Assessing the Validity of the Garmin Venu SQ for Estimating VO2max

Abstract

This study assesses the accuracy and validity of the Garmin Venu SQ’s VO2max estimations. We asked 13 healthy college-aged students (ages 18-23) to complete three exercise trials while wearing the Garmin Venu SQ. Participants first ran two trials of the 1.5-Mile run to get a watch estimation before completing a VO2max test on a lab treadmill to measure the actual VO2max value. The watch estimation was then compared to the lab value to assess the level of agreement between the two measures. The mean estimated VO2max from the Garmin watch was 53 ml/kg/min (ranged from 43 to 63 ml/kg/min). The mean VO2max measured in the lab was 54.1 ml/kg/min (ranged from 37.3 to 72.4 ml/kg/min). The largest difference between the watch and lab results was 14.2 ml/kg/min and the smallest the difference was 2.7 ml/kg/min, with an overall mean difference of 1.1 ml/kg/min. A Bland-Altman plot shows good agreement between the watch estimations and actual VO2 values, but also shows a proportional bias in high-fitness participants. Those with higher fitness tend to get lower watch predictions, and vice versa, and the spread among the data points is higher in those with higher fitness. Our study found that the estimated VO2max produced by the Garmin Venu SQ has good overall agreement with actual VO2max values measured in a laboratory setting.