Garmin’s Venu lineup is a paradox: it is a testing floor for its latest and most enjoyable options and upgrades, but in addition extra generic than its siblings in an try and enchantment to mainstream patrons. The Garmin Venu was its first AMOLED watch, the Venu Sq its first squircle design, and the Venu 2 Plus the primary so as to add a mic & speaker. The Garmin Venu 3 follows that experimental template to a T.
The Venu 3 announcement intrigued us with new instruments like Sleep Coaching tech with nap detection, guided meditation, wheelchair mode, a better UI, and a revamped Elevate v5 sensor able to ECG readings and pores and skin temperature readings (although the latter remains to be dormant). It additionally snagged the mic and speaker from the Venu 2 Plus.
At the identical time, the Venu 3 lags behind comparably-priced Garmin watches for particular coaching instruments whereas additionally falling behind your typical smartwatch for cellphone connectivity, mobile assist, or common smarts. It’s a jack-of-all-trades however grasp of none.
My Garmin Venu 3 overview will attempt to communicate to each potential audiences: Garmin followers contemplating the extra mainline Venu over its specialised siblings and mainstream smartwatch customers deciding whether or not to depart their Apple or Galaxy Watches behind to enhance their fitness.
Garmin Venu 3: Price and availability
The Garmin Venu 3 and Venu 3S launched in August 2023 for $450 / £450 / €499. Priced $50 increased than the Venu 2 sequence, it matches the Venu 2 Plus, which first added a mic and speaker to the Venu lineup. That means you must solely think about it a value enhance in case you’re bored with Bluetooth calls and voice assistant instructions.
You’ll primarily discover the Venu 3 on mainstream tech websites like Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, in addition to fanatic websites like REI and Crutchfield. Although new Garmin watches hardly ever go on sale for the primary 12 months or so, we have already seen the Venu 3 dip about $25 off, so preserve an eye fixed out for offers in case you’re unwilling to pay full value.
Garmin Venu 3: Design and bands
Garmin hardly ever rocks the boat with its watch designs. The Venu 3 seems to be similar to your typical Forerunner, solely about 1mm thinner and tapering down in the direction of the sensor array extra rapidly. In different phrases, it is much less cumbersome and barely extra svelte than your typical Garmin watch, making it extra snug for sleep monitoring.
Its three buttons, two lower than the Garmin customary, commerce their ordinary thick, plastic model for narrower steel buttons that look unbelievable however lose usability. You should be extra deliberate in urgent them. The prime and backside buttons carry out their ordinary Garmin OS features, like beginning a exercise or backing out of menus, whereas the center button has two customizable shortcuts for pulling up the assistant, music controls, or different instruments.
Generally talking, the Venu 3 is barely extra touch-dependent than your typical Garmin because of the lack of Up/Down buttons, which may show a little bit of an issue throughout exercises in case your fingertips get sweaty. For on a regular basis use, the 1.4-inch touchscreen is kind of responsive with lovely display screen transitions, however the lack of a crown or bezel does imply having to swipe by all the things.
Most of the perfect Garmin watches use hardened plastic materials that retains the load down and GPS alerts flowing freely however provides them a considerably low cost look from the aspect. The speaker slits on the left aspect additionally stand out starkly — no less than on my Whitestone mannequin.
If you possibly can combat your self-importance, although, the Venu 3’s chrome steel bezel helps it look unbelievable from the highest down, so you will take pleasure in it even when it is not a standing image to others from the aspect.
Venu 3 patrons can select between Silver bezel / Whitestone case & band and Slate bezel / Black case & band. Venu 3S patrons have extra choices: Slate with Pebble Grey, Silver with Sage Gray, and Soft Gold with French Gray, Dust Rose, or Ivory.
Speaking of the Venu 3S, its show is 0.2 inches smaller and weighs 7g much less. It lasts 4 days much less in customary smartwatch mode — although the identical 5 days in always-on show mode — and 5 hours much less in GPS mode. All different options are the identical, however you sacrifice battery and show house for consolation on smaller wrists.
