Fitbit Versa Three vs Garmin Venu Sq: which square-ish health tracker is finest for you?

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There are few better results than Fitbit Versa 3 against Garmin Venu Sq. Both brands are well established and know exactly what their customers want: great build quality, precise sensors, and useful health (and smart) features at an affordable price. From this perspective, both Fitbit Versa 3 and Garmin Venu Sq can be considered a good buy.

One great thing about the best fitness trackers – which we classify them as – is that they offer decent sensors and some very useful features for often a fraction of the price of the best running watch. A high-end Garmin enduro can cost up to $ 899.99 / £ 799.99 while you can get a Fitbit Versa 3 for less than $ 230 / £ 200.

But we’re not going to compare the Enduro to any of the fitness bands here – look at the comparison between Garmin Enduro and Garmin Fenix ​​6 – instead, we’ll look at how the Fitbit Versa 3 fares against the Garmin Venu Sq in Both Fitness- Trackers fight for the same customers. These are people who want something more essential than just a simple fitness band, but are not prepared to spend a lot of money on a “real” running watch.

Fitbit Versa 3 versus Garmin Venu Sq: Woman doing yoga outdoors and wearing a Fitbit Versa 3

(Image credit: Fitbit)

Fitbit Versa 3 vs Garmin Venu Sq: Main Features

The Fitbit Versa 3 has GPS on the device and features the improved PurePulse 2.0 optical heart rate monitor technology. The latter uses a reusable heart rate sensor and an updated algorithm that supports personalized heart rate notifications.

In addition, the Versa 3 can continuously monitor the heart rate 24/7 and detect and send a notification when there are signs of a condition that requires medical attention, such as bradycardia (a heart rate that is too slow) and tachycardia (a heart rate that is too fast ).

The Active Zone Minutes feature is also included in Versa 3, which measures the intensity of your activity without just tracking your daily steps. It can also monitor and evaluate sleep quality and has a skin temperature and SpO2 sensor on board.

The Garmin Venu Sq digs deeper into wellbeing with features like advanced sleep tracking with pulse ox, breathing tracking, abnormal heart rate alerts (high and low), menstrual cycle tracking (manual), stress tracking with relaxation reminders, hydration tracking and much more. The watch also uses Garmin’s latest optical heart rate sensor, the Elevate V3, which measures heart rate several times per second 24 hours a day.

In addition, the Garmin Venu Sq supports intelligent notifications, incident detection (the watch sends real-time information to emergency contacts if you fall), Garmin Pay, and you can personalize the watch with countless watch faces and apps through the Garmin IQ Store.

The Garmin Venu Sq Music Edition also has built-in memory for music: if you have a Spotify Premium subscription, you can load the tracks into the memory of the watch and listen to them offline by pairing Bluetooth headphones with the watch .

Fitbit Versa 3 versus Garmin Venu Sq: Man and woman exercise with medicine balls outdoors and wear Garmin Venu Sq fitness trackers

(Image credit: Garmin)

Fitbit Versa 3 versus Garmin Venu Sq: Design

The Versa 3 is based on the design of the Fitbit flagship model Fitbit Sense, without both watches looking exactly the same. That’s because the Fitbit Sense’s design is based on the Fitbit Versa 2 (and to some extent the Apple Watch too). In reality, the scythe copied the Versa in the first place.

The result of that Chinese whisper that has been copied is a surprisingly pretty design with rounded corners and a nice selection of materials. The Versa 3 has an aluminum housing and an AMOLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 336 x 336 pixels. It’s pretty sharp and the touch gestures work pretty well too. The induction button takes some time to get used to, but it is by no means irritating. The infinity band is comfortable to wear and can be easily adjusted with one hand.

Despite the similar name, the Garmin Venu Sq doesn’t have much in common with the watch of the same name, the Garmin Venu. The latter has – just like the Versa 3 – an AMOLED screen, while the Venu Sq has a 240 x 240 pixel liquid crystal display with an optional always-on mode. This liquid crystal display definitely doesn’t look as sharp as the one on the Versa 3, but it is at least touch sensitive too.

