- The Garmin Venu X1 gets a new Soft Gold color
- The Soft Gold comes with a new French Gray strap color and retains its titanium caseback.
- Starts at $699.99 / £679.99 / AU$1,499
The Garmin Venu X1 was one of my favorite smartwatches of last year because it was a genuine innovation, the antithesis of Garmin’s normal design philosophy. While most of the best Garmin watches are thick and round, this one was square and very thin with an exceptionally bright screen, while still including the titanium back, LED light, speaker, microphone, GPS, and powerful health tracking tools that Garmin is known for. It was a true rival to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, both in design and performance.
Bottom line, I gave it 4.5 stars after testing it and called it “Garmin’s most innovative watch in years.” Now we’re getting a new Garmin Venu X1 and we’re less than two weeks into the new year, although it’s just a new color rather than a full sequel.
The new Soft Gold colorway of the Garmin Venu The Soft Gold color features a lighter gray polymer casing, with gold buttons and clasp, and a titanium back. A French gray Velcro band completes the new look.
It’s priced at $699.99 / £679.99 / AU$1,499 (like the rest of the Garmin Venu X1 line) and is available to buy from Garmin right now.
A sign of things to come?
Garmin launched a slew of watches last year, revamping almost its entire range. Since CES 2026 has come and gone without a new Garmin watch announcement (just a nutrition tracking feature for Connect+ users), I wonder if this is a sign of things to come.
I imagine we’ll see fewer watches this year and more minor tweaks to the range like this. However, I’m sure Garmin will make an exception for the Garmin Fenix 9.
The Garmin Fenix 8 arrived in September 2024, while the updated Garmin Fenix 8 Pro with MicroLED display and satellite connectivity arrived last year. If I had to bet, I’d say we’ll see a Garmin Fenix 9 towards the end of this year, with a Fenix 9 Pro sometime in 2027.
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