Whichever you select, one design selection I like with the Venu 3 is its Quick Release bands. You can slide a change to attract a steel pin inward and take away every band half in seconds. Then, along with your substitute 22mm or 18mm bands, you slide the identical pin inward, slot the opposite steel finish right into a slot, and slot the primary finish out to connect it. Compared to Garmin watches that require a particular instrument to launch their bands, it is far more seamless.
If I stored my Venu 3 as my day by day driver, I would most likely swap out my band pretty rapidly. I would not say that I “hate the strap that comes with the Venu 3,” as my colleague Jerry Hildenbrand wrote in his latest Venu 3 hands-on, however it’s much less snug than the default Forerunner strap with its thinner, softer silicone and wider lug holes. Generally talking, I choose firms prioritize breathability over model, whereas the Venu 3 took the alternative method.
Garmin Venu 3: Display
Garmin and lots of its operating watch rivals have shifted away from MIP and in the direction of AMOLED shows in recent times, a pattern solely made attainable as a result of these new fashions can final for weeks while not having a dim, low-battery show. For the Venu sequence, which made the AMOLED change forward of the pack, it wanted a brand new option to stand out.
The key perk of the Garmin Venu 3 show is its slim bezel in comparison with most operating watches. You get a 1.4-inch show from a 45mm case, whereas the Venu 2 and Forerunner 265 solely supply 1.3-inch shows at 45mm and 46mm, respectively. You’d be hard-pressed to get extra visible house at this measurement.
Garmin hasn’t publicized its nits of brightness, however I’d assume it is about 1,000. That’s on par with most AMOLED fitness watches just like the Fitbit Sense 2 however under the brand new 2,000-and-up you get on newer smartwatches just like the Galaxy Watch 6 or Apple Watch Series 9.
It’s shiny sufficient to be totally seen in direct daylight on the proper angle, however I’ll word the identical criticism I had with the Garmin Forerunner 265 AMOLED show: its Gorilla Glass 3 safety is not on par with the sapphire glass you get on many comparably priced fitness watches. I no less than want it had the GG 3 DX customary discovered on the Forerunner 965 for a greater anti-reflective coating; with out it, the Venu 3 show positively catches the sunshine greater than I’d like.
Garmin Venu 3: Hardware and sensors
Garmin watches historically lag behind a lot of the greatest Android watches or Apple Watches in sleep monitoring and well being sensors. The Venu 3 would not fully shut that hole, however it definitely comes nearer to the mainstream than ever.
Garmin repeatedly measures coronary heart charge and coronary heart charge variance for all-day stress information by default, and you possibly can allow all-day blood oxygen monitoring if you want — one thing most different manufacturers would not have the battery life to supply. You even have respiration charge and menstrual cycle information, plus the choice to log hydration.
That’s all pretty widespread for Garmin watches, however the Venu 3 provides an ECG sensor, solely the second to take action after the Venu 2 Plus. We hope Garmin ultimately provides passive AFib detection, however for now, the power to take a 30-second coronary heart rhythm studying at any time and verify your previous leads to the Connect app is a superb perk.
Just remember the fact that you will have to replace your Garmin watch, allow ECG readings within the Garmin Connect “Finish Setup” menu, and then add 2FA to your Garmin account to guard your information earlier than you will discover the ECG app on the watch.
The Elevate v5 sensor additionally has dormant pores and skin temperature information; as Gadgets & Wearables noticed, the October Venu 3 beta notes claimed so as to add “pores and skin temperature information to sleep monitoring” earlier than Garmin deleted it and mentioned it was “inadvertently included.” We should assume the subsequent beta replace will add it quickly, providing you with extra helpful sleep insights.
| Category | Garmin Venu 3 |
|---|---|
| Materials | Fiber-reinforced polymer (Case); Stainless metal (Bezel) |
| Display (Venu 3) | 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen; 454 x 454 |
| Display (Venu 3S) | 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen; 390 x 390 |
| Protection | Gorilla Glass 3; 5ATM |
| Band | 22mm (135-200 mm) or 18mm (110-175 mm) |
| Tracking | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO; All-Systems mode (No twin band) |
| Sensors | Elevate 5 HRM with ECG; Pulse Ox (SpO2); accelerometer; ambient gentle sensor; barometric altimeter; compass; gyroscope |
| Connectivity | Garmin Pay (NFC), Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi |
| Mic and speaker | ✔️ |
| Key sport and well being options | Sleep coach, nap detection, Advanced Body Battery, wheelchair mode, 30 sports activities apps, restoration time, morning report, jet lag adviser, animated on-screen exercises, Garmin Coach, VO2 Max |
| Music storage | 8GB; Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, or personal music recordsdata |
| Dimensions | 45 x 45 x 12 mm (3); 41 x 41 x 12 mm (3S) |
| Weight / with strap | 30g / 47g (3); 27g / 40g (3S) |
Comparing the Garmin Venu 3 vs. Venu 2, they don’t seem to be essentially that totally different at first look. What’s spectacular is that Garmin gave the Venu 3 a bigger show, three additional days of battery life, a mic & speaker, and a processor able to extra superior tech, all whereas concurrently making it 0.2mm thinner and 2g lighter.
It additionally retains instruments like an altimeter for judging effort at elevation and each an accelerometer and gyroscope for monitoring your wrist actions for train detection. Even although the Venu 3 is extra “casual” in its software program than different Garmin watches, no less than the {hardware} is greater than sturdy sufficient to match competing manufacturers.
I can not inform if Garmin modified the mic and speaker high quality from the Venu 2 Plus to the Venu 3, however the expertise is essentially unchanged; it is adequate in a pinch however inferior to what you get on a mainstream watch.
The default mid-range quantity is pretty quiet and tinny in a silent room. Take the time to bump it as much as the next quantity, and it turns into loud sufficient to chop by the ambient noise of a quiet stroll outdoors, however most likely not a crowded road until you maintain it to your ear. As for mic high quality, the folks I referred to as mentioned that I sounded pretty clear open air however that I sounded echoey and more durable to grasp indoors, for no matter motive.
Like any Garmin watch with music storage, you possibly can sync your Spotify, Deezer, or Amazon Music playlists to the watch, providing you with fast entry. If you subscribe to a totally different music streaming platform like Apple Music, Tidal, or YouTube Music, you are out of luck and must add your individual MP3 recordsdata.
Of course, this primarily issues in case you plan to work out with out your cellphone readily available and need to play music by wi-fi earbuds or the quiet speaker. Otherwise, you possibly can merely use the Venu 3 for playback controls to your cellphone.
The headliner Venu 3 characteristic is, after all, Sleep Coaching and Sleep Score. Any watch with Body Battery has implicitly instructed you that you simply did not get sufficient sleep, however the Venu 3 made it express, telling you in case you acquired a adequate amount of sleep and high quality of deep sleep.
Garmin’s Sleep Coach will then inform you that you simply want wherever from seven to 9 hours of sleep; Garmin itself says it’s going to “by no means” advocate any much less or greater than that. If you are somebody who often sleeps nearer to 6 hours, you are going to get shamed and prodded into going to mattress earlier, if that appeals to you.
For the nappers on the market, the Venu 3 lastly re-adds the power to manually activate sleep mode and time a nap that is then included into your Body Battery information. I did not take a look at this as a result of, nicely, I’m not somebody who naps. But I do know that your Body Battery rating drains at a slower charge if it detects you at relaxation, so that you’re most likely going to see correct information even in case you do not manually log the nap first.
Garmin Venu 3: GPS and HR accuracy
Garmin gave the Venu 3 “All-Systems GNSS,” which implies it pulls information from a number of satellite tv for pc methods concurrently, like GPS and GLONASS, for a greater location lock in occluded areas. However, it would not have dual-frequency GPS like lots of the latest Forerunners and Instincts. How a lot this issues will rely on the place you sometimes run and how a lot sign blockage you encounter.
