Pixel Watch 3 vs Garmin Venu 3: What Makes One Better Than the Other
Naila Syifa
Updated November 2024
Google's flagship Pixel Watch and Garmin's popular Venu series have both reached their third generation, marking a significant milestone in the smartwatch market. The Pixel Watch 3 represents Google's continued refinement of its wearable technology, while the Garmin Venu 3 builds on the company's strong foundation in fitness tracking. How do they compare in terms of features and capabilities?
Key Takeaways
Pixel Watch 3 is the clear winner for those deeply invested in the Google ecosystem and value advanced training capabilities, while the Venu 3 excels in battery longevity and accessibility features. Your choice should ultimately depend on whether you prioritize advanced training and smart features or extended battery life and wheelchair-friendly features.
Pixel Watch 3
Smart & Active Smartwatch
✓ 40+ Exercises
✓ Readiness Insights
✓ Google Apps
✓ Optional LTE
Garmin Venu 3
Lifestyle & Fitness Smartwatch
✓ 54 Activity Profiles
✓ Meditation & Breathwork
✓ Body Battery Energy Monitoring
✓ Wheelchair Mode
Design & Display
Garmin Venu 3
Both smartwatches have sleek, modern circular designs with premium build quality and a 5 ATM water resistance rating. They come in 41mm and 45mm case size options and multiple color choices to choose from.
The more stylish option depends on individual preferences, but one clear difference between the two models is their display technology. Garmin Venu 3 features an AMOLED touchscreen display with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens, while Pixel Watch 3 offers an Actua display protected by Custom 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Actua is Google's new high-brightness OLED display technology.
Health & Fitness Features
Pixel Watch 3
Both Pixel Watch 3 and Garmin Venu 3 share a few common health and fitness features, including basic capabilities like heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, stress, and activity tracking, as well as more advanced health-monitoring features like ECG and skin temperature.
Both watches support more than 40 activity types, but when it comes to fitness and training features, the Pixel Watch 3 is more well-equipped. It offers real-time pace guidance for running, a readiness feature to help you determine if your body is ready for a workout or needs more recovery time, and cardio load measurement to see how hard you're training over time.
Fitbit Premium is also available for the Pixel Watch 3, unlocking more AI-based health and wellness insights, personalized recommendations, and guided workouts.
While Venu 3 lacks some of these advanced training features, it offers better inclusivity with wheelchair-specific activity tracking, including push counts and wheelchair-based exercises.
Garmin Venu 3 also offers on-wrist workout animations for certain exercises, as well as Garmin's well-liked Body Battery energy monitoring feature that helps track your energy levels throughout the day.
Smartwatch Features
Pixel Watch 3
Both Pixel Watch 3 and Garmin Venu 3 share basic smartwatch capabilities like messaging, smart notifications, contactless payment, music controls, incident detection, and location sharing during emergencies.
Both smartwatches also feature a built-in speaker and microphone, allowing them to support on-wrist calling and voice assistant functionality. However, Venu 3 requires a nearby connected phone while Pixel Watch 3 can independently handle calls and more with its LTE connectivity.
Pixel Watch 3 can also record audio files, control Pixel Camera, connect to compatible Google/Nest smart home devices, and access Google's app ecosystem like Google Maps and Google Wallet, all of which are not available on the Garmin Venu 3. This makes the Pixel Watch 3 a more versatile smartwatch for everyday connectivity and smart features.
Battery Life
Garmin Venu 3
With a 307mAh battery on the 41mm variant and a 420mAh battery on the 45mm model, Pixel Watch 3 is rated for up to 24 hours (1 day) of runtime with the always-on display or 36 hours with the battery-saver mode.
Garmin Venu 3, on the other hand, can last for up to 5 days with the always-on display in smartwatch mode. When using battery-saver smartwatch mode, it can extend up to 20 days for the 41mm model or 26 days for the 45mm variant.
Pixel Watch 3 vs Garmin Venu 3
Final Thoughts
Pixel Watch 3
The Pixel Watch 3 excels as a feature-rich smartwatch with advanced connectivity and seamless Google ecosystem integration, making it ideal for tech-savvy users who value smart features over battery life. It also boasts some advanced training features that the Venu 3 lacks, making it the superior choice overall.
However, Garmin Venu 3 stands out with its wheelchair-friendly features and significantly longer battery life, making it a better choice for users who prioritize extended usage between charges and inclusive fitness tracking capabilities.
If you like to read more on smartwatches, check out our other relevant guides here:
Pixel Watch 3 vs Garmin Vivoactive 5
Pixel Watch 3 vs Fitbit Sense 2
Pixel Watch 3 vs Fitbit Versa 4
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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