Garmin, a leading brand in GPS sports watches, released the Venu 3S smartwatch as an alternative to Fitbit. The writer’s daughter, who had been experiencing battery life and Bluetooth connection issues with her Fitbit Sense, had the opportunity to try out the Venu 3S. Priced at $449, the Venu 3S impressed her with its stylish stainless steel finish and sage gray case. After using it daily for weeks, she was converted to the Garmin smartwatch.
The first thing that caught her attention was the high-quality fit, finish, and build of the Venu 3S. It provided an elegant and sleek design, unlike the larger and chunkier Garmin watches. The silicone band was also smooth and comfortable on the wrist. The Venu series is known for its AMOLED display and the Venu 3S continued this trend, making it a strong competitor to the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch.
In terms of features, the Venu 3S offered improvements over its predecessor, the Venu 2 Plus. These included two available sizes, a Garmin Elevate V5 optical heart-rate sensor, multi-GNSS support, longer battery life, wheelchair activity support, and enhanced fitness features such as HRV tracking and recovery time. The user interface was also updated for a better user experience. Overall, the Venu 3S proved to be a worthy replacement for the Fitbit Sense and exceeded expectations in terms of design and performance.
