Garmin launched the Venu Sq 2 series as the successor to Venu Sq series a few months back. The new model brings a bigger 1.41-inch AMOLED display, an all-new 4th Generation Optical Heart Rate Sensor, a new GPS sensor, improved health and fitness features, and a better battery life. We have the Venu Sq 2 Music Edition. Is it worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music Edition in Black
- Charging/data cable
- Documentation
Design and Build
The watch has the square design that is similar to most watches, and there are bezels around the 1.41-inch large screen. It measures 40.6 x 37.0 x 11.1 mm and weighs 38 grams with the strap.
The smartwatch has 5 ATM (50 meter) water resistance, so you can even use it for swimming. There is Accelerometer, Thermometer, Ambient Light Sensor, all-new 4th Generation Optical Heart Rate Sensor, a new GPS sensor using the Airoha/MediaTek chipset, Bluetooth, ANT+, and the Music Edition that we have also has Wi-Fi.
Coming to the strap, it has a lightweight 20mm interchangeable silicone strap and has a stainless steel buckle. The quality of the strap is good.
The smartwatch has a case made of fiber-reinforced polymer, and the bezels has anodized aluminum finish. TThe buttons on the right side that lets you launch workouts and the other button offers menu access and also acts as a back button. Since the case has a matte finish, it is not prone to fingerprints.
On the back, you can see the heart rate and SpO2 sensors, as well as the charging port.
Display and features
Coming to the display, the Venu Sq 2 has a 1.41-inch (320 x 360 pixels) 341 PPI AMOLED touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. You can set it to turn on when you lift your hand, and the screen turns off in a few seconds to save power. It also has always on display option. This is a major upgrade compared to an LCD screen in the predecessor.
Outdoor visibility is good. Since it has an ambient light sensor, brightness adjustment is automatic, but you also have an option to set it manually.
Swipe from the top for glances which shows a lot of things such as steps, intensity minutes, calories, heart rate, body battery, stress, pulse ox, sleep, history, and lots more. You can customize these both from the watch and the app. You can swipe left for quick shortcut which you can choose from music controls, Save location, Alarms, Stopwatch, timer, Brightness and wallet.
Software
The Garmin Venu Sq 2 works with Garmin Connect app for Android and iPhone. The My Day tab offers all the details such as heart rate, body battery, stress, Intensity minutes, steps, Calories, Sleep, Respiration, and all these details for yesterday as well as the last 7 days.
The Challenges tab lets you join a challenge, the calendar tab offers data in the form of calendar view. Then there is news feed and inbox for notifications.
You can also add more watch faces from the separate Connect IQ Store for Android and iPhone. This also has music apps. If you have Spotify Music subscription, you can directly play music and also store 500 tracks from the Spotify or Amazon Music playlists since it has built-in storage. You can also connect the watch via the charging cable to your PC to copy music, audiobooks or podcasts to the watch. When I connected, it showed that 2.9GB storage. You will have to pair your headphones to the watch to play music.
The settings option also lets you select call alerts, notifications from the preferred apps, health reminders and more. It has an option to sync your data to Strava, Microsoft Office 365 and MyFitnessPal.
Fitness and Sleep tracking
The Venu Sq 2 series has 25+ preset GPS and indoor sports apps for walking, jogging, cycling, tennis, and more. It has preloaded aerobic, strength, yoga, HIIT, and Pilates workouts. There are popular HIIT watch that tracks vital data and lets users select rounds, work/rest intervals, and more. You can download dozens of pre-made routines or create your own using over 1,600 exercises with the Garmin Connect app.
For outdoor activities, you get all the details such as distance, calories burnt, average heart rate, average pace, cadence and elevation. You can also see heart rate zones for outdoor activities such as running. Since there is built-in GPS, you don’t need to take your phone for outdoor activities. GPS lock is quick, and the data is accurate when compared to running app on mobile.
Sleep tracking shows light, deep sleep, REM sleep and awake time as well as respiration. Tracking is good and accurate. You also get a sleep score based on the sleep quality. You can also set it to track SpO2, but it drains the battery.
Heart rates SpO2 and Stress monitoring
The smartwatch uses LED lights and photo-diodes to illuminate the blood vessel for a while and monitors the heart rate and SpO2 or blood oxygen via the change of green light absorbed. There is 24×7 monitoring for both, but it drains the battery.
Heart rate recordings — both resting and active, and SpO2 readings are good compared to oximeter. There is stress monitoring, including an all-day monitoring option.
Battery life
The Watch promises up to 11 days of battery life in smartwatch mode. During my use for the month, I got a week to 8 days of battery life with 24h heart rate tracking, calls notification and some app notifications enabled. This is way better than the predecessor.
The company promise Up to 12 days battery life in Battery saver mode, and up to 26 hours in GPS-Only GNSS mode, so you can use it even for ultra marathons.
Battery life might vary depending on frequent use of the display with increased brightness, use of the heart rate monitor during workouts, and all the notifications turned on.
It has a proprietary charging cable that you need to plug it in a USB port of a PC or a laptop or use power bank in low-power mode. It takes about 1 hour to charge the watch fully from 0%. Charging time doesn’t matter since it lasts for a week.
Conclusion
The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music Edition is a good smartwatch with an AMOLED display and several health and training features that others don’t offer. GPS lock is quick for outdoor training, and it also has 5ATM water resistance. Wish the standard Edition also had Wi-Fi support like the Music Edition to sync data without the phone.
The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music Edition is priced at Rs. 33,490, but you can get the Peach Gold Edition for as low as Rs. 29,990 on Amazon.in. The standard Garmin Venu Sq 2 costs Rs. 27,990.