Garmin Venu 3 vs Forerunner 265: Same Price but Different Purpose

By Naila Syifa
Updated Nov 2023

If you're looking for a smartwatch that can track your fitness and health metrics, Garmin offers a range of options to choose from. Some of the popular models include the Garmin Venu 3 and the Forerunner 265. How do these two models compare to each other? Which one fits your lifestyle and needs better? Let's take a closer look.

Specs	Garmin Venu 3	Garmin Forerunner 265
	Buy on Amazon	Buy on Amazon
Price	$449.99	$449.99
Dimensions	45.4 x 45.4 x 12.2 mm	46.1 x 46.1 x 12.9 mm
Weight	47 g	47 g
Screen Resolution	454 x 454 pixels	416 x 416 pixels
Runtime	14 days	13 days
Memory/History	8 GB	8 GB
GPS	Yes	Yes, Multi-Band with SatIQ
Built-in Speaker and Microphone	Yes	No
Body Battery	Yes	Yes
Advanced Sleep Monitoring	Yes, with Nap Detection	Yes
Meditation	Yes	No
Wheelchair Mode	Yes	No
Race Adaptive Training Plans	No	Yes
Multisport Activities	No	Yes

Key Takeaways

The main difference is that Venu 3 emphasizes an overall wellbeing with features like Meditation and Nap Detection, while Forerunner 265 is more focused to physical activities, workouts, and training. Venu 3 also has built-in speaker and microphone, but Forerunner 265 offers superior navigation.

On our list

#1 Price

#2 Design & Display

#3 Health & Fitness Features

#4 Smartwatch Features

#5 Battery & Power

Garmin Venu 3

Lifestyle & Health

Stylish GPS smartwatch with comprehensive and inclusive day-to-day health monitoring and fitness tracking.

Buy on Amazon Buy on Synced

Garmin Forerunner 265

Advanced Fitness Features

Sporty GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring and fitness tracking for serious runners and athletes with intensive trainings.

Buy on Amazon Buy on Synced

#1 Price

Garmin Venu 3

Both Garmin Venu 3 and Forerunner 265 have a common price tag of US$449.99. This means, the price is not a deciding factor when it comes to choosing between the two models. You need to consider what each model offers in terms of features and functionality that align with your needs. Keep reading to learn more!

#2 Design & Display

Garmin Forerunner 265

Visually speaking, the Venu 3 looks more stylish and elegant with a stainless steel bezel, while the Forerunner 265 looks more sporty with its textured and perforated silicone strap. Both feature an AMOLED touchscreen display with optional Always-On Mode, but Venu 3 has a higher display resolution of 454 x 454 pixels compared to Forerunner 265 with a display resolution of 416 x 416 pixels.

Garmin Venu 3

Lifestyle & Health

Stylish GPS smartwatch with comprehensive and inclusive day-to-day health monitoring and fitness tracking.

Buy on Amazon Buy on Synced

#3 Health & Fitness Features

Garmin Venu 3

Both smartwatches provide a range of essential features for fitness tracking and monitoring, such as 30+ built-in Sports Apps, Activity Tracker, Body Battery, Advanced Sleep Monitoring, Stress Tracker, and so on. However, the Venu 3 and Forerunner 265 also offer some significantly different health and fitness features unique to each model.

The Venu 3 goes beyond physical health to include mental wellness features like meditation, which are not supported on the Forerunner 265. Venu 3 also has Wheelchair Mode to support workouts for wheelchair users with features like Push Tracker and Weight Shift Alert. The sleep monitoring features also become more advanced with Nap Detection, and Venu 3 comes with the Jet Lag Adviser which may be helpful for frequent travelers.

Garmin Forerunner 265

The Forerunner 265, on the other hand, is more focused on advanced running, training, and racing with features like Training Readiness, PacePro, Race Predictor, Training Status, Training Effect, Daily Suggested Workouts, Race an Activity, Multisport Activities, and many others.

In terms of supported Activity Profiles, both smartwatches support some common sports profiles like running, cycling, swimming, hiking, cardio, and so on. The difference is that the Venu 3 adds more "old money sports" like golf and tennis while the Forerunner 265 supports competitive team sports like football/soccer, rugby, hockey, baseball, basketball, volleyball, and more.

Garmin Forerunner 265

Advanced Fitness Features

Sporty GPS smartwatch with advanced health monitoring and fitness tracking for serious runners and athletes with intensive trainings.

Buy on Amazon Buy on Synced

#4 Smartwatch Features

Garmin Forerunner 265

Both the Venu 3 and Forerunner 265 allow you to receive emails or texts and control music from your wrist. If you have an Android phone, you can even respond to text or reject a call with text with the on-watch keyboard. Venu 3 adds more functionality with a built-in microphone and speaker, so you can take and make calls as well right from your wrist. In Venu 3, you can also view images from notifications on the watch when connected to an Android phone.

Both smartwatches also offer Safety and Tracking features like Incident Detection and Livetrack, so the watch will send an automated text message and email with your name and GPS location to your emergency contacts when you feel unsafe or when the smartwatch detects an incident. Forerunner 265 also has the Live Event Sharing feature, which is especially useful to keep your friends and family informed about your progress during a race or competition.

Both smartwatches also have GPS for location tracking, but Forerunner 265 adds more with its Multi-Band GPS and SatIQ Technology, which can be useful for more accurate location tracking in challenging environments like dense forests or mountainous regions.

#5 Battery & Power

Garmin Venu 3

Garmin Venu 3 has an excellent battery life that allows you to charge only once for up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, and it can last even more for up to 26 days in battery-saver smartwatch mode.

Garmin Forerunner 265 also has an excellent battery life of up to 13 days in smartwatch mode, but if you're enabling more advanced features like the SatIQ (AutoSelect) GNSS mode, the battery life will shorten to up to 16 hours.