Study indicates Apple Watch among best at heart rate measuring


We evaluated the Apple Watch, Basis Peak, Fitbit Surge, Microsoft Band, Mio Alpha 2, PulseOn, and Samsung Gear S2. Participants wore devices while being simultaneously assessed with continuous telemetry and indirect calorimetry while sitting, walking, running, and cycling. Sixty volunteers (29 male, 31 female, age 38 ± 11 years) of diverse age, height, weight, skin tone, and fitness level were selected.

Across all testing, the Apple Watch saw the lowest error in monitoring. The range was 1.2% - 2.8% error.

Interestingly, when it comes to measuring calories, no device performed particularly well. The devices seemed to measure best with running and walking and worst when calculating sitting.