Garmin Venu 4: problems, parts and running costs
Checked: 2026-10-18
Summary
The Venu 4’s recurring problems are firmware-related: owners report crashes, reboots, screen glitches and sensor dropouts across recent builds, plus skin irritation under the polymer back after about five days of continuous wear. Running cost is about $0 a year unless you take the Garmin Connect Plus coaching tier at $7 per month. Reviewers listed it at $549-550 at launch, a $100 increase over the Venu 3, so value depends heavily on the actual selling price.
Common problems and fixes
- Crashes and reboots on recent firmware — on the Garmin Forums, owners report restarting during Connect IQ app activities on firmware 18.30, a crash-and-reboot when dismissing a stack of notifications, frequent crashes with incorrect step counting, and crashing while playing music over Bluetooth on 18.30. Garmin is actively shipping updates (18.30, 18.32), so many of these may be fixable. [5]
- Screen and touch faults — reports include a blank screen with the watch still alive, a consistent screen glitch on a brand-new unit, and touch lock not functioning correctly since about September 1, 2026. [5]
- Sensor and GPS dropouts — constant heart-rate-broadcast dropouts after the 18.29 update, and inconsistent elevation gain on the same cycling route. [5]
- Sleep and health data mismatches — sleep time not matching in glances and average stress level not matching the sleep-time stress chart; Wareable also found sleep scores more lenient than an Oura Ring 4. [3][5]
- Skin irritation under the polymer back — CNET reported irritation after about five days of continuous wear; cleaning the watch and the back and giving the skin breaks resolved it. [4]
- Two buttons instead of three, occasional sluggish software — navigation leans more on the touchscreen, and Wareable described voice commands as buggy in long-term testing. [2][3][4]
- $100 increase over the Venu 3 — launched around $549-550 against the Venu 3’s $450, and reviewers call the hike the biggest reason to hesitate. [2][3][4]
Parts and consumables
Yearly running cost
Garmin Connect Plus is a subscription CNET lists at $7 per month for personalized coaching plans. Everything else has no subscription and there are no consumables. Typical owner: $0 a year unless they take the coaching tier; the only physical item that may need replacing is the charging cable, with no reported price.
When it is a good buy
No street price was reported for this SKU in the sources checked. At launch, reviewers listed it at $549 for the 41 mm (Tom’s Guide) and $550 for both sizes (CNET), with a $599 option adding a leather strap and Wareable citing $549 for a 45 mm silicone. At that level it is worth it only if you will use Garmin’s training and recovery data; the Venu 3, which launched at $450, is the better choice when you do not need the brighter 2,000-nit display, the built-in flashlight or multi-band GPS. [2][3][4]
Alternatives: the Venu 3 is the better choice when the $100 saving matters more than the new display, flashlight and multi-band GPS; the Venu 4 makes sense for a buyer who wants a good-looking all-day wearable that is also a serious fitness and recovery tracker. [2][3][4]