Verdict
The Garmin Venu 3 is a superb agiotage smartwatch . It ’s aimed less at the fanatical athletic performance crowd , and instead offer the best interpretation of wellness data I ’ve seen on a Garmin so far , and a great alternative to Oura and Whoop . However , most features are available on rival Garmins such as the Forerunner 265 and Vivoactive 5 .
Pros
Cons
Introduction
The Garmin Venu 3 is the latest version of the flagship smartwatch – and it ’s out to challenge theApple Watch Series 9andGalaxy Watch 6 .
Rather than an all - natural process sport watch , the Garmin Venu 3 is a wellness - focussed smartwatch , with some enough elect athletic competition feature . It puts much more emphasis on your casual animation and metrics than it does on sports tracking .
Many masses will get to the Venu 3 because of the Garmin steel , but while it has plenty of sports tracking science , it ’s canonical compare to Forerunners , Fenix , or other dedicated sport vigil . Here ’s my full review .
Design and screen
uncommitted in two case sizes , the criterion Garmin Venu 3 have a 45 mm causa that comfortably fits a male radiocarpal joint . Additionally , there ’s a smaller 41 mm Venu 3S variant design with woman in mind , although many will bump the received 45 mm fits nicely .
The Venu 3 boasts a vibrant 1.4 - inch AMOLED touchscreen display , sporting a 454×454 resolution that declare oneself fantabulous readability for the health widgets and workout data that dominate the UI .
build with untarnished sword , the Venu 3 has a gamey year and timbre feel . The finishing is n’t as deluxe as the unstained steel Apple Watch models , but it boasts an overall agio package .
On the right - hand bezel , you ’ll find three physical buttons , rather than the standard five on sporty Garmins . It might take a small adjustment to get used to this control condition scheme . The top button grants access to sports visibility and apps , the in-between push lead to recent apps and contrivance , while the lower button serves as the back function .
It offers full touchscreen functionality , allowing you to get at health widgets and recent apps by plainly cabbage from the main lookout man face . All menus can be navigated and pick out through touching interaction .
Software and features
The Garmin Venu 3 can display notifications from a paired smartphone , although you ca n’t easy tame the number buzzing the articulatio radiocarpea , and so I quickly turned this off . Being able to exclude apps would be a welcome addition .
For Android users , the Venu 3 let you to make and receive call straight from your wrist joint , and talk to your earphone ’s vox assistant .
The Venu 3 gets admittance to the Connect IQ Store . While it ’s not quite an app store , it extend a riches of additional data fields , widgets , and watch face . This means access to music streaming help like Spotify , and you could sync playlists for offline listening during runs .
Garmin Pay is uncommitted on the Venu 3 , but it ’s deserving take down that bank support is jolly more limited compare to services like Apple or Google Pay .
Notably , the Venu 3 lacks an LTE version , prevent users from going completely untethered .
In sum-up , the Garmin Venu 3 proffer a commendable array of affiliated lineament . However , it still falls behind competitor like the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch 6 in this regard .
Fitness and health tracking
The Garmin Venu 3 come packed with a broad raiment of fitness feature . There are over 30 sports tracking modes , including run , cycling , swimming , and golf trailing , with the addition of unexampled modal value tailor for HIIT and cardio exercise .
But those looking at the Venu 3 must understand that while it ’s a versatile smartwatch open of tag luck of sports , it does n’t cover any in detail .
For instance , when it come to run trailing , you ’ll see canonical system of measurement such as stride , distance , and kilogram calorie burn . It can monitor your heart charge per unit geographical zone – but that ’s about it and less than what ’s available on theApple Watch SE .
Fitness analysis remains basic , although VO2 Max approximation and retrieval advice are presented among the wellness stats widgets . I did enjoy the summaries of my exercising via the new Workout Benefit screen .
The Venu 3 lacks multiband GNSS , which affect its truth in areas with marvelous buildings and dumb tree cover . This is available on the slightly cheaperForerunner 265 , which iterate that it ’s a well selection for moon curser .
However , after conducting several running game and comparing it to the multiband - poweredApple Watch Ultra 2 , I found that GPS truth on Venu 3 was generally excellent for most type of sessions .
I also assessed the new Elevate 5 gist rate sensor , a feature film inherited from theFenix 7 Pro . It execute impressively , even when compare to a Garmin HRM - Pro chest shoulder strap . Heart pace meter reading during unshakable , tempo , and high - chroma runs were systematically within 1 bpm of the breast shoulder strap across gamy - pacing 5 K and 10 K runs , attain it easily recommendable .
Cycling statistic are on the canonical side , but swimming enthusiasts will find a comprehensive set of metrics , include stroke detective work , length tracking , and SWOLF gobs . While more canonic than Garmin ’s dedicated Approach golf lookout range , golf tracking offers access to a everlasting catalogue of 40,000 preloaded course , providing distances to the green ’s front , center , and back .
