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
Excellent smartwatch
on February 12, 2024
Posted by: Lenobleb
I'm a long time Garmin fitness tracker / smart watch user, the Venu3 is my 4th Garmin. This is by far the best. The screen is bright and easy to use. The fitness tracking is easy to use and very effective. Integration with my iphone is great. I love that this watch has a speaker. Battery life is amazing.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Very good features for a Fitness tracker watch
on February 10, 2024
Posted by: wmarion
I have a Garmin VivoActive4 Fitness watch that I purchased in 2019. It was my first Garmin Fitness watch and have been very pleased with it. It was way ahead of any prior fitness watch brand I had previously owned. But the battery was fading at 4 years of use. So I first purchased a Garmin VivoActive5 to replace it. The VivoActive5 was a disappointing experience. Inaccurate heart rate and sleep data and totally different from my VivoActive4. I went from meeting fitness and sleep goals to not even being close. Only difference was the Fitness watch. My fitness activities and sleep routines had not changed. I returned the VivoActive5 and purchased a Gamin Venu3. While there are still differences in heart rate and sleep data in comparison to my VivoActive4 they are more accurate than the VivoActive5. The Venu3 has later generation sensors, step capability, ECG and other features the VivoActive5 does not have. The OLED display is awesome. The battery charge is better but 11 days as stated in the Specs unless you turn off many of the features you use on a Fitness Watch. But overall a much better choice as a successor to my Garmin VivoActve4. Garmin offers the best value and choices for fitness watches. I would not go back to any of the previous brands I owned.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Nice watch but could be improved
on February 9, 2024
Posted by: LArchJason1980
Great activities, apps, and sensors. Needs more app support, specifically for me, YouTube Music.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Great Garmin watch
on February 9, 2024
Posted by: bcgoose
I've had the Fenix, Epix and now the Venu3. What I love about the Venu is the simplicity of the screens. The great image it has and the variety of apps. Easy to use and really customizable with the Garmin connect app.
What I wish it was a little dressier. The watch looks and feels a little plasticky despite the metal bezel. Which allows for an EEG which I really like.
I'd pay slightly more for this watch if it looked nicer. Also I'd like the side buttons to be a little more substantial, not plastic. The bottom button is not as responsive as it should be. Overall it's know my go to Garmin watch as it has a nice small profile vs. the Epic and Fenix
What I wish it was a little dressier. The watch looks and feels a little plasticky despite the metal bezel. Which allows for an EEG which I really like.
I'd pay slightly more for this watch if it looked nicer. Also I'd like the side buttons to be a little more substantial, not plastic. The bottom button is not as responsive as it should be. Overall it's know my go to Garmin watch as it has a nice small profile vs. the Epic and Fenix
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Perfect Combo of Smart and Training
on February 8, 2024
Posted by: Keaner27
Updated my watch from the venu 2 Plus to the new Venu 3 and really really pleased. The screen is still amazing and really vibrant, easy to read, and works great!
I've been really satisfied with the extra training features but the most important ones have been the sleep and recovery enhancements that did not appear on the venu 2 plus. I'm not sure if they would have but I was happy to do the upgrade to the new model and work with the new features as a whole. The HR monitor was worth the jump too as it incorporates the new sensor that should be more accurate as well as offer more features to the watch then just your basic HR monitoring.
As far as the smart watch features go, it is cool that I can still take calls on my wrist with the watch although I rarely do. Seeing text messages was the biggest thing and although this is not different from my Venu 2 Plus, it is a nice feature to have. I think there needs to be a little more custimazation to the notification in general so that I can tailor my watch to show me the notifications I want like say texts, calls, certain app notifications, and other items. But for not its pretty much all app notifications or just the basic notifications of calls and texts. It works for me but something I would like to see down the line with the Venu series where you can customize your watch to notify you of certain things. I know other smart watches in the market are able to do this so I would love to see that in here eventually but not a deal breaker at all. In fact, it is such a small category item in comparison to all the other items that you get in this watch when it comes to training and day to day function.
Last thing is about battery life. Really amazing battery life on this device. I've been able to get around 7ish days of battery all while logging at least one one hour training sessions 6/7 days of the week. This is all while using the watch in the smart watch mode and not the "always on" display.
Really satisfied with this and happy to have made the jump to the newer model! Tons of great features I have not really even used here as well that I look forward to exploring down the line.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
2
So much potential, but not realized.
on February 6, 2024
Posted by: TDinKS
Good:
The display is clear and bright.
The setup was relatively easy.
Poor:
The only good watch faces are from 3rd party apps who want all sorts of access to my watch which in turn has access to all sorts of things from my phone ... Security issue.
The watch doesn't automatically change from one time zone to another leading to missing appointments.
