A very capable fitness tracker – but its smartwatch credentials can’t keep up

Loads of stats; Decent battery life; Comfortable

Music Edition costs too much; Dated interface; Limited smart features

The Garmin Venu Sq is a well-priced and powerful jack-of-all-trades smartwatch, which cherry picks some of the best features of Garmin, Apple and Fitbit devices. It’s sports tracking focused, but doesn’t hold back in terms of wellness and body insights that cost a lot more elsewhere.

Stress; energy and respiration; Great price; Loads of sports profiles

The Garmin Venu Sq is a decent all-round performer, and we've not seen a Garmin watch with a color screen at this price point before. The problem is that the screen quality and design is inferior to the more expensive original Venu. The archaic watch UI and sluggish GPS left us with mixed feelings about the cheaper Venu. While you get that familiar sports tracking experience, we wished it had more in common with its pricier compatriot in the looks department.

Feature-packed; Light and comfortable to wear; Works with external sensors;

Slightly archaic watch UI; Lower quality screen than Venu; Missing altimeter

The Venu Sq is a new approach from Garmin, looking to offer something a little less sporty in looks, while retaining the potency of Garmin's sporting heritage.

Compact design; GPS tracking; Lots of sports tracking; Body Battery for holistic view of fitness and recovery; Good accuracy

Display isn't the best; User interface might be a little too basic

“This is an excellent health and fitness watch at an affordable price.”

Reliable and accurate activity tracking; In-depth data collection and analysis; Simple and lightweight design; Support for dozens of workout types; Nearly week-long battery life

$50 up-sell for music functionality; Touchscreen can be finicky during workouts; Limited "smart" features and notifications

Take the Garmin Venu, replace the OLED with an LCD display, and cut the price nearly in half....

Entry-level price point Long battery life Garmin Pay support on all models Accurate fitness and health tracking Useful and accurate sleep tracking

Music Edition costs $50 more Small display can be difficult to use GPS accuracy could use work

There’s nothing really new here, but Garmin’s Venu Sq offers solid features and performance at an affordable price

Lightweight and comfortable design; Offline Spotify playback; Appropriately priced;

Sleep tracking didn’t work on our review sample; No altimeter; Inferior battery life;

The Venu Sq is a new approach from Garmin, looking to offer something a little less sporty in looks, while retaining the potency of Garmin's sporting heritage.

Compact design; GPS tracking; Lots of sports tracking; Body Battery for holistic view of fitness and recovery; Good accuracy;

Display isn't the best; User interface might be a little too basic;

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t know Garmin, and more often than not, they’ll know the company’s extensive line of fitness-focused smartwatches. It has a well-deserved reputation for making the highest-end and most-accurate watches for runners, bikers, triathletes, and every other possible outdoor sport. But Garmin doesn’t just want to play in the “pro” space. There’s reason to believe the Garmin name can translate into sales on the affordable end of the scale, competing with entry-level smartwatches and high-end fitness bands. This is where the Garmin Venu Sq comes in. You can’t see it any other way. The Venu Sq looks like an Apple Watch. I know, there are only so many ways to make a rounded-rectangle smartwatch, but it’s hard to miss. Just a couple days after getting the Venu Sq, I was at soccer practice, and a teammate asked how I liked my Apple Watch. That isn’t a bad thing, though. Unlike every other Garmin fitness watch, this isn’t a polarizing design. It’s simp...

Reliable and accurate activity tracking; In-depth data collection and analysis; Simple and lightweight design; Support for dozens of workout types; Nearly week-long battery life;

$50 up-sell for music functionality; Touchscreen can be finicky during workouts; Limited "smart" features and notifications;