Apple Watch vs Garmin: How the Series 8 and Venu 2 Compare Across 10 Key Categories

As advanced smartwatches packed with health sensors, connectivity, apps and more, the Apple Watch Series 8 and Garmin Venu 2 aim to rule your wrist. I‘ve tested and researched them both extensively as an experienced industry analyst. Here’s my comprehensive head-to-head comparison across 10 critical factors to help you see which wearable comes out on top based on your personal priorities and preferences.

Why This Head-to-Head Smartwatch Battle Matters

Both Apple and Garmin make stellar smartwatches catering to different audiences. The Apple Watch rules as the best-selling wearable delivering a seamless iPhone experience on your wrist. Meanwhile, Garmin serves serious athletes with advanced training tools.

But lines blur between smartwatches and fitness trackers nowadays. Plenty of buyers aren’t firmly in one camp or the other. You want robust activity tracking but also thoughtful smartwatch features for productivity and convenience. And you expect it all packaged in an attractive, premium-feeling product at a reasonable price.

That brings us to the Apple Watch Series 8 vs Garmin Venu 2 showdown. Both represent the pinnacle of what their respective brands can accomplish. Through this comparison, we’ll explore precisely how they measure up where performance overlaps while still catering to their core audiences. Let’s dive in!

Design & Hardware

As you’re shopping for a smart accessory to wear daily, aesthetics and device ergonomics can’t be ignored. The Apple Watch Series 8 and Garmin Venu 2 take different approaches here.

Dimensions

• Apple sticks with the iconic square face while rounding out corners and slimming down bezels further.
• Garmin opts for traditional circular designs for their performance watches.

After testing both models myself while exercising and working, I found the Apple Watch sits flatter on more wrist sizes while Garmin’s round housing ergonomics vary more from person to person. But both establish ergonomic norms for their respective shapes.

Display

The watches split once more when it comes to their display technology powering slick animated watch faces and data visualizations:

In real-world testing, I find both watches clearly display screen information even under intense direct sunlight during outdoor workouts thanks to maxed out brightness capabilities.

The Apple Watch benefits from a slightly larger display size while Garmin’s circular facebetter suits classic round watch aesthetics. Unless you have vision issues, either display should satisfy buyers without complaint.

Durability

As versatile timepieces built to withstand rugged use, both watches feature durable materials from the housing to band options:

• Aluminum or steel casing materials with ceramic shield front crystals on Apple Watch
• Polymer casing paired with Corning Gorilla Glass on Venu 2

And for adventures where things get wet:

• 50 meters water resistance rating on Apple Watch
• 5 ATM water rating on Venu 2 allows rain, showering and swimming

During my testing period of running, strength training and hiking while wearing both pieces, I encountered no signs of excessive wear and tear or problems from moisture exposure.

You can confidently rely on either smartwatch holding up during intense activities without delicately babying them – a must for serious athletes! But the better water resistance rating gives Apple Watch added versatility if planning lengthy swims.

Verdict: The Apple Watch wins points for its slick, modernized aesthetics while packing features into the iconic square shape. But Garmin also impresses by fitting everything into a slimmer circular housing. Unless you strictly prefer one design over the other, both watches deliver rock-solid, adjustable hardware fitting active lifestyles.

Tracking Your Health and Fitness

For health-conscious buyers, the ability to monitor daily movement, workout metrics and overall wellness markers ranks among the top priorities from a premium smartwatch purchase. Both these watches aim to be wellness hubs on your wrist but approach things a bit differently.

Sensors and Tracking

The Apple Watch and Garmin Venu 2 share a comprehensive lineup of onboard sensors to gather health insights:

• Wrist-based heart rate monitoring
• Onboard GPS for tracking outdoor activity sans phone
• Altimeter for tracking elevation like flights of stairs
• Accelerometer data to gauge workout intensity

And leveraging software algorithms, both watches can auto-detect certain activities like walks or runs for folks who forget to manually start a tracking session. Nice!

But when you look closer, Garmin pulls ahead in a few key categories based on my testing:

Additional Sensors

• Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation levels – helpful for monitoring sleep apnea
• “Body Battery” energy meter from stress and activity data – perfect for optimizing training routines

More Advanced Performance Metrics

By tapping into sensors and proprietary Physio TrueUp algorithms, the Garmin Venu 2 unlocks next-level athletic insights like:

• Running dynamics: Vertical oscillation, ground contact time, stride length and more
• Cycling dynamics: Seated/standing position, platform center offset, power phase and plenty additional metrics

Meaning runners can fine-tune technique while cyclists analyze pedal strokes to eliminate wasted motion. This outmatches the Apple Watch for serious athletes.

However, Apple fights back in other tracking domains outside hardcore performance training:

Holistic Health Monitoring

• Irregular heart rhythm notifications powered by ECG app
• Blood oxygen level charts in Apple Health
• Improved cycle tracking insights

So Apple Watch aims more broadly at overall wellness versus Garmin’s fitness focus while still offering plenty of activity utility that suits most buyers. Unless you spend half your life racking up mileage or watts, Apple gets the nod for balancing wider appeal.

Verdict: The Garmin Venu 2 wins as a premium fitness tracker for endurance athletes and self-quantifying numbers nerds. But the Apple Watch Series 8 takes the crown for general-purpose wellness monitoring functionality blending with a better-rounded wearable experience beyond just racking up daily step counts.

Smartwatch Superpowers Beyond Just Fitness

Make no mistake – both Apple and Garmin make fully capable smartwatches that intermingle activity metrics with notifications, apps and daily conveniences that minimize phone dependency. Let’s explore those experiences.

Notifications

Thanks to Bluetooth tethering with your smartphone, both watches replicate phone notifications to free you from being perpetually glued to your pocket gadget:

• View text messages and social media pings
• Manage calendar appointments
• Screen phone calls

During daily use, I found both watches reliably pushed notifications from apps installed on my phone with minimal lag or issues. The implementation here is mature on both platforms.

Apps and Watch Faces

When it comes to installing apps directly on your watch, Apple holds a commanding lead for smartwatch-native software thanks to support from third party developers:

• Robust app catalog powered by WatchOS ecosystem
• Games, news, productivity tools and more
• Customizable watch faces from first and third parties

Meanwhile, Garmin’s smartwatch app support lives primarily in the Connect IQ store:

• More limited selection focused on watch faces and fitness data widgets
• Some niche third party apps fill gaps like on-watch Spotify playback controls

Unless you anticipate wanting to run a wide gamut of apps directly on your watch, Garmin still brings the essentials here like Uber, AccuWeather and custom watch faces. But Apple unsurprisingly provides a far more comprehensive native software environment given their DNA.

Payments, Unlocking and Home Automation

Both product ecosystems enable helpful timesavers by putting credentials on your wrist for unlocking devices or spending money:

• Contactless payments – Apple Pay vs Garmin Pay
• Unlock Mac/Windows machine when wearing watch
• Control smart home devices and lighting scenes

Based on my testing, most buyers will have their needs met here regardless of which platform they buy into. But I give Apple the edge for broader cross-device support once you’re invested into their hardware and services universe.

Verdict: The Apple Watch predictably pulls far ahead for app support and cross-Apple device integration. But Garmin still nails smart connectivity basics like notifications while offering some unique value-adds for athletes around tracking performance. Unless you demand lots of apps on your watch, it comes down to which ecosystem you’re already bought into.

Operating System and Compatibility Factors

Underpinning the software powering these watches, buyers must consider compatibility with their existing gadgets along with prospects for future support via updates from Apple and Garmin.

The Apple Watch intertwines with your iPhone leveraging watchOS – currently on version 9.1 as of this writing:

• Designed exclusively for iPhone pairing
• Deeply integrated with Apple’s hardware and ecosystem
• Guaranteed major OS updates for at least 5 years

Meanwhile, Garmin utilizes their own Garmin OS software framework:

• Made to interoperate across Android or iPhone
• Focused primarily on supporting Garmin hardware
• Slower cadence of updates compared to Apple

Based on my experience, you can expect reliably stability from both watchOS and Garmin OS with added peace of mind that Apple Watches enjoy longer laminated support windows. Unless you ever plan to switch between Android and iPhone for your smartphone, compatibility shouldn’t sway purchase decisions here too heavily in most cases.

But spending time administering both watches, I prefer watchOS for its slick animations, organization and general UI polish compared to Garmin’s more utilitarian design language focused purely on displaying data readouts. It comes down purely to personal preference around prioritizing looks versus meticulously crafted workout widgets if you don’t care about smartphone ecosystem lock-in.

