phone You instead have to uninstall those streaming services each time which is very frustrating Garmin please fix this
5:23
Now, something I haven't talked about yet is pricing. The Venue 4 starts at $550 for both sizes, and yes, that is a lot
5:30
For context, the Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399 for the GPS
5:34
and $499 for the cellular model, so you are paying a premium for the Garmin experience
5:39
But honestly, for the battery life alone, it's worth it to me. And if the price is out of reach for this model, Garmin does offer the Forerunner 55, which starts at $200
5:48
And I think that's worth a look if you're looking for a more budget-friendly entry point
5:52
Though you'll obviously be giving up a few things. All right, if you just want the quick TLDR, here's what I found comparing the Garmin Venue 4 versus the Apple Watch
6:05
The Venue 4 is better for dedicated health, fitness, recovery tracking, and its almost two-week-long battery life is incredible
6:11
The Apple Watch, on the other hand, still has the edge for smartwatch features, especially if you rely on seamless iPhone integration
6:18
but it's going to come at the expense of needing to charge this daily. I had a few trade-offs when I left Apple, but ultimately, the Venue 4 is one of the most practical smartwatches I have ever tested
6:28
and that's why I'm giving it the Tom's Guide Likes badge. So that's been my experience with the Garmin Venue 4 and why it's convinced me to switch from my Apple Watch
6:35
Make sure you stay subscribed and follow me to see what other cool tech I'm reviewing. And until the next time, I'll catch you later
6:52
Around here in the park, but we finally hit our target. BPM
7:00
Yeah, it feels good
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