Garmin Venu 3 vs Garmin Fenix E: 5 Key Aspects!
Naila Syifa
Updated October 2024
Garmin Venu series is known to be a lifestyle fitness smartwatch designed for everyday wear, while Garmin Fenix series is a rugged, multi-sport GPS watch built for outdoor adventures. How does the latest Venu 3 and Fenix E compare in terms of features and capabilities? Let's take a closer look at 5 comparison aspects!
Key Takeaways
Fenix E supports almost twice the number of sports profiles compared to the Venu 3, so it is more comprehensive for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Fenix E also has more advanced performance metrics, training features, and navigation capabilities, but the Venu 3 has a speaker and microphone for smarter connectivity, as well as meditation and wheelchair workouts for more inclusive wellness tracking.
Garmin Venu 3
Lifestyle & Health Smartwatch
✓ AMOLED Display
✓ 54 Built-In Sports Apps
✓ Built-in Speaker & Microphone
✓ Meditation & Wheelchair Mode
Garmin Fenix E
Essential Multisport GPS Smartwatch
✓ AMOLED Display
✓ 95 Built-In Sports Apps
✓ Multi-Band GNSS
✓ Downloadable TopoActive Maps
#1 Design & Display
Garmin Fenix E
Garmin Venu 3 boasts a sleek and modern design with a vibrant 1.4" AMOLED touchscreen display. It has two case size variants – 45mm for the Venu 3 and 41mm for the Venu 3S. Compared to the Fenix E, the Venu 3 looks rather stylish and casual.
Garmin Fenix E has a more rugged and durable design. It boasts a 10 ATM water rating – higher than Venu 3's 5 ATM – and has been tested to the US military standards for thermal, shock, and water resistance. Despite having a larger 47mm case size, the Fenix E has a smaller 1.3" AMOLED screen.
Both watches feature a Corning Gorilla Glass lens and stainless steel bezel, but the more rugged build of the Fenix E gives it a heavier weight of around 76 grams, which is significantly more than the Venu 3's 47 grams. This makes the Fenix E better suited for more demanding outdoor activities, while the Venu 3 is more suitable for everyday wear and casual use.
#2 Health & Fitness Features
Garmin Venu 3
While the Fenix E has 95 built-in activity profiles, the Venu 3 only has 54. Just from this comparison, it's clear that the Fenix E is better suited for a wider range of activities and sports. Some profiles that the Fenix E offers but the Venu 3 lacks include multisport/triathlon, trail running, mountain biking, surfing, sailing, backcountry skiing, sailing, and inline skating.
Garmin Fenix E also offers more advanced performance metrics and training features compared to the Garmin Venu 3. For example, Advanced Strength Training helps athletes of different types to follow targeted strength training plans, PacePro for grade-adjusted pacing guidance, ClimbPro for ascent planning and monitoring during hikes and runs, training readiness, daily suggested workouts, and more.
While the Venu 3 lacks such advanced sports and training features, it is set apart by taking a more inclusive approach to health and wellness. The meditation feature on the Venu 3 encourages users to take a mindful break and manage stress, the wheelchair mode tracks activity for wheelchair users, and the ECG app monitors heart rhythm and detects signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) or normal sinus rhythm. These are not available in the Fenix E.
Despite those differences in health and fitness capabilities, both the Garmin Venu 3 and Fenix E offer a basic set of health and fitness tracking features, including heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking with nap detection, fitness tracking, Body Battery energy monitoring, and some others.
#3 Maps & Navigational Features
Garmin Fenix E
What sets the Fenix E apart from the Venu 3 is its support for TopoActive Maps for outdoor navigation, SkiView Maps for skiing and snowboarding, and Golf Course Maps for over 43,000 golf courses worldwide. The TopoActive maps, however, don't come preloaded and require a download, but it is still better than the Venu 3 which has no built-in support for mapping.
Another advantage that the Fenix E has relates to its navigational capabilities, as it offers advanced features such as point-to-point navigation, TracBack, Up Ahead, NextFork Navigation, and multi-band GNSS using GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou.
Garmin Venu 3 isn't really designed for outdoor navigation, but fortunately, it still offers multi-band GNSS support using GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo.
#4 Smartwatch Features
Garmin Venu 3
Garmin Venu 3 features a built-in speaker and microphone, so it supports voice-based smart features like calling and voice commands via the smartphone's voice assistant. With no speaker and microphone, the Fenix E is limited to text-based communication like on-wrist messaging or receiving emails, texts, and alerts on-wrist.
However, beyond the communication capabilities, both watches offer a roughly equal suite of smartwatch features, including Garmin Pay contactless payments, music storage and control, incident detection and assistance, and more.
#5 Battery Life
Garmin Fenix E
The actual battery life of both smartwatches can vary depending on the settings and usage, but on average, the Fenix E offers significantly longer battery life compared to the Venu 3. In smartwatch mode, it is rated for up to 16 days of runtime as compared to the Venu 3 which is rated for up to 14 days of battery life.
Battery Life of Garmin Fenix E
Smartwatch Mode: Up to 16 days (6 days always-on)
Battery Saver Smartwatch Mode: Up to 21 days
GPS Only Mode: Up to 42 hours
Battery Life of Garmin Venu 3
Smartwatch Mode: Up to 14 days (5 days always-on)
Battery Saver Smartwatch Mode: Up to 26 days
GPS Only Mode: Up to 26 hours
Garmin Venu 3 vs Fenix E
Final Thoughts
Garmin Venu 3
The Venu 3 is better suited for everyday wear and casual activities, with its sleek design, vibrant display, and more inclusive health and wellness features. On the other hand, the Fenix E is the more rugged and capable option, with its military-grade durability, advanced sports and training capabilities, and superior navigation features. The Fenix E also offers significantly longer battery life, making it a better choice for extended outdoor adventures.
If you like to read more on smartwatches, check out our other relevant guides here:
Garmin Venu 3 vs Fenix 8
Garmin Venu 3 vs Enduro 3
Garmin Fenix 8 vs Fenix 7
Garmin Fenix 8 vs Fenix E
Garmin Fenix 8 vs Enduro 3
Garmin Fenix E vs Fenix 7
Author
Naila Syifa
Content Manager at Synced. She crafts insightful content on the latest trends in technology, consumer electronics, and smart home gadgets.
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