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The Garmin Venu 3 is the most smartwatch-like wearable to date from the leader in pure sports and physical fitness watches. Is this Garmin playing beyond its convenience zone? Sure, a touch, however a lot of the smartwatch life has to do with workout and activity tracking that none of its knowledge is lost.

The Venu 3 is precise and reputable, and has new-to-Garmin functions like ECG heart rate readings. Those who are big-league exercisers ought to think about a Garmin Forerunner 265 rather, though: it’s a little less glamorous-looking, however has athlete-led functions and statistics that the Venu series does not have. The Garmin Venu 3’s touch-led technique can likewise be frustrating throughout exercises, however more on that later on.

You’ll pay $449/ ₤ 449/$749AU for the Venu 3, making it the very same rate as its predecessor the Venu 2 Plus in the U.S., however a little more costly in the U.K.

Garmin Venu 3 evaluationGarmin Venu 3: Design and screen

• Light and comfy to use
• Elegant by Garmin requirements
• 1.4-inch OLED display screen

The Garmin Venu 3 combines Garmin’s physical fitness nous with a style that will interest folks who would never ever strap a Fenix 7 Pro around their wrist. It looks slicker, more like a smartwatch, and there’s less of a sense the user will begin banging on about their marathon times or running club dramas.

You have 2 size alternatives here, similar to numerous Garmin lines. There’s the 41mm Venu Three and the 45mm Venu 3, seen here. No matter which size you select, you get a silicone strap, Gorilla Glass 3 toughened glass screen defense and a knurled steel bezel, while the remainder of the housing is a hard plastic.

It’s relatively light, not too large and is typically a delight to use. It’s rather plain-looking as smartwatches go. It’s elegant by Garmin requirements, however less so by the requirements of the broader market.

This Venu series likewise provided Garmin its first-ever OLED view, back in 2022. The Venu 3 has a super-rich and intense 1.4-inch OLED display screen with 454 x 454 pixels. It’s terrific for checking out text and looks even more dynamic and lively than the transflective display screen of something like the Garmin Instinct 2.

Similar to a smartwatch display screen, it times out quite rapidly. There is an “constantly on”mode that keeps the time on-screen all day, at the expenditure of battery life. This is a touchscreen and is accountable for the lion’s share of navigation.

Garmin Venu 3: Features

• Restricted workout-tracking functions
• Takes calls from your wrist
• Functions ECG measurements

We utilized the Garmin Venu 3 for a number of months, and while we have a great deal of love for this watch, it might not be the ideal one if you are everything about workout and physical fitness. Feature-packed, it does not have rather a few of the functions of, state, a Forerunner 965 or Forerunner 265 that we have actually grown to enjoy.

There are no”recommended exercises”for runners and bicyclists. You lose the Performance Condition function that demonstrates how you’re doing a brief method into sessions. And you can’t pack paths onto the watch in order to browse.

The Garmin Venu 3 is a lighter sort of watch. Its unique functions are things like a speaker and microphone. This combination lets you engage with your phone’s assistant and take calls from your wrist.

At the end of each workout session, you’ll see your healing heart rate, which in this case is determined by the number of BPM your heart decreases in 2 minutes, a helpful sign of physical fitness.

While I have actually liked the Venu series because it started, it has actually lost a few of its shine now that OLED screens are quite typical on Garmin watches. The Forerunner 265 has one and costs less, for instance, and the smartwatch things the Venu 3 can still declare exclusivity on is not one of Garmin’s greatest fits.

Connecting with the digital assistant feels a little cumbersome and limiting compared to a clever speaker or Apple Watch. And the touch-led technique has actually resulted in me mistakenly ending up a workout session early when taking a fast breather or a fast journey into a store more times than I can count. This has actually been the one genuine inconvenience of utilizing the Venu 3.

It is getting ECG readings, however, together with simply a handful of Garmin watches consisting of the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix 2 Pro. This performance was revealed mid-testing, and has actually now been launched in some areas, however is yet to make it to my Garmin Venu 3.

The message here is just that major workout heads might desire to think about a Forerunner watch. The Garmin Venu 3 does ample to please the huge bulk of individuals on the physical fitness front.

It has the exact same slick user interface as the Garmin Epix 2, making it a doddle to see your day-to-day statistics. The watch has 40 sports modes, and you can get more from the enduring Garmin ConnectIQ app shop if you desire.

