If you want a good, cheap fitness watch with Google's Wear OS, the Ticwatch E2 is essentially your only option. Beyond keeping count of your breaths during activities such as yoga, I’ve little idea what to do with this data, though.

Despite moving away from the very practical transflective displays of the most Garmin watches, though, I found the Venu’s screen easy to read in all conditions, which isn’t always the case with this type of smartwatch display. The Vivoactive 4’s screen is not as bright and colourful as the Venu’s, but it’s easy to read in all lighting conditions and slightly larger (1. With a focus on fitness trackers, headphones, running wearables, phones, and tablet, he has written for numerous publications including Wired UK, GQ, Men's Fitness, BBC Science Focus, Metro and Stuff, and has appeared on the BBC Travel Show. Check how well your absorbing oxygen with the Pulse Ox sensor to spot check your blood oxygen saturation at any point during the day, or for part of the night as you sleep.That’s thanks to its in-depth analysis of your running technique (when paired with a Garmin footpod) and insights into the effects of your training sessions. Thoroughly rinse the device with fresh water after exposure to chlorine, salt water, sunscreen, cosmetics, alcohol, or other harsh chemicals.

I wasn’t able to test the latter but it lets you log both emotional and physical symptoms during your menstrual cycle, and it will estimate when you can expect your next period, along with your fertility. Garmin’s sports modes are detailed, reliable and very easy to use, and the Venu covers an impressive range of activities that includes running, cycling, pool swimming and even golf.

Looking for a smartwatch that doesn’t just provide you with fitness and sports goals, but can also provide you with your overall health data?

For tracking steps it does a reliable job of it, though we’d say sleep monitoring still struggles to accurately recognise the times we fall asleep and wake up, usually recording much longer sleep times. There’s no low power modes or battery saving options, though you can disable features like continuous heart rate monitoring and choose not to use the always-on display mode to push the battery further. If you only used it for short workouts every other day I’d expect it to last four, which is only one or two days less than we eked out of the Vivoactive 4 with mixed usage. The Garmin Venu Sq is a cheaper alternative to the Garmin Venu, giving you similar features to the best fitness trackers and some of the best smartwatches, but now with a square display. While both have the same polymer made cases, the Venu Sq uses an aluminium bezel compared to the more sleek-looking stainless steel one you get on the pricier Venu.It is thankfully an always-on display, though there doesn’t seem to be an always-on option available when you’re tracking exercise.

The lower of these serves to navigate backward through menus, while the top one is context sensitive depending on which app or widget you're using. One of the key selling points for the Venu compared to rival smartwatches from Apple and Samsung is the range of guided training content it offers.My only gripe with Body Battery is that its figures appear easily skewed by inaccuracies in Garmin’s sleep tracking. The amount of data that can be displayed on-screen at one time is limited by the display's size, but all three options are sharp and clear. If you already own a Garmin, it uses the same-style charging cable that’s pretty much present on most of its watches that have launched over the last few years, barring its fitness trackers and high-end and specialist watches. as real users, posing a threat to a site’s security, so the site sometimes runs random security checks. That’s because you have to select every single pose of the workout, and if you’re working through a yoga routine with 30 or 40 moves, it’ll take you a fair amount of time to set up.