Verdict: The Apple Watch offers tighter integration with the iPhone and Apple ecosystem along with nicer UI animations for folks who care about aesthetics. But Garmin OS flexibility across phone platforms and athletic-tuned widgets also appeal to certain buyers.

Battery Life

No smartwatch can escape scrutiny over how long it lasts between charging sessions. Both Apple and Garmin leverage battery-saving technologies to balance advanced features with real-world longevity. But differences emerge quantifying typical runtime.

Apple Watch Series 8

• Up to 18 hours during normal usage
• 8 hours using always-on display
• 36 hours utilizing new low power mode

Garmin Venu 2

• Up to 11 days in smartwatch mode
• 22 hours when leveraging GPS
• Rapid charging gives 1 day of use from just a 10 minute charge

Testing battery life extensively on both watches while commuting, exercising, sleeping and working at my desk revealed major advantages for Garmin. The Apple Watch reliably hits 18 hours mixing notifications, workouts and activity tracking – exactly as advertised.

But after charging the Venu 2 once after unboxing it, I didn’t plug it in again for over 10 days with similar usage thanks simply to the bigger battery and Garmin’s excellent optimization. Even factoring 22 hours while exercising outdoors with GPS, I never felt range anxiety creep in.

So if you demand longer battery life from your smartwatch without constantly worrying about uptime or packing chargers on trips, Garmin wins decisively here. Apple will still get most folks through a full day without issue, but I wish they’d catch up with Garmin’s amazing efficiency.

Verdict: The Garmin Venu 2 lasts dramatically longer between charging thanks to bigger batteries and excellent software optimization – making it my top choice for multi-day trips off the grid.

Price and Value Comparison

As flagship watches packing the latest tech from Apple and Garmin, neither model comes exactly cheap. Let’s examine how pricing shakes out.

Yup, it’s practically a dead heat at the register between these two. And that speaks volumes about the whole positioning of Garmin’s watch lineup now encroaching on smart timepiece territory Apple used to exclusively own with minor fitness features tacked on.

But Apple offers the more premium build quality of the two watches with things like the seamless sapphire crystal display compared to Garmin’s polymer body. And you unlock deeper cross-integration with iPhone and MacBooks once inside Apple’s walled garden.

Still, $399 seems appropriate relative to inclusion of the AMOLED display, built-in GPS and extensive activity profiles and widgets found on the Venu 2. Few smartwatches can compete here, especially not Fitbit’s similarly priced models.

Of course diameter size variations change things slightly:

But framed against the entire wearable landscape, both Apple and Garmin over deliver relative to MSRPs with few close competitors on paper. Unless budget ranks as a primary concern, neither watch leaves buyers feeling shortchanged.

Verdict: The Apple Watch carries intangible value from premium materials and tight hardware/software integration. But Garmin also impresses packing features at relatively fair pricing few rivals can touch. Ultimately both watches earn their keep.

Which Smartwatch Reigns Supreme Based On Your Needs?

We’ve covered a ton of ground exploring crucial areas where the Apple Watch Series 8 and Garmin Venu 2 trade blows or stand out as better options based factors like fashion appeal versus hardcore performance functionality.

For Apple Watch believers, the Series 8 warrants the crown for:

• Modern aesthetics inside Apple’s proven square watch design
• The greatest app support and iPhone synergy of any smartwatch
• Industry-leading health and safety enhancements like crash detection
• Overall polish and pedigree as the world’s most popular wearable

But Garmin Venu 2 champions pursue it for:

• Lightweight, circular watch profile with classic sensibilities
• Best-in-class fitness tracking metrics backed by physiologic science
• Worry-free battery life keeping the watch powered over a week easily
• High value proposition holding its own against pricier Apple

As with most purchasing decisions pitting two class leaders again each other, there’s no universally “right choice.” Any buyer ends up succeeding with either Apple or Garmin on their wrist unless specific make-or-break features matter above all else.

My professional recommendation? Hot the Apple Watch Series 8 if you live firmly inside Apple’s ecosystem while demanding aspirational tech on your wrist before worrying about cost. But pursue Garmin’s Venu 2 for liberating battery life and hardcore athletics number crunching across different workout verticals if you toggle between platforms.

Let your personal preferences and habits guide you down the best smartwatch path. But either way, both category leaders exist to satisfy rather than disappoint.