Maintain your telephone in your pocket as you reply telephone calls or communicate to Google Assistant or Siri in your wrist. The Venu 3 provides key upgrades like a brand new well being sensor suite, wheelchair mode, days of additional battery, and restoration time whereas maintaining a slim and engaging design.
For
- Provides mic/ speaker for Bluetooth calls, assistant
- All-Methods GNSS monitoring
- Elevate v5 coronary heart price sensor
- Barely bigger shows
- Sleep Teaching and Restoration Time
Towards
- Pricier than ever
- Some lacking options from different Garmin
- Venu 3S battery loses 4 days
Regardless that the Garmin Venu 2 provided a significant step up over the unique Venu, it is undoubtedly feeling its age at this level. It nonetheless appears to be like attractive and has strong battery life, however its “mainstream” focus would not work fairly as nicely with out the newest Garmin software program or mic/speaker combo.
For
- Extra affordably priced
- Vibrant show and battery life nonetheless impress
- Has many of the identical sensors, sports activities modes
Towards
- No Sleep Teaching / nap detection / HRV standing
- GPS-only monitoring
- No mic or speaker
- Lacking restoration time after exercises
In contrast to the extra rugged Instincts or specialised Forerunners, the Garmin Venu sequence targets mainstream health followers. They showcase Garmin’s efforts to make a extra conventional smartwatch, providing new options earlier than every other Garmin watch will get them. The Garmin Venu 3 is not any exception, making some important upgrades over the 2021 Venu 2.
In some ways, the Garmin Venu 3 is the successor to final yr’s Garmin Venu 2 Plus. It provides the identical mic & speaker for Bluetooth calling and good assistant instructions, plus a 3rd button for shortcuts. The Venu 3 shares the Plus’ expensive $450 price ticket, too, whereas including unique instruments like Sleep Teaching, the brand new Garmin Elevate v5 coronary heart price sensor, and post-workout restoration suggestions.
For those who personal the Venu 2 and are deciding whether or not or to not improve — or are contemplating saving cash with a reduced Venu 2 — we’re right here to assist. First, we’ll evaluate all the pieces that is unchanged between the 2 watches. Then, we’ll totally break down the Garmin Venu 3 vs. 2 specs and options to see if it is well worth the change.
Garmin Venu 3 vs. Venu 2: What’s the identical?
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Garmin saved to an identical template with the Venu 3 and Venu 2. These two watches share fairly a number of similarities, which we’ll define beneath:
| Class | Garmin Venu 3 | Garmin Venu 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Show | 1.4-inch (454×454) or 1.2-inch (390×390) AMOLED touchscreen | 1.3-inch (416×416) or 1.1-inch (360×360) AMOLED touchscreen |
| Supplies | Stainless-steel bezel, fiber-reinforced polymer case | Stainless-steel bezel, fiber-reinforced polymer case |
| Safety | 5ATM, Gorilla Glass 3 | 5ATM, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Dimensions | 45 x 45 x 12 mm or 41 x 41 x 12 mm | 45.4 x 45.4 x 12.2 mm or 40.4 x 40.4 x 12.1 mm |
| Weight | 47g or 40g | 49g or 38g |
| Watch strap | 22mm or 18mm, quick-release | 22mm or 18mm, quick-release |
| Sensors | Garmin Elevate v5, SpO2, altimeter, compass, accelerometer, gyroscope, thermometer, ambient mild | Garmin Elevate v4, SpO2, altimeter, compass, accelerometer, gyroscope, thermometer, ambient mild |
| GPS monitoring | GPS-only or All-Methods GNSS | GPS solely |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi, NFC | Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi, NFC |
| Mic and speaker | ✔️ | 🚫 |
| Music storage | 8GB | 8GB |
Design: Each watches are available two sizes and use the identical supplies: chrome steel for the bezel and strengthened plastic for the general physique. The 45mm Venus use 22mm quick-release bands; the 41mm Venus use 18mm bands.
Though the Venu 3 vs. 2 dimensions are barely completely different — the Venu 3 is 2g lighter than the two, whereas the Venu 3S is 2g heavier than the 2S — they’re roughly the identical measurement and can really feel the identical in your wrist. In addition they have the identical water resistance and Gorilla Glass safety.
Connectivity: Each watches sync through Bluetooth, help Wi-Fi uploads and downloads, allow Garmin Pay, and help ANT+ equipment.
Sensors: Though the Venu 3 has the newest-gen Elevate v5 optical coronary heart price sensor (extra on that beneath), all the pieces else is similar. The Venu 2 has the Pulse Ox sensor for blood oxygen, altimeter for elevation, compass for navigation, ambient mild for show changes, and accelerometer/ gyroscope for measuring motion for step-counting and fitness center workouts.
