VO2 Max underestimated consistently

[PaladinGuy]

My fitness level is approximately the same as a friend of mine who is using a Garmin watch. My AW gives me 48 Vo2Max. His Garmin gives him 55. That's a significant difference. And the reason I say we are really similar is because whenever we do a run of similar pace, we have a similar HR average, and our age gap is small.

AW always underestimates Vo2Max compared to Garmin watches, that's for sure. But I don't know which one is more accurate compared to an actual Vo2Max test.

However when I check my Vo2Max values using a Cooper test in the track, it's much much much closer to the Garmin number.

Depending on the Garmin, it’s probably because Garmin actually takes elevation gain and heat into consideration with vO2 max estimates. Apple does not. So if you’re running in really hot weather or on a steep route, it thinks you’re less fit.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Sometimes the harder I workout the worst my V02 gets so I stopped using it.

 

[GerritV]

Sometimes the harder I workout the worst my V02 gets so I stopped using it.

Same here. Maybe I should forget about the VO2max score as well.
In fact, I was planning to gift myself a full physical test for my birthday, but didn't get to it.
Perhaps next year ;-)

 

[blinker]

My guess is that, as someone already pointed out, most people don't even know what VO2max is, so Apple doesn't bother to prioritize it. Not the simplest thing to explain in any but the broadest terms, so not worth development time.

 

[MarkX]

My fitness level is approximately the same as a friend of mine who is using a Garmin watch. My AW gives me 48 Vo2Max. His Garmin gives him 55. That's a significant difference. And the reason I say we are really similar is because whenever we do a run of similar pace, we have a similar HR average, and our age gap is small.

AW always underestimates Vo2Max compared to Garmin watches, that's for sure. But I don't know which one is more accurate compared to an actual Vo2Max test.

However when I check my Vo2Max values using a Cooper test in the track, it's much much much closer to the Garmin number.

My apple watch and Garmin are pretty much the same for v02 max, garmin has me at 56 and apple is 55.2.

 

[xDKP]

Same here. Maybe I should forget about the VO2max score as well.
In fact, I was planning to gift myself a full physical test for my birthday, but didn't get to it.
Perhaps next year ;-)

I feel the same - slow easy runs and it goes up. Tough intense runs and it goes down 😵‍💫