Apple Watch 7 and Garmin’s Venu 2 series watches are tough competition in terms of smartwatch functionality. A Garmin Venu 2, obviously, scores big on the multisport functionality. We look at the key differences between a Garmin Venu 2 and an Apple Watch 7. You will see that a Venu 2 has a much diverse set of features than an Apple Watch 7.
Screen size and build – Garmin Venu 2 and Apple Watch 7
- Garmin Venu 2 is a 45 mm smartwatch, and Garmin Venu 2S is a 41 mm watch. An Apple Watch 7 has a 41 mm and 45 mm model. Depending on the screen size, you may either choose a Garmin Venu 2 or Apple Watch 7 45 mm for a proper comparison.
- Garmin Venu 2S and an Apple Watch 7 41 mm make for a similar comparison. Both, Garmin Venu 2S and Apple Watch 7 weigh close to 39 gm. The 45 mm models weigh close to 48 gm for the Apple Watch 7 and the Garmin Venu. Both, the Garmin Venu 2 and the Apple Watch 7 45 mm model have almost identical weights.
- Garmin Venu 2 watches have a stainless steel body, while an Apple Watch 7 has aluminium, steel, and titanium finish. You may choose a finish of your choice on an Apple Watch 7.
- Garmin Venu 2 has a display resolution of 416 px x 416 px. An Apple Watch 7 has a display resolution of 396 px x 484 px. In terms of display resolution, an Apple Watch 7 has a better display resolution.
- The biggest differentiator in appearance of an Apple Watch 7 is the exceptionally bigger size of the screen. Apple has reduced the size of bezel on the Watch 7, thus providing a screen size of 1.9″. A Garmin Venu 2 has a screen size of 1.3″, and a Garmin Venu 2S has a screen size of 1.1″.

Operating System – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
Apple Watch 7 is compatible with the iOS ecosystem. It works seamlessly with iPhone and iOS devices. It cannot work with an Android phone. A Garmin Venu 2 smartwatch can work flawlessly with an iPhone and an Android phone. Therefore, if you wish to get a watch that can work with any mobile operating system without any hassles, a Garmin Venu 2 is a better choice due to its compatibility with iOS and Android mobile operating systems.
Battery Life – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
Apple Watch 7 has a battery life of 18 hours on the normal smartwatch mode. The battery degrades faster when you make use of a GPS connection or when you listen to music. Garmin watches have traditionally, been good in terms of battery life. A Garmin Venu 2 has a battery life of 11 days on the smartwatch mode and a battery life of 22 hours with a GPS connection. There is, literally, no comparison between the battery capacities and charge backup offered by a Garmin Venu 2 and an Apple Watch 7.
You will need to charge an Apple Watch 7 every day. Apple has introduced fast charging on Apple Watch 7, which will charge the Apple Watch 7 from zero to eighty percent in 45 minutes. Full charging of the Apple Watch 7 will take close to 2 hours.
For people who spend considerable time outdoors, a Garmin Venu 2 has a much better battery charge time than an Apple Watch 7. An Apple Watch 7 can, however, use wireless charging to boost the charge. Garmin Venu lacks the feature of wireless charging.
Health and Heart monitoring – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
Garmin Venu 2 has a full suite of health monitoring features. Some of these features are listed below:
- Sleep monitoring
- Body battery scores to give your stress levels.
- Bood oxygenation monitoring.
- Perspiration monitoring or Sweat monitoring. This is helpful in tracking intensity of workouts.
- Temperature monitoring through the tempe sensor.
- Respiration rate.
- Abnormal heartbeat alerts if it the heartbeat goes high or low.
- Weight tracking
- Calorie intake tracking.
- Sunrise and sunset times.
- BMI monitoring.
An Apple Watch 7 does not track weights, calorie intake, and respiration rate. It cannot take temperature readings and won’t monitor sweat. Garmin Venu 2 carries these features through the Garmin operating system on the watch and most of these features are available on the Fenix series as well. An Apple watch 7 lacks these health monitoring features on the watch.
Multisport tracking – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
A Garmin Venu 2 has multiple sport modes to track activities that match specific outdoor sport or activities. It has the ability to track the following sports activities.
- Golf features to help track Golf sport and provide golf maps.
- Swimming features including the swimming stroke counter.
- Cycling features to track cycling efforts.
- Outdoor activity tracking to monitor outdoor recreation and exercise efforts.
Fall detection – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
When it comes to fall detection, an Apple Watch 7 beats all other watches. The fall detection algorithm on Apple Watch 7 is next to none. It can detect a fall, and send GPS coordinates of the wearer to the designated emergency contacts. An Apple Watch 7 can also make an emergency call to the emergency services like 911, if your country supports emergency number calling. A Garmin Venu 2 has an incident detection feature that is akin to the fall detection feature of the Apple watch 7. But, the seamless functionality of Apple Watch 7 is definitely better than Garmin Venu’s incident detection feature.
If you want fall detection on your smartwatch, the most proven smartwatch with fall detection has to be the Apple Watch.

ECG – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
Apple Watch 7 has an ECG app. An Apple Watch 7 is able to detect conditions of atrial fibrillation and detect heart rhythm issues. You can take an on-demand ECG using the Apple Watch 7. However, the ECG feature on Apple Watch 7 is available in specific countries.
A Garmin Venu 2 does not have any ECG functionality.
Voice integration with phone – Apple Watch 7 vs Garmin Venu 2
An Apple Watch 7 has voice integration with the paired smartphone. This allows you to take calls or answer calls on the paired smartphone, using the controls on the smartwatch. Further, you can manage the Apple Watch 7 with your voice commands.
Garmin Venu 2 does not have voice integration with the paired smartphone. It cannot answer calls on the smartphone through the smartwatch. And, the Garmin Venu 2 cannot respond to voice commands or voice assistants.
The voice integration on the Venu series smartwatches has happened in the recently launched, Garmin Venu 2 Plus smartwatch. Venu 2 Plus can be used to answer calls on the paired smartphone. It also supports voice assistants, including Siri, Google voice assistant, and Bixby.
Summary
Garmin Venu 2 is cheaper than an Apple Watch 7. For people who wish to track outdoor activities or fitness activities, a Garmin Venu 2 is definitely preferable over an Apple Watch 7. Special sports activities such as golf and swimming are supported on a Garmin Venu 2. The steel bezel of the Venu 2 affords a premium finish on the watch. Health monitoring wise, Garmin Venu 2 has a full suite of exhaustive health monitoring features.
If you are looking for heart monitoring or a flawless fall detection feature, you should prefer an Apple Watch 7 over a Garmin Venu 2. For other features, Garmin Venu 2 offers many more options.
You may also like to read more content related to Apple Watches and Garmin watches:
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Rajesh Dhawan is a technology professional who loves to blog about smart wearables, Cloud computing and Microsoft technologies. He loves to break complex problems into manageable chunks of meaningful information.