Customer reviews from Garmin
Garmin - Refurbished Excellent - Venu 3 GPS Smartwatch 45 mm Fiber-reinforced polymer - Stainless Steel and Black - (2023)
Average customer rating
4.4
(869 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 869 reviews
5 Stars
581
4 Stars
162
3 Stars
72
2 Stars
28
1 Star
26
Customer Reviews for Garmin - Refurbished Excellent - Venu 3 GPS Smartwatch 45 mm Fiber-reinforced polymer - Stainless Steel and Black - (2023)
Customer Rating
5
Great watch!! Replaced my Vivoactive 3.
on May 20, 2025
Posted by: Tom L
The functionality of this watch, and larger screen size, are excellent. Also used the Data Lover watch face by Peter Decker. It has all the fields I need.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Great watch - not very intuitive to use
on May 19, 2025
Posted by: Andrew E 19550
After owning several versions of another brand of fitness/smartwatch and finding the accuracy and features lacking, I settled on the Venu 3 after much research. There is a bit of a learning curve to overcome - there are A LOT of features and sorting out which ones are important to you can take some time. The main ones I use are the EKG App, Steps, Heart Rate and Pulse Ox. The step count is much more accurate than my previous watch. At a recent doctors appointment I compared the Venu 3 readings to actual medical devices. Heart Rate was within a beat or two of being spot on, Pulse Ox was off by about 10 points - the finger monitor reading was 98% and the Venu 3 was 88%. My doctor was interested in the comparisons so we did this several times and the Venu 3 was consistently low. The big surprise for me was the EKG App - comparing the EKG readings from the Venu 3 and what was taken in the office showed almost identical readings. I was not expecting this level of accuracy.
The Garmin messaging feature is cumbersome and not intuitive so I don't use it.
Getting texts and call notifications from my iPhone works very well most of the time. There have been several times I have gotten a text but it didn't show up on my watch. Not a big deal to me, but if you're counting on 100% notifications, it may not happen.
There are more apps and features on this watch than most people will likely use. That being said, it is very customizable to whatever data set you're looking to track. The downside is it is not very intuitive and getting things set up takes awhile and a measure of patience. If you very tech oriented this may not be the watch for you.
The silicone band is secure, but gets uncomfortable after a long day, it doesn't breathe so sweat and moisture tend to collect. I haven't researched alternative bands yet, but I likely will.
There are hundreds of alternative watch faces available to add, many free, some are not. It is very easy to overload the watch face with so much data it is near impossible to read. I have tried several different faces and gone back to the default every time.
For my needs I am so far happy with the Venu3 despite some of its drawback.
The Garmin messaging feature is cumbersome and not intuitive so I don't use it.
Getting texts and call notifications from my iPhone works very well most of the time. There have been several times I have gotten a text but it didn't show up on my watch. Not a big deal to me, but if you're counting on 100% notifications, it may not happen.
There are more apps and features on this watch than most people will likely use. That being said, it is very customizable to whatever data set you're looking to track. The downside is it is not very intuitive and getting things set up takes awhile and a measure of patience. If you very tech oriented this may not be the watch for you.
The silicone band is secure, but gets uncomfortable after a long day, it doesn't breathe so sweat and moisture tend to collect. I haven't researched alternative bands yet, but I likely will.
There are hundreds of alternative watch faces available to add, many free, some are not. It is very easy to overload the watch face with so much data it is near impossible to read. I have tried several different faces and gone back to the default every time.
For my needs I am so far happy with the Venu3 despite some of its drawback.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Awesome watch
on May 19, 2025
Posted by: Venu3 review by a jrod
This watch does it all, it did take a little getting used to coming from an Apple Watch, but it still has smart watch capabilities and all the health/ fitness tracking is great, plus the battery lasts forever which is amazing! I only put 4 starts because the watch will not connect to the e-bike in my gym no matter how long I sit there and try to let them pair so my bike work outs just show the time and my heart rate which is a bummer. Overall great watch.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
3
Great features, poor quality.
on May 18, 2025
Posted by: Besttradeusa
I bought my watch on January 2025, I was ok with the features, but not with quality of the volume of the speaker, it sounds too low when try to talk through it. The others features are fine.
Less than 4 months of use I couldn't answer calls through the watch, the green icon to do so was broken.
Less than 4 months of use I couldn't answer calls through the watch, the green icon to do so was broken.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Best overall Garmin watch with call feature
on May 16, 2025
Posted by: CarlosEAjr
I waited for a watch that had all the Garmin features but with Apple call ability. This is a long awaited but needed to compete against them. I love it as I learn more and more.
Very happy.
Very happy.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Love love love this watch
on May 15, 2025
Posted by: San84
I got my Venu 3 weeks ago and loving the running stats and accuracy and the battery life is amazing. Would recommend this beauty to anyone!
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
1
Menus in French. No help I can find.
on May 13, 2025
Posted by: Ptmutwa
Opened the box. Put on charge. Started to set up the phone per instructions, and everything is in French. I’ve tried everything. Can’t figure out factory reset.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
3
Nice watch but about as bright as a bag of wet sox
on May 13, 2025
Posted by: FoghornLeghorn25
Some features like the weather app don’t work. What’s the point if basic features aren’t accurate. Too expensive for nonsense like that especially with the news of connect plus paid subscription.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin