Garmin Venu 3 Review: Super Fitness Smartwatch
The Garmin Venu 3 is a great all-in-one smartwatch with accurate heart rate measurement for workouts and reliable, intuitive and useful health features. It's a big step up from the Venu 2, although there's no ECG yet. The price is high, and it puts other members of the Garmin line in the game. But for Garmin's flagship smartwatch, it's a solid offering indeed.
- The health features finally seem useful
- Highly accurate FC
- Good screen
- Very expensive
- Sports tracking only offers basic metrics.
- A certain accuracy of the dream is observed.
The long-awaited Garmin Venu 3 is here as Garmin's watch lineup continues to expand.
Venu 3 meets many needs at first glance. With multiple sports tracking modes and plenty of health features, it's a full-fledged smartwatch for fitness enthusiasts.
But the combination of a hefty price tag (US$449/£449) and the launch of Garmin's range of devices alongside the Venu 3 means that while it has the best performance, it has its caveats.
Let's dig deeper into what it means to live.
> Garmin Venu 3 vs Venu 2
Price and competition
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At $449 USD/£449, the Venu 3 is quite expensive for a simple and very attractive smartwatch. That's below the starting price of the Apple Watch Series 9, one of their main competitors.
But the Venu 3's main competition is other Garmin models. The Garmin Forerunner 265 is about the same price and makes a lot more sense for runners.
There's also the Garmin Vivowatch 5, a watch so similar in features and specs that Garmin sent us a comparison chart to help us understand the differences. And it turns out that it's only a fraction of the price of the Venu 3 (£299/£259) and requires modest sacrifices.
So what does Venu 3 offer?
> Garmin Vivoactive 5 vs Venu 3: What's the difference?
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The Venu 3 is sleek and smart, though it doesn't end up standing out or grabbing attention.
Front and center is a good-quality 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 454×454. It's bright and bold and more than enough to showcase all the health parameters that dominate the Venu 3.
The body is made of stainless steel, so the Venu 3 gives the impression of good quality, which is the difference between it and the Vivosmart 5, which opts for aluminum. It's not as shiny and premium as the stainless steel Apple Watch models, but overall it's good.
There are three physical buttons on the right panel, which sets it apart from the five-button control system on most Garmin models. And it took some getting used to. The top button is used to access profiles and sports apps, the middle button is now used to access recent apps (and widgets), and the bottom button is the back button.
However, the Venu 3 also has a full touchscreen, so you can access health widgets and the latest apps by swiping across the main watch face, and all menus can be scrolled and selected by touch.
Available in two box sizes. The standard case of the Venu 3 is a 45mm diameter case that fits well on my slim male wrist and wouldn't look out of place on larger or female wrists. However, there is a 41mm Venu 3S model designed for women.
Overall, the Venu 3 looks like a quality smartwatch with a large display and multiple sizes for both men and women. They're a bit bland and probably won't get many compliments just for their style, but they're on par with most sports smartwatches.
Fitness functions
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As you'd expect from a Garmin smartwatch, there's plenty of fitness features here.
More than 30 sports tracking modes are available: running, cycling, swimming and golf are all built-in. There are also new programs for HIIT and cardio.
But those considering the Venu 3 should know that it's a smart watch, but it's definitely not an advanced one.
For example, running tracking is limited to basic metrics like speed, distance, and calories. It tracks your heart rate zones (even if they're not displayed mid-run), and you'll also be able to see your speed in the stats afterward.
In terms of performance standards, they are borderline basic and offer less than even the Apple Watch SE.
Fitness analytics are also pretty basic, but recovery tips and VO2 Max tracking appear in the health stats widget.
We also liked the natural language learning ratings on the new Learning Benefits screen (below).
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The Venu 3 doesn't use the multi-band GNSS used in the Forerunner 265, so it's less accurate in tall buildings and thickets of trees. However, we did some testing and compared the Venu 3 to the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with multi-band technology and found that GPS accuracy was generally excellent for most types of sessions.
But this is further proof that for general use the Venu 3 is fine, but for serious runners or athletes the Forerunner 265 is better.
We also connected the new Elevate 5 (a descendant of the Fenix 7 Pro) to a Garmin HRM-Pro chest strap heart rate monitor and found excellent performance during a steady, high-heart-rate tempo run.
For all runs, maximum heart rate was 1 bpm, and mean heart rate was measured using a chest strap for the 5- to 10-km runs.
We've seen previous Elevate 4 sensors on older Garmin watches fail in the early stages of a run, but there's no sign of that here. It's one of the best implementations of Garmin's optical technology on the wrist that we've ever seen, and we have no hesitation in recommending it.
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Cycling stats are also basic, but swimming is pretty extensive, with the usual Garmin metrics including stroke tracking, length tracking and SWOLF metrics. So anyone looking for a reliable smartwatch for the pool should be well pleased.
Golf is also simpler than the Approach golf watch, but you get a complete list of 40,000 fairways combined with distances to the front, middle and back of the green. And that's 90% of what most people expect from a golf watch.
While the Venu 3 will appeal to those looking for a sports-focused smartwatch, it's important to understand that what's on offer here in terms of features, data and analytics is basic.
Those looking for real analytics or a lot of data will feel like they haven't changed, but for people who have a varied training schedule and just want to track their workouts and not get bogged down in data, there's a lot to like here.