You can pack the Venu 3 up with music, as it has 8GB storage, and play tunes or podcasts on cordless earphones. This function works well with the touchscreen, and the user interface in basic feels slick and smooth.

This watch will provide you blood oxygenation readings, analyze your tension levels and can be utilized for cordless payments by means of Garmin Pay. And– a fairly brand-new function– the Venu 3 now has a Sleep Coach along with basic sleep tracking. This provides you suggestions on how to enhance your sleep patterns.

Each early morning you’ll likewise see your Morning Report, which is a summary of your sleep and notes for the upcoming day, consisting of the weather condition. It’s kinda charming, however if you do not concur, you can constantly disable it.

Garmin Venu 3: Performance

The Garmin Venu 3 take advantage of all the current Garmin tech, bar something, Multi-Band GPS. This is discovered in numerous higher-end Garmin enjoys nowadays, consisting of most significantly the Forerunner 265, and can actually assist in circumstances when GPS area might be difficult, such as in between high-rise buildings, in a deep valley or in a really high and thick forest.

I have not had a possibility to take the Garmin Venu 3 anywhere rather so unique, however, and have actually discovered its location-tracking efficiency to be exceptional. It’s extremely constant and precise enough that, for instance, you can plainly inform which side of the roadway you are operating on.

It’s the very same handle heart rate readings. The Garmin Venu 3 has the current generation of the business’s heart rate tech, and it is outstanding.

Compared to the Venu 3 Plus, it utilizes reflector panels and 4 extra LEDs that just fire up throughout workout tracking to enhance outcomes. And Garmin’s last-generation heart rate reader hardware was currently fantastic.

There are no significant precision concerns here, a minimum of based upon our screening– which was mainly running and fitness center usage.

Garmin states you can anticipate the Venu 3 to last as much as 2 weeks in between charges, which is rather a considerable action up from the 9 days of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. While that 2 weeks might be possible, it’s not the sort of durability you’ll get utilizing the watch to its maximum.

For nearly the whole test duration I utilized the Venu 3 with its “constantly on” screen mode engaged. This implied a basic analog clock face was shown all the time from 7 am to 11 pm when the watch was idle (the design differs depending upon the watch face you choose).

It makes the Venu 3 a far better watch, however include the battery drain of a healthy quantity of GPS usage for workout tracking and the watch might require charging around every 5 days. This is among the downsides of an OLED watch– battery life can differ far more than it carries out in a timeless transflective Garmin watch, whose display screen reveals material all the time by style.

It’s not as if we’re talking about having to charge your Venu 3 every day, or even every other day.

Should you purchase the Garmin Venu 3?

The Garmin Venu 3 is a great physical fitness watch, especially if you desire something a bit glossier and less intimidating-looking than the extremely outdoors-y Garmin style standard. You get the exact same user interface as the most pricey Garmin watches, showed through an intense, vibrant smartwatch-style OLED screen.

As a Venu watch, however, the Garmin Venu 3 does lose out on a few of the advanced workout functions you get with watches from the Forerunner and Fenix series. Think of whether you desire them, as you can now get a few of the smartwatch gloss seen here from somewhere else in the Garmin line-up.

If Garmin Venu 3 is not for you

The Garmin Forerunner 265 is the most engaging option to the Garmin Venu 3, and the one I ‘d suggest if you’re huge on running or physical fitness.

With Suggested Workouts, Training Load and on-watch paths (without complete mapping) in tow, it encounters as a considerably more major physical fitness watch. That stated, it does not look as excellent, and has a smaller sized screen, no speaker or microphone and no ECG reader. It’s a much better expect some, however absolutely not for others.

The Vivoactive 5 is likewise comparable however expenses less. It utilizes aluminum rather of steel, and does not have a speaker or mic, or an altimeter. It utilizes Garmin’s last-generation heart rate hardware too, however at $299 it is considerably less expensive. It’s an excellent lower-cost option.

Do not mark down the Venu 2 Plus, either. It’s a relatively comparable watch and might be readily available for considerably less as an older (however not that old) design. It does not have the Venu 3’s ECG function.

Andrew Williams is an independent reporter based near London. He has actually blogged about tech for over a years, adding to websites such as WIRED, TechRadar, TrustedReviews, Wareable, Stuff, T3, Pocket-lint and numerous others. When he’s not covering physical fitness tech, he blogs about smart phones and computing, in addition to video cameras.