I am the owner of the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and recently bought the Venu 3 for myself and the Venu 3s for my wife mainly for daily use and the ability to talk as well as payments with the watch (for my wife since I am already covered in this with the Fenix 6 Pro).
After 6 months of use, I have to say that I have an overall perception and I declare disappointed with the watch and I believe that Garmin has made many mistakes with this particular model.
Specifically:
1. Initially, the fact that the Venu 3 and 3s have the same price I consider a negative innovation. I could never understand the logic.
2. For a price of 400 euros, I would expect the parts not to be plastic and to be metal like in the Fenix. 400 is not a small amount. And especially considering the following.
3. Its Bluetooth is laughable. It must be version 4.2 or something. Practically its range is very limited. I mean, if I go to the next room with a wall in between, it loses the connection and I can't have a conversation. You have to be within a radius of 3-5 meters from the phone without obstacles in between, which negates its usefulness. In the Fenix 6 Pro, which is 2 years older, the Bluetooth loses signal when I go to another floor. I can't understand why they skimped on Bluetooth version 5. Also, with my wife's Xiaomi (I have a Samsung) phone, the Bluetooth doesn't work well. Even when they are next to each other, while it shows connected normally, she presses to answer a call or some command via Bluetooth and the phone does not respond. And it's not a problem with her 3s because I connected my Venu 3 and it had the same issues.
4. The speaker is also not satisfactory. If you don't have relatively absolute silence in the space, you can't have a conversation. Also, in the 6th month, it completely burned out without me having tried to "boost" it or anything. I simply always had it at maximum power allowed and I had used it very little mainly for calls (not for music).
5. The buttons gave up after 6 months. From the beginning, as you will see from other comments on the internet, the buttons seem to be "mushy," meaning somewhat vague and soft. They don't have a strong characteristic click. They seemed somewhat cheap, which proved fatal 6 months later when they got stuck and no longer responded, so I have given it to the service center at this moment while I am writing the review.
PS: Enough with Garmin still maintaining this proprietary charging with the four contacts that no other charger fits. How hard is it to put USB-C now?
To not completely bury it, let me mention its good points:
1. The OLED screen and its touch screen are very good. The screen has enough brightness and clarity, and the touch responds very quickly without lags. Whether for scrolling or typing (short messages, phone numbers for calls, etc.).
2. The battery life is excellent. Without any activity, it lasts 15 days. Each activity on average, depending on its duration, cuts 1-2 days off this. However, it has never been below 5 days without needing to charge it.
3. The supported activities are very many and comparable to the Fenix 6 Pro. And the health sensor is indeed upgraded with better accuracy in heart rates and oxygen levels.
4. The collaboration with Google Assistant, where you can give voice commands, is very useful. Of course, it has the limitations that arise from Bluetooth.
That's it. I hope I helped prospective buyers. In short, it is not worth its price given its problems and the quality of construction. I would expect the Venu 4, which is expected next year, hoping that they have improved everything as mentioned in the rumors circulating. Personally, I regret the purchase and have returned to the Fenix 6 Pro for daily use.