1. Price
  2. Design
  3. Sleep tracking and sleep coach
  4. Morning report and HRV Status
  5. GPS improvements
  6. Elevate 5
  7. Health features
  8. ECG (or not)
  9. Battery life

Garmin Venu 3: New features, battery life and key additions explained

Everything you need to know
Garmin garmin venu 3 features
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Update: Our Garmin Venu 3 review is now live.


The Garmin Venu 3 is the company's latest and greatest smartwatch – and brings a host of new features and enhanced health-tracking metrics.

The Venu 3 will go head-to-head with the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 as a sport-focused smartwatch for those who live an active lifestyle.

And there are plenty of changes that have landed in the two years between Garmin Venu releases - and one big feature that's disappeared.

Read on for your complete guide to the Garmin Venu 3.

Compare: Garmin Venu 3 vs Venu 2 

Price

The Garmin Venu 3 retails for $449.99 / £449.99 – and the price is the same across both the 45mm and 41mm Venu 3S.

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Design

Garmingarmin venu 3 features

The Venu 3 watches retain much of the same styling as the Venu 2 Plus released last year, though the release of an 'S' edition means there are now two separate sizes - 45mm and 41mm - as there was with the Venu 2.

The Venu 3 is available in black or white, and the Venu 3S comes in black, grey, sage, pink or ivory.

Sleep tracking and sleep coach

Garmingarmin venu 3 features

The headline additions are related to sleep, with the new Sleep Coach appearing on a Garmin watch for the first time.

The Venu 3 watches will also be the first from the company to register naps automatically - finally. 

Sleep Coach works similarly to what we've seen from devices like the Whoop 4.0 and Oura Gen 3, establishing a baseline of how much sleep you normally need - initially based on age group before becoming more personalized over time - and then highlighting whether you reached this goal.

This will never stray lower than 7 hours or above 9 hours, but your sleep needs will vary depending on activity history, sleep history, HRV and whether or not you had a nap.

Sleep Coach and automatic nap detection will be rolling out to other Garmin devices, the company has said, but it's unclear which will receive the update - or when.

Morning report and HRV Status

Garmingarmin venu 3 features

The Garmin Venu 3 gets Morning Report, which displays a breakdown of key information about yiur day when you wake up.

It will show your sleep stats from the night before, and your scheduled, Garmin Coach-curated workout for the day.

The Venu 3 also features the HRV Status feature, which tracks heart rate variability during sleep and looks for peaks or drops. This can be a sign of illness, overtraining or stress, so it's worth monitoring this via Morning Report, and cutting back and resting if anything is out of whack.

GPS improvements

The Venu 3 gets All Systems GNSS, which means it supports each of the main satellite systems, so it should get a quick lock. That's standard across the Garmin range, but an upgrade on the Venu 2.

But that's different from multi-band GNSS, which uses the L1 and L5 bands for better accuracy, especially in built-up areas, which doesn't make the cut here.

Elevate 5

While the Venu 3 is not one of Garmin's most advanced sports devices – and is more of a jack-of-all-trades – it does get the  Elevate V5 optical heart rate sensor,  that debuted on the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro (Gen 2).

That means a slightly tweaked sensor and LED array, which Garmin states should deliver more stable results during active workouts. We've never had an issue with long and steady runs with Garmin's Elevate tech, and we did see slightly better responsiveness and accuracy during our Fenix 7 Pro testing.

Health features

Garmingarmin venu 3 features

In terms of health features, the Garmin Venu 2 boasts the usual suite of Garmin metrics, with some key enhancements.

That means Body Battery, stress tracking, and heart rate tracking – all in Garmin Connect.

Body Battery has been given an upgrade, so it should be more sensitive and reliable.

And there's also a new Meditation mode as well, for a dose of mindfulness.

But health features have taken a backward step, there's no ECG on the Venu 3 (as yet).

ECG (or not)

ECG was added to the Venu 2 Plus earlier this year, which was a surprising addition. Garmin had built the feature in and had enabled it via an over-the-air update when it got FD approval.

But it's not present here – yet. 

This is because of the addition of the Elevate V5 heart rate sensor, which has not been approved for ECG use.

We also know that the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro's designs are capable but are also currently going unused.

We'd presume that ECG will again be enabled via an update in the near future, but if you need it now, the Venu 2 Plus is still the better bet.

Battery life

Battery life has jumped relatively significantly from the Garmin Venu 2, up to 14 days, from around around 9 days.

If you opt for the smaller, female-friendly 42mm, then it will last 10 days.

On the larger model, Garmin says you'll get around 20 hours using All Systems GPS tracking for workouts, so it's still a tool for marathon running and beyond.



How we test



Conor Allison

By

Conor moved to Wareable Media Group in 2017, initially covering all the latest developments in smartwatches, fitness trackers, and VR. He made a name for himself writing about trying out translation earbuds on a first date and cycling with a wearable airbag, as well as covering the industry’s latest releases.

Following a stint as Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint, Conor returned to Wareable Media Group in 2022 as Editor-at-Large. Conor has become a wearables expert, and helps people get more from their wearable tech, via Wareable's considerable how-to-based guides. 

He has also contributed to British GQ, Wired, Metro, The Independent, and The Mirror. 


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