The Garmin Venu Sq’s display is much smaller than that of the Versa 3, but the clever design makes it look a bit bigger than it actually is. You can see the bezel on the Venu Sq does not represent the edge of the display. The actual screen is a smaller field in the middle of the dial. The Venu Sq has a comfortable silicone strap with a hinge.

All in all, the Fitbit Versa 3 has a better design and uses more premium components.

Fitbit Versa 3 versus Garmin Venu Sq: Women who smile in front of the wall and wear the Fitbit Versa 3

(Image credit: Fitbit)

Fitbit Versa 3 versus Garmin Venu Sq: battery life

The battery life of both fitness trackers is more or less the same: when fully charged, they last for almost a week. Mysteriously, the Fitbit official website claims that the Versa 3 has more than 6 days of battery life, which is better than saying it has 6-7 days of battery life.

Both wearables have an integrated GPS. When it is turned on, the battery life will be significantly reduced. The Fitbit Versa 3 has a GPS battery life of up to 12 hours, while the Garmin Venu Sq can work up to 14 hours in GPS mode. This means if you use one of the bands to track outdoor runs, none of them will last six days, more like 4-5, which is still pretty good for a fitness tracker. It’s even more impressive with the Fitbit Versa 3 with an AMOLED screen.

It’s worth noting that none of these bands will always appear on the screen, so the display will be off until you turn your wrist up to look at the device. Optionally, the constantly switched on screen can be switched on, but this shortens the battery life in a very short time.

Fitbit Versa 3 versus Garmin Venu Sq: Woman who pays with contactless payment on the Garmin Venu Sq

(Image credit: Garmin)

Fitbit Versa 3 vs. Garmin Venu Sq: Accuracy

The Fitbit Versa 3 is a decent fitness tracker: it’s definitely not the most accurate, but it’s more than adequate for daily activity tracking. As mentioned above, the Versa 3 has a built-in GPS, which again is pretty accurate but does the job just fine. It doesn’t tend to clear the signal once it’s locked, which is a big bonus.

In addition to tracking heart rate and global position, the Versa 3 can measure blood oxygen saturation (SpO2). This is not a medical device, so any SpO2 measurement should be taken with a pinch of salt. However, if you have a downward trend in SpO2, you should see your doctor or general practitioner to be on the safe side.

Sleep tracking on the Versa 3 is also fine, and the device can track skin temperature fairly accurately.

The Garmin Venu Sq is a full-blown running watch disguised as a fitness tracker. It has many features and connectivity options that other fitness trackers lack. For example, it has memory to store 200 hours of activity data and supports both Bluetooth and ANT + connectivity.

Several sport modes are available on the Venu Sq: This tracker has also taken over many functions from Garmin running watches. The Elevate heart rate sensor tracks heart rate accurately, especially in higher heart rate zones where the Garmin algorithm really excels.

GPS is also precise because it uses a multi-system setup and uses signals from three different global positioning networks (GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo).

Overall, the Garmin Venu Sq has a competitive advantage in terms of accuracy.

Fitbit Versa 3 vs Garmin Venu Sq: Pricing and Availability

The Fitbit Versa 3 is available now from Fitbit US and Fitbit UK at a suggested retail price of $ 229.95. The Versa 3 can be purchased from third-party suppliers like Amazon for around $ 190 / £ 180.

The Garmin Venu Sq is now available from Garmin US and Garmin UK. The standard version is priced at $ 199.99 / £ 179.99 while the Music Edition is available for $ 249.99 / £ 229.99. If it is not so important to you where you get your new Venu Sq, third-party suppliers sell it for less than the MSRP (Amazon in particular).

The best prices can be found in the best Garmin watch deals and the best Fitbit deals: prices are updated every half hour and are based on your location!

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