I currently have a Garmin Instinct which I am pretty happy with but I’m looking to upgrade to an actual ‘smart’ watch.
I use an IPhone so it would seem that the Apple Watch is the obvious choice, but the (near) dealbreaker is the shape of the case/bezel. I greatly prefer the round face of the Venu, especially since I’m a fan of aviator style chrono watches, dive watches, ‘tactical’ style watches, etc. The Venu has similar watch faces available for it (I’m sure the Apple watch does too I just haven’t looked into it).
The ability of the Apple to not only receive but also send texts is an advantage over the Garmin but not a huge deal to me personally. One of the biggest advantages of the Apple is that I can use the Maps app. That’s an enormous positive since GPS/navigation is a primary requirement for my new watch. Of course the Garmin has GPS too but it doesn’t appear to be nearly as intuitive/useful as on the Apple.
You may be asking why a Series 3 Apple Watch instead of a newer one, and the simple answer is money.
I can get either an refurb’d Apple Watch Series 3 (with 1 year warranty) or the Garmin Venu for approximately the same price.
id greatly appreciate any advice or recommendations you can provide. Thanks very much.