The Garmin Venu schedule is tailored even more in the direction of the basic customer market, with a concentrate on health and wellness monitoring, along with smartwatch functions such as songs storage space and also contactless settlements.
On the other hand, the Leader schedule is tailored even more towards professional athletes and also particularly joggers.
Formerly, there was little overlap in between the watches of the Venu and also Leader collection. The standard DNA coincided, yet the watches had various outsides. The firm purposefully missed out on some critical functions like AMOLED screen, and also wrist-based calling from the FR 255 despite the fact that it was launched after Venu 2 Plus.
Nevertheless, in 2023, Leader 265 launch reveals a change in the direction of even more overlap in between both collection. This watch is still developed for joggers yet shares some resemblances with the Venu 2 And also. The leading resemblance is the AMOLED screen and also a spruced up interface.
Let’s do a Garmin Venu 2 Plus vs Garmin Leader 265/265S contrast to learn their distinctions and also resemblances.
Garmin Venu 2 Plus vs Garmin FR 265/265S:
Prices:
Category | Garmin Venu 2 Plus | Garmin Leader 265/265S |
Price | Around $449 | Around $450 |
Predecessor | Venu 2 | Forerunner 255/255S |
Smartphone App | Garmin Connect | Garmin Connect |
Release Date | May 2021 | March 2023 |
The Garmin Venu 2 And Also and also Leader 265/265S have the very same cost factor, around $450. This makes the contrast even more intriguing. Allow us puncture the sound and also inform you the distinctions and also resemblances in between these watches.
Layout and also Develop:
Category | Garmin Venu 2 Plus | Garmin Leader 265/265S |
Dimensions | 43.6 x 43.6 x 12.6 mm | 46.1 x 46.1 x 12.9 mm (Leader 265) |
41.7 x 41.7 x 12.9 mm (Leader 265S) | ||
Screen | 1.3 ″ AMOLED touchscreen | 1.3 ″ AMOLED touchscreen (33mm) (Leader 265) |
1.1 ″ AMOLED touchscreen (28mm) (Leader 265S) | ||
Resolution | 416 x 416 pixels | Garmin FR 265: 416 x 416 pixelsGarmin FR 265S: 360 x 360 pixels |
Weight | 51g | FR 265: 47gFR 265S: 39g |
Glass Material | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
Bezel Material | stainless steel | fiber-reinforced polymer |
Straps | Interchangeable with quick-release pins (22mm) | Quick-release silicone bands (22mm, and also 20mm) |
Water Resistance | 5 ATM MACHINE (50m) | 5 ATM MACHINE (50m) |
Button Input | Touchscreen and also 3 adjustable buttons | Five switches for navigating and also a touchscreen |
Colors | Slate, Silver, Light Gold | FR 265: Whitestone Instance and also Whitestone/Tidal Blue Silicone Band Black Instance with Black/Powder Gray Silicone BandAqua Instance and also Aqua/Black Silicone Band FR 265S: |
When you check out the above contrast, it ends up being obvious that lastly mid-range Leader watches got to a degree of parity with the Venu Collection.

There are much more resemblances in the style and also develop divisions than distinctions. With the exemption of the stainless-steel bezel, and also some aesthetic distinctions in the look of the watch (3-button vs 5-button navigating), both these watches have the very same point to provide.
Victor: Venu 2 And also (a minor benefit in vogue and also toughness)
Smart Includes:
Garmin Venu 2 Plus | Forerunner 265/265S | |
Music Storage | Up to 650 songs | Up to 650 songs |
Music Platforms | Works with Spotify, Deezer, Amazon.com Music | Works with Spotify, Deezer, Amazon.com Music |
NFC Payments | Garmin Pay | Garmin Pay |
Phone Phone Calls, Personalized Texts | Yes | No |
LTE | None | None |
Voice Assistants | Bixby, Google Aide, Siri | None |
Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi | Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi |
Two significant clever functions are missing out on in the brand-new Leader 265 collection: Voice aide assimilation, and also on-wrist phone calls. This would certainly be much less problem for joggers. Why? There is no mobile assistance to take phone calls.




