Well, be comparing these two great watches that both offer a lot in terms of smart watch functionality as well as being activity trackers, but there are some differences between these two that may make you want to choose one over the other. So garmin tends to be more known for their sports, and fitness, watches and apple watches are more known as smart watches, but theres. Actually, a lot of crossover with these two with both smartwatch as well as health and fitness features. So ive already got super in depth. Reviews of both of these devices, which ill have linked down in the description below, but this video is more of a deep dive comparison of the features between these two and how they differ from each other im going to try to cover as much as possible. In this, video, including smart watch, features battery life, sports and fitness features as well as accuracy, but if theres something i missed. That youd like to know about, or if you just like to add to the conversation, definitely leave a comment in the comment section down below and while youre down there. If the information does help you out at all, dont. Be shy by hitting that, like button down below its a small little thing that you can do that will help this video and the channel quite a bit, and i appreciate it so first up lets talk about hardware. The venue 2 plus comes in one size option with a 43.
6 millimeter case, and the series 7 comes in two size options: a 41 millimeter case and then the larger 45 millimeter case, which is the size im wearing here. The venue 2 plus has the look of a round traditional looking watch and the series 7 well looks exactly like an apple watch, so when it comes to style thats totally up to you, both have removable replaceable bands, where the venue 2 plus uses industry standard 20. Millimeter bands and the series 7 uses watch bands that are specific for apple watches, but with both there are a ton of third party bands to choose from so plenty of customization options with either of them with the venue 2 plus. This is offered in three different colors that you can choose from, but with the series seven, this has a lot more options beyond just size, so you can choose five different colors in their aluminum model, theres. Also, a stainless steel and titanium model with a couple different finishes, and then they also offer cellular models on top of all those, but when it comes to the watches ill be showing in this video im, essentially using the base models on both of these. So this is the 45 millimeter aluminum gps series: 7 – that usually comes at 429 dollars and then the venue 2 plus it only has one option at 449, but as you get into the stainless steel, titanium or cellular series sevens those start to go up in price.
When it comes to interacting with these devices, the venue two plus uses a combination of a touchscreen along with three physical buttons. The touchscreen is snappy, its responsive and its kind of just a joy to use the series. Seven also has a touchscreen, which is also very nice to use, and it has two physical buttons and one of those buttons is also what they call a digital crown or dial, which you can use to scroll through menus, as well as other portions of the interface. The displays on both these are super bright, theyre, vibrant crispy and just awesome to look at the 45 millimeter series. 7 has a ‘6 by 484 pixel display where the venue 2 plus has a display resolution of 416 by 416.. Both of these watches also do have an always on display mode which dims the display, when youre not interacting with it, to save on battery life, but still be visible. So you can still glance at it without having to make a deliberate wrist movement to wake up. The display both are also water resistant down to 50 meters, and you can shower with them and swim with either of these. Without any issues like i was mentioning earlier, the highlight feature of the venue 2 plus is that has a speaker in the microphone that you can use to speak and listen through the watch itself for calls, while youre in range with your phone and the same thing, Can be said for the gps version of the series 7, with that youll have to have your phone nearby to have that call functionality.
However, there is an lte version of the series: seven thats available that costs a little bit more and just note that, with that seller, connectivity theres also an additional fee on top of your current cell phone plan. So, with the microphones on both of these, you can use these for voice assistance using siri when paired to an iphone, but the venue two plus also can pair with android phones. So when you pair with an android phone, you can use google assistant and if you actually pair it with a samsung phone, you can use either google assistant or bixby. One thing that the venue 2 plus can do. However, with that speaker is play music through that speaker – and this is something that apple doesnt currently allow. My theory is that maybe that would just drain the battery a whole lot of the series, seven or theyre just trying to sell more air pads. I dont know, but i think that would really be cool if they enable that functionality on the apple watch and then, when it comes to speaker, quality both are decent but theyre. Both small speakers on a watch but id have to give maybe a slight edge to the apple watch here. This is what the speaker sounds like on the garmin venue 2 plus – and this is what the speaker sounds like on the apple watch series 7. and then, when it comes to your smartphone or choice. Well, with the series 7, you can only pair this with an iphone, but with the menu 2 plus, you can pair this with either an iphone or an android phone, because apple makes both the phone as well as the watch theres.
