Garmin’s watches are typically GPS sports watches focused on helping you improve your health, fitness, and performance. While they offer some features that rival other smartwatches, the Venu 3/3S is clearly the best Garmin to take on the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch. I tested the Venu 3S for several days, as did my daughter, and it convinced her to switch from her Fitbit thanks to its longer battery life and sleek look. The Venu 3/3S is extremely well built, has a brilliant AMOLED display, lasts for more than a week, lets you accept and make calls from the wrist, and supports voice assistants via a connected smartphone.For a couple of years, Garmin carried the Epix line with an AMOLED display that stood apart from the Fenix series. In August 2024, that changed with the Fenix 8 now appearing with both AMOLED and solar MIP display options. Given that the Enduro 3 offers a solar MIP display, has longer battery life, and is less expensive, the AMOLED Fenix 8 models are a top choice for mapping and communications.The Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED connects seamlessly to Android and iOS smartphones, in addition to golf club sensors, bike sensors, and more. Just about every sport is covered, including pickleball, with an updated smartphone experience so you can customize the watch settings on your phone and sync them over to the watch.New communications features for the Fenix series include an integrated speaker and microphone that support phone calls from the wrist, access to your connected phone’s assistant, onboard voice commands, and voice recordings. These features, along with an updated user interface for notifications, bring the Fenix 8 closer to serving as your primary smartwatch.
