Here’s your complete Garmin Venu 3 Beginners Guide, which covers everything you need to know about how to use the watch day to day. This is a bit different than my review videos (or the Garmin Venu 3 In-Depth Review itself), in that I’m focused more on ‘how’ to use the product, rather than things I do or don’t like about the product. As such, it’s packed with tips and tricks for not just the Garmin Venu 3 (both regular and smaller sized), but also tons of general Garmin watch tips/tricks as well.
As always for these guides, I’ve got complete YouTube chapters in them, so you can skip around as you see fit to find the section that’s most interesting to you. These are available within the YouTube window itself (just scroll along the bottom timeline), or just by tapping the links down below:
0:00 Quick Intro
0:25 The Hardware Basics
2:14 Daily Activity Tracking & Widgets
6:45 The Flashlight
8:15 Sleep Tracking
11:57 Morning Report & Daily Summary (Evening Report)
14:20 Sport Tracking & Modes
20:43 Speaker & Mic Features
23:10 Music (Spotify/etc…)
25:10 Contactless Payments (Garmin Pay)
And again, don’t forget the full Garmin Venu 3 In-Depth Review where I dive into all sorts of things like GPS & heart rate accuracy, more nuanced bits around specs, etc…
With that – thanks for watching!
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Hopefully you found this review useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.
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Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:
And finally, here’s a handy list of accessories that work well with this unit (and some that I showed in the review). Given the unit pairs with ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors, you can use just about anything though.
This is a dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart cycling cadence sensor that you strap to your crank arm, but also does dual Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it both to Zwift and another Bluetooth Smart app at once if you want.
This is one of the top straps I use daily for accuracy comparisons (the others being the Polar H9/H10). It's dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, and in fact dual-Bluetooth Smart too, in case you need multiple connectons.
Seriously, this will change your life. $9 for a two-pack of these puck Garmin chargers that stay put and stay connected. One for the office, one for your bedside, another for your bag, and one for your dog's house. Just in case.
This speed sensor is unique in that it can record offline (sans-watch), making it perfect for a commuter bike quietly recording your rides. But it's also a standard ANT+/BLE sensor that pairs to your device. It's become my go-to speed sensor.
This wifi-connected scale will track your weight and related metrics both on the scale display and in Garmin Connect (plus 3rd party apps like TrainingPeaks). It'll also then sync your weight to your watch/bike computer, to ensure accurate calorie data.
The HRM-PRO Plus is Garmin's top-end chest strap. It transmits dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, but also transmits Running Dynamics & Running Pace/Distance metrics, stores HR data during a swim, and can be used without a watch for other sports. Also, it can transmit XC Skiing Dynamics as well.
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Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!
Nobody commented yet…
I’m wondering what wheelchair support is now available in the new watch is that now a real thing? Can I really measure wheelchair movement arm pushes, sport rolls too?
Thanks as always, Ray!
Any news on whether the new features will be added to the epix non-pro?
No clarity yet on which watches will get it, but for this being likely near-term, I’d expect that both Epix & Fenix 7 lineups will be considered equal between pro/non-pro alike.
I’m currently wearing a Venu Sq2 but find myself being more and more active these days so features like HRV status, training effect, recovery time, and performance condition are looking more and more useful. I snowboard 4-6x a week during season but lately have been ramping up on hiking, road biking, mountain biking, running, and gym-going.
I’m at a loss for the best fit for my needs since I’m still no triathlete. The Forerunner 255 looks like a great value proposition that hits most of my desires; the 955 and 265 are upgraded picks with touchscreen familiarity and a couple of added features; the Epix and Fenix lines are expensive but would be better for snowboarding and hiking; the Venu 3 has added the workout benefit, recovery time, and more HRV data compared to my current Sq2; or I could just invest in a cycling computer (I do already own a HR chest strap).
Do you have any advice or insight? Thank you so much for the detailed reviews, they’re excellent!
I’m Venu 2 user and I did (and perhaps still do) like the watch but I would not recommend it to anyone but very casual users. The thing is the watch is far from being cheap yet it lacks so many features that are available on similarly priced (or even cheaper) watches from Garmin. Also, its support was rather short and very few useful features have been introduced since the launch. Compared to Forerunner (or even Instinct) series this is very disappointing.
All I want is features from Forerunner with calling support Venu 3 has in Venu series design style. But Garmin does not deliver. You can either have a nice looking casual Venu watch or more sporty Forerunner watch. Epix is too bulky, heavy and way too expensive.
Hello in general what do you think is a better for your buck?
Venu 3 vs 265 forerunner??
My general use, 5k, 10k runs, Orange Theory HIIT workouts, swimming, hiking and biking. Can Apple Music work with Garmin watches. I am a iPhone person and family. Currently I have an Apple Watch and never had a Garmin.
Any info would be great, I did watch the reviews of Venu 3 and Forerunner 265.
Thanks!!
Generally a FR265 then, if you’re not likely to use the audio/etc features of the Venu 3. The FR265 has far more sport features.