Today, Garmin launched its latest watch, the Venu SQ. Unlike the Forerunner 745, this is a more affordable mainstream consumer-focussed watch.
Functionality-wise it is just a cut down Venu, so there is not that much to compare really.
Garmin Venu SQ Overview
- A new square 1.3” 240 x 240 pixel LCD display
- Corning Gorilla Glass touchscreen display
- 6 days battery with smartwatch mode and 14 hours with GPS
- Optical HR sensor with PulseOx (SpO2 tracking)
- GPS with GLONASS & Galileo
- Downloadable structured workout support / Garmin Coach
- Music storage and streaming with Spotify/Deezer (music edition only) with 3.4GB of usable storage
- Contactless Payments with Garmin Pay
- Respiration rate, 24×7 HR, stress tracking, body battery
- Sleep tracking, step/activity tracking, hydration tracking
- VO2 Max, Physio trueup,
- Female menstrual cycle tracking
- Mindful breathing
- Connecting to ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors (Footpod, speed, cadence, chest strap)
- LiveTrack for workouts & safety alerts for day to day usage
What changed and been removed
- The round AMOLED display is now a square LCD and lower resolution
- Venu SQ is 37.6 g vs 46.3 g
- Longer battery (5 days/6 hours GPS on the Venu)
- No barometric altimeter
- No tracking that requires the altimeter, so floors and stairs, as well as ascent/descent tracking in workouts
- No gyro sensors
- No workouts animations
- No live watch faces
- I have not seen the SQ in real life, but the overall build and aesthetics don’t look as good (but this is justified due to the price)
Price and Availability
There has been a massive price drop which will make this quite attractive to a lot of users.
The watch is available now from Garmin for 179.99
The Garmin Venu has and RRP of £329.99 however it is under £300 on many sites including Amazon
Compared to the Garmin Forerunner 45
The cheapest comparatively price Garmin is the Forerunner 45 at £150 (RRP £169.99) which is very similar in features with the exception that it lacks onboard music. It has a smaller round display with lower resolution looking a bit more like a traditional sports watch. At passing glance, there is little reason to go for the Forerunner 45 vs the Venu Sq.
Alternative Options
The new Fitbit Versa 3 is very similar offering many of the same features including built-in GPS, NFC payment, onboard music, and all the health tracking features Fitbit are famous for. The Fitbit has the advantage of an altimeter, microphone, speaker. The Versa 3 costs a little more at £179.
For Apple users, there is the Apple Watch Series 3 which is now just £195.00, battery life is poor, but it is vastly superior as far as smartwatch features go.
