Garmin - Venu 3S

My husband got me a Garmin Venu 3s for Xmas. I've swum with it twice so far and love it!

Garmin Lily 2 active will be the smallest that fits your bill. I have the Venu 3s which is a little smaller than the Pixel 3 but lighter, but bigger than the Lily

I reacted to the sleep tracking that it was not performing so well at. This was a dealbreaker for me, but could be that I should look at another Garmin model.

Garmin Venu3S. It works fine to be honest.

Venu (3 or 3S) and Vivoactive 5 are both cute and come in neutral colors. They're decent for running but are more "lifestyle" watches than running watches. The 265S (S means it's the smaller version) is better for a serious runner. It isn't super "cute" but it comes in white with light blue accents. You can buy aftermarket straps of course.

Garmin venu 3s can track intervals and the run.

I have used a Vivoactive 3, Venu, Venu 2s, and Venu 3s for swimming and other activities. If your focus is on swimming, and the other activities aren't as prominent, why not try the Swim 2? https://www.garmin.com/en-CA/p/665374/pn/010-02247-00

I moved from Fitbit to Garmin (Venu 3S) six months ago and haven’t looked back. Garmin is far superior, especially if you are a runner or cyclist. I also love the Garmin badge system. I used to love Fitbit badges, but they stopped adding new ones years ago and Garmin has monthly badges for almost everything (yoga, strength training, walking, running, etc). Plus Garmin has badges for virtual hikes (like the Camino de Santiago) and virtual climbs (Everest). One more silly thing I found: there’s a third party app that lets you do the Lord of the Rings walk from The Shire to Mordor. It’s fun!

When tracking overall health is priority, you are fine with Venu 3(s). It comes with the latest Elevate 5 Heart rate sensor, monitoring Heart rate variability (HRV) and changes in skin temperature during the night. ECG capable (in the USA). Besides that a stylish watch.

This. The only thing I occasionally miss is mapping but it still has a lot of features. Personally, I'm much happier with a small watch than having an aircraft carrier strapped to my wrist 24/7.

I have Had my venu 3s for close to a year now and love it! I use mine for cycling, running, Lifting etc. Works really well for my typical, daily and very average Fitness needs (i am not an athlete and no professional/advanced runner). It is also able to run EKG Tests.

I also switched from an Apple Watch to a Venu 3S and was really happy with it and wished I did the switch earlier! I recently switched to a Fenix 7S Pro because I wanted even more fitness features and less smartwatch features. You said you shifted more towards sports but most of the issues you have are Smartwatch issues. A Garmin watch is a fitness watch and not really a smartwatch compared to an Apple Watch. My Venu 3 was not laggy. I agree you have to get used to the UI in the beginning, but I wouldn‘t say it is „terrible“. So in conclusion: Apple Watch = Smartwatch Garmin = Fitness Watch I think you should give the Venu a few more days to get used to it. Also make sure to run the latest software and try to reboot and see if it fixes the „slowness“ Cheers! :)

I have a Venu 3s and I get zero notifications on the watch.

I have the Venu 3s and I LOVE it!

Switched to Garmin Venu3s & I'm obsessed

Me too! I'm trying not to think about how much I've paid over the years but Whoop checks all my boxes compared to competitors. I got a Garmin watch to see if it would replace Whoop but I just can't sleep with it at night, the slim firm of Whoop wins there plus their sleep data doesn't seem accurate compared to Whoop. My hands are too small for a bulky Oura ring and I'm an Android user so no apple watch for me. I do admit, if I was in a worse financial situation, Whoop would have to go.

Venu 3S

Venu 3s, wife loves it

I had read some reviews on the VA6 prior to purchasing that the auto brightness was an issue and I’ve not had that issue. The UI seems great. It’s just the cheap feel that I dislike at this price point. I did buy it through REI, so I do have a return window if I choose to go that route or swap to the Venu 3, which I do agree looks much nicer. Edit: Gonna switch to the Venu 3 and pay the extra money. If I’m gonna have the watch for another 5 years, I want it to be something I love.

I’m glad you agree. Definitely not worth the price. I am still shocked as to how cheap it looked and felt. So glad I switched to the Venu 3s!

I JUST got the Venu 3s delivered this morning and I’m in loveeee. Came back to update! Looks nearly identical to the VA4s. Definitely recommend going for the s if you’re worried about the face being too big on your wrist.

I just got the Venu 3s delivered yesterday and I personally LOVE it! 😍

I have a Garmin Venu3s. Bought it before I started running, not knowing I’d start. I wanted an activitywatch that didn’t look like one so I loved the gold bezel on the Venu. In hindsight the forerunner would have been a better fit, definitely missing out on some of the functions. Still prefer the design of the Venu though.

Yeah it's sad and actually funny how Garmin makes any S series watch look like it came out of a kinder egg (even tho you've paid top dollar). I had a similar disappointment with the venu 3s, really terrible aesthetics.

Oof I dunno I was really underwhelmed by it (aesthetically), but hopefully that's just me being fussy - maybe if the bezel was matte I'm not sure. Factor over form tho, it's great - super light weight and not fatiguing to wear.

