Update: We've now published our full Garmin Venu Sq review. And see how the Venu Sq compares to the Venu and Vivoactive 4.
Garmin has unveiled its new Venu Sq smartwatch – a budget friendly, powerful GPS watch, that’s set to give Apple and Fitbit something to think about.
The Venu Sq (and Venu Sq Music) start at just $199 (the Music version is a punchy $249) but pack a massive spec sheet that belies the cost.
It's a natural competitor to the Fitbit Sense and the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE .
Obviously you get Garmin GPS tracking of 20 sports, with optical heart rate tracking in the mix.
But many of Garmin’s most advanced health metrics make the cut, and it takes the fight to the Apple Watch Series 6 by adding an SpO2 sensor for spot checks of blood oxygen saturation and advanced sleep monitoring.
The SpO2 will also keep tabs on respiration rate, as well as helping you watch out for possible sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.
The heart rate monitor will also offer high/low alerts too, which is a key part of the Apple Watch and Fitbit health monitoring story.
And the fun doesn’t stop there. Much like the Fitbit Sense it will also track stress, and offer guided mindfulness and tap into the company’s Body Battery feature, which provides insights on energy levels.
The Venu Sq has a 1.3-inch color touchscreen, although not quite the quality we’ve seen on the popular Garmin Venu smartwatch.
It’s joined by two physical buttons on the side, for added control.
But it’s no slouch with battery life either. You get six days of battery life and 14 hours of GPS tracking.
The Venu Sq music also enables you to offline sync Spotify and Deezer tracks to listen straight from the wrist – as well as add your own MP3s.
The Garmin Venu Sq brings a powerful mix of features at an easily obtainable price point. Garmin has been making moves in the smartwatch market, and this could see it grab a bigger share. We’ll have a full review soon.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.