Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq: Is It Worth The Upgrade?

By Linus T.
Updated May 2023

Garmin released its all-new Venu Sq 2 in September 2022 as an upgrade to its predecessor, the Venu Sq, which was launched back in late 2020.

The new Venu Sq 2 is an extremely affordable and great-value GPS smartwatch that packs everything you really need. It features all-day health monitoring, fitness tracking and connected features. The smartwatch also continues to feature a squarish body as compared to Garmin’s typical round face.

Both devices also come with an option for a music version. By paying a little more, you get to be able to store songs in the smartwatch to listen to music on the go without having to carry your phone with you.

In this review, we’ll take a look at the Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq and figure out if it’s worth the timely upgrade for you.

Garmin Venu Sq 2

All-new sensor & display

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

Buy on Amazon

Garmin Venu Sq

The smartwatch with everything you need

GPS smartwatch with all-day health monitoring and fitness tracking.

Buy on Amazon

#1 Sensors

Garmin Venu Sq

One of the key upgrades in the new Garmin Venu Sq 2 is a new heart rate sensor and GPS chipset.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 now comes built-in with Garmin’s all-new 4th Generation Optical Heart Rate Sensor, while the Venu Sq uses Garmin’s previous 3rd Generation version. The new 4th generation sensor provides greater accuracy on your heart rate and blood oxygen saturation data to give a more precise health snapshot of your body.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 also features a new GPS sensor using the Airoha/MediaTek chipset as compared to its predecessor. With this, you have higher accuracy GPS data to analyse your walk and runs.

#2 Health & Fitness Features

Garmin Venu Sq 2

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 has all of the great health and fitness features you can find in the Venu Sq. This includes Body Battery energy monitoring, sleep monitoring, stress tracking, and more.

When it comes to sleep, you now get a new sleep score metric in the Garmin Venu Sq 2. This quantifiable metric lets you easily understand how good or bad your previous night of sleep went without having to dig in and analyse all of your data.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 also comes with all the preloaded sports apps found in the Venu Sq like running, cycling, swimming and more. However, the Garmin Venu Sq 2 lets you access a new sports profile for HIIT workouts. You can use this activity profile to track MRAP, EMOM, Tabata and custom exercises and also set the number of rounds, work/rest intervals and more.

Garmin Venu Sq 2

All-new sensor & display

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

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 has some neat upgrades to its display. Both smartwatches still feature a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens and an always-on display.

One distinct upgrade in the Garmin Venu Sq 2 is the all-new AMOLED display as compared to that Garmin Venu Sq which is fitted with s liquid crystal display (LCD). The AMOLED display lets you see more vibrant colours and deeper blacks on the screen for greater visual appeal and clarity.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 also has a bigger display size at 1.41” instead of the 1.3” found in the Venu Sq, giving you a fuller screen size without the ‘Garmin’ logo at the bottom of the screen. The Garmin Venu Sq 2 also levels up with a way better resolution boasting a higher pixel density of 320 x 360 pixels. The Garmin Venu Sq only has a resolution of 240 x 240 pixels.

Garmin Venu Sq

The smartwatch with everything you need

GPS smartwatch with all-day health monitoring and fitness tracking.

Buy on Amazon

#4 Battery & Power

Garmin Venu Sq

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 also leaps ahead its predecessor when it comes to battery life. Now, you can get up to 11 days of battery life in the standard smartwatch mode on the Garmin Venu Sq 2. In GPS mode, you have up to 26 hours of battery.

This extends the battery life of 6 days in smartwatch mode and 14 hours in GPS mode in the Garmin Venu Sq by almost two times.

#5 Colour

Garmin Venu Sq 2

Last but not least, there are some colour changes to the new Garmin Venu Sq 2 range. Black & White options are still available but the previous Orchid tone in the Venu Sq is now replaced with Garmin’s more recent colourway trend of mint.

Compare Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq

Final Thoughts

Looking at the Garmin Venu Sq 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq review, the new model primarily presents huge upgrades to the hardware in terms of the sensor, display and battery as compared to its predecessor.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 remains a great and affordable option for users looking to break into the smartwatch space with a comprehensive list of health and fitness features using modern sensors.

When it comes to deciding whether to upgrade to the newer model, it boils down to whether you see a need for more accurate specs because most of what the Venu Sq 2 can do feature-wise, the Venu Sq can too other than the Sleep Score & HIIT Sports Profile.

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 2

Garmin Venu 2 vs Garmin Venu Sq

Garmin Venu 2 vs Garmin Vivoactive 4

Garmin Vivoactive 4 vs Garmin Venu

Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Venu 2

Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Forerunner 245

Garmin Forerunner 255 vs Garmin Forerunner 745

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