The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music has a 1.41-inch AMOLED display. (Image Credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express/WideCare)

It’s that time of the year again. When we all start thinking about getting back into shape, as though the New Year is supposed to magically help us get more active. This new-found enthusiasm for exercise—or rather the desire to do some—often leads to additional purchases. Gym membership, fitness apparel, and nowadays, smartwatches or trackers to help keep track of stats. Of course, the idea that a smartwatch or fitness tracker can really help you get fit is debatable. Admittedly, I am more motivated when I have a fitness tracker strapped to my wrist, reminding me that I have not moved all day. And this year, I’ve had a chance to review a fair number of these smartwatches and trackers. The last one for this year is the Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music and here are my thoughts on this.

Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music review: What’s good?

Garmin remains one of the highly trusted brands in this space and yes, that means one has to pay a price. The Venu Sq 2 Music edition starts at Rs 33,490. The watch sports a premium build quality and I got the ivory-white and ‘peach-gold’ coloured version to review. I did not notice any major peeling off for the gold or scratches on the watch’s display during my two-week-long usage.

This is a 41 mm size smartwatch, similar to the Apple Watch Series 8. I find this to be the perfect size for someone with my slender wrists and those who are not fond of big watches will also find this appealing. The colour combination of the Venu Sq 2 also makes it looks less sporty, which is a good thing.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music is a good choice if you are into fitness tracking. (Image Credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express/WideCare)

This one has a rectangular display 1.41-inch AMOLED coloured display (diagonally). The display itself works well and you should not have any trouble using this in bright sunlight either. There is an option to keep the display always turned on, though finding that setting is quite the pain and I had to turn to Google for some help on this. Garmin will let you keep the display turned on during activities as well, though remember this will drain the battery faster.

Garmin is meant for those who are into sports and fitness in a big way and want a watch which gives accurate information. This one is capable of tracking several sports and breaking down your workout according to heart-rate zones, so you can see how you fared. I found the data for calories burnt and heart rate to be in line with my Apple Watch Series 8 when I used this for my home workout sessions. When it came to tracking daily steps, the watch was largely accurate, though slightly ahead in terms of the daily step count compared to the Apple Watch. On some days, I did notice that extra steps were added to the total count.

The watch also comes with the ability for tracking sleep levels, stress, blood oxygen monitoring, women’s health, etc which has become a given expectation nowadays. It will also showcase most notifications and incoming calls from your phone, though what you can do with these is limited.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music heart rate tracking is in line with the Apple Watch Series 8. (Image Credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express/WideCare)

As the name suggests, you can also connect the watch to your Spotify account and then listen to your music directly from Garmin itself. You will have to connect your Bluetooth headphones to the watch as well. The feature worked smoothly for me when I used it, though you have to sync your favourite songs from Spotify to the watch for this work. Garmin claims that you can keep up to 500 songs on this.

Garmin also claims a battery life of around 11 days on this—without continuous music or GPS usage though. In my experience, I got around 5-6 days with it. This included a lot of notifications coming in and the watch being used for exercise sessions quite regularly, etc. All of these impact battery life. Like other fitness watches, this has its own proprietary charger so keep that one safe.

Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music review: What’s not good?

The Garmin user interface remains my biggest annoyance with these devices. It is just not as smooth or intuitive as what I have experienced on other watches, from Apple’s watchOS to even the budget-friendly options. For instance, it took a while to remember how to get to the device’s Settings—this requires a long press on the bottom button and then scrolling down and tapping on the Gear symbol.

The smartwatch lasts anywhere from five to six days on a single charge. (Image Credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express/WideCare)

Garmin could have spared me all of this by just adding Settings as an option in the regular menu—the one that opens up when you swipe up from the home screen. And while you are allowed to edit what options show up in this select menu, you can’t add device settings here. This is a very rigid approach. Why not let the customer decide on what they wish to see here?

Even with Watchfaces, I realised I cannot change them from the app. I have to rely on the device itself to do this, which again ends up making this a painful exercise. And the number of Watchfaces is limited as well from the collection I saw on the device.

Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music review: Verdict

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music is a capable fitness watch which looks stylish in the ‘peach-gold’ version. It comes packed with features and will fulfil most needs for a user who is into fitness or just starting out. It has enough smart features as well—though perhaps not as comprehensive as some of the other options you might find on WearOS and even with the Apple Watch. The problem is the user interface, which can feel clunky and difficult to use at times. Given the price, the Venu Sq 2 Music will naturally end up competing against the Apple Watch SE, and the more expensive WearOS devices such as the ones from Fossil or Michael Kors. The Garmin will appeal to those who are more focused on fitness, rather than just the smart features.

News Article Source:- Indian Express