If you have been looking at getting a new Garmin in or around a budget of $300, we have two very credible alternatives from Garmin. Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch is one of the newer smartwatches released by Garmin in August 2022. Vivoactive 4S has been around for quite some time, and is considered as one of the more successful Garmin watches for everyone. We consider both watches because of similar size of both watches. And, both watches need almost an equivalent budget.
Our focus stays on the core features of both watches.
Price
Venu Sq2 Music edition is priced at $299.99 and Garmin Vivoactive 4S is priced at $349.99. Normally, you may get a special price offer for the Vivoactive 4S watches from time to time. At this point, we can see that there is a discount of $20 on the Vivoactive 4S. Keep an eye on the special offers for the Vivoactive range.
Display
The biggest differentiator between a Venu Sq 2 Music and Vivoactive 4S watch is the display. Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch has AMOLED display while Vivoactive 4S uses the Memory-in-Pixel or MIP screen. AMOLED display allows ‘Always on Demand’ or AOD to be used for the screen of Venu Sq 2 Music Edition.
Another advantage of AMOLED display is a vastly improved display resolution, depth and clarity on the Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch. For the record, a Venu Sq 2 Edition smartwatch has a display resolution of 320 x 360 pixels. A Vivoactive 4S has a display resolution of 218 x 218 pixels. Practically speaking, the Venu Sq 2 Music Edition watch has over 40% better display resolution than a Vivoactive 4S smartwatch.
Battery
Battery backup of the Venu Sq 2 Music is another significant strong point. The battery life of a Venu Sq 2 Music edition is almost 50 percent higher than the battery backup provided by the Vivoactive 4S.
- On the smartwatch mode, Vivoactive 4S can last for up to 7 days and Venu Sq 2 Music Edition can last for up to 11 days.
- On the GPS mode, the Vivoactive 4S can last for up to 15 hours and the Venu Sq 2 Music can last for up to 26 hours.
Additionally, the Venu Sq 2 Music edition sees the introduction of the ‘Battery Saver Mode’ on the watch. Battery saver mode is a real assist when your watch is losing battery and you have no scope to charge it on the go.
Appearance
Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch is slimmer than the Vivoactive 4S. Smartwatch size for both watches is almost similar. We share the basic physical specifications for your ready reference below:
- Vivoactive 4S has a round shape, and Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch has a square shape.
- Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch has a thickness of 11.1 mm and Vivoactive 4S has a thickness of 12.7 mm. In terms of wrist size, Venu Sq 2 Music is ideal for wrist size between 125-190 mm. Vivoactive 4S is apt for wrist size between 110-175 mm.
- The size of the display of Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch is almost 36 mm (measure on diagonal basis). Vivoactive 4S has a display size of almost 28 mm.
- There is hardly a difference in weight of both watches. Venu Sq 2 Music weighs 38 g and Vivoactive 4S weighs 40 g.
- Vivoactive 4S has a steel bezel and body made of fiber-enforced polymer. Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch has a bezel made of aluminum and a fiber-enforced polymer.
The bottom line in terms of appearance of Venu Sq 2 Music vs Vivoactive 4S is that the Venu Sq 2 Music is definitely a better looker.
And, the reasons for its better appearance of the Venu Sq 2 Music smartwatch have to be:
- Slimmer smartwatch
- Much bigger display size
- Contemporary looks of the watch
Sensors
Sensors are, essentially, chipsets or abilities within the smartwatch that can help in achieving special functionality.
- Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch has an ambient light sensor. Vivoactive 4S does not have the ambient light sensor.
- Vivoactive 4S has sensors for gyroscope and barometric altimeter. A Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch lacks both sensors.
Health Monitoring
Venu Sq 2 Music edition and Vivoactive 4S watches perform extensive and continuous heart rate monitoring. Both watches work well with the ‘Body Battery’ scores for energy levels’ monitoring. However, the Venu Sq 2 edition has refined the ‘Health Reporting’ as it offers:
- Health Snapshot for a macro-level view of all the health related tracking data.
- Sleep Score insights to bring you in-depth evaluation of the sleep metrics collected by the smartwatch.
The ‘Health Snapshot’ and ‘Sleep Score Insights’ are not a part of the Vivoactive 4S software as we write this.
Swimming
Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch and the Vivoactive 4S smartwatch have a water resistance rating of 5 ATM or 5 Atmospheres. Both watches are suitable for pool swimming. A 5 ATM water rating for the watch means that it can take a pressure of 5 atmospheres. Pressure of 5 atmospheres is equivalent to the pressure posed by water at depths of 50 meter or 165 feet below the water surface level.
However, it is pertinent to mention over here that a 5 ATM watch should not be used for deep water diving or snorkeling or scuba diving. Therefore, we do not suggest using the Venu Sq 2 Music and Vivoactive 4S for either of these activities.
Music
Venu Sq 2 Music and Vivoactive 4S have full-fledged music capabilities. With either smartwatch, you would be able to:
- Control smartphone music through the watch.
- Store personal audio content on the smartwatch storage. You can store up to 500 songs on the Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music and Vivoactive 4S smartwatch.
- Both watches can be used for offline music playing. You will, however, require the Bluetooth speaker to be paired with the smartwatch for listening to your favorite audio content.
Summary
So, which watch should you buy? Venu Sq 2 Music or Vivoactive 4S?
I will prefer a Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch for:
- It is one of the newer smartwatches.
- Better display size.
- AMOLED display with a vastly enhanced display experience.
- Better battery backup.
- And, the fact that I prefer a square shape to round shape of the smartwatch.
I will prefer a Vivoactive 4S over the Venu Sq 2 Music edition because of the following reasons:
- Steel bezel
- Some people prefer a round watch over a square shaped smartwatch
- Vivoactive 4S has sensors for gyroscope and barometric altimeter
- Vivoactive 4S also offers cardio workouts as part of its software.
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Helen Kurt is a geeky nerd who loves to cover the wearables space. She has over 5 years of experience in the smartwatch domain. You can reach her on email at [email protected].