Core well being and coaching knowledge: We’ll talk about the Venu 3’s latest software program methods beneath. With the Venu 2, you get the acquainted Garmin software program suite you recognize and love: Coronary heart price zones, depth minutes, Physique Battery, health age, Livetrack, animated on-screen exercises, and a Well being Snapshot.
Music storage: Every Venu watch has 8GB of storage. Together with something you obtain from Join IQ, you will have loads of area to your personal MP3 information or playlists from Spotify, Amazon Music, or Deezer.
Garmin Venu 3 vs. Venu 2: {Hardware} and battery
The obvious Garmin Venu 3 improve is its show. Each sizes provide you with an additional 0.1 inches of show area from 1.1 and 1.3 to 1.2 and 1.4. Garmin shrunk the Venu 2’s noticeable show border, giving the Venu 3 extra visible area with out considerably altering the dimensions.
In actual fact, it is fairly spectacular that Garmin managed to make the Venu 3 barely slimmer than the Venu 2 whereas including the built-in mic and speaker. The 1.3-inch Garmin Venu 2 Plus is 0.6mm thicker and weighs 4g greater than the 1.4-inch Venu 3, for comparability.
We’re nonetheless ready on Garmin to ship us the Venu 3, so we will not check the standard of the mic and speaker simply but. With the Venu 2 Plus, our reviewer discovered that his voice “got here by clearly to my name recipients on the opposite aspect,” however was much less glad with the speaker, calling it a bit “tinny” and arduous to listen to besides in a silent room. We’re hopeful the speaker will get a minor increase with the Venu 3; nonetheless, even when it is the identical high quality, a tinny speaker is best than none in any respect.
The mic’s different profit is that it allows you to command your telephone’s main good assistant: Google Assistant, Bixby, or Siri. Contemplating loads of Put on OS watches do not have Google Assistant anymore, it is good which you can entry it on a Garmin watch.
As for the speaker, it permits audio prompts throughout guided exercises like intervals, so you do not want to take a look at your watch to know what to do subsequent.
| Battery mode | Garmin Venu 3 / 3S | Garmin Venu 2 / 2S |
|---|---|---|
| Smartwatch mode | 14 days / 10 days | 11 days / 10 days |
| All the time-on show | 5 days / 5 days | 2 days / 2 days |
| Battery Saver mode | 26 days / 20 days | 12 days / 11 days |
| GPS-only | 26 hours / 21 hours | 22 hours / 19 hours |
| All-Methods GNSS | 20 hours / 15 hours | 🚫 |
| GPS with music | 13 hours / 10 hours | 8 hours / 7 hours |
| All-Methods GNSS with music | 11 hours / 8 hours | 🚫 |
The Garmin Venu 2 helps GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO, however solely individually. With the Garmin Venu 3, you may activate All-Methods mode to raised pinpoint your location in areas the place one satellite tv for pc sign is perhaps disrupted.
One other important {hardware} distinction is that the Garmin Venu 3 delivers a robust battery life increase. The Venu 2 had strong battery life for its time, but it surely might barely help an always-on show, the battery saver mode barely lived as much as the title, and utilizing GPS with music would burn by the battery manner too quick.
The Venu 3 does lots higher in these areas, and its All-Methods mode lasts practically so long as the Venu 2 in GPS-only mode. As for the Venu 3S, it isn’t truly that significantly better than the 2S apart from the AOD or Battery Saver modes, displaying the identical 10-day most for traditional use.
The final main distinction with the Venu 3 has to do with the brand new Elevate v5 optical coronary heart price sensor. Garmin hasn’t marketed what makes this new sensor higher; we all know for sure that it has extra LEDs, which ought to make it take extra correct readings.
We additionally know because of DC Rainmaker that the Venu 3 can take ECG readings, identical to the Venu 2 Plus, however that it is not lively but as a result of it wants FDA authorization first. He additionally claims that the Elevate v5 sensor has the capability to take pores and skin temperature readings; Devices & Wearables corroborated this, discovering Garmin Join screenshots of a brand new pores and skin temperature widget.
So, in idea, the Garmin Venu 3 will help two new well being metrics that the Venu 2 cannot. However even when the Elevate v5 helps these options, we will not assure Garmin will activate them on the Venu 3; generally, hidden {hardware} limitations preclude technically-possible options from engaged on particular fashions.
So despite the fact that it appears more likely to us, we would not purchase the Venu 3 with the expectation that you’re going to get ECG and pores and skin temperature readings. Of the 2, ECG is extra doubtless.
