Key Takeaways
- The Venu 3 and Venu 3S watches from Garmin offer a new wheelchair mode, designed specifically for wheelchair users, tracking movements as 'pushes' instead of steps.
- The advanced sleep coaching feature provides recommendations on optimal rest and can detect and suggest durations for naps during the day, based on your physical activity.
- The Venu 3 watches include lifestyle features such as a built-in speaker and microphone for phone calls, Garmin Pay for contactless payments, and the ability to view photo messages on your wrist.
Garmin watches just keep getting better, with the latest Venu models adding to its portfolio of lifestyle-focused AMOLED smartwatches getting even more features than before, including a first-time feature for wheelchair users and more advanced sleep coaching.
The wheelchair mode on the Venu 3 and Venu 3S will be a big deal for any wheelchair user, because its entire analysis of any activity is based on wheelchair usage, understanding that perceived effort and maximum heart-rates will differ with anyone using primarily their upper body for any activities.
That means instead of counting steps it counts your movement as 'pushes', and you can set up weight-shift alerts to remind you to move your body/weight throughout the day to help reduce any pressure sores that might occur if you stay in the same position.
Workout modes have also been customised for wheelchair users so that you can start an indoor or outdoor slow or fast workout session in the chair, and count it as either a 'walk speed' or 'run speed' push.
Sleep tracking has been pushed up a notch too, so that the Garmin watch becomes an even more holistic fitness and health tool. Just like before it'll use your sleep data - including SpO2 and HRV - to work out how well-rested you are, adjusting your Body Battery and training readiness figures based on your quality of rest.
What's new is that now it can advise you on how much rest you need, recommending an amount of sleep for optimal rest. It'll adapt and adjust based on your physical activity. It'll also detect any naps you might have during the day, and suggest how long they should be.
Adding to the usual recovery time metric - which tells you how much time you should leave until your next activity - is a 'workout benefit' metric, which tells you if that workout you've just done has benefited your overall fitness, or just caused you to be too fatigued.
Lifestyle features include a built-in speaker and microphone to answer phone calls on your wrist, Garmin Pay for contactless payments, and using your phone's built-in assistant to respond to texts and other messages. Plus, if you have an Android phone you can even view photo/picture messages right on your wrist, which hasn't been possible in older Garmin watches.
Otherwise, the feature set matches up to most other Garmin models on the market. You'll get 30 built-in sport/workout modes to track activity, all day heart-rate, respiration, SpO2, stress and Body Battery all day every day. You also get the Garmin Coach functionality for training towards your running goals.
Like so many of Garmin's other ranges, there are two sizes of Venu 3; there's a 45mm Venu 3 and a smaller 41mm Venu 3S designed for smaller wrists. Both are made from the usual fibre-reinforced polymer and feature a stainless steel bezel, Gorilla Glass 3 lens and a silicone quick-release strap.
What screen you get depends on the size of the watch - of course - with the larger 45mm model featuring a 1.4-inch 454 x 454 resolution display and the smaller 41mm version featuring a 1.2-inch 390 x 390 resolution panel. Both AMOLED.
Garmin Venu 3
With more advanced sleep coaching, more graphically rich notifications, wheelchair mode and more, it's the best Venu watch so far.
Garmin Venu 3 and Venu 3s are available to order now, with the price set at $449 for both the smaller 41mm Venu 3S and the larger 45mm Venu 3.