Thank you for adding common sense to this issue. Personally I will always buy a rugged, thick watch like Fenix 8 than some girly coin-thin variant and take appropriate steps to make it perform at its best (properly positioning the watch and adjusting the strap tension, etc.).

Not worked on my fr 745

Negatta - thanks for it. Was looking for it a while!

No mention here about HRV accuracy. I find that to be quite inconsistent from one night to the next. Any data on that??

I just purchased the T-Rex 3, When I get a text message I cannot hear any sound just a vibration is not normal?

Was waiting with a lot of anticipation for this 3rd generation watch... Hoping it could be my next watch. Dissapointed with Garmin. At this price point and features offered, the Amazfit T-Rex 3 is a much better option.

Still have my Fenix 5 sapphire - bulletproof, but I am tempted by the improved metrics and mapping in the 965. But again, it's hard to justify when there's nothing fundamentally wrong with my current watch ..

The watch faces on Forerunner also combine gaudy colors and meh designs. I always run 3rd party WF on it... The heck knows their names, they are not displayed on the watch. Neither are the color schemes named.

Savior!

I enjoy your videos. Easy to understand, always on the target. I recommend it to everyone! THANKS!

QS usually states in his reviews that he is only a sample of 1 person and he asks his audience to check out other reviewers, but the simple empirical truth is that Garmin’s HR is not as good as Apple’s HR whether it is a small or big garmin watch. It’s not really all about the size. Apple also has the ultra and even that gets good reviews from the QS. Sleep tracking stages is also poor on garmin but it has excellent battery life and better fitness metrics

I think it's highly individual because when I've tested my Fenix 7 against my HRM Pro they are pretty much identical - always within a few BPM of each other.

Merci beaucoup Dave !

I see no one mentions the galaxy watch 7

I fixed my 265 by doing a factory reset then putting it back in its box and sending it back to the shop. I bought it from for a full refund. Worked great for me.

if I want a watch for running, weight training and biking which one do you recommend? At a top price of $300

Merci pour les petites astuces pour améliorer la précision, meme si en hiver pas évident de mettre la montre très en avant du poignet. De plus, obligée d'avoir un grand écran, car mauvaise vue, alors tant pis car j'ai un petit poignet. Mais je vais essayer votre méthode et voir si en serrant encore plus le bracelet je vois une différence sur ma Garmin 965

je ne comprends pas ma garmin 965. Elle ne me détecte absolument aucunes données anaérobies, contrairement à Coros. Comme la FC, max 150 alors que polar m'affiche 196 au maximum. Essayé le brassard Coros, rien n'y change, mais je dois dire que meme serré a fond (pas pratique d'ailleurs le systeme), il bougeait quand meme. J'ai une mauvaise circulation du sang aux extrémités (syndrome de Raynaud), je ne pense pas que ce la joue. Aussi très réticente d'acheter un brassard Polar, peur d'un échec comme avec coros

Quantified scientist is also only using an n=1 sample size, which is frankly pretty poor science 😄

I've got an older Fenix 7 and the OHR is sensational for running, riding and climbing. Love it. I've also got a low body fat, white skin (let's light through easily) and I know how to strap it down 😄

Enduro 3 arguably the best

You nailed it, Dave. If a person wore a size 8 running shoe, then had poor performance on a run wearing some size 12 hiking boots, we'd all recognize the problem. You've gotta match the tool to the real world application. Garmin provides the Ultra-fit nylon band on the Enduro 3 for better HR performance for serious runners. The wrap-around bands on the Instinct series reduces movement, but far and away the largest factor is WATCH SIZE! You'd be an excellent engineer. :)

Amusingly i was in the middle of my Mobvoi Ticwatch test, so my Fenix was turned off. The day before I had both watches on to compare GPS. Just got lucky for once. Thanks for putting out this video, hopefully it helped a lot of people!

Anyone having issues with step counter on fenix 8? Got my first ever garmin and I wake up to 200 steps, I walked downstairs this morning and it said I was on 686, like wtf? How do I fix this

I don’t love any of those. Don’t like the stacked or diagonal HH:MM

My Forerunner 255 Music has also recently started doing the amazing trick where for the first 5-10 minutes of an indoor run, it measures my HR below 100bpm. Never did this before, it was always 1-3bpm in line with my chest strap... but this just started last month. The optical sensor is making great contact with my skin, it's indoors/warm, I can take the Forerunner off and tighten it back onto my wrist, and it just refuses to accurately measure that my HR is well above 100. It stays "stuck" showing a low HR while my chest strap and SE 2 are showing 130bpm+. This issue is across the board for many Garmin devices in the help forums, and I imagine it's a software glitch. (I don't have any tattoos, and wear my smart watches up, away from my wrist). Garmin just consistently proves that paying more and more money for a new device does not yield better metrics (see also: their terrible sleep tracking). Maybe Garmin will understand why the convex HR sensor on Apple's devices works so well to maintain contact, and Gen 6 will incorporate this. Or maybe they'll continue releasing older gen optical sensors on devices that cost more and more, and people will continue complaining in their forums. I get that the device needs to maintain skin contact, and larger batteries/devices are tougher to keep properly seated, but I think there are also software issues at play. Everything about Garmin devices is nice- battery life, faces, reports, presentation of data... the actual accuracy and collection of the data is less than impressive. I can live with the HR sensor being a few bpm off from the chest strap for runs, and I honestly think Garmin's GPS game is unbeatable, but Rob's issues seem valid- it's a frustrating experience if you're comparing the quality of data with an Apple device that costs a lot less.

Just bought Garmin fenix 8. Have to say amazingly