How accurate is the fitness element of Apple Watch?

[TheLondonFella]

I had completely written off the Apple Watch, but I'm now considering getting one.

Mainly for the fitness element.

I've just discovered the My Fitness Pal app (which is amazing, and free!) thus I feel the Apple Watch would complement it perfectly, as I'm hoping it would keep a note of all of my physical activity?

So, my question ... if I have it on while lifting weights, jogging, riding the exercise bike etc will it be recording my heart rare/level of sweating/temperature etc to infirm me how many calories I have burned?

Also, exactly how accurate is it?

I really fancy getting one, now.

Also, with regards to size ... nah, I'll leave that one, as it's the "how long is a bit of string" question!

I could just pop to an Apple Store after gym and buy one there & then, or order both and return the "wrong" size? They would deliver by Monday, by the way!

I like the look of the Navy Sports Band ... can I buy this instead of the other set colours? Or do I have to make this an additional purchase?

How about battery life? If I'm recording my activity etc, how long will it last?

What other useful things could I do with an Apple Watch?

Is the majority of the 8GBs of storage opened up to native apps on WatchOS 2?

Finally, when do you think the Apple Watch 2 will arrive? Do you think that buying now would actually be a bad idea, and that the sensible thing to do is to wait for the next gen to arrive?

Many thanks in advance, and have a great day everyone ...

 

[thekayman]

The watch does not have sensors for sweat or temperature

But since installing OS2, I was surprised how close it is in measuring distance and calories burned to the professional treadmill at the gym.

 

[Newtons Apple]

A dedicated fitness device is more accurate. The Apple Watch does way more but will not be your best bet if the fitness aspect is THE most important consideration.

 

[iLilo]

A dedicated fitness device is more accurate. The Apple Watch does way more but will not be your best bet if the fitness aspect is THE most important consideration.

I completely agree with you. The AW is good, sometimes very good on a lot of things but it won't excel in one particular thing

 

[maflynn]

I agree with others, its gets you in the ballpark but that's about it.

I find it funny that it reports that I've done x minutes of exercise during the day when in actuality all I've done was work at my desk, get up, get coffee and other things. Somehow its been counting exercise when I've not been doing any exercise.

I think its a bug in OS2, because it wasn't doing that prior to the upgrade (or least as much).

 

[exxxviii]

I had completely written off the Apple Watch, but I'm now considering getting one.

Mainly for the fitness element.

What kinds of health and fitness things do you do? Is your interest weight loss, performance improvement, causal information, etc.? The usefulness of the AW to you totally depends on the activities you do and how much information you desire about them.

For example, I am into running and swimming. And, I want to know precision so I can improve performance. The AW is not accurate enough for running and it does not report other running dynamics metrics. The AW does not support swimming at all. So, I use a Garmin for fitness that syncs its activities into FitBit for the activity tracking element. The AW plays no meaningful activity tracking and fitness tracking role for me, because it has incomplete information.

 

[TheLondonFella]

The watch does not have sensors for sweat or temperature

But since installing OS2, I was surprised how close it is in measuring distance and calories burned to the professional treadmill at the gym.

Thanks for the response, buddy.

I guess the sweat & temp sensors were reserved for Apple Watch 2 ;-)

All the best ...

 

[TheLondonFella]

I completely agree with you. The AW is good, sometimes very good on a lot of things but it won't excel in one particular thing

What things would you say it's "very good" at?

Thanks for responding ...

 

[TheLondonFella]

What kinds of health and fitness things do you do? Is your interest weight loss, performance improvement, causal information, etc.? The usefulness of the AW to you totally depends on the activities you do and how much information you desire about them.

For example, I am into running and swimming. And, I want to know precision so I can improve performance. The AW is not accurate enough for running and it does not report other running dynamics metrics. The AW does not support swimming at all. So, I use a Garmin for fitness that syncs its activities into FitBit for the activity tracking element. The AW plays no meaningful activity tracking and fitness tracking role for me, because it has incomplete information.

Thanks for the feedback.

I go to gym 4 days, and hit it hard.

Lifting, and 20 minutes on the stationary bike at the end of my workout.

I love to run, but haven't done so in about 3 months as I've been recovering from surgery.

I only returned back to gym about a month or so back.

For running, I liked the Nike running app.

Oh well, from the derdback here I think I'll pass on the Apple Watch & just look forward to the iPad Pro!

Take care ...

 

[TheLondonFella]

I agree with others, its gets you in the ballpark but that's about it.

I find it funny that it reports that I've done x minutes of exercise during the day when in actuality all I've done was work at my desk, get up, get coffee and other things. Somehow its been counting exercise when I've not been doing any exercise.

I think its a bug in OS2, because it wasn't doing that prior to the upgrade (or least as much).

Pen curls & overhead ruler extensions??

