Last test step: I wore 10 fitness watches while walking 10,000 steps. These are the brands you can trust with your New Year’s resolution goals
Sunday Monday
In this weekly column, Android Central Wearables editor Michael Hicks talks about the world of wearables, apps, and fitness technology related to running and health, in his quest to get faster and more.
Back in 2023, I wore six smart watches for 6,000 steps to judge the most accurate brand. Garmin beat Apple, Samsung, and others … but here we are, two years later. Is Garmin still on top? I decided to do a complete test, with additional products and new models, to find out.
To see if Garmin is still the king of steps, I charged 10 of the best fitness watches I own — one each from Apple, Samsung, Garmin, Google, OnePlus, Amazfit, COROS, Polar, Suunto, and Winnings — and strapped them to my stiff runner’s arms for two 5,000-step walking tests and a 5,000-step running test. As a control group, I manually entered the steps in the calculation application.
Since I couldn’t wear more than five watches on my wrists at the same time, that meant 30,000 steps in one exhausting day. But it gave me some interesting data! These are the most reliable (and least) fitness watches for hitting your 10,000 daily steps.
Exercises 1 & 2: Step counting while walking
|
Fitness watch model |
Test 1 (5,000 actual steps) |
Test 2 (5,000 actual steps) |
A complete difference to the original steps |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazfit Active 2 |
4,863 (-137) |
4,936 (+64) |
201 (#6) |
|
Apple Watch Ultra 2 |
4,998 (-2) |
5,014 (+14) |
16 (#1) |
|
COROS APEX 4 |
5,077 (+77) |
5,019 (+19) |
96 (#5) |
|
Garmin Forerunner 970 |
5,053 (+53) |
4,993 (-7) |
60 (#3) |
|
Google Pixel Watch 4 |
4,980 (-20) |
N/A |
N/A |
|
OnePlus Watch 2R |
4,978 (-22) |
5,037 (+37) |
59 (#2) |
|
Polar Vantage V3 |
4,967 (-33) |
5,060 (+60) |
93 (#4) |
|
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic |
4,749 (-251) |
4,953 (-47) |
298 (#8) |
|
Suunto Race 2 |
3,081 (-1,919) |
3,191 (1,809) |
3,728 (#10) |
|
Withings ScanWatch 2 |
4,830 (-170) |
4,908 (-92) |
262 (#7) |
My Apple Watch Ultra 2 has undoubtedly had consistent and reliable results; the “high dynamic range gyroscope” lives up to its impressive name, while the older Series 7 that I used in 2023 had more pedestrian results.
Otherwise, any watch within 100 steps after 10,000 is still fine in my estimation, which puts the OnePlus Watch 2R, Garmin Forerunner 970, Polar Vantage V3, and COROS APEX 4 in the reliable category.
The COROS APEX 4, while not perfect, performed significantly better than the APEX 2 Pro in my 2023 test. The Garmin Forerunner 970, on the other hand, actually did better in my realinGoffa with only one step after 10,000. Whether that was a fluke, or my first test today was; did much better on the second test. And Polar is another fitness brand that has lived up to my expectations.
I have it no an idea why the Suunto Race 2 performed so incredibly poorly; it was perfectly accurate in the running test, as you’ll see, but it ignored thousands of steps taken, whether it was on my wrist or up my arm.
The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic’s results were more off than I’d expect from a flagship product, but Samsung hasn’t done particularly well in past tests, either.
The Pixel Watch 4, by contrast, fared much better than my Fitbit Sense over the past two years…at least at first. During the second test, the Fitbit app refused to track anywhere new steps then removed about 4,000 steps when I got home. I think this was a weird bug, but it means I can’t scale the Google clock properly.
Exercise 3: Step counting while running
|
Fitness watch model |
Active testing (5,000 steps) |
|---|---|
|
Amazfit Active 2 |
4,995 (-5) |
|
Apple Watch Ultra 2 |
4,977 (-23) |
|
COROS APEX 4 |
4,966 (+34) |
|
Garmin Forerunner 970 |
5,027 (+27) |
|
Google Pixel Watch 4 |
5,010 (+10) |
|
OnePlus Watch 2R |
5,004 (+4) |
|
Polar Vantage V3 |
4,984 (-16) |
|
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic |
4,998 (-2) |
|
Suunto Race 2 |
4,992 (-8) |
|
Withings ScanWatch 2 |
4,994 (-6) |
In this test, each watch met the level of quality I expected, even the less-performing watches (Withings ScanWatch 2) or the less-performing watches (Suunto Race 2) from the first two tests.
I think it’s easier for watches’ accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect the deliberate, consistent motion of a running step than the subtle, vague arm motion during walking.
Risk assessment: Tracking the fund’s stride
On my last test walk, as the forecast indicated rain was imminent, I wore five watches and kept five more in my pocket so I could quickly swap. This led to a pleasant surprise when I realized that some watches had followed nearly 5,000 steps from my pocket!
To be specific, the Forerunner 970 tracked 5,037 steps, the APEX 4 had 5,041, and the Ultra 2 showed 5,088. Other watches have followed in much smaller footsteps, such as Samsung (~2,000) and OnePlus (~3,000), but I wouldn’t hold that against these brands; I wouldn’t say it was a fair test.
I still find it interesting, though, because I’ve talked to a few people, including my brother-in-law, who complain about how inaccurate their step counts are when pushing a stroller or hiking with a rocking pole, since their arm movement isn’t a “normal” step. But based on this test, putting your smartwatch in your pocket strength be a useful method, depending on the type!
Why an accurate fitness watch is important to your step goals
Walking 10,000 steps a day may start out as a marketing ploy for a fitness company, but I can point to several scientific studies that show major preventive health benefits of walking at least 6,000-8,000 steps a day, including a reduction in the long-term risk of heart disease, cancer, sleep apnea, reflux, dementia, dementia, depression, and depression.
So let’s say one of your New Year’s resolutions is to hit a benchmark like 10K steps a day. An accuracy gap of 200 steps may not seem like much, but that’s 6,000 extra steps per month or 72,000 per year! Ideally, you want a smartwatch that points accurately.
If you’re using a smart ring for step tracking, it’s surprisingly good at walking steps, but it often adds up. thousands of phantom steps during the day while typing at your desk. You’ll be more sedentary than you realize if you get “10,000 steps a day” with the Oura Ring.
You may not want to spend $700+ on an Apple or Garmin watch just to find out slowly better accuracy than say, the $100 Amazfit Active 2. It’s nice to know that (Suunto aside) most fitness watches — and mainstream smartwatch brands take fitness — actually tracking your steps, not just measuring.
And runners, especially, get it a lot accurate step data, no matter what watch they use!
