How low are you willing to set your expectations as far as the features and capabilities of a sub-$200 smartwatch are concerned? Do you think you can settle, for instance, for a lower-quality display than what the likes of the Apple Watch Series 8 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic offer? How about no touchscreen at all? No built-in GPS? No music playing functionality? A less-than-impressive set of health monitoring tools?What if you want all of those things and both Android and iOS compatibility and only have, say, 170 bucks to spend? Believe it or not, that can be done, at least for a presumably limited time at Best Buy.

Of course, the Garmin Venu is not the brand's newest or most technologically advanced smartwatch, but at an absolutely massive discount of $130 from an original retail price of $299.99, we're pretty sure you'll find it relatively easy to ignore this bad boy's advanced age. Especially when you consider its reasonably large and decidedly premium 1.2-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 390 x 390 pixels and a handy optional always-on mode.

Naturally, you'll need to keep that option switched off to squeeze as much as five days of endurance between charges out of the Venu's hefty but not overly bulky battery. That's certainly not ideal but it easily beats what the best smartwatches from companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google are currently capable of in terms of real-world battery life.

The cheaper-than-ever OG Venu can (largely) size up against its newer and costlier rivals in the health and fitness tracking field as well, supervising everything from your heart rate to your daily stress levels, nightly sleep quality, vital blood oxygen saturation, body battery energy, and even menstrual cycle while lacking ECG or fall detection technology.

Somewhat uncharacteristically for a Garmin device, this thing is also pretty stylish in addition to unsurprisingly durable, with a nice round design, a not-too-cumbersome bezel made from robust stainless steel, and a fiber-reinforced polymer case that's both reasonably sturdy and relatively lightweight. Now, we're not saying this is the perfect smartwatch to pair with your iPhone or Android handset if you're on a tight budget, but we're also not not saying that. 

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.

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