Garmin has unveiled the next generation of its smartwatch series - the Venu 3 and Venu 3S - alongside an all-new Sleep Coach and automatic nap-time detection. You can read our full Garmin Venu 3 deep dive.
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 watches will both retail for $449.99 / £449.99, with the Venu 3 available in black or white and the Venu 3S coming in black, grey, sage, pink or ivory.
Garmin
Sleep it off
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.
Squirrel_12950625
Garmin
New sports tracking features
The Venu 3 also catches up on a lot of the sports-focused features that have arrived since the launch of the Venu 2 Plus, as well as general ones like Morning Report and Jet Lag Advisor.
There's the typical addition of a few new niche sports profiles, with features like recovery time estimates, training effect benefit, and the ability to create on-watch intervals also being added.
The wheelchair-specific profiles will remain a Venu 3 exclusive for now, however, as Garmin wants to gain feedback from users before expanding to other devices.
Interestingly, the Venu 2 Plus' GPS has also been replaced by a multi-GNSS sensor (not Multi-Band), while the Elevate V5 optical heart rate sensor that debuted on the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro (Gen 2) is also present.
Squirrel_12950626
Garmin
Design tweaks
Aside from the case size change, the Venu 3 series looks very similar to the Venu 2 Plus - even adding the microphone and speaker exclusive to those models.
Battery life has jumped relatively significantly, though, from around 9 days to 14 days (and 10 days on the Venu 3S), with the GPS tracking battery also improving by a couple of hours.
A curious omission, however, is the lack of ECG support which was also an exclusive feature of the 2 Plus.
We suspect that this has something to do with the addition of the Elevate V5 heart rate sensor not being approved for ECG use, given that we know the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro's designs are capable but currently going unused.
How we test
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.