Save up to $150 on Garmin's two best last-gen watches for most people

The Garmin Venu 3 (left) and Forerunner 265 (right) side-by-side

(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)

The Garmin holiday sale has some fantastic early Black Friday deals, and if you've been waiting for a premium Fenix 8 or Forerunner 965, now's the time. But as someone who's tested most recent Garmin watches from the past few years, my first recommendation would be the Forerunner 265 for outdoor athletes or the Venu 3 for indoor athletes.

Right now, the Garmin Forerunner 265 is $299 ($150 off) at Best Buy, while the Garmin Venu 3 is $349 ($100 off).

The Forerunner 265 is jam-packed with training tools for runners, hikers, and triathletes. Training load focus and daily run suggestions tell you whether you need to focus on jogging, tempo, or sprints to improve your VO2 Max, while Training Readiness warns you if you've overtrained and need a rest day.

It has Garmin's patented, hyper-accurate dual-band GPS, sensor essentials like an altimeter for elevation and a gyroscope for running form analysis, and 13-day battery life. The Forerunner 265 has the tools for self-guided athletes to hit PRs and judge their Health Status.

✅Recommended if: You are at least a semi-serious runner who enjoys the sport but has hit a rut and needs help increasing your mileage or pace safely; you're not a fan of Garmin's old MIP displays; and you don't need traditional smarts beyond notifications.

❌Skip this deal if: You need extra Forerunner 965 perks like offline maps and another week of battery life; you'd prefer a more well-rounded, skinny option like the Venu 3; or you need a true smartwatch with proper app support.

My Forerunner 265 vs. Venu 3 guide breaks down how these two "classics with plenty left in the tank" compare. The Forerunner 265 is more specialized, focusing on training above everything else, while the Venu 3 slacks on workout recs but offers major upgrades for health data, style, and smarts.

The Venu 3 introduced Garmin's fifth-generation Elevate sensors, with ECGs, skin temperature data, and more accurate HR readings. It also added a mic and speaker for Bluetooth calling and phone assistant commands, and its 1.4-inch AMOLED display ringed by a steel bezel looks fantastic.

You may not get the same GPS accuracy or training load guidance of a Forerunner, but the Venu 3 is well-suited for indoor athletes, with exercise animations showing the proper form for workouts at home or the gym. It's comfortably light and lasts two weeks per charge.

✅Recommended if: You want to try out the Garmin ecosystem, but without the bulky, plastic- and button-heavy look of most Garmin watches; you want strong battery life and Garmin coaching, but you're equally interested in health and sleep guidance.

❌Skip this deal if: You look at the Garmin Venu 4 vs. 3 and decide that you need the newer model, which has the style of a Venu but the smarts of a Forerunner; or you'd rather save even more money and go for the Vivoactive 6, which is currently $100 less than the Venu 3 with similar software.

The Forerunner 265 and Venu 3 don't have cutting-edge tools you'd get on the newer models, but you don't necessarily need every new Garmin tool to improve as an athlete; they have the essentials, and I loved them when I reviewed them both. Just because I have fancier models now doesn't change the fact that they got me motivated to get faster and lose weight.

So if you're looking for a reasonably-priced Garmin watch deal that strikes a balance between affordability and usefulness, the Venu 3 or Forerunner 265 are where you should start.

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