In addition, excellent heart rate measurement accuracy and reliable GPS work guarantee an unforgettable experience.
Characteristics of health
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The main function of the Venu 3 is related to health and wellness tracking, and this is an important element of this smartwatch, more so than fitness.
You get a full suite of daily health metrics to help you monitor your body and health, and the Venu 3 does this better than any Garmin watch to date.
The main part of this is the updated interface and UI, so that when you scroll through the list of widgets, you get a "live" status of your current health at the moment. This makes things like stress tracking, which we previously criticized for being useless, more intuitive.
Garmin has updated the Body Battery feature that tracks energy levels, and it also seems much more relevant and useful than the Venu 2. The body battery recharges when you improve sleep and drains when you exercise and just exist, but will now rest. . "Download it.
Sleep tracking has been improved and plays an important role in estimating the body's battery life.
Here you perform the function of measuring the status of HRV, which analyzes the heart rate and determines whether you need a rest. Provides last night's HRV data, 7-day average values, and personal baseline data.
But you'll have to find out that data yourself, and we'd be interested to know how many people know enough about heart rate variability to form an opinion about it.
It's essentially a less sophisticated version of Garmin's Training Readiness feature for more expensive Garmin sports watches.
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With the chip, you can also track your breathing rate, which can be an important indicator of disease.
It met our standard Whoop 4.0 respiratory rate baseline, but did not detect or show an increase in respiratory rate when chest cough was detected, which was flagged as a red alert by the Whoop Health Monitor.
Therefore, we are not sure what this data means, how useful it is, or whether it is sufficiently confidential.
We like the intensity per minute widget, which is a good motivator to get out and run since you're not limited to walking like many other trackers.
Health tracking has taken a step back for the Venu 3 with the loss of ECG, which first appeared on the Venu 2 Plus. We suspect that this is due to regulatory delays and sooner or later it will happen, but if this is what you want, there is no confirmation that it will arrive.
for a dream
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Improved sleep tracking is an important part of the Garmin Venu 3's capabilities.
Now added sleep effects and Sleep Coach, which includes sleep activity, HRV and sleep history to alert you to how much sleep you need.
It's a bit easier to use and more affordable than the Whoop sleep coach, which regularly recommends going to bed at 7pm to get your full rate.
However, we have some issues with the accuracy of the Garmin sleep tracker.
Like most sleep trackers, it's more generous than Whoop/Fitbit/Apple and usually overestimates sleep time. This doesn't matter much if you're consistent, although the prospect of sleeping 7 hours is unlikely to motivate you to take action.
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However, we found that the sleep score reflects a good/average/poor night's sleep not only in terms of the number of hours of sleep, but also the quality of those hours. So if I drank alcohol or woke up every 2 hours to a crying baby it would affect my sleep score.
But we ran into some problems with sleep tracking when we went to bed to read or stayed in bed after our morning coffee. And this is disturbing.
Smart features
Garmin has done a good job of making its fitness watches and fitness smartwatches more useful when they're not tracking your workouts, and this is just the case.
The Venu 3 will display notifications from your paired smartphone, but you won't be able to adjust anything that might bother your wrist.
Android users can also make calls from their wrist, which the Venu 3 has over the Vivoactive 5 e.
The Venu 3 boasts of a Connect IQ store. It's not an app store, but it's packed with additional data fields, widgets, and watch faces that will enrich your Garmin experience. It is well supported by developers, but ultimately not on the same level as the Apple App Store or Google Play.
There's integration with some major music streaming services, including Spotify, so you can sync playlists offline and listen to them while you run.
Garmin Pay is also available on board, but banking support is much less than Apple or Google Pay. Therefore, it is recommended to check whether your bank supports it if this is an important feature for you.
The Venu 3 does not have an LTE version, so disconnection is not possible. Garmin released an LTE version of the Forerunner 965, but it hasn't been reintroduced to the smartwatch line until now.
So the Garmin Venu 3 offers a number of connected features, but it's still far behind the Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch 6.
Battery life
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Battery life on the Venu 3 is generally excellent, which is a big plus for the Venu 3 compared to the Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch.
Garmin claims the Venu 3 will last 14 days without recharging. With all the features turned on, including the always-on display, we got about 10 days of battery life.
It's a great screen and has very few battery issues.
Also, it charges fast and we can get about 80% charge in about an hour.
GPS battery life depends on the mode used, but at the highest possible GPS accuracy for all systems, the battery life decreases by about 5% per hour of operation. That equates to 20 hours of GPS tracking on a single charge, matching Garmin's estimate.
You must buy it.
The Garmin Venu 3 is a great fitness-focused smartwatch with a great set of health features, a fantastic display, and a good level of accuracy in many ways. This is why it is highly recommended.
But should you buy it? And this is a more difficult question. It offers most of the same features as the Garmin Vivoactive 5, with a slightly smaller screen and materials, a new heart rate sensor, and some voice calling features. But the Vivoactive 5 costs almost twice as much.
Similarly, if you're looking for high-quality information about your fitness and performance, the Forerunner 265 with an AMOLED display is a much better fit for most runners and costs a bit less.
Finally, if you like app access, payments, and advanced smartwatch features, the Venu 3 doesn't compare to Apple or Samsung in those respects.
So if you're looking for a great sports watch with daily stats and health packages, and are willing to pay more for a great screen quality, the Venu 3 is what you need.
But for many Venu 3 is not the best device in the Garmin line.
