Garmin Venu 3 vs Apple Watch Series 8: Which One Should You Buy?

By Naila Syifa
Updated October 2023

While Garmin offers a wide range of fitness and health features, Apple Watch is known for its seamless integration with Apple products. However, the differences between the two are more than that.

In this article, we'll take a look at 5 important aspects of the Garmin Venu 3 and the Apple Watch Series 8 to help you decide which one is a better fit for you.

Specs	Garmin Venu 3	Apple Watch Series 8
	Buy on Amazon	Buy on Amazon
Price	$449.99	$399-$749
Size	45 mm	41 & 45 mm
Battery Life	14 days	18 hours
Built-in Speaker and Microphone	Yes	Yes
Maps	No	Yes
Sleep Tracking	Yes, with Nap Detection	Yes
Stress Tracking	Yes	No
Body Battery	Yes	No
Camera Controller	No	Yes
Smart Home Integration	No	Yes
Compatibility	Android, iOS	iOS

Key Takeaways

Garmin Venu 3 has more advanced features for health, fitness, and workouts, while Apple Watch Series 8 has more advanced features for daily lifestyle. Garmin Venu 3 stands out with its 2-week battery life, while the Apple Watch Series 8 has a short battery life of up to 18 hours only. Apple Watch Series 8 has better integration with Apple products, but Venu 3 supports both iPhone and Android.

On our list

#1 Price

#2 Design & Display

#3 Health & Fitness Features

#4 Smartwatch Features

#5 Battery Life

Garmin Venu 3

For Health & Fitness

GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring, fitness tracking, and smartwatch features for people with active lifestyles.

Buy on Amazon

Apple Watch Series 8

For Smarter Lifestyle

GPS smartwatch with a range of smart features, health, workouts, and Apple integration.

Buy on Amazon

#1 Price

Apple Watch Series 8

Garmin Venu 3 retails at US$499.99, while the Apple Watch Series 8 has a price range starting from US$399 to around US$749 depending on the model and size you choose.

Apple Watch Series 8 comes in 2 sizes: 41 mm and 45 mm. The larger size is more expensive than the smaller size. In addition, there are also 3 options to choose from: Aluminum GPS which is the least expensive, Aluminum GPS + Cellular which is more expensive, and Stainless Steel GPS + Cellular which is the most expensive.

#2 Design & Display

Garmin Venu 3

Garmin Venu 3 features a bright 1.4” AMOLED touchscreen display with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens, ensuring durability and protection against scratches. It has a 454 x 454 pixels resolution, providing crisp and clear visuals even under direct sunlight. The Venu 3 comes in a 45 mm size, and the Venu 3S model is available if you're looking for a smaller 41 mm size option. However, as the specs are quite different, such as in terms of battery life, we'll focus only on the Venu 3 in this article.

Apple Watch Series 8, on the other hand, is available in both 41 mm and 45 mm sizes. The smaller size has a display resolution of 352 x 430 pixels, while the larger size has a display resolution of 396 x 484 pixels. Both sizes feature an Always-On Retina LTPO OLED display, ensuring that you can see the time and other important information without having to raise your wrist.

Both the Garmin Venu 3 and Apple Watch Series 8 are water-resistant to 50 m, meaning that you can wear them while swimming or doing other water-based activities without worrying about damaging them. However, one difference is that the Apple models are also IP6X-rated for dust resistance, which may be a consideration for those who plan to use their smartwatch in dusty or dirty environments.

#3 Health & Fitness Features

Apple Watch Series 8

Garmin Venu 3 and Apple Watch Series 8 are equipped with sensors that allow you to monitor your health, including your health rate, blood oxygen, respiratory rate, and more. Both smartwatches can also track your workout sessions, but Apple requires a subscription to Apple Fitness+ for you to access a catalog of workouts and monitor advanced metrics during workouts, such as heart rate and calories burned.

Meanwhile, Garmin Venu 3 offers everything at no additional cost. Its workout features are also more comprehensive, with 30+ built-in sports apps, Activity Tracking, Intensity Minutes, Interval Training, Workout Benefits, VO2 Max, Garmin Coach, and more. There are also sports-specific features, such as AutoShot tracking for golf, which automatically records detected shots, or Stroke Type Detection for pool swimming, which automatically records your stroke type (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, or butterfly).

Garmin Venu 3 even offers an on-screen workout muscle maps feature, which allows you to see which muscle groups you're working on during a workout, helping you make sure you're targeting the right areas. An on-screen workout animations feature is also available, which will guide you through proper form and technique for yoga, Pilates, cardio, and strength exercises.

Garmin Venu 3

Both smartwatches allow you to track your sleep stages and quality, but one difference is that the Apple Watch Series 8 tracks sleep based on the sleep schedule you create, while Garmin Venu 3 can auto-detect sleep and even daytime naps, so you can get a comprehensive overview of your sleep patterns even when you're out of your normal sleeping schedule. The Venu 3 also offers more advanced sleep features including Sleep Score and Sleep Coach to help you improve your sleep quality.

Another advantage that the Garmin Venu 3 has over the Apple Watch Series 8 is its Stress Tracking features, so you can find out whether you’re having a calm, balanced, or stressful day. Even though the sensors in the Apple Watch Series 8 may have the potential to track stress levels, the watch doesn't come with built-in stress tracking like Garmin.

The comprehensive data of your physical activity, rest, and stress that the Garmin Venu 3 collects allows it to provide you with insights into your body's energy levels throughout the day, a feature called the Body Battery. This feature allows you to monitor your energy levels so you know when to push yourself and when to rest, helping you optimize your daily activities and workouts. This is a unique metric proprietary to Garmin, so it is not available in the Apple Watch Series 8.

#4 Smartwatch Features

Garmin Venu 3

Garmin Venu 3 and Apple Watch Series 8 are also equipped with a range of smart features to make your life easier, such as notifications, music control, weather forecasts, contactless payment with Apple Pay or Garmin Pay, and many more. Both models also have a built-in speaker and microphone, allowing you to take and make calls or use your phone's voice assistants.

Garmin Venu 3 stands out with its Morning Report feature, which provides you with a personalized report every morning that includes customizable information such as weather, your energy levels, your sleep quality data from the previous night, and more.

Apple Watch Series 8

However, in terms of smart features, the Apple Watch Series 8 has much more to offer. Apple Watch Series 8 allows you to view and browse photos in your gallery, while the Venu 3 only allows you to view images sent to you in a notification, and it works only for Android phones.

The Apple Watch Series 8 can also function as a camera remote to control your iPhone's camera and take photos, a helpful feature if you want to take selfies from farther away or take group photos without leaving anyone out.

Some other smart features available in the Apple Watch Series 8 but not in Garmin Venu 3 are maps for navigation, calculator, stocks, Walkie-Talkie, audiobooks, and mail. In addition, the Home app is also available for you to control your HomeKit-enabled devices, such as lights, locks, smart TVs, smart plugs, and more.

#5 Battery Life

Garmin Venu 3

In terms of battery life, Garmin Venu 3 is a clear winner. It can last for up to 14 days on a single charge in the smartwatch mode, and you can even extend its battery life to up to 26 days if you enable the battery-saver mode.

Apple Watch Series 8, on the other hand, has a much shorter battery life of up to 18 hours, which means you'll need to charge it much more often than the Venu 3, especially if you use it extensively throughout the day and night.