A tight integration between the two and you can think of the series 7 as a very natural extension to your phone. It mirrors a lot of the same notifications from your phone imessage for text messages is very robust where you can reply from the watch by writing on the screen, emojis and even voice dictation and with the venue 2 plus, although it does pair with an iphone garments, Kind of at a disadvantage here, because they dont make the phone and apple also does lock down some functionality exclusive, just to apple watches such as imessage, where, when you pair of any two plus with an iphone, you can receive notifications. But you cant reply. Well, sort of so the venue two plus has a microphone and you can use that microphone with siri, and this opens up iphone functionality a lot. So you can use siri with voice dictation, to send a text message with the venue 2 plus with an iphone text ray want to meet in spain again, and one more thing is that the menu 2 plus also does pair with android phones. And in this case, you can reply to text with pre defined responses that you can set up in garmin connect and then again with text as well. As calls with the series. Seven, you do have the option of purchasing the lt version of the series seven, but there currently isnt an lte version of the venue. Two plus apple also has their app store, where theres a wide variety of apps that can extend the functionality of the apple watch from productivity games as well as sports and fitness apps garmin also has an app store, sort of thing called connect iq, and these apps Also extend the functionality of the venue, 2 plus and theres a good amount to choose from in here, but its not quite as vast as apples, app store and then on the music side of things.
Things have actually gotten pretty close between these two. In the last couple years, so with the series 7, you can download tracks the watch itself using apple music spotify, as well as even pandora and with the vendi 2 plus. You can download tracks using spotify, pandora deezer as well as amazon music, but there is actually one difference here with the series 7 with non downloaded music. So you can actually stream apple music through wi fi, on the gps models and then wi, fi or seller. On the seller models and then both also do have contactless payments, so the venue 2 plus has garmin pay and the apple watch has apple bay and then, when it comes to battery life well the difference is going to be pretty drastic here. So, with the series 7, this can last about a day to day and a half with most of these standard settings, but i have gotten up to two days out of it, but i had to turn a whole bunch of stuff off, like the always on display. The spo2 sensor a bunch of stuff with the venue two plus you can pretty much count on this lasting at least four days, and that is with the always on display on sbr2 sensor, a whole bunch of other stuff. So i would say that average battery life probably a day and a half on the series, seven average battery life on the venue – two plus maybe like five days and then when it comes to gps battery life for recording and outdoor activity.
The series seven can record up to about a six to seven hour long outdoor activity and the venue two plus can record up to a 24 hour long outdoor activity. So a pretty big difference there. The series 7 does offer faster charging than previous apple watches, where it can charge from empty to full in about an hour, and i have to say that this does make a big difference with the usability on the series. Seven. So after about 24 hours with my typical usage of the series – seven, i still have like maybe 25 percent of the battery life. So that basically means that i only have to place it on the charger for, like maybe 30 to 45 minutes, to get a full charge to last me, another 24 hours and if youre ready for bed – and you discover that you dont have enough charge. Well, you can actually just place the series 7 on the charger for 8 minutes, and that should be able to get you about 8 hours of sleep tracking, but the vendi 2 plus also has a new rapid charge. Feature that if you plug it in for just 10 minutes that should give you enough charge for an additional day as a smart watch. Oh and then both of these also do have battery conservation modes if youre low on battery. So on the venue 2, plus its called the battery saver mode and on the apple watch, its called power reserve, which turns off a lot of features to conserve on battery life.
Both of these watches actually offer quite a bit in terms of safety features. So with the venue 2 plus, it has something called instant detection which what its designed to do is detect when youre in a crash or something like that. So the situation is like youre constantly moving, and then you suddenly come to a complete, stop and stop moving thats, what it kind of classifies as the instant and then what itll do is send an alert to one of your emergency contacts with your location, the series 7 also has something similar called fault detection, where itll detect. If you had a fall and if youre a mobile for about a minute, itll automatically call emergency services, and then both of these also do have an sos type feature where, with the series 7, i think thats called sos actually and the venue 2 plus thats, called Assistance and the venue 2 plus also has the feature called live track for outdoor activities, where you can actually send a link to the contacts of your choice, who can actually follow along your outdoor activity in real time again, you will have to have your phone with You because itll actually utilize your phone seller connection to send out that link, but you can actually even set this to automatically happen every time you start an outdoor activity and then the series seven. It does have one feature that the venue two plus, does not have its called international emergency, calling if you have the cellular model of the series seven.