The sleep data is way off ... someone is just guessing.
The phone app does menu options you don't have on the watch and the watch has some menu options you don't have on the app. They should match.
The screen-on-when-you-gesture only works about 75% of the time.
The 3 buttons on the side are completely unintuitive .. which is "in" which is "out" which is "next" ... complete guess situation by situation.
The display is clear and bright.
The setup was relatively easy.
Poor:
The only good watch faces are from 3rd party apps who want all sorts of access to my watch which in turn has access to all sorts of things from my phone ... Security issue.
The watch doesn't automatically change from one time zone to another leading to missing appointments.
The sleep data is way off ... someone is just guessing.
The phone app does menu options you don't have on the watch and the watch has some menu options you don't have on the app. They should match.
The screen-on-when-you-gesture only works about 75% of the time.
The 3 buttons on the side are completely unintuitive .. which is "in" which is "out" which is "next" ... complete guess situation by situation.
Response from GarminBy Garmin Fitness, February 8, 2024
Thank you for posting a review, we are sorry to hear that you are having issues like this. We would first ask that you double check that the software on the device is up to date and also from our site you can reach out to our team so that we can get more details from you and assist you further.
Time Zones:
https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-9CC4A873-E034-4A06-B2E0-636DCFE760EE/EN-US/GUID-15DC4645-CB16-48CF-9447-80058C7DCA83.html
Garmin Express: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/software/express/windows/
Venu 3 Support:
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?productID=873008&tab=topics
Time Zones:
https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-9CC4A873-E034-4A06-B2E0-636DCFE760EE/EN-US/GUID-15DC4645-CB16-48CF-9447-80058C7DCA83.html
Garmin Express: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/software/express/windows/
Venu 3 Support:
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?productID=873008&tab=topics
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Great daily driver
on February 6, 2024
Posted by: Traildog22
I've had my Venu3 a few weeks. Before this I had a Fenix7 and also have an old Vivoactive 3music. The Venu3 has been great for the weight and thinner width. Good all-rounder..I can save music to the device, has big easy to read screen but not thick, has golf activity which I use all summer, and the newer sensor for better health metrics. I put on an elastic nylon band and it works great, whereas it might not with a heavier watch. I have had Afib so the ECG ability is great. Other than that I can't really tell any difference in the new sensor over the Fenix. HR seems a bit slow to respond compared to a chest strap but are super accurate once things stabilize. As Afib sufferers know... watch optical HR sensors are all but useless when you are actually in arrhythmia...you need a chest strap. But other than that they match up well in my tests. Venu3 has a unique sleep coach which is a neat feature and Sleep scoring has improved over time with Garmin, although I still wouldn't bank on it exclusively if sleep tracking is vital for you. I do find the new nap detection has worked well. Nowhere near the Fenix bells and whistles in the Venu3...simplicity has its pros and cons...things I personally wish the Venu3 had: Trail Running activity (I just use Hiking when I do a trail run, which is ok...I still think adding basic Trail Running should be available..cmon Garmin). I also wish the Golf features were more up to Fenix standard, but they are not. Just the basics, but glad to have them. I found I wasn't using the built in Fenix maps much at all so I don't miss that feature as much as I thought i would really, though some of the Hill and Endurance features were fun. The Venu3 is more health and daily driver functional and not the uber outdoor watch. Running has been fine and I appreciate the lighter weight... luckily the reaction time of the wrist gesture has gotten better with these amoled screens, so you shouldn't run into poles waiting for the display to light up to useable levels. That said, the MIP is probably always going to be more consistent there. Overall I have loved the brighter Amoled screen and has been worth the tradeoff in battery. For me, width of the watch is a biggie as I wear it all day and overnight. The 12mm is a nice compromise in size and functions/battery life. As Garmin gets better battery tech and bigger watches slim down, I may look at diff models down the road. I don't mind bigger screens at all.. it's the thickness that tends to bother me over time. I'm glad battery life tech has been a priority for Garmin as it makes it a front runner for me over the Pixel watches and such for now.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Great.. no amazing watch
on February 6, 2024
Posted by: YourAverageShopper
It's been close to a month now with this beast of a watch and it's amazing. Watch history was apple watch which was great but battery is a no no for me till about 8 months ago. Then moved to a amazfit watch (gts 4) which fixed the battery problem but lacked some more smart watch features since there was close to none there till last month. No fast forward to now and I found the perfect mix. Good battery, good smart watch functions, great fitness tracking capabilities. I have AOD for about 15 hours of the day and that lasts me about 4 days and I use the fitness tracking for about an hour and a half a of which is not what was promised but still great to me which is better than 1 day. It is helping keep better track of my training plus my own body. 10/10
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin