Garmin launched the Venu Sq 2 series a few months ago as the successor to the Venu Sq series. The new model brings a larger 1.41-inch AMOLED display, an entirely new fourth-generation optical heart rate sensor, a new GPS sensor, improved health and fitness features, and an improved battery life. We have venu class 2 music version. Is it worth the price? Let’s dive into the review to find out.
box contents
- Garmin Venu Class 2 Music Edition in Black
- charging/data cable
- Documentation
design and manufacture
The watch has a square design similar to most watches, and there are bezels around the large 1.41-inch 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 meters) water resistance, so you can even use it for a swim. There’s an 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 Music Edition which we also have Wi-Fi.
Coming to the strap, it has a lightweight 20mm interchangeable silicone strap with a stainless steel buckle. Strap quality is good.
The smartwatch features a case made of fiber-reinforced polymer, and the bezels feature an anodized aluminum finish. The buttons on the right that let you launch workouts and the other button provides menu access and also acts as a back button. Since the case has a matte finish, it does not pick up fingerprints.
On the back, you can see the heart rate and SpO2 sensors, as well as the charging port.
Performance and Features
Coming to the display, the Venu Sq 2 sports a 1.41-inch (320 x 360 pixels) 341 PPI AMOLED touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Few seconds to save power. There is also an option for always on display. This is a huge upgrade compared to the LCD screen in the predecessor.
Outdoor visibility is good. Since it has an ambient light sensor, the brightness adjustment is automatic, but you also have the option of setting it manually.
Swipe up for a glance that shows tons of things like steps, intensity minutes, calories, heart rate, body battery, stress, pulse ox, sleep, history, and more. You can customize these from both the watch and the app. You can swipe left for quick shortcuts that you can choose from Music Control, Save Location, Alarm, Stopwatch, Timer, Brightness, and Wallet.
software
The Garmin Venu Sq 2 works with the Garmin Connect app for Android and iPhone. My Day tab provides all the details like heart rate, body battery, stress, intensity minutes, steps, calories, sleep, respiration, and all these details for yesterday as well as last 7 days.
The Challenges tab lets you join a challenge, the Calendar tab provides data in the form of a calendar view. Then there’s the news feed and inbox for notifications.
You can also add more watch faces from the separate Connect IQ Store for Android and iPhone. It also has music apps. If you have a Spotify Music subscription, you can play music directly and even store up to 500 tracks from Spotify or Amazon Music playlists as there’s built-in storage. You can also connect the watch to your PC via the charging cable to copy music, audiobooks or podcasts to the watch. When I connected, it showed that 2.9GB storage. You need to connect your headphones to the watch in order to play music.
The Settings option lets you choose call alerts, notifications from favorite apps, health reminders, and more. It has the option to sync your data with Strava, Microsoft Office 365, and MyFitnessPal.
fitness and sleep tracking
The Venu Sq 2 series comes with 25+ preset GPS and indoor sports apps for walking, jogging, cycling, tennis and more. It comes preloaded with aerobic, strength, yoga, HIIT and Pilates workouts. There are popular HIIT watches that track important data and let users choose rounds, work/rest intervals, and more. You can download dozens of pre-built routines with the Garmin Connect app or create your own using over 1,600 exercises.
For outdoor activities, you get all the details like distance, calories burned, average heart rate, average pace, cadence and elevation. You can also see heart rate zones for outdoor activities like running. Since it has built-in GPS, you don’t need to carry your phone for outdoor activities. GPS lock is quick, and the data is accurate compared to the app running on the mobile.
Sleep tracking shows light, deep sleep, REM sleep, and wake times, as well as respiration. Tracking is good and accurate. You also get a sleep score based on the quality of your sleep. You can also set it to track SpO2, but that consumes battery.
Heart Rate SpO2 & Stress Monitoring
The smartwatch uses LED lights and photo-diodes to illuminate a blood vessel for a brief period of time and monitor heart rate and SpO2 or blood oxygen through the change of absorbed green light. There is 24×7 monitoring for both, but this drains the battery.
Heart rate recording – both resting and active, and SpO2 readings are good compared to oximeters. There is stress monitoring, including the option for all-day monitoring.
battery life
The watch promises up to 11 days of battery life in smartwatch mode. During my month of usage, I got a week to 8 days of battery life with 24 hours of heart rate tracking, call notification and some app notifications enabled. It is much better than the previous one.
The company promises up to 12 days of battery life in Battery Saver mode and up to 26 hours in GPS-only GNSS mode, so you can even use it for an ultra marathon.
Battery life may vary depending on repeated use of the display with increased brightness, use of the heart rate monitor during workouts, and with all notifications turned on.
It has a proprietary charging cable that you need to plug into a PC or laptop’s USB port or use a power bank in low-power mode. It takes about 1 hour for the watch to fully charge from 0%. Charging time doesn’t matter as it lasts for a week.
conclusion
The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music Edition is a decent smartwatch with an AMOLED display and a number of health and training features that others don’t offer. The GPS lock is quick for outdoor training, and it also has 5ATM water resistance. I wish the standard edition also had Wi-Fi support like the Music edition to sync data without a phone.
The Garmin Venu Class 2 Music Edition is priced at Rs. 33,490, but you can get the Peach Gold variant for as low as Rs. 29,990 on Amazon.in. The standard Garmin Venu Class 2 is priced at Rs. 27,990.
