The Garmin Venu 3 is the older model but still a very capable sporty smartwatch with a bright AMOLED display. Along with being cheaper than the Venu 4, it has a couple of small advantages like an extra button and slightly longer battery life.
Pros
- More affordable than Venu 3
- Three buttons instead of two
- Longer battery life on larger model
Cons
- Venu 4 has all-metal case
- No built-in flashlight
- Venu 4 has more sports features
The Garmin Venu 4 has a more attractive metal design than the Venu 3 with a built-in flashlight, and adds most of Garmin’s advanced sports tracking and training analysis features, including training readiness and multi-band GPS tracking.
Pros
- Brighter display and metal case
- Built-in flashlight
- Advanced sports features and multi-band GPS
Cons
- More expensive than Venu 3
- Only two buttons
The Garmin Venu 4 is a major upgrade on the Garmin Venu 3, introducing a raft of new software features as well as being a significant design upgrade thanks to its all-metal case and built-in flashlight.
While the Venu 3 remains a very capable sporty smartwatch in its own right and is more affordable than the Venu 4, if you are looking at both Garmin watches then it’s worth knowing all the extra features you do get on the Venu 4.
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: price
The Garmin Venu 4 comes in two sizes — 41mm and 45mm — with both costing $549, unless you opt for one with a fancier leather strap, which costs $599. That’s a $100 price rise on the Garmin Venu 3, which is $449 for both the standard Venu 3, which is a 45mm watch, and the Venu 3S, which is a 41mm watch.
That’s if you have to pay full price on the Venu 3, which is often in sales as an older model. It has dropped as low as $349 on Amazon in the past and if it does so again in the Black Friday sales period coming up, you could save $200 by opting for the Venu 3 over the Venu 4.
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Garmin Venu 3 | Garmin Venu 4 |
Price | From $449 | From $549 |
Size | 45mm: 45 x 45 x 12mm / 41mm: 41 x 41 x 12 mm | 45mm: 45 x 45 x 12mm / 41mm: 41 x 41 x 12 mm |
Case colours | Soft gold, Slate, Silver | Lunar gold, Slate, Silver |
Display | 45mm: 1.4in 454 x 454 pixels / 41mm: 1.2in 390 x 390 pixels | 45mm: 1.4in 454 x 454 pixels / 41mm: 1.2in 390 x 390 pixels |
Battery life (watch) | 45mm: Up to 14 days / 41mm: Up to 10 days | 45mm: Up to 13 days / 41mm: Up to 10 days |
Weight (with silicone band) | 45mm: 46g / 41mm: 40g | 45mm: 56g / 41mm: 52g |
Water resistance | 50 meters | 50 meters |
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: design and display
The main change to the design of the Venu 4 is that it has a steel case and bezel, whereas the Venu 3 had a steel bezel but a plastic case. While the watches are the same size, the Venu 4 is a bit heavier as a result — the 45mm watch is 56g with its silicone band, the Venu 3 45mm is 46g with a silicone band.
Garmin has made the AMOLED screen brighter on the newer watch as well, though the size of the display remains the same at 1.2in for the smaller watch and 1.4in for the larger model.
Another major upgrade on the Venu 4 is its built-in LED flashlight, a feature that has been brought to the Venu line for the first time. I’ve been a big fan of the flashlight on the Fenix and Forerunner models in the past, and it’s just handy to have it on the Venu 4.
Most of the sensors on the watches are the same, including the Elevate Gen 5 heart rate sensor which allows for ECG readings, but the Venu 4 does offer multi-band GPS tracking, which is the most accurate mode Garmin has. The Venu 3’s most accurate mode is all-systems GPS tracking.
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: sports tracking
To differentiate the Venu line of watches from the more sports-focused Forerunner line Garmin has often left key sports features off the Venu in the past. That has changed with the Venu 4, which has the same wide array of sports tracking and training analysis features as the Garmin Forerunner 570.
Key upgrades that aren’t available on the Venu 3 include Training Readiness, which rates your ability to train that day based on factors like past workouts, sleep and stress, plus Garmin’s complete array of Training Load analysis tools.
The Venu 4 will also rate how acclimated to heat and altitude you are, and provide daily suggested workouts for triathletes as well as runners. It also has automatic track detection and access to Garmin Coach’s triathlon training plans.
While the Venu 3 is a capable sports watch, the upgrades on the Venu 4 mean you don’t miss out on anything even if opting for it over the Forerunner 570, aside from the extra buttons on the Forerunner 570.
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: activity and sleep tracking
The Venu 4 introduces some new health features to the Garmin range, including Lifestyle Logging, which helps you to keep tabs on your daily behaviour and see patterns that could be affecting things like your sleep and stress.
You can use Lifestyle Logging with any Garmin using the Connect app, but the Venu 4 has a widget you can use on the watch itself. It also has Garmin’s new Health Status round-up of your vital stats on the watch, while other Garmin users can only access this in the app.
New sleep features include analysis of the consistency of your sleep, and Sleep Alignment, which tracks how well your body is aligned to your sleep cycle based on circadian rhythms.
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: battery life
The smaller models of the Garmin Venu 3 and Venu 4 offer the same battery life, offering up to 10 days in watch mode, which drops to three days if you have the screen always. Both offer 13 hours of GPS tracking in all-systems GPS mode.
With the larger 45mm watches, the Venu 3 offers slightly more battery life. It will last up to 14 days in watch mode (five days always-on), compared to 13 days on the Venu 4 (four days always-on). The Venu 3 offers 20 hours of all-systems GPS tracking, compared to 19 hours on the Venu 4 in the same mode.
Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Venu 4: should you upgrade?
The Garmin Venu 4 is a better-looking watch that offers a host of new sports and healthy tracking features not available on the Venu 3, along with the extremely handy built-in flashlight.
It’s worth the extra money you pay for it, in my opinion, but if you don’t think you’ll need the sports features in particular, opting for the Venu 3 will save you a lot of money, and you’ll get a little more battery life on the 45mm model thrown in as a bonus.
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