Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Venu 2: Which is Better?

By Linus T.
Updated May 2023

The Garmin Venu 2 and Garmin Forerunner 255 are both amazing smartwatches from Garmin’s respective collections. With the Forerunner 255 being newer and also possessing many distinctive differences from the Venu 2, it has left many of you sitting on the fence about which to buy.

Let’s dive into our Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Venu 2 review and see which model is more suited for your personal needs.

Garmin Forerunner 255

All-new sensors and specs

Equipped with multi-band GNSS and Garmin's new V4 Elevate Heart Rate Sensor

Buy on Amazon

Garmin Venu 2

Mind & Body — Connected by Garmin

GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring & fitness features.

Buy on Amazon

#1 Price

Garmin Forerunner 255

With the Garmin Venu 2 being an older model, prices have come to a point where it is comparable in pricing to the Garmin Forerunner 255. However, the Forerunner 255 also has a slightly more expensive Music version, which may be more comparable since the Venu 2 also has music functionality.

So depending on which model and ever-changing promotions, one or the other may be less expensive but they stay roughly in the same mid-tier price range for Garmin smartwatches.

#2 Design & Display

Garmin Forerunner 255

The Garmin Forerunner 255 is available in two sizes — the Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 255S (smaller sized). The Forerunner 255 has a screen size of 1.3” and a resolution of 260 x 260 px, while the Forerunner 255S comes with a 1.1” screen size and 218 x 218 px resolution.

Comparatively, the Garmin Venu 2 is also available in two sizes — the Venu 2 and Venu 2S (smaller sized). With the Venu 2, you get a screen size of 1.3” along with a 416 x 416 px resolution, while the Venu 2S comes with a 1.1” screen size and 360 x 360 px resolution.

Garmin Venu 2

The Garmin Forerunner 255 has a sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display, which makes it great for the outdoors and bright light environments. Instead, the Garmin Venu 2 features a bright, AMOLED display which looks amazing and even better in low light conditions However, one drawback is its lower visibility in bright sunlight.

Both smartwatches sport a round watch face but another distinctive differences between the two models is their user interface. The Garmin Venu 2 is controlled via touchscreen, making it convenient and easy to use in general but a potential disaster if your fingers get sweaty. Other the other hand, the Garmin Forerunner 255 has no touchscreen and is controlled via 5 buttons around the watch. This provides a more tactile experience for users and ensures functionality regardless of sweat.

Overall, Venu 2 has an elegant and beautiful design while Forerunner 255 takes on a more functional and practical interface made for active people.

Garmin Forerunner 255

All-new sensors and specs

Equipped with multi-band GNSS and Garmin's new V4 Elevate Heart Rate Sensor

Buy on Amazon

#3 Health & Fitness Features

Garmin Venu 2

Both the Garmin Forerunner 255 and Venu 2 cover most of the basic health tracking tools Garmin has to offer. You’ll have features like Health Snapshot, Body Battery energy monitoring, sleep & stress tracking and more. Using these features, you can get a comprehensive picture of your body and deeply understand how you feel daily on a qualitative assessment.

Here comes the huge difference between the two watches. The Forerunner 255 was designed mainly for running and comes packed with features solely to track & analyse your runs. These features are not available on the Venu 2 at all, so if you’re more than just a casual runner this is where it matters.

Garmin Venu 2

Mind & Body — Connected by Garmin

GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring & fitness features.

Buy on Amazon

The Garmin Forerunner 255 lets you go into great detail about your runs and performance to understand how productive you are when training and benchmark your historical activity to set new goals for improvement. You can gain deeper insight through aerobic and anaerobic training effect feedback to better understand your endurance, speed and power.

While running, the Forerunner 255 can also give you a real-time assessment of your pace and heart rate to understand your current performance level. Another unique feature known as PacePro™, lets you assess your race day strategy by offering guidance towards your pace for a selected course or distance.

If you care a lot about your running and take a keen interest towards to tracking your performance and how you can improve, the Garmin Forerunner 255 opens these doors for you. However, if you do not see yourself using these features, the Venu 2 would make a great fit.

#4 Smartwatch Functions

Garmin Venu 2

The Garmin Forerunner 255 comes upgraded the most accurate location tracking you can find using multi-band GNSS SatIQ technology. The Venu 2 does not come with Multi-Band but its GPS function is still fairly accurate.

Other than that, both models feature similar basic features you need like Garmin Pay, smart notifications, safety tracking, and other everyday utility tools. The Garmin Venu 2 also comes with music functionality and this is only present in the Music version for the Forerunner 255.

#5 Battery & Power

Garmin Forerunner 255

When it comes to battery life, both the Garmin Forerunner 255 and Venu 2 come on top. That said, the Forerunner 255 has a slightly better battery performance lasting up to 14 days on a single charge while the Venu 2 can only go for up to 10 days.

It’s a great perk not having to charge your smartwatches daily versus other brands, so there is not much to fuss here between the two models unless a longer battery life is a huge deal breaker for you or you’re bearing in mind decreasing battery efficiency over the years.

Compare Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Venu 2

Final Thoughts

Between the Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Venu 2, both watches are made for really different users.

For more lifestyle and casual fitness people, the Garmin Venu 2 might suit your profile a lot better and will look like a touch of class on your wrist with its AMOLED display. You still get access to a whole range of health & fitness features that’ll be more than enough.

For active bodies and runners, the Garmin Forerunner 255 will be a no brainer with its enhanced running features and functional ease of use when exercising.

If you like to read more on Garmin smartwatches, check out our other relevant guides here:

Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Forerunner 245

Garmin Forerunner 25 vs Garmin Forerunner 745

Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu 2

Garmin Venu 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq

Garmin Venu 2 vs Garmin Vivoactive 4

Explore the full collection for Garmin on Amazon.com or visit the Official Garmin Singapore Store.