As a remaining aspect observe, despite the fact that each the Venu 3 and Venu 2 have Pulse Ox monitoring, solely the Venu 3 will help Jet Lag Adviser, serving to information you on how nicely you’ve got recovered after touring the world over and adjusting your health knowledge accordingly.
Garmin Venu 3 vs. Venu 2: Software program updates
You’ll have already heard that the Venu 3 will help Sleep Teaching and nap monitoring for the primary time. After an evening’s sleep, you will obtain a Morning Report judging the standard of your sleep primarily based in your age, every day and longer-term exercise ranges, current sleep historical past, naps taken and coronary heart price variability (HRV).
Typically talking, it’s going to advocate you sleep between 7 and 9 hours. You possibly can attempt to make up for misplaced sleep by napping in the course of the day; the Garmin Venu 3 will monitor your noon sleep interval and take that under consideration to your Physique Battery and sleep teaching.
Talking of Physique Battery, the Garmin Venu 3 will have a look at your exercises and provide you with restoration time suggestions after you end, primarily based in your present health degree (aka VO2 Max) and fatigue. To assist information these suggestions, you can choose the “price of perceived exertion,” which mainly means you will faucet one among 5 emoji faces to price how you’re feeling from robust to injured.
Another minor however vital new options are guided meditations, the power to create interval exercises in your watch, and the choice to change to a bigger, extra readable font measurement.
We’re particularly thrilled that the Garmin Venu 3 will add wheelchair exercises for the primary time: it can monitor pushes as an alternative of steps and remind you to shift your weight reasonably than stand up and stretch. It’s going to use a distinct metric to evaluate your effort, since “higher physique train usually produces larger physiological pressure than decrease physique train at comparable workloads,” which “can lead to earlier fatigue onset throughout train.”
You additionally get 7 new sports activities modes: Snowshoeing, Tennis, Padel, Pickleball, eBiking, Handcycling, and Indoor Handcycling. The Garmin Venu 3 would not have as many sports activities modes as different Garmin watches, however the listing is slowly rising, no less than.
Whereas these are the main variations, we poured over the Garmin Venu 3 and a pair of spec sheets and located different upgrades chances are you’ll care about. Listed below are the remaining Garmin Venu 3 unique software program instruments we discovered:
- On-device Join IQ retailer
- Assist for the Garmin GameOn app
- Assist for energy meters, eBikes, and Sensible Coach Management
- Interval coaching: Open repeats, an interval knowledge web page, relaxation display, and auto detection
- New open-water swim metrics and Auto-Relaxation detection throughout pool swimming mode
Garmin Venu 3 vs. Venu 2: Do you have to improve?
Upgrading to the Garmin Venu 3 provides you All-Methods GNSS, significantly better battery life (particularly with AOD lively), Sleep Teaching, a mic and speaker for Bluetooth calls, a 3rd programmable button for pulling up your favourite widgets, a bigger AMOLED show, restoration suggestions, and wheelchair workouts — plus the potential of ECG and pores and skin temperature readings down the road.
Venu 2 house owners have an actual motive to really feel tempted by the Venu 3; and anybody contemplating saving $50–$100 on the Venu 2 as an alternative of the Venu 3 ought to think twice about lacking out on all these new instruments.
For those who personal the Garmin Venu 2 Plus, our present decide for the finest health smartwatch, it is a a lot more durable determination since you will need to have purchased it so not too long ago. You have already got the mic, speaker, ECG readings, and third button, in any case. Regardless that it has a much less spectacular 9-day battery life, spending one other $450 on the Venu 3 for diminishing returns will not be advisable. The exception is when you want a particular improve like energy meter compatibility or wheelchair mode.
In the end, we’re fairly pleased with all the pieces the Garmin Venu 3 brings to the desk. We want it had coaching load, Coaching Readiness, prompt exercises, multisport mode, dual-frequency GPS, and different instruments you’ll find on comparable $450 Garmin watches just like the Forerunner 265 or Intuition 2X Photo voltaic. However that is nonetheless an enormous step in the precise path to maintain the Venu sequence related.
Select the Garmin Venu 3 for its superbly giant show in a skinny, light-weight package deal, in addition to its mic/speaker and extra correct monitoring. Skip it when you’re already glad along with your Venu 2 Plus otherwise you’d reasonably have a thicker Garmin watch with extra fitness-focused methods.
Follow (or purchase) the Garmin Venu 2 when you’re bored with sleep monitoring and easily need a lovely Garmin tracker with all the necessities. In any other case, transfer on from the Venu 2 and take a detailed have a look at the Venu 3 for all the causes outlined above.