If it's just for general fitness stuff the Garmin venu3s is nice. I run so have a garmin forerunner 265s

I also have the Venu3s and I love it

Recently got a Garmin venu 3s (it's just the smaller version of the 3) and I'm in love with it. It does everything I want it to and mainly use it for sleep tracking, heart rate, stress levels and logging my workouts. Battery lasts me about a week? I hear it depends on how much info the watchface is expected to show which makes sense because I only have heart rate and steps. Edit: You can also customise the watchface!

Been using my Venu 3s for all these activities tracking.

My venu 3s is great. Doesn’t have the additional buttons that some of the other running watches have. But this still provides tons of data and looks stylish

Tried Fitbit and the watch died on me in 5 weeks, awfull build quality imo. app is also dogshit and I've had many issues with crashes. Now I've had my Garmin Venu 3s for a year and I still love it. Have had absolutely no issues with so far, great app that has many more metrics and graphs than Fitbit, 3-4 day battery life after a year of using it to track walks for hours each day. If you're in the apple ecosystem an apple watch might be interesting but battery life isn't great and I'd expect it to be less sports oriënted.

Yeah I've got the venu 3s, use it to track my swimming. So far accurate. Unless I need to stop mid length sometimes it thinks I've done two. Only happened twice though

This! My Venu 3 lasts over a week. And the big turn off is Fitbit Premium! Yuk! I've run into that Garbage pile before, which is why I'm have Garmin!

If you want a smartwatch then go for samusng but be ready to charge it every 1 or 2 days. If you want something to motivate you to move more and something that has a long battery life I would go for garmin. I switched from watch 4 to venu 3 and I couldnt be happier

Got a Venu 3 which is my Days off watch and for the majority of my walks and HR monitor for Cycling. Battery lasts about 10 days. My VA3 is for work to count steps as I can’t wear anything below elbow in Healthcare. Clip it to my pants. Battery lasts 3 days now. Had it since 2019

My Fitbit stopped showing me heart rate once my free premium subscription expired. Sometime it would show the heart-rate chart the next day, some days it would just skip. No chart for the day. One day I hiked for more than 10 kilometers and no chart, then I said F it, and pulled the trigger on Venu 3S. No complaints.

I've got the Venu 3. I've never tried HIIT during CrossFit bc like you said I don't mess with the watch during CF workouts. I usually just set it to cardio. Any advantages to HIIT that you know of?

Most people coming from apple go vivo active or venue. Venue being closest to a smart watch. Personally, I'm a instinct guy. Although I'm wearing a Fenix today since I didn't charge my Instinct for 2 weeks and it died before bed. I've swam tens of thousands of meters (more like hundreds but..) in pool, open and salt water with my Garmins. Done free diving (only to about 40ft, I'm not very good) and press the buttons regularly sub surface. I've also done cliff jumping with every watch, and haven't lost a garmin to water intrusion. I would definitely select a 100m rated model for water sports. Any watch can fail but I've had 6 garmins and none have. I also had a bunch of Casio and Timex over the years and not one failure.

From what you have written, budget is not a constraint for you. I'd go for a watch. Tracking sleep is very useful. I am implementing small changes to improve sleep and the data from the watch is helpful. Eventhough it's not perfect. If i could afford it, I'd buy a Garmin Venue right now. Also, while a chest strap may be a tad bit more accurate for heart rate tracking, it is not something you want to wear for hours at a stretch every day. There a watch is useful.

I've never watched the quantified scientist, but I don't see how an "average" rating can be anything but qualitative. Even if it's looking at, for example quantitative measurements of HRM accuracy, the act of saying that's the right metric for choosing a watch is inherently qualitative Without knowing what it's being compared against, my perspective is that Garmin watches have the most complete feature set for fitness activity tracking especially for triathletes and outdoor activities. They're not full on smartwatches though in the sense that Apple and Android watches are. With the Venu series, your not getting 100% of the hardcore fitness stuff that you would on a Fenix but you're getting a few more smartwatchy features while still getting Garmin battery life. You didn't mention which features are most important to *you* or what you are comparing against so hard to say much more

Garmin - They have a lot of watches at different price points. There is built-in GPS and the battery lasts for several days, unlike a smart watch that you typically need to charge every night. The Garmin app easily syncs with other fitness apps, if that's important to you. If you have a smaller wrist, go for the "S" models that will look and fit better.

People have to stop comparing these. These are for two different people. I would never wear an Apple Watch based on battery life alone. I specifically got the Garmin for a wrist based gps and mapping tool to track and orient myself. You buy an Apple Watch to use smart features and be connected to your phone. Garmin has never been in that market. It’s a whole company based on gps systems for outdoor activities . You buy an Apple Watch to have Apple ecosystem. you can’t use half the feature of the fenix on an iPhone bc they only want you to use their watch… Garmin are all specifically made for their audience even down the the model . Apple watches are just to keep you plugged into your phone and have no bearing on actual outdoor activities despite calling it ultra. The Millitary has been orienteering with Garmin wrist based gps systems forever. You’d never catch an Apple Watch on patrol in Afghanistan. 😂