I additionally assume the Elevate v5 sensor has extra correct coronary heart charge information in a roundabout way than previous Elevate v4 watches, however Garmin would not actually promote the variations throughout generations. So, I made a decision to place it to the take a look at!
For an hour-long run, I ran with the Venu 3 on my left wrist and my Forerunner 965 on the proper. The latter was synced to my COROS coronary heart charge monitor for extra correct HR information and set to SatIQ mode — which defaults to GPS-only however switches to dual-frequency when the sign wants a lift by clouds or foliage (or round buildings).
In the guts charge chart above, the lighter crimson graph matches the Venu 3, whereas the purplish graph corresponds with the COROS information I’m utilizing as a baseline. You can see how the Venu 3 tends to point out rounded edges the place the HRM is jagged, corresponding with extra abrupt coronary heart charge modifications over hills or pick-ups in velocity. It cannot all the time sustain, in different phrases.
Generally talking, it is fairly correct and balances out fairly carefully over time. While I can not choose how far more correct it’s than different manufacturers, it is greater than correct sufficient for fitness wants.
As for GPS information, the Venu 3 overestimated my distance by 0.04 miles over an hour. It was a lot better than what a GPS-only watch just like the Galaxy Watch 6 can ship, if not excellent. Zooming in on the map, I discovered the Venu 3 tends to float off the path or sidewalk greater than the Forerunner 965, however not on the identical scale as a GPS-only watch.
I additionally famous that the Venu 3 appeared to underestimate my elevation by about seven meters, although the graph itself carefully matched that of the Forerunner 965 — merely at a decrease place to begin. It’s one thing I assume I can repair with a fast altimeter calibration within the settings, and that sort of hole is not a lot in case you’re climbing 1000’s of meters as a substitute of dozens.
I can not say how nicely the Venu 3 will do in more durable sign environments, however on the whole, this can be a becoming stage of high quality for the Venu 3, which strikes that difficult stability between casual and “serious” fitness.
Garmin Venu 3: Key software program options
I’ll roll out my ordinary Garmin disclaimer for my Venu 3 overview: If I examined and mentioned each software program trick on the Venu 3, it will double the overview’s size. So as a substitute, I’ll concentrate on the important thing returning options that’ll make it extra tempting than your typical Android smartwatch and the brand new options to tempt hardcore Garmin followers.
Like the Venu 2, the Venu 3 has customized coronary heart charge zones, VO2 Max information, depth minutes, Body Battery scores, fitness age, Livetrack, animated on-screen exercises, and a Health Snapshot.
We already mentioned the Morning Report within the final part; what’s new is a night equal referred to as the Daily Summary that recaps what you probably did (aka a Workout Day in case you skilled or an Easy Day in case you recovered) and the way it interprets it. I want it was nearer in model to the Morning Report or a post-run abstract, the place it confirmed precise information out of your day, however that is not the Venu 3’s power. Maybe we’ll see a greater model on a future Forerunner.
One key Venu 3 perk is its animated exercises. You can obtain any of the 80-ish premade exercises for muscle coaching, cardio, yoga, pilates, or different indoor routines, or else create your individual from a number of 1,600 workout routines that use particular gear, weights, or your individual physique weight.
Once you begin a HIIT exercise, you possibly can verify every train for an animated information of what it is imagined to seem like, in case you do not bear in mind from the identify alone or want a type verify.
I’d give the Venu 3’s train accuracy a score of 3 out of 5. I did a body-weight exercise of push-ups, burpees, squats, leaping jacks, and mountain climbers. Some extra deliberate workout routines like squats are tracked fairly nicely, however it might probably typically log an train merely whenever you’re standing up or going in the direction of the bottom earlier than you begin. During my 25 mountain climbers, it was correct as much as 24, and then stopped monitoring as I acquired into the 30s till I shook my wrist round wildly. And whereas doing my burpees, it froze at 9 and then, frustratingly, dipped again all the way down to eight as if I used to be doing it backward.
