Garmin Venu 2 Plus vs Apple Watch 7: All Things Compared

Apple Watch Series 7 is the latest in the lineup of iconic smartwatches by Cupertino-based tech giant. The smartwatch has a refined touchscreen with no bezel at all, and it is truly a gold standard of squarish watches these days.

However, the watch offers a fraction of the improvements over the Series 6 or Series SE. Due to the lack of major breakthroughs many users were expecting (Blood Suger Monitoring, Improved Battery Performance, Advanced Sports Metrics), it is not going to have any effect on the shrinking fan base of the company so far

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In contrast, Garmin Venu Series has been a major success for one of Apple’s major competitors in the market. Venu 2 Plus has plucked a leaf out of Apple’s book with its universal appeal and a solid display, but it kept in line with the company’s standard of preferring practical features over add-ons.

You get weeks-long battery performance with Venu 2 Plus, solid health, and sports tracking, and a robust design. The watch strikes the right balance of form and function

Both watches are compatible with iPhone, but Venu 2 Plus can also be paired with an Andriod phone and even a pc.

Unfortunately, I can’t explain all the differences in a tight space, and you might have to read this Apple Watch Series 7 vs Garmin Venu 2 Plus comparison to make the purchasing decision.

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General Comparison:

Product Name	Apple watch series 7	Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Predecessor	Apple watch series 6	Garmin Venu 2 and Venu 2s
Models	GPS + Cellular | 45mm + 41mm	43mm
Release Date	October 15, 2021	January 4, 2022
Parent Company	Apple Inc	Garmin
Operating System	watchOS 8.0, Chipset: Apple S7	Garmin OS
Compatibility	iOS	Android, IOS
Competition	Fitbit Sense, Garmin Venu 2, Fossil Gen 6, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4/4 Classic	Apple Watch 6, Fitbit Sense, Ticwatch Pro 3, Fossil Gen 5
Suitable For	Lifestyle, Health, Sports	Primarily Sports,
Sensors	GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS, Accelerometer, gyro, heart rate, barometer, always-on altimeter, compass, SpO2, Ambient Light Sensor	GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, Accelerometer, gyro, heart rate, barometer, always-on altimeter, compass, SpO2, Ambient Light Sensor, Thermometer, saturation monitor

Venu 2 Plus Vs Apple Watch Series 7 Compared:

Price and Value:

Apple Watch Series 7 starts at around $399 and goes all the way up to around $850 as you go higher in size, pick different casing materials, and finally decide on a GPS vs LTE variant. Garmin Venu 2 Plus costs around $450, almost $50 higher than its predecessor.

In terms of value, Series 7 offers a decent mix of lifestyle, health, and sports features, and if paired with an iPhone, it promises to give its best performance. Garmin Venu 2 Plus has still to do on the smartwatch front, but in terms of health and sports tracking it has a fair advantage over the Apple Watch.

Design & Display :

	Apple watch series 7	Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Dimensions, Weight	Apple watch series 7: (41mm) 41 x 35 x 10.7 mm & Apple watch series 7: (45mm) 45 x 38 x 10.7 mm | 41mm: Aluminum: 32.0g, Stainless Steel: 42.3g, Titanium: 37.0g & 45mm: Aluminum: 38.8g, Stainless Steel: 51.5g, Titanium: 45.1g	43.6 x 43.6 x 12.6 mm | 51.0 g
Band Size	N/A	20 mm
Build materials	Leather, Sillicone, Nylon	Silicone
Colors	Aluminum: Midnight, Starlight, Green, Blue, RED | Stainless Steel: Graphite (PVD), Silver, Gold (PVD),  | Titanium: Space black (DLC), Titanium | Apple Watch Nike: Aluminum available at midnight and starlight. | Apple Watch Hermès: Stainless steel available in space black (DLC) and silver.	Silver bezel with Powder Gray case, Slate bezel with Black case, Cream Gold bezel with Ivory case
Waterproofing	5ATM (up to 50m)	5ATM (up to 50m)
Display Size	45mm, 41mm	1.3″ (33.0 mm) diameter
Screen Type & Resolution	,45mm: Retina LTPO OLED, 396 by 484 pixels | 41mm: Retina LTPO OLED, 352 by 430 pixels	AMOLED optional always-on mode | 416 x 416 pixels
Pixel Per Inch	N/A	N/A
Screen Protection	Ion-X strengthened glass	fiber-reinforced polymer with stainless-steel rear cover
Always-on Display	Yes	optional always-on mode
Rotating Bezel	No	No

Let’s begin with the size and shape. Garmin watch is available in only one size, 43.2 mm, compared to its predecessor Venu 2 (45mm) and Venu 2S (40mm); its circular shape is a bit bulky and borderline chunky when compared to the Apple Watch. You get two sizes in series 7, a smaller 41mm watch aimed at women, and a larger 45mm for big wrists.

Venu 2 plus has an edge with its raised bezel around the screen which makes it less prone to accidental crashes. Also, Garmin designers have integrated a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect against scratches and cosmetic damage. Series 7’s edge-to-edge display (20% bigger than Series 6) truly wins the battle for visual appeal.

The Water resistance for both the watches is the same, 5 ATM. Similarly, with both watches, you get customizable straps. In color and material options, Apple takes the lead with its tons of choices.

Apple’s offering scores over Garmin Watch in a few other areas too, one of them being its high-resolution AMOLED display (396×484 pixels) which is a bit more vivid, while Garmin has a decent resolution (416×416 pixels). Both watches offer always-on mode, which though being handy is a major battery-killer in a smartwatch. The touchscreen on the Apple Watch is more responsive, but the difference is almost imperceptible.