Plus, the effective general practitioner capacity and also NFC settlement alternative on the Leader FR 265 enable them to leave their phone and also purse in the house.
Winner: Venu 2 Plus
Health Tracking:
Health And Wellness Monitoring Features | Garmin Leader 265/265S | Garmin Venu 2 Plus |
Wrist-based Heart Rate | Yes | Yes |
Daily Relaxing Heart Rate | Yes | Yes |
Abnormal Heart Price Alerts | Yes (low and high) | Yes (low and high) |
Garmin ECG app | No | Yes |
Respiration Rate | Yes (24 × 7) | Yes (24 × 7) |
Pulse Ox Blood Oxygen Saturation | Yes (spot-check, and also additionally all-day and also in rest) | Yes (spot-check, and also additionally all-day and also in rest) |
Fitness Age | Yes | Yes |
Body Battery Power Monitor | Yes | Yes |
All-day Stress | Yes | Yes |
Relaxation Reminders | Yes | Yes |
Relaxation Breathing Timer | Yes | Yes |
Sleep | Yes (sophisticated) | Yes (sophisticated) |
Sleep Rating and also Insights | Yes | Yes |
Hydration | Yes (in Garmin Link ™ and also optional Link intelligence ™ widget) | Yes (in Garmin Link ™ and also optional Link intelligence ™ widget) |
Women’s Health | Yes (in Garmin Link ™ and also optional Link intelligence ™ widget) | Yes (in Garmin Link ™ and also optional Link intelligence ™ widget) |
Health Snapshot | Yes | Yes |
There is a 95% overlap of wellness monitoring functions in between these watches. The significant missing out on below is the ECG application, special to Venu 2 And also and also a number of various other Garmin elite views.
Victor: Venu 2 Plus
Sports Tracking:
As anticipated, Garmin Leader 265 has an edge in this division. Initially, have a look at the sporting activities accounts on both watches.
Category | Garmin Venu 2 Plus | Garmin Leader 265 |
Gym workouts | Strength, Cardio, HIIT and Elliptical Training, Stairway Stepping, Flooring Climbing, Indoor Rowing, Yoga Exercise, Pilates, and also Breathwork | Strength, HIIT, Cardio and also Elliptical Training, Stairway Stepping, Flooring Climbing, Indoor Rowing, Pilates, Yoga exercise, Breathwork |
Running workouts | Running, Indoor Track Operating, Treadmill Running | Running, Outside Track Operating, Treadmill Operating, Indoor Track Operating, Path Operating, Digital Operating, Ultra Running |
Outdoor leisure workouts | Hiking, Indoor Climbing, Bouldering, Winter Sports, Snowboarding, XC Winter Sports, Stand Paddleboarding, Rowing | Hiking, Winter Sports, Snowboarding, XC Standard Winter Sports, Stand Paddleboarding, Rowing |
Cycling workouts | Biking, Indoor Biking | Biking, Indoor Cycling, Hill Cycling, eBiking, eMountain Biking |
Swimming workouts | Pool swimming | Pool Swimming, Open up Water Swimming |
There is nearly an 85% overlap of sporting activities accounts, yet on the whole, FR 265 provides even more choices.
The training and also preparation metrics established them apart a good deal. Right here, FR 265 is a much premium watch. Right here are a number of metrics that exist on the Leader watch.
- Healing time
- HRV status
- Training readiness
- Training Load
- Training Effect
- Unified training status
Unified Training Standing is Physio TrueUp 2.0. Just the most recent Garmin Watches are granted this standing. It generally permits suitable watches to sync physical information much more quickly.
Not just that Leader provides much more sporting activities account, yet it additionally covers even more information for crucial sporting activities accounts: running, swimming, and also biking.




Last yet not the very least, the multi-band general practitioner on FR 265 is a precise benefit as we have actually seen its working in elite Garmins, and also can guarantee its prevalence ready monitoring. The very same technology is included on Apple Watch Ultra, Fenix 7, and also FR 255 watches.
Victor: Garmin Leader 265/265S
Battery Efficiency:
Category | Garmin Venu 2 Plus | Garmin Leader 265 | Garmin Leader 265S |
Smartwatch mode | Up to 9 days | Up to 13 days | Up to 15 days |
GPS setting with music | Up to 8 hours | Up to 7 hours | Up to 7.5 hours |
GPS setting without music | Up to 24 hours | Up to 20 hours | Up to 24 hours |
SatIQ (AutoSelect) GNSS mode | — | Up to 16 hours | Up to 18 hours |
All-Systems GNSS setting + Multi-Band | — | Up to 14 hours | Up to 15 hours |
GPS-Only GNSS setting with music | — | Up to 7 hours | Up to 7.5 hours |
SatIQ (AutoSelect) GNSS setting with music | — | Up to 6.5 hours | Up to 7 hours |
All-Systems GNSS setting + Multi-Band with music | — | Up to 6 hours | Up to 6 hours |
There is no considerable distinction in battery efficiency to proclaim one view a champion. Nevertheless, in the billing division, the substitute of the USB-A wire with the USB-C cord does offer Leader 265 some added factors.
Victor: Tied
Final Judgment:
A number of months earlier, we contrasted FR 255 vs Garmin Venu 2 Plus, and also the distinctions in between these 2 watches were rather basic to mark. As FR 265 collection shut the space with the Venu collection. The option in between these watches is simple if you respond to these standard concerns:
- Do you require ECG
- Voice aide, On wrist phone calls, and also auto-replies, do these smarts matter to you?
- Can you endanger on sophisticated sporting activities monitoring and also training functions?
If the solution to all these concerns is of course, just after that we would certainly advise you to opt for the Venu 2 And also. Or else, FR 265 provides nearly 80-90% of the very same clever and also wellness functions and also is much premium both as a multisports general practitioner tracker and also training device.