 

[exxxviii]

I guess the sweat & temp sensors were reserved for Apple Watch 2

Lifting, and 20 minutes on the stationary bike at the end of my workout.

I love to run, but haven't done so in about 3 months as I've been recovering from surgery.

For running, I liked the Nike running app.

What things would you say it's "very good" at?

I do not know of any activity tracker or fitness tracker that has temperature and sweat sensors. (It may be out there, but I have not seen it promoted on any of the mainstream products.)

The AW seems to be mixed for folks using it for weight training. The HR sensor may deliver bad readings when you are clenching the weights. I have seen this on mine in non-lifting situations. If accurate HR during lifting is important, then you may want to consider a chest strap.

The AW is very good for measuring activity on a stationary bike and running. However, its limitation is phone and web site app weaknesses for presenting data over time to show you progress, calorie burn, etc. FB, Nike+, Garmin, Strava are all better at longitudinal analysis of fitness data.

The watch is good at the immediate awareness of daily activity and some motivation aspects through the three rings.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Pen curls & overhead ruler extensions??

It's easy to fool devices like the Apple Watch, FitBit, UP and others because any arm movement that resembles a running or arm stride motion or reaction will register as movement/walking. I find the Apple Watch the least buggy with these types of movements. I've posted before that the FitBit took my mowing the yard as a few miles of walking when I was on a riding lawn mower and the UP24 did 5 miles. The Apple Watch was almost one mile.

I love the Apple Watch for Weight Lifting as it has my favorite lifting app supported and I love checking the reps from my watch and marking them off without unlocking my phone each time. In fact, my iPhone is upstairs plugged in while I am down in my gym using my favorite app and listening to music and responding to texts and notes and calendar and using siri without breaking stride. I get a very accurate heart rate reading all the time and that is about the only way to measure weight lifting workouts. I walk on the treadmill between sets and exercises to keep my heart rate elevated and to get a few more miles of walking.

When I run outside, the Apple Watch is now 100% accurate to GPS results and I leave my phone at home and have the music blasting through my bluetooth headphones. The other brands can't do this and they definitely can't let me set reminders and notes and lists without using another device.

The others will always be best if all you want is a fitness device that you use for an hour or so a day. Once you go beyond an hour or two, the Apple Watch has way more to offer and still look good in a suit or any occasion.

Just my opinion.

 

[Joneszee]

It's easy to fool devices like the Apple Watch, FitBit, UP and others because any arm movement that resembles a running or arm stride motion or reaction will register as movement/walking. I find the Apple Watch the least buggy with these types of movements. I've posted before that the FitBit took my mowing the yard as a few miles of walking when I was on a riding lawn mower and the UP24 did 5 miles. The Apple Watch was almost one mile.

I love the Apple Watch for Weight Lifting as it has my favorite lifting app supported and I love checking the reps from my watch and marking them off without unlocking my phone each time. In fact, my iPhone is upstairs plugged in while I am down in my gym using my favorite app and listening to music and responding to texts and notes and calendar and using siri without breaking stride. I get a very accurate heart rate reading all the time and that is about the only way to measure weight lifting workouts. I walk on the treadmill between sets and exercises to keep my heart rate elevated and to get a few more miles of walking.

When I run outside, the Apple Watch is now 100% accurate to GPS results and I leave my phone at home and have the music blasting through my bluetooth headphones. The other brands can't do this and they definitely can't let me set reminders and notes and lists without using another device.

The others will always be best if all you want is a fitness device that you use for an hour or so a day. Once you go beyond an hour or two, the Apple Watch has way more to offer and still look good in a suit or any occasion.

Just my opinion.

How did you get it 100% accurate? Thanks.

 

[BlueMoon63]

How did you get it 100% accurate? Thanks.

Calibrating several times. Using know distances and using gps of the phone and my two running speeds which is basically walking and 6mph. I can mess up the distance somewhat by doing intervals but only by about 5% or so.

Last time I ran a 5k using a verified distance, my watch said 3.09 and my phone had 3.11. I'm not a very talented runner but I kept doing the calibrating for 30 minute runs instead of 20.

 

[exxxviii]

I have been off my feet with an injury since iOS 9 and wOS 2, so I am looking forward to seeing the accuracy improvement. Back before the updates, my watch was consistently measuring about 2% shorter than a reliable known distance. It has not been a big deal to me, but it has been kind of funny to me that my Fitbit Zip produces better distance accuracy than the AW and its fancy calibration.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Even after calibrating over and over I would still see a plus or minus 10% on my runs.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Even after calibrating over and over I would still see a plus or minus 10% on my runs.

Before I calibrated, I was consistently off by about 8-10%. The only times I am off by greater than 1-2% now is when I run intervals or trail running. Not to mention running and walking and slowing down to 2mph.