Essentially, I fortunately use it for motivation and steerage, however do not be afraid to make use of the again button to skip to the subsequent rep even when the watch says you are not fairly performed, or else you will simply get mad and damage your self doing additional work.
Garmin additionally added a Meditation exercise. You can select between three periods — Restore and stretch, Focused Mantras, or Mindful Sounds — or create your individual Custom routine. They’re a pleasant perk in case you’re pressured, however in addition they pale compared to the Mindfulness routines you get with Fitbit Premium or Apple Fitness Plus, each in quantity and manufacturing values. Even although Garmin’s app is free, I do hope it places in additional effort over time.
Perhaps my favourite Venu 3 characteristic is one which I do not want: the wheelchair mode. My colleague, Jerry Hildenbrand, wrote about how its wheelchair mode is the perfect, palms down, of any smartwatch model as a result of it correctly judges pushes as a substitute of steps, would not encourage you to “arise” as lots of watches do, and makes use of a customized algorithm to guage effort as a substitute of VO2 Max that takes into consideration the restricted cardio ranges and better upper-body pressure of somebody in a wheelchair.
I additionally respect getting a key characteristic I rely on with my Forerunner and Instinct watches: a Recovery time widget. It judges your tiredness based mostly in your fitness stage and tells you ways lengthy to attend till your subsequent exercise, going past what Body Battery can let you know every day.
What you do not know is why you want that lengthy or how your coaching is progressing. Technically, Garmin added a brand new “Workout profit” instrument in your post-workout abstract. In my case, it gave me an “Improving fitness” rating after my hour-long run and instructed me I used to be bettering my endurance. But you do not truly see a Training Load or Training impact abstract, telling you ways a lot time was spent at cardio or anaerobic ranges. That issues to me, however entry-level athletes can merely depend on Garmin to offer them a exercise judgment that an Apple or Samsung watch could not.
Garmin gave the UI and notifications an improve, together with tons of fairly watch faces that take full benefit of the show measurement. But your total expertise will fluctuate relying on whether or not you employ iOS or Android.
First, the common updates: You can change to a bigger font for the primary time, there is a “Recents” menu to entry your last-used apps rapidly, a brand new swipe-right shortcut (which you will most likely use for the Recents menu), and a brand new Activities/Apps cut up whenever you faucet the top-right button. Finding and utilizing apps on Garmin watches has all the time been a little bit of a chore, so giving a number of new methods to entry them rapidly is an actual boon.
Specifically for Android customers, now you can see photographs in textual content or e-mail notifications as a substitute of the standard “Attached: 1 picture” textual content. Plus, quite than use default Quick Replies, you possibly can truly kind out a textual content response in your watch keyboard in order for you. That mentioned, with out LTE assist, I do not a lot see the purpose since you possibly can pull out your cellphone to do that far more rapidly or use the voice assistant to transcribe your reply as a substitute.
To make clear, the voice assistant is not a watch assistant; it is your cellphone’s assistant handed by your watch’s Bluetooth. So, whereas it is good to have Google Assistant away from Wear OS or Siri away from Apple Watch, you possibly can solely use it as a option to preserve your cellphone in your pocket, to not truly pull up an exercise or widget on the watch itself.
Competition
Garmin selected $449 as a baseline for its mid-tier flagships, that means the Venu 3 immediately matches the Garmin Forerunner 265 and Garmin Instinct 2X Solar, whereas the brand new $299 Vivoactive 5 undercuts it. Of these, the runner-focused Forerunner 265 is its greatest foil; the Venu and Instinct lineups could not be extra totally different, whereas the Vivoactive 5 is a (painfully) downgraded Venu for budget-hunters.
