We've never seen a Garmin watch like the ultra-thin Venu X1; these are the highlights

What you need to know

• The Garmin Venu X1 is a $799 premium smartwatch with similar premium tools to the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970.
• It has an 8mm-thick titanium design, built-in mic & speaker, LED flashlight, and offline maps.
• The 2-inch square-shaped AMOLED display has sapphire glass protection and enhanced brightness.

With so many Garmin watches going AMOLED, it wasn't clear how the Venu series that started this trend would stand out. Now we have our answer: the Garmin Venu X1, a premium squircle fitness watch with a 2-inch AMOLED and an insanely skinny design: Just 8mm, 6.4mm thinner than the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Garmin clearly designed the Venu X1 with Apple's flagship as a foil, with a slightly bigger display, the same $799 launch price, and an eight-day battery life. It hits 448 x 486 resolution, compared to Apple's 502 x 410 resolution, with a slightly more noticeable border along the top and bottom.

Similarities aside, the Garmin Venu X1 and Apple Watch Ultra are very different devices, as Garmin can't offer the same apps, computing power, phone integration, or full titanium casing.

Regardless, Garmin evidently hopes to steal away Apple customers who fell in love with the titanium design but care more about premium fitness and comfort than top-tier performance.

The Venu X1 gets almost everything held back from the Venu 3

The Garmin Venu X1 offers a superior fitness experience to the Garmin Venu 3, which is more of an all-rounder that lacks key training tools like Training Readiness.

For runners, the Garmin Venu X1 adds Training Status / Load / Effect, Lactate Threshold, Performance Condition, Daily Suggested Workouts, a Race Glance widget, real-time stamina, heat acclimation, multisport activities, Strava Live Segments, Hill / Endurance scores, and dozens of new sports modes.

And for hikers, the Venu X1 gets predownloaded topo maps that should look fantastic on a 2-inch display and make buyers of the Garmin Instinct 3 insanely jealous. You also get 43,000 golf courses and a handful of relevant tools like the Virtual Caddie.

On the smarts front, the Garmin Venu X1 brings back the same mic & speaker, but they now go beyond passthrough voice commands to support Voice Memos and on-device voice commands. It's not at the level of Apple's Siri or Google Assistant, but it's not bad for a fitness watch.

If you want a full feature-by-feature comparison to the Venu 3, check this Garmin Compare link and click "Show Only Differences."

The closest equivalent in features and price is the Garmin Forerunner 970, which costs $50 less and has the same premium perks like a built-in LED flashlight, mic & speaker for Bluetooth calling and offline voice commands, sapphire crystal protection, and top-tier Elevate v5 sensor for ECGs and skin temperature.

The Venu X1 also matches the Forerunner 970 with doubled brightness compared to most other AMOLED watches, making them both very readable outdoors.

Aside from Running Tolerance and a couple other premium running tools, the main Forerunner 970 upside is that it lasts 15 days per charge with 21 hours of dual-band GPS tracking. The Venu X1 only lasts eight days or 14 all-systems GNSS, with no multi-band option.

But many runners might prefer the Venu X1, simply because it weighs 16g less with the nylon band (40g vs. 56g) and measures 4.9mm thinner. Garmin prioritized skinniness and comfort while still offering a week of battery life, and its second-tier GPS accuracy is still as good as some rivals' best.

Most importantly, the Garmin Venu X1 gives athletes a larger space for more glanceable information and more complications on the watch face.

The Garmin Venu X1 design will thrill some and turn off others

Many Garmin watch fans will prefer a circular design, particularly the Fenix 8 with uncompromised battery life and a fully titanium case — while the Venu X1 mixes lighter polymer with a titanium caseback.

Basically, there's no way for the Venu X1 to blend in as a "normal" watch.

But those who liked the skinny Apple Watch X will salivate over this design. And since the Venu X1 weighs about 50g less than the 47mm Fenix 8, it'll feel comparatively weightless for workouts.

We hope Garmin still intends to release a Garmin Venu 4 later this year at the two-year anniversary mark of the Venu 3. At $450, the 3rd-gen model is a much more accessible option that has topped our best fitness watch list since 2023 — despite its software limitations.

The Garmin Venu X1 costs $799, ships in Black and Moss finishes, and will be available to order on Garmin's site starting on June 18.