The Venu X1 is Garmin's most Apple Watch-like wearable yet - and it's a sign of what's to come

I’ve been testing Garmin watches for over a decade now, and if there’s one thing I know about the brand, it’s how well they do a particular type of product.

As most will know, Garmin has - for as long as I can remember - been all about the rugged, round-faced and (usually quite dull-looking) black-coloured wearables that are built for serious training, long weekends off-grid and data-hungry fitness obsessives.

However, I think the new Garmin Venu X1 makes a completely different statement. And honestly, it might be the clearest sign yet that Garmin is changing course.

The Venu X1 landed quietly this month with zero fanfare. Heck, I even visited the brand’s HQ in Kansas City a mere few weeks ago for a behind-the-scenes press visit and there wasn’t one mention of it! But the spec sheet tells its own story.

For one, it’s Garmin’s slimmest smartwatch to date at just 8mm, with a 2-inch AMOLED display - the biggest screen the company’s ever put in a wearable. The design is all sharp lines and subtle curves, wrapped in titanium with a floating sapphire crystal lens. If that’s not Garmin doing its best Apple impression, I don’t know what is.

This has to be the closest Garmin has ever come to launching an Apple Watch Ultra competitor, in my opinion, although not in terms of exact features, but in vibe.

The watch is light, sleek, packed with daily lifestyle tools like a torch, speaker and mic for calls, and full voice assistant support. You can even use it without a phone for certain tasks. It’s got customisable watch faces, font sizes, and slick UI tweaks that clearly aim to please a more mainstream, lifestyle-smartwatch-loving crowd.

Yes, it still does the usual Garmin fitness bit - features like Training Readiness, GPS mapping, heart rate monitoring and fitness tracking for just about every sport under the sun. But this watch isn’t screaming “ultra marathon prep” in the way a Fenix, Enduro - or even the Forerunner line up does.

It feels like Garmin has finally accepted that there’s a huge, untapped audience that doesn’t care about VO2 max graphs but wants a good-looking, capable smartwatch that can handle both gym and office really well.

And that’s what makes the Venu X1 so interesting. It’s not just a watch, in my opinion, it’s a sign that Garmin is no longer catering to just the endurance and outdoor elite. It’s going toe-to-toe with the biggest players in mainstream smartwatches, and with the Venu X1, it might just have built a genuine contender.

Be sure to check back soon for a full review.