Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu 2: Which is Better?

By Linus T.
Updated May 2023

Garmin released its all-new Venu Sq 2 in September 2022 as an upgrade for its predecessor, the Garmin Venu Sq, which was launched two years ago.

As a new member of the Venu family, the Garmin Venu Sq 2 have a lot of similarities to the higher-end Garmin Venu 2 models. So, how does the Garmin Venu Sq 2 fair against the older, top-of-the-line Venu 2 smartwatch?

In this review, we’ll take a look at the Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu 2 and figure out which is the more ideal smartwatch for you.

Garmin Venu Sq 2

An upgraded hardware

All the best things of the Venu Sq plus upgraded sensors for accuracy and a modern display.

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Garmin Venu 2

Mind & body connected

GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring & fitness features.

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#1 Sensors

Garmin Venu 2

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 has two less built-in sensors as compared to the Venu 2.

Firstly, the Garmin Venu 2 has a barometric altimeter. This lets the smartwatch to determine changes in elevation to understand how high you are compared to sea level.

Secondly, the Garmin Venu 2 has an internal gyroscope. The gyroscope sensor helps improve swim feature performance, rep counting for gym activities and also distance & direction calculations when GPS is off.

However, the good thing about the Garmin Venu Sq 2 is that being newer, it now comes with the more advanced Airoha/MediaTek GPS chipset. This will give you a more accurate GPS reading as compared to the Garmin Venu 2.

#2 Smartwatch Features

Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music

Between the Garmin Venu Sq 2 and Venu 2, most of the same health and fitness tracking features can be found on both smartwatches.

You’ll have access to things like Body Battery energy monitoring, sleep analysis, stress tracking and more. These features provide a comprehensive overview of your mind and body and lets you stay in touch with the important things you need to track.

One aspect where the Garmin Venu 2 stands out is that its screen can be animated. When getting guidance from on-screen workouts on the Garmin Venu 2, you will be able to see an animated figure showing how the exercise is carried out. Also, on your home screen, you can set visual background animations to bring your watch face to life.

Music storage is available in the Garmin Venu 2, whereas on the basic Venu Sq 2 it is not. However, there is an option for music storage if you would like to fork out a little more for the Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music version instead. Music storage lets you store songs directly into your Garmin smartwatch so that you can listen to music on the go without having to bring your phone with you.

Garmin Venu Sq 2

An upgraded hardware

All the best things of the Venu Sq plus upgraded sensors for accuracy and a modern display.

Buy on Amazon

#3 Display

Garmin Venu Sq 2

With an upgrade in the display in the Garmin Venu Sq 2, both smartwatch lines now offer an AMOLED display. This lets you enjoy vibrant colours and deeper blacks on screen.

However, the Garmin Venu 2 still has a higher resolution with a pixel density of 416 x 416 pixels than the Venu Sq 2, which sits at 320 x 360 pixels. At arm’s length, you might not notice much of a difference as both provide you with a solid screen clarity.

One last distinct difference is of course the watch shape. The Garmin Venu Sq 2 comes into a squarish body (like an Apple Watch) versus the more common Garmin circular design in the Venu 2. The watch shape doesn’t make a whole lot of difference when it comes to functionality and this will mainly boil down to personal preferences.

Garmin Venu 2

Mind & body connected

GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring & fitness features.

Buy on Amazon

#4 Battery & Power

Garmin Venu 2

When it comes to battery life, there isn’t a huge difference between the two models across the various smartwatch and GPS modes. You get roughly up to 11 days of battery life in both devices, which is a really great feature compared to lots of smartwatches in the market.

Compare Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu 2

Final Thoughts

There’s not really much of a huge difference between the Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu 2, with both smartwatches providing similar all-day health monitoring, fitness tracking and connected services.

Given that the Garmin Venu 2 typically costs $100-$200 more than the Venu Sq 2, we would recommend most people to go for the more affordable and better value Venu Sq 2 and maybe pay a little more for the music version.

If having a barometric altimeter or gyroscope is what you want in a smartwatch, then you might convince yourself to go for the Garmin Venu 2 instead.

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

Garmin Vivosmart 5 vs Garmin Vivosmart 4

Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq

Garmin Venu 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq

Garmin Venu 2 vs Garmin Vivoactive 4

Garmin Vivoactive 4 vs Garmin Venu

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