Garmin Venu 3 Review: Smart & Sporty, but Expensive Smartwatch
A smartwatch offers extensive sports and health tracking experience, intelligent features, and excellent battery life. The Garmin Venu 3 is Garmin’s latest smartwatch. It has revamped hardware, a sharp style, and premium health sensors.
So, here is a complete review covering everything from health tracking, design, smart features, and performance.
Let’s Inspect!
Summary
Pros
- Top-of-the-line health sensors
- Beautiful and sleek design
- Bright AMOLED display with a stunning interface
- 8 GB storage for apps and music
- ANT+ certification for external monitors
- Incredibly precise workout tracking and GPS
Cons
- Higher price
- Some UI Glitches
- Limited auto-tracked workouts.
Limited auto-tracked workouts.
Garmin Venu 3 – Price
Garmin is compared to the Forerunner series in terms of budget. It cost 450$, which is a little less than Epyx and Fenix smartwatches and a lot more elegant.
Regarding competitors, Garmin Venu 3 has Amazfit Balance, Huawei Watch GT 4, and Apple Watch as competitors. But keep in mind that Chinese smartwatches cost way less than Venu 3.
Garmin Venu 3 – Unboxing
Unboxing is a typical Garmin-style, simple, and small cardboard box made of eco-friendly material with just the watch and charging cable inside the box.
Appearance and Build Quality
Garmin Venu 3 has a revamped design; instead of a rugged and big design, the smartwatch has an elegant and slim design. The white edition; it may look like a dust attractor, but I can vouch for the quality. I have been using Vivoactive 3 for over three years, and still, the bands are as white as snow, which shows how focused Garmin is on quality.
The new sensors look good; they use the same set as they have in the premium smartwatches like Epyx and Fenix lines. So, it is advanced and top of the line but will consume more battery.
In terms of construction, Garmin Venu 3 has a Gorilla Glass 3 top encased in a fiber-enforced polymer shell. It does not scream “I’m durable”; it’s more being slim and elegant.
Technical Specifications
- Display: 1.4-inch AMOLED screen
- Body: Gorilla Glass 3 protection, Stainless Steel Bezel and Fiber Reinforced Polymer case
- Weight: 27 grams without the band and 40 grams with the included strap
- Sensors: Garmin Elevate Wrist Heart Rate Monitor, Blood Oxygen Saturation Monitor, Barometric Altimeter, Compass, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Thermometer, Ambient Light Sensor
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi
- Battery: Up to 14 Days Battery life
- NFC: Yes
- GPS: Yes, with GLONASS and GALILEO
- Speaker and Microphone: Yes
- Smartphone App: Garmin Connect
Garmin Venu 3 – Features
Garmin Venu 3 has competent hardware that belongs to more premium Garmin smartwatches. It has excellent health sensors with exceptional and responsive UI, making it a lovely smartwatch.
Before features, I want to discuss the 3-button operation instead of five, which is relatively new to Garmin smartwatches. It is excellent, easy to get used to, and uses a combination of touch and button controls. The behavior of the smartwatch is configurable, and buttons can be set to perform multiple functions with single, double, and long presses.
Garmin Venu 3 has a solid 8GB storage for apps and music. It can run old MP3 files and can stream music on apps like Spotify, Deezer, and Amazon Music. The speakers on the smartwatch are pretty good. They are clear and loud enough.
Speaking of speakers, Venu 3 also has a microphone, allowing you to use the handy smart assistant. It is capable and can perform basic tasks. Moreover, you can also make and receive phone calls. Garmin Venu 3 also has a feature that most Chinese brands lack. It can display pictures in notifications and has options to respond to messages as well.
The smartwatch also has ANT+ certifications, which is valuable for athletes as it enables them to connect external HR monitors for better health tracking. Garmin has always been very open about connectivity with various peripherals. They have always added these certifications to enable athletes to benefit from their workouts fully.
Garmin Wallet is also a part of Venu 3. It can connect various bank cards to make contactless payments.
Garmin Venu 3 – Workout Tracking
Garmin is one of the best smartwatches for workout training. In telemetry training, you will see some advanced options missing. I think these are the features that Garmin wants in flagship smartwatches. It doesn’t mean that workout data is not enough; it is more detailed and thorough than most smartwatches in the market.
Everything is close to perfect except for sleep tracking. It’s alright, but there was a time when I was awake during the night reading a book, and Garmin Venu 3 counted it as sleep time, which makes it a little inaccurate. Venu 3 can also detect daytime naps, which I haven’t had the chance to test.
Other than that, everything is on par: Heart rate, blood oxygen, steps, calories, etc. If you are looking for ECG, Garmin Venu 3 does not have it now. They are waiting for FDA approval, so we are still determining when it will arrive. To give you an idea, it took Samsung over a year to get ECG approved by the FDA.
GPS tracking is also excellent. It is reliable, stable, and quickly looks at the signals. If we look at the data in the smartphone app, there is no issue in the tracking; it has a perfect implementation.
Battery Endurance
Garmin Venu 3 has a good battery life. It promises five days on average usage, which is possible during the winter. Realistically, it works on a single charge for 3 to 4 days with everything on. Disabling some features and enabling battery saver mode can take the endurance up to 14 days, which is quite good for a smartwatch.
Garmin Connect
Garmin Connect is another positive product from Garmin. It has a beautiful interface; features are well grouped, and data charts are well implemented. The only thing I would love to see is an option to change the background colour because a dark background is not for everyone.
Drawbacks
- No Rotating Crown
- Some UI Glitches
- Limited workouts
- No ECG Tracking
- Increased Price
Conclusion
If we don’t consider the price, the Garmin Venu 3 is among the best smartwatches with excellent features and accurate sports and health tracking. The smartwatch has solid hardware, functional software, and a beautiful, robust design. Yes, it has some downsides, but overall, the smartwatch performs exceptionally well in every department.
Learn more about the smartwatch in our YouTube Video.
