The Apple Watch may be superior to other wearables and fitness devices for heart rate tracking. A study compared the Watch to the Basis Peak, Fitbit Surge, Microsoft Band, Mio Alpha 2, PulseOn, and Samsung Gear S2.
According to the researchers, who used data from 60 participants, the Apple Watch was best in terms of heart rate accuracy.
It had the lowest median heart rate error rate of 2% compared to a ECG. The Gear S2 had the worst rate at 6.8%. Under 5% is considered acceptable.
The Apple Watch also did well during the walking heart rate test.
For the walking task, three of the devices achieved a median error rate below 5%: the Apple Watch, 2.5% (1.1%-3.9%); the PulseOn, 4.9% (1.4%-8.6%); and the Microsoft Band, 5.6% (4.9%-6.3%). The remaining four devices had median error between 6.5% and 8.8%.- Study
However, it didn't come out on top for calorie tracking, which relies on tracking a user's activity. Median error rates were high for every device tested, ranging from 27.4% for the Fitbit Surge to 92.6% for the PulseOn. This means calorie estimates from wearables are largely going to be inaccurate.
0 Comments