The Venu 3 meat on health and health tracking , more than its emphasis on fitness . It ’s been updated to include ECG , so user can execute spot checks for signs of Afib . It ’s only been released in the US , Vietnam , and Hong Kong so far , but ticks a big box for those weigh the Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch for wellness features .
Swipe up or down from the main watch aspect and you ’ll get a serial of health gimmick , cover everything from steps and affection charge per unit to tenseness , energy level , recovery times , workout details , dynamic minutes , HRV Status breathing pace , and more .
The revamped user port on the AMOLED display with ‘ live ’ animated contraption provide you with material - clip penetration into your current health status . That really raise from theVenu 2and older Garmin devices . This enhance the usableness of features like tenseness trailing , which I previously establish lack in practicality .
Garmin has also give its Body Battery characteristic a makeover , which monitors your vitality level and now has the ability to ‘ reload ’ after rest . And this finally makes this feel more useful and relevant as a stat to keep an eye on .
to boot , the inclusion of HRV Status , an analytic thinking of core rate variability , aims to provide penetration into your need for rest . However , interpreting this data may be challenging for individuals with less understanding of heart charge per unit variability – and it ’s a poor cousin of Training Readiness that does n’t make the gash ( and is usable on the telling Forerunner 265 ) .
The ability to track cellular respiration pace through a widget is a renowned summation , as it can serve as an other index of illness . However , while baseline data broadly line up with theWhoop 4.0 , the Venu 3 did n’t discover or expose an rarified respiration rate when I had a chesty cough ( which was ostensible on Whoop ) , which is concerning .
The Venu 3 is a top health watch that feel more useful than previous attempts by Garmin . It outperforms the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch in this regard , but should be note that most of these feature seem across the Garmin range .
The enhanced sleep supervise feature debuted on the Venu 3 , and it can trail daytime naps and incorporates the Sleep Coach , which analyses your sleep story to allow personalised advice on eternal sleep needs . Compared to the Whoop sleep coach , Garmin ’s recommendation are more come-at-able and presented more simply .
But I did see some truth issues . It incline to leave more generous sleep length estimates than devices like Whoop , Fitbit , or Oura . I did find oneself some instances where the Venu 3 tape sleep while read before bottom or lying in having a morning deep brown , which is concerning .
However , the sleep was responsive to the quality of sopor , and I noticed component such as intoxicant use of goods and services or disruptions in sleep patterns have a striking effect . So , it ’s still a useful putz , even if there are some issues to iron out .
Battery life
The Garmin Venu 3 boasts an outstanding battery biography , and this is where it really vie with the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch .
Garmin claims that the Venu 3 lasts 14 day between charge . Even with all lineament active , including the always - on showing , I managed to achieve approximately 10 mean solar day of electric battery aliveness .
The Venu 3 charges quickly , supply some 80 % charge within about an minute and even a quick 10 - minute charge got me over 20 % . The standard Garmin charging cable connects to the back of the lookout , but it tends to come unaffixed easily , which can be fairly frustrative .
The GPS battery aliveness varies depending on the selected modality , but with maximum truth ( All Systems GPS ) , it squander approximately 5 % per minute during a run . This translates to around 20 hour of continuous GPS track on a individual charge , aligning with Garmin ’s estimation .
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Should you buy it?
The Garmin Venu 3 is visually a cut above , and has top center pace and GPS performance , along with an fantabulous battery life story .
runner should immediately go and buy theForerunner 265now , as it offers a superior range of features for such economic consumption .
Final Thoughts
The Garmin Venu 3 is a top smartwatch with a focus on health and some unanimous sports tracking too . spirit pace and GPS truth is faultless , and this is a solid watch for those people who care to workout , but do n’t need slews of metrics or analysis afterwards . electric battery life is excellent , but as a smartwatch , it ca n’t compete with the likes of the App Store and Apple Pay .
The biggest competition follow from Garmin ’s own stable . TheForerunner 265is a much better selection for runners – and theVivoactive 5is simply a less premium looking version that offers most of the same features at half the price .
But if you ’re looking for a smartwatch that puts you in tune with your wellness , and right stamp battery animation , the Garmin Venu 3 comes highly recommended .
Trusted Score
How we test
We thoroughly test every smartwatch we refresh . We expend industry - stock examination to compare feature properly and we employ the lookout as our main machine over the recapitulation period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , swallow money to look back a mathematical product .
FAQs
No , there is no mapping feature on the Garmin Venu 3 smartwatch .
Yes , the Garmin Venu 3 does have a touch screen , allow you to navigate the watch with prods and swipes .
