I Left Fitbit for Garmin — and I’m Not Going Back

I recently switched from Fitbit to the Garmin Venu 3S, and I am extremely happy with the change. What has surprised me most is how useful the watch is in everyday life. I can glance at my wrist and see the weather and my next calendar event—two things I used to ask my Amazon Echo about constantly. Text notifications are also genuinely useful. When a website sends me a verification code, it appears right on my wrist instead of requiring me to go find my phone. I’m also enjoying the health and activity information much more than I expected. The Body Battery sounded gimmicky to me at first, but it has actually corresponded remarkably well with how energetic or depleted I feel. Intensity Minutes have been fascinating because they’ve shown me how much moderate activity I get simply from everyday life—yard work, stairs, and even my habit of attacking household chores in 15-minute bursts. I like being able to see my heart rate in real time and learn more about what my body is doing without having to treat every bit of movement as a formal “workout.” The watch itself is attractive, comfortable, and easy to customize. I’ve changed what appears on the watch face, adjusted how long the display stays on, customized buttons and shortcuts, and turned off features I don’t find useful. Battery life has also been good enough that charging it briefly while I shower works well for me. Not every Garmin metric is valuable to me. Sleep Coach hasn't told me anything particularly interesting, and I'm still deciding whether Recovery will be useful. But that's actually something I like about the Garmin: there is a lot available, and I can choose the information that matters to me rather than having to use everything. I bought the Venu 3S primarily as a replacement for my Fitbit. I didn't expect to enjoy it nearly this much. It has become one of those rare pieces of technology that makes several small parts of my day noticeably easier.

Not completely satisfied...

I won't say I hate the watch, but I'm not thrilled with it either. The biggest positive takeaway is the battery life. I can't see how anyone would complain about that. Beats my Apple Watch hands down. Now for the negatives... According to my Garmin Watch, I'm half dead. My body battery NEVER climbs above 50, even after sleeping. Which brings me to my next point. My sleep score is never above a 50. Whether I get 6 hours or 9 hours, my sleep is sometimes poor, most times fair, and only once or twice was it good. I rarely toss and turn, I never recall waking up, yet I can't seem to sleep well. When I wore an Apple Watch for the same thing, I seemed to have considerably higher scores. My stress levels run rather high as well, even though I am retired and have no stress that I am aware of. I average between 50 and 60 on a normal day, 100 while driving. (That one I can see). Truth is, I went with a Garmin for two reasons. One, the extraordinary battery life. The Apple Watch is harder to work with because I wear it all day, but then still want to wear it to bed to track my sleep. Charging can sometimes be an issue. There is no issue with the Garmin. The other reason I went with it is because after almost 20 years, I switched from iPhone to a Samsung/Android device that wouldn't have played well with my Apple Watch. I love the Android device, but wish the Garmin did more than it does. I also wish I had a way of knowing if the sleep, stress, and body battery results were anywhere near accurate.

I love this new Garmin! Just the face size I wanted and I love the grey/green color, plus all of the features!

I like it way better than my Fitbit, however I wish Garmin would include use instructions instead of the important customer having to search for directions.

Nice upgrade

Love it..thank to my husband for my upgrade ..so much I can do with it can't wait for the next upgrade..

Great features and size

Love this watch. Such a huge improvement from my Garmin 935 Forerunner. The Venu 3S is a perfect size for women.