Garmin Venu vs Forerunner 945 vs Fenix 6 Pro – The Differences

• Design


The new sets of Garmin smartwatches come in more stylish and sturdy build – a step up from what we’ve seen thus far, and off course each of the three in this comparison has got a remarkable design.

The main differences come in the sizes, we have got a smaller Venu and quite bigger 945 and 6 Pro. The 43mm Venu is quite compact than the 945 and 6 Pro at 47mm, it also slimmer at 12.4mm compared to 13.7mm 945 and 14.7mm 6 Pro which is somewhat thick. The Venu being smaller also weighs the least which no doubt makes it more comfortable to wear all day long.

In addition, the Venu and 6 Pro with stainless steel bezel look more attractive than the 945 with fiber-reinforced polymer bezel. Moreover, the 6 Pro being a higher-end device is available in DLC coated steel with a lot more options for straps compared to the Venu and 945 with silicone straps.

The Venu being the first of Garmin smartwatch powered by the AMOLED display has a more lively and interactive display that’s intriguing to watch indoors or under dimmed light compared to the MIP transflective LCD display. Although, the 945 and 6 Pro are a lot easier to read outdoors than the Venu.


• Storage


Although all three watches ship with onboard storage capacity that allow you take your favorite tracks with you, the Venu and 945 fall short behind the 6 Pro with a whooping 32GB storage capacity which allow you take a lot more music with you compared to 945 and Venu 4GB.


• Waterproof Rating


While the Venu and 945 are both rated 5ATM (waterproof up to 50 meters), the 6 Pro is rated 10ATM (waterproof up to 100 meters) which makes it an ideal choice for deep water activities. A feature deep water explorers will find very helpful, especially with the now featured swimming heart rate tracking.


• Fitness Tracking


Similar to other Garmin smartwatches, each of these three is fitness-focused and even more equipped with more fitness tracking features to comprehensively track your active life. However, the Venu lacks preloaded color maps which is present on both the 945 and 6 Pro. And this makes the later two better choices for outdoor activity tracking. Moreover, the 6 Pro features ski maps with over 2000 resorts to choose from which places it ahead of the 945.

All three are well equipped to track your daily activities such as steps, calories, fitness level, distance, sleep monitoring, and all-day stress tracking.

Each of these three also features indoor gym activities such as indoor rowing, strength training, and cardio training, including in-depth training and planning analysis features that include training load, training effect and activity history on the watch.

All three watches feature running features such as running, treadmill running and trail running, plus heart rate sensor that tracks your heart rate variability and capable of showing your heart rate zones, max. heart rate and recovery time to help you manage the intensity of your training so that you can achieve more fitness goals without breaking down.

All three watches feature outdoor recreational features that include hiking, climbing, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, XC skiing, stand up paddleboarding, rowing, and jumpmaster. And cycling features such as biking, indoor biking, mountain biking, triathlon, including in-depth golf and swimming features.

Also available on these three is the body battery energy monitor feature that uses data from heart rate variability, stress, sleep, and other data to gauge when you’re ready to be active or when you may need to rest so that you train and achieve more without breaking down.

The incident detection feature introduced to the Forerunner series is also available on all three watches which can help you get help when there’s a fall or no response. It sends your location to preset emergency contacts.

Pulse Ox sensor introduced on the Fenix 5x plus is also available on all three watches. The pulse ox. sensor serves two functions; A. for altitude acclimation, where it can help you know when it’s not safe to continue climbing and B. sleep monitoring to help you see your quality of sleep. The Pulse ox. the sensor achieves these functions by monitoring how well your body absorbs oxygen.

However, the table below highlights the main differences in activity tracking features,


Garmin Venu	Garmin Forerunner 945	Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
Lacks preloaded maps with trendline popularity routing.	Preloaded topographical maps with trendline popularity routing available on the 6 pro and 945 enables full color TOPO maps with millions of routes allowing for more visual and analytic features to help you find the best route.	Preloaded topographical maps with trendline popularity routing available on the 6 pro and 945 enables full color TOPO maps with millions of routes allowing for more visual and analytic features to help you find the best route.
Lacks Pacepro.	Lacks Pacepro (Will be added in future updates).	Garmin added PacePro to the Fenix 6 sets which includes the 6 pro. The PacePro feature enables grade-guidance that can improve your running experience.
Lacks Ski resort maps.	Lacks Ski resort maps (may be added in future updates).	Ski resort maps is available on the 6 pro with over 2000 ski resorts worldwide to choose from.
Garmin added animated onscreen workout modes that can coach you through your favorite moves. This can save you a lot of money on subscription.	Lacks animated onscreen workout modes.	Animated onscreen workout modes are available.
Lacks group live tracking and live event sharing.	Features group live tracking that enable you invite other members of the community to train with you as well as live event sharing.	Features group live tracking that enable you invite other members of the community to train with you as well as live event sharing.
Fewer training and analysis tools, lacks training effect, training load and multisport activity tracking.	More training and analysis tools, features training load, training effect and multisport activity tracking (auto and manual).	More training and analysis tools, features training load, training effect and multisport activity tracking (auto and manual).
Lacks ClimbPro.	Features ClimbPro ascent planner with downloaded courses to help you see real-time information on your current and upcoming climbs, including gradient, distance and elevation gain.	Features ClimbPro ascent planner with downloaded courses to help you see real-time information on your current and upcoming climbs, including gradient, distance and elevation gain.
Added swimming wrist based heart rate tracking which allow you track your heart rate while swimming which can help you get better insight into your swimming activities.	Lacks wrist-based swimming heart rate tracking.	Added swimming wrist based heart rate tracking which allow you track your heart rate while swimming which can help you get better insight into your swimming activities.

• Battery Life

Each of these has got an impressively long battery life that lets you go long on a single charge, something fitness enthusiasts will truly appreciate. However, the Venu with 5 days battery life (no thanks to the AMOLED display) falls far behind the 945 and 6 Pro with about two weeks-long battery life.

In addition, the new battery saver modes introduced to the Fenix 6 series gives the Fenix 6 Pro a longer battery life (battery saver modes will come to 945 in future updates).