Winner: Tied

Smartwatch Features:

	Apple watch series 7	Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Connectivity	LTE and UMTS6, GPS + Cellular models,  Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0	Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi
Companion App	Watch	CONNECT IQ
Storage	32GB	200 hours of activity data + Music: Up to 650 songs
Processor	Dual-core processor with Apple S7 chipset	N/A
RAM	1GB	N/A
Notification Alert	Yes	Yes
Calendar, Weather	Yes	Yes
Offline Spotify	Yes	Yes
Timer & Alarm	Yes	Yes
Customizable Watch Faces	Yes	Yes
Voice Assistant	Yes(Siri)	Yes(Google Assistant, Samsung Bixby, and Siri support)
Music Storage, Control	Yes	Yes
Third-Party Apps	Yes	Yes
Make calls, send texts & Emails	Yes	Yes
Browse Web	Yes	N/A
Contactless Payment	Yes (Apple Pay)	Yes (Garmin Pay)

If there is one thing Apple is a king of and Garmin has never tried before is the integration of a voice assistant in a smartwatch. This simple tool allows you to control your smart home device, control music, do a simple calculation.

Venu 2 Plus is the company’s first with a microphone, so we can make calls and control voice assistant on your smartphone. The watch works seamlessly with Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant with only one limitation, your phone should be connected and nearby.

Apple has integrated Siri in its Series 3 and onwards. All these watches can control almost all your home devices, music, and almost all tasks mentioned above without necessarily being paired with the iPhone all the time.

In addition to this, both watches have NFC payment under ‘Garmin Pay’ and ‘Apple Pay’. As you can guess, the number of supported banks in Apple Way is way more and widely spread across the world.

Both watches have music storage and streaming option for users. The number of supported streaming platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music) are more or less the same on both watches. But only on the Apple Watch, you can get a storage option as larger as 32 GB.

When it comes to supporting third-party apps, Apple Watch beats Garmin with a fairly high lead. The number of Watch OS-supported apps is in the thousands. However, popular sports and fitness apps like Strava, myfitnesspal, Nike Run Club, and Runkeeper are available for both platforms.

Lastly, Apple Watch Series 7 has truly nailed the connectivity game with the LTE option. You can make calls, send texts, browse the internet on the watch without having your phone around.

Winner: Apple Watch Series 7

Fitness and Sports Feature:

	Apple watch series 7	Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Built-in GPS	Yes (-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS)	Yes (-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO)
Heart Rate Tracking	Yes	Yes
Sleep	Yes	Yes
Stress	Yes	Yes
Blood Oxygen	Yes	Yes
ECG	Yes	No
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis	Yes	No
Steps, Calories	Yes	Yes
Menstrual cycle	Yes	Yes
Sport Mode	Yes	Yes
Sync Data With Strava, Apple Health	Yes	Yes

The health features in both watches seem pretty similar. Garmin offers the standards like heart rate, sleep, stress, respiration monitoring along with the newly introduced blood oxygen tracking.

Apple Watch Series 7 doesn’t cover advanced sleep tracking like a detailed breakdown of Light, deep, REM, and awake time, but it certainly has a plus. You get ECG monitoring with Apple Watch Series 7, a feature that has remained to be exclusive to Apple, Fitbit, and Samsung watches.

Venu 2 Plus like all other mid-range Garmin watches shines in GPS-based sports tracking. There are tons of dedicated modes for activities like Cardio, HIIT and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor Rowing, Yoga, Pilates, Breathwork, Running, Indoor Track Running, Treadmill Running, Hiking, Indoor Climbing, Bouldering, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Biking, Indoor Biking, and Pool swimming.

Even though most of the aforementioned sports profiles are also available on the Apple Watch, you will miss out on performance metrics like heart rate, VO2 max, body battery, heart rate zone, recovery time, and so on. The GPS accuracy of the Apple Watch is slightly less accurate than Venu 2 Plus.

You can connect external sensors like chest HRM, cadence/speed sensor, and armbands with both watches as long as they support Bluetooth technology. Thanks to ANT+ connectivity on the Garmin watch, the range of its pairable devices is quite diverse.

Winner: Garmin Venu 2 Plus

Battery Performance:

	Apple watch series 7	Garmin Venu 2 Plus
Battery Performance	Up to 18 hours	Up to 9 days | Battery saver Smartwatch mode: Up to 10 days | GPS mode with music: Up to 8 hours | GPS mode without music: Up to 24 hours
Battery Size	N/A	N/A
Charger Type	USB-C magnetic fast charging cable	Proprietary 4 pin connector
Fast Charging	0%-80% in about 45 minutes	Ten minutes of charging adds up to 1 day of smartwatch mode battery life or 1 hour of GPS with music battery life

In Series 7, there were only two key updates: a bigger screen and fast charging support. With a decent fast charging cable, it takes only 30 minutes to get to 50%, and 45 minutes to get over 80%. Plus, the magnetic charger makes the whole process a breeze.

Garmin Venu 2 Plus, on the other hand, takes an eternity to fully charge from 0-100%, and its charger definitely has some bulk to it. However, you won’t have to charge the watch every day. With standard usage, you can easily eke out around 10 days of battery performance.

Winner: Garmin Venu 2 Plus

Verdict:

Venu 2 Plus is a fitness-centered watch with a decent blend of smartwatch features. Whereas Apple Watch Series 7 can take many roles, it can act as your daily driver, business class assistant, and ultimate sports companion. if you want a full-fledged smartwatch experience and don’t care much about GPS-based performance in sports activities, Series 7 might just be your perfect match. Conversely, Venu 2 Plus should be at the top of your list if you care about is the accuracy of sport and health metrics, and have battery performance as your top priority.