Let’s begin with the Forerunner 265, the perfect operating watch of the 12 months. Before a run, you see a Training Readiness metric with an actual variety of hours till your physique is able to run and a day by day urged exercise based mostly in your fitness. You get extra sports activities modes like Track Runs, Trail Runs, and Multisport/Triathalon. After your run ends, you possibly can see your operating energy, coaching load, acute load, and restoration time. I may go on concerning the distinctive perks for cyclists and swimmers, however the level is that the Venu 3 lacks lots of instruments that serious out of doors athletes would respect.
The Venu 3 provides you higher battery life, a bigger show, a mic and speaker, the brand new Elevate sensor, wheelchair mode, and a couple of different particular life-style perks. The newest Forerunner beta replace introduced Venu 3 instruments like sleep insights and superior Body Battery to the 265, although, so the operating watch may shut the hole over time.
As for the Vivoactive 5, it is a 1.2-inch AMOLED watch with a cheaper-looking aluminum bezel. You lose the brand new Elevate v5 sensor, the altimeter, and the gyroscope. It has a shorter battery life and no all-systems GNSS. You do not get the mic and speaker for calls, nor the third button for shortcuts. You do not even get animated on-screen exercises, one thing the MIP Vivoactive 4 supplied. You’re saving cash, however you could not like all of the compromises it’s important to make.
Otherwise, the Garmin Venu 3’s essential rivals are smartwatches just like the Pixel Watch 2 or Apple Watch Series 9 that bundle fitness instruments with extra sturdy smartwatch instruments. They solely final a day per cost or much less, however they’ve near-perfect integration with an Android cellphone or iPhone, that means you possibly can reply to notifications with extra than simply fast replies and obtain a bunch of apps.
Garmin Venu 3: Should you purchase it?
You can buy the Garmin Venu 3 if…
- You need the Garmin instruments however not the standard Garmin design and expertise.
- Your typical fitness routines are lined by the 30 sports activities modes obtainable.
- You particularly want a mic and speaker or the ECG instrument.
You should not purchase the Garmin Venu 3 if…
- You want a correct Wear OS or watchOS smartwatch for the smarts Garmin cannot supply.
- You want extra sturdy fitness metrics discovered on Forerunners, Instincts, or different fashions.
As a runner, the Venu 3 sequence is not strictly designed for me; it is for individuals who may sometimes run however will combine it in with their ordinary indoor exercises like HIIT, weights, yoga, and who have to know Body Battery stats greater than they do Training Readiness stats.
Its thinner, light-weight, and crownless design makes it simpler to put on whereas bending your wrist for sure workout routines. And even when it isn’t fairly as trendy as a hybrid mannequin just like the Garmin Vivomove Trend, it is shut.
I’d discover it interesting if Garmin ultimately added a mic and speaker to different future Garmin watches, however the Venu sequence wants its gimmick now that extra and extra of its units have switched to AMOLED. I’m wondering if the subsequent trick will probably be including mobile assist, one thing folks have been clamoring for because the Forerunner 945 LTE — which used mobile information for some fundamental security and messaging features however not for precise calling.
The different angle Garmin may ultimately take is to make the Venu sequence even “smarter” at the price of its epic battery life, however I do not know what that might entail since Apple limits what any fitness watch model can do and Garmin cannot simply pivot to Android and Wear OS totally.
For now, the Venu 3 and future fashions will most likely proceed to walk that mainstream/specialised tightrope, and it does it in addition to I may anticipate. I’ve put it in our prime spot for the perfect fitness smartwatches, whereas emphasizing that different smartwatches with fitness instruments could also be higher for you. Personally, I’d advocate the Venu 3 in case you’re in any respect serious about getting fitter or stronger.
The Garmin Venu 3 and 3S have thin-bordered AMOLED shows, unbelievable battery life, music storage, tap-to-pay, Bluetooth calling, voice assistant assist, 1000’s of workout routines for personalized at-home exercises, Sleep Coaching, restoration suggestions, and different core Garmin instruments to maintain you on the proper fitness path.