There is also an emergency calling feature on the venue, two plus, where you can contact emergency services, but again, youll have to have your phone with you for this feature and then for health and fitness features. Both of these watchers offer a lot where they can both track. Your heart rate calculate your calories burned. They both can track your steps and they both can track. Your sleep, sleep tracking, is more advanced, though, on the venue, 2 plus out of the box. Where has garments advanced sleep tracking with sleep stages, although the series 7 can track your sleep, the out of the box, sleep tracking, is more on the basic side of things where it just tells you how long youve slept along with your respiration rate, but thats about It, however, there are some third party apps that you can download that offer more advanced sleep tracking. Both of these have very good heart rate, sensors and well get into the accuracy of those sensors here in just one bit, but with the venu 2 plus itll, constantly measure your heart rate, 24. 7.. With the series 7, i would say that it monitors your heart rate 24 7, but it doesnt take samples all the time, so itll primarily take samples when youre sitting periodically when youre walking and itll constantly take heart rate when youre working out and then. In addition, both of these can provide high and low heart rate notifications and then with the series 7.
It also can inform you of irregular heart rate rhythms, and then both of these also do have an spo2 sensor for measuring blood oxygen saturation levels, and i found both of these to be very close to its fingertip pulse oximeter. One feature, though, that the series seven has that the venue two plus does not is the ability to take an electrocardiogram or ecg, but the venue two plus, does have a feature called health snapshot which takes a bunch of different measurements. All at one time, like your blood, oxygen, saturation level, heart rate, stress level as well as respiration rate and then from the activity tracking side of things both of these offer something in terms of motivation when it comes to completing your goal, so the venue 2 plus, You have step goals, you can track your floors, climbed and they also have what garmin calls intensity minutes, which are minutes spent, doing vigorous activity and with the series 7. It has something that pretty much. Everyone knows about and thats closing your rings where each of these rings signifies different types of goals, such as a move goal, exercise goal as well as a stand goal. The venue 2 plus does, however, offer a feature that i particularly like, which is called body battery, which gives you an indication of your energy levels throughout the day based on your sleep activity level as well as recovery. So both of these watches can track tons of different types of activities, including all the common activity.
Types like running, cycling, pool swimming gym activities like the elliptical yoga and whole bunch more. The series 7 technically has more activity profiles technically, but theres also difference in terms of how these profiles work. So theres going to be a lot of additional workout profiles here, like basketball, cross training kickboxing as well as soccer. But a lot of these are just additional profile names, so, for instance, they do have a high intensity interval profile and, although apple may have specific algorithms to calculate calories for that kind of activity, thats kind of all youre getting with it. It just tracks your heart rate time in your calories, thats about it, but with the vendi 2 plus with the garmin high intensity, animal training activity profile, in my opinion, its an actual profile thats built with specific functionality where theres options in here, where you can set Up specific timers for different types of hit, workouts like amrap every minute of the minute and tabato, and then the venue plus also has garmin strength, training activity profile which can automatically count your reps and attempt to identify the exercise that youre doing as well as garmin. Skiing profile, which can automatically track your ski runs. However, there is one profile that the series 7 does have. The venue 2 plus does not and thats open water swimming, but there is a third party app that you can download through the connect iq store that can track open water swimming on the venue 2 plus, and that does bring up.
Another thing here is that you can extend the functionality of the series 7, quite a bit with 3rd party apps in the app store like slopes for skiing theres, also, some weight, training, specific apps and theres also work outdoors, which has tons of features that are too Long to cover in this video, the vinnie 2 plus may have less activity profiles, but the information that youre going to get on the venue 2 plus, is going to be more in context. Information like the amount of reps that youre doing or the amount of ski runs that youve had and then, when it comes to gps accuracy, both of these will do a great job. If this was like a year or two ago, i would easily give the win to the vendi 2 plus, but apples recently made a lot of improvements to their gps accuracy on both the series 7, as well as their previous devices. But when it comes to hardware, actually lets first check out this indoor cycling session, where i was actually wearing both watches so theres, virtually no difference here. If i had to nitpick the vendi two plus, maybe had an ever so brief moment or two where it read about four beats per minute low and the same thing right here with the series seven which read about four beats per minute low as well. But realistically this is basically perfect, but then heres a run that i did with both watches where things are a little bit more interesting.
So at the beginning the series seven took a bit to settle in where it had the sudden drop right. Here then, go a bit higher and then finally settle in around two and a half minutes in ive seen this sort of behavior before on all apple watches, where they just kind of take a little bit more time to lock on in the beginning of workouts. Right. Here around 11 minutes in the vending two plus had a moment where it tracked high and then for a while. Both watches were doing great, then right. Around 23 minutes, the vinnie 2 plus read a little hello, then got back in line and then funny enough. The series 7 dipped a bit here too. Overall, though, these are pretty good results out of both of these, and both of these have great heart rate sensors, and you can tell that neither are perfect either, but i would rely on either of these oh and then one more thing about that run. Actually. Is that this was a treadmill run and both of these did a great job at estimating the distance run indoors. But the venue 2 plus just barely edged out the series 7, but realistically a great job by both of these one thing that the venue 2 plus can do. However, if, for some reason, the distance is off is that you can manually calibrate it and enter the actual distance, when you go to save your activity, unfortunately, you cant do that with the series 7.
Fortunately, the series 7, along with all other apple watches, that ive tested in the past, do a phenomenal job at estimating indoor running distances and then lets also talk about connectivity in terms of sensors or other devices that you can pair these with. So the vending two plus compared to a bunch of external sensors out of the box, including bluetooth, as well as amp plus sensors, whether those be heart rate, monitors, speed and cadence sensors recycling, as well as even garmin, vario radar lights for cycling. The series 7 compared to external heart rate straps, but it doesnt pair with other types of sensors that the venue 2 plus can. However, the series 7 also does have gym link which compared to compatible gym equipment, which is a pretty neat feature. Lastly, lets talk about their smartphone apps, so with the venue 2 plus. It basically has one app that youll interact with most of the time garmin connect, but you do also have the connect iq app, which is their app store, but youll mainly be using the garmin connect app from a day to day basis, and this app is where You can access everything from your health data, all your workout data, as well as even managing your watch and all the associated settings. With this app. You can go deep in terms of analyzing your workout data, where its got tons of data to scour over anything. You want with the series 7, it has a few apps that youll likely interact with on a day to day basis.
So first it has the apple watch app for managing your watch and all the settings. Then you have the fitness app where you can view your workout data and then it also has the health app for your wellness data. So you may be hopping back and forth a bit with the apple watch with different apps to view all of your data, but both of these also do offer something in regards to training or workouts. So, with the venue 2 plus, it has garmin coach, which has specific programs whether youre training for some common running race distances. It also has workouts, which you can download to the watch itself, where you can follow along for things like weight training, as well as yoga with the series 7 that has apples, fitness plus, which have workouts that you can follow along with as well. And the neat thing about these is that you can use your iphone ipad or apple tv to view the workout on a larger screen and to broadcast the heart rate collected on the apple watch to the screen and thats. A pretty neat feature. But just note that apple fitness plus does require subscription so im going to wrap up this video by kind of just talking about the general experience of using these watches. So the series 7 its a seamless extension to your iphone and mirrors a lot of functionality from your phone, although it does have a lot of health sports and fitness tracking features which actually are very accurate.
I still think thats a smart watch first and with the mini 2 plus. This is more health and fitness focus first, with a lot of features built straight out of the box and, although it does have a lot of smart watch, features its not going to be as seamless extension to your phone. The addition of the microphone and speaker and the venue 2 plus may not seem like a big deal, especially if youre coming for something like an apple watch but being able to use that microphone for voice dictation. To reply to text with siri is really huge for the venue 2 plus and makes this a really compelling option compared to an apple watch. If you want a fitness device, first, alright, so im guessing that this is a pretty long. Video at this point and thats everything at least on my list, but if you have anything additional that definitely leave a comment down in the comment section down below and if you liked the video. If you found the information, this video useful make sure to hit that like button and also subscribe the channel for plenty more sports tech.U47gXoIvTzU
