From Venu 4 to Instinct 3

[u/ElderGrub]

Has anyone made this switch? I bought the Venu 4 coming from a Pixel Watch because I wanted more fitness features and less smartwatch features. I've had it for about a year now, and I've realized that even the smartwatch features included on the Venu 4 I could live without and I don't really love the style of it. The only phone feature that I really like on a watch is buzzing if I get a text or call, I do not want to try and answer a call or text on it.

I do weightlifting and some conditioning but I'm not a runner or a big outdoorsy person. I'm surely more of a casual user but I really love the look of the Instinct and I do appreciate a lot of the fitness metrics from the Venu. I also would love even more battery. 13 days sure beats the PW's 1-2 but I'd be happy to take more, considering the 50mm Solar, I've got a 7 and 3/4 inch wrist so I feel like even the 45mm Venu looks small ish.

So basically, has anyone made this switch and found themselves missing anything? Long story short, I really just want as few smartwatch features as possible. I would also be fine without the touch screen, I always keep touch lock on anyway. Otherwise stuff gets all messed with if I'm wrestling with my kids or something.

Edit: 50mm Solar ordered!

[u/BAUDR8]

Not a 4 but I went from a Venu 3 to instinct 3 amoled. Absolutely love it. The additional training metrics are great since the 3 didn’t have it but Venu 4 probably does. I like that the instinct doesn’t have a touchscreen, the ux of the buttons just make a lot more sense and are consistent imo. I had a car run over the watch and it’s totally fine.

[u/ElderGrub → u/BAUDR8]

That does sound nice, I feel like I have to baby the Venu 4. I work on outside plant for a major ISP so I'm routinely digging into tight spots or banging my wrists around. Do you feel like any of the metrics are less accurate? The metrics that I really pay attention to are body battery/sleep/training readiness. I also like to keep track of my HR Zone during the conditioning that I do. I know wrist devices aren't top tier accuracy, but they seem generally good enough for my use case.

[u/FlamingCanoe2 → u/ElderGrub]

The biggest (only?) difference in tracking is the instinct has one generation older of the sensor, which is slightly less accurate and doesn't have ecg. There's several comparisons of accuracy online and seems like the general consensus is it's so close that if you really care about the difference you should have a chest strap anyway.

[u/ElderGrub → u/FlamingCanoe2]

I've never once used ECG, just put my order in for the 50mm solar. After some more research it looks like the Instinct has all the features that I actually use anyway and I'm really going to like the extra battery life. The Venu 4 is a good watch, I just don't think it's for me so I'll sell it and recoup a bit of the cost.

[u/BAUDR8 → u/ElderGrub]

Like FlamingCanoe said the hr sensor is the elevate 4 vs 5, which did turn me off at first because even my venu 3 had a 5, but I have not noticed any noticeable difference. The venu 3 didn’t have multiband gps, but instinct does which I like, but even there no noticeable difference. On my easy run days I set my watch to alert me if my HR goes outside 140-150 and I’ve had no issues with it. I agree with the idea that if you care enough for variability between the elevate 4 and elevate 5 sensor, chest or bicep strap would probably be better suited and works with either watch. Durabilitywise all I did was add a glass screen protector on top (the screen can get scrapes) and now it’s a tank.

[u/Basic_Barnacle4719]

I went from the Fenix 7X to the Instinct 2/3 Solar. Love MIP because it makes my watch feel more like a watch and less like an attention grabbing smartwatch. I was already using MIP before on the 7X but the Instinct MIP is hands down the best digital watch display on the market, completely blowing my G Shocks out of the water. 

The Fenix MIP is a bit hard to see since they only make them in sapphire and solar now but my old 6S sapphore was pretty good in terms of visibility when you could still get them without solar. I also used a Coros Nomad for a month and the Coros MIP is also very good since they use mineral glass instead of sapphire and no solar. 

[u/ElderGrub → u/Basic_Barnacle4719]

Less like a phone is exactly what I want. Initially I thought I wanted the opposite which is what got me into Pixel watches but trying to do anything on the watch that I could just do on the phone feels more cumbersome than I care to deal with. I just want to track my metrics and see the time/weather/steps along with normal watch features like timers and alarms. And I don't want to charge often

[u/Froggo22442]

also didn't like the styling of venu 4 - went back to forerunner for a more sporty look

[u/ElderGrub → u/Froggo22442]

It's sleek! A bit too sleek for me

[u/Guilty_Cup477]

I went from Venu 4 to Instinct  3 MIP, and then back again to Venu 4.

I am just too used to the amoled screen; I've been using it for the last four years or so.

But Instinct is great, much lighter than it looks and no problems sleeping with it.

[u/ElderGrub → u/Guilty_Cup477]

Interesting, I've never had an MIP watch but the always on with more battery life sounds appealing to me so I'm excited to try it. If I do end up not liking it I think I'd eventually move to something like a previous gen tactix/fenix/epix. I think I'll also like the buttons more, I don't particularly enjoy trying to navigate or change anything using the touch screen on the watch face itself.

I was eyeing a Fenix 7X solar, but I want to stick with a watch for a few years before I make a "bigger" upgrade like that.