Garmin Instinct 3 vs Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs Whoop MG: The Big Outdoor Fitness Test

TechRadar

I went on a big hike in the beautiful Wye Valley in the UK to test out my Apple Watch Ultra 2 , my Garmin Instinct 3, and the all-new Whoop MG, the medical-grade version of the Whoop 5.0. And here's how they compare!

Transcript

00:00Which is more accurate? The Garmin Instinct 3 or the Apple Watch Ultra 2? I went on a big old hike

00:09in the beautiful Wai Valley in the UK to test out Fitness App AllTrail's new peak subscription

00:14service. However, wanting to make the most of the opportunity, I also wore my Apple Watch Ultra 2,

00:20my Garmin Instinct 3, and the all-new, at the time of recording, Whoop MG, the medical-grade

00:26version of the Whoop 5.0. The Whoop won't be of too much use during this test as there's no GPS

00:31feature and I'm wearing this as part of a long-term project reviewing the Whoop, but I'll include the

00:36results at the end for posterity and to compare all the heart rate graphs. The main wearable I wanted

00:41to test was the Garmin Instinct 3, Garmin's latest outdoor adventure watch. The Instinct series is

00:47super popular because it's cheaper than the high-end Phoenix series, while still offering

00:52fantastic GPS and navigational capabilities, albeit at the expense of some features like full-color

01:00maps, which you'd need more expensive watches to get. I often use Garmin watches like the Instinct 3

01:06and Phoenix 8 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 as litmus tests when checking the GPS and heart rate indicators

01:12of other wearables. I've done these sorts of tests before between them. Last year, I ran the London

01:18marathon with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Garmin Epix Pro, comparing their results against Strava

01:23and my official marathon chip time. You can see that video linked below. But this time, I'm taking

01:29Garmin's Instinct 3, comparing it with the readings from my Apple Watch Ultra 2 and AllTrail's pre-existing

01:35map of the route I walked. It was a 7.81 kilometer out-and-back walk, starting near the historic ruined

01:41Tintern Abbey to the top of the hill, the Devil's Pulpit, via some ancient Welsh woodland. As you can

01:47see in this recap feature from the AllTrails app, there's a steep ascent and descent to the walk,

01:52with a flat section at the top of the climb. That 7.81 kilometers is the distance I walked,

01:58not the listed distance of the hike itself. You can see the Abbey from the top of the pulpit,

02:03said to be where the Devil stood to tempt the Abbey's residents from afar. Scary stuff, and I'm glad I didn't

02:08do this walk on Halloween. Anyway, here's how I got on. The Garmin Instinct 3 is saying 1.27 kilometers

02:16with 150-140 heart rate. The Apple Watch Ultra I'm wearing on the other wrist, the Ultra 2,

02:23that's saying 142 heart rate and 1.36. So there is a small difference in kilometers so far,

02:30but about the same sort of heart rate. So both are pretty much on the mark

02:34and consistent with earlier tests. We'll see how it is at the end.

02:38Of course, no hike in the UK would be complete without a spot of rain.

02:42The rain slacked off, just coming back down the way I've gone up in this tumble down little pathway,

02:48and so far the difference in GPS seems to have evened out. There's only 0.4 of a difference between

02:55the Apple Watch Ultra and the Garmin Instinct 3, and about 0.7 of a difference between the Apple Watch

03:01Ultra, which is the highest one, and the AllTrails app. We'll see what happens and whether it evens

03:08out even fuller when the hike's over. Heart rate-wise, they're pretty even.

03:14Apple Watch Ultra 2 says 115, Garmin says 104. They're on different hands, so I'm really interested

03:20to see what Woot makes of this hike and whether we can pinpoint any differences based on time frame.

03:25I'm going to stop filming now because I am afraid of falling over. I'll see at the end of the hike.

03:33So we're towards the end of the hike, and there is about a 0.1 of a kilometre difference between

03:40AllTrails and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and there is about another 0.1 of a difference again

03:45between the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Garmin Instinct 3. I haven't checked Woot for heart rate

03:51and vitals. We'll see what that's like towards the end of the hike. We do this sort of field testing

03:56of technology so you guys can make informed decisions when deciding what to buy, and to make

04:00sure we're doing our due diligence when testing all these features and not just taking the tech

04:05companies at their word that these devices are as accurate as they say. Last year during my marathon,

04:11I said there was small difference in accuracy, largely due to the way different companies process GPS

04:16information. Unless you were an elite athlete needing millisecond times, I came to the conclusion

04:21that both Garmin and Apple were accurate and close enough to each other for serious fitness

04:25enthusiasts and amateur athletes. I'm happy to report this is still the case with the Ultra,

04:30the Garmin Instinct 3 and AllTrails, with just a 0.13 kilometre differential between Garmin,

04:36AllTrails and Apple's respective measurements of the hike, with Garmin recording 7.67 kilometres

04:42and Apple recording 7.75. Give or take 100 metres of accuracy compared to the 7.81 that AllTrails got.

04:50Not bad considering we've been connecting to three different satellite networks across

04:53eight kilometres of walking. It's a little bit more challenging when it comes to measuring heart

04:57rate against the WHOOP, as it automatically grouped my exercise into two separate hikes,

05:02discounting the bit of flat ground at the top. However, you'll be able to see the heart rate

05:06timeline graphs of all three devices here. I'm pleased to see the heart rates on all three devices

05:12look roughly the same, sharing peaks and troughs with no wild deviations or spikes,

05:17despite having been worn on different wrists and using different algorithms to process this data.

05:22In my full review of the Garmin Instinct 3, I called it a terrific watch for most people,

05:27and I stand by that assessment after this test. It's not quite perfect, but if you want some of

05:33Garmin's best adventure features and great accuracy in both health and GPS tracking,

05:39all at a pretty reasonable price point, this is the watch for you. It can go toe-to-toe with Apple's

05:45top tier Watch Ultra 2 and the AllTrails app on a hike and comes out looking pretty good.

05:50Would you get the Garmin Instinct 3, or are you more of an Apple Watch person?

05:54What's your go-to GPS solution for the great outdoors? One of these watches, another one entirely,

06:00or an app like AllTrails or perhaps Komoot? Let us know in the comments below,

06:04and we'll catch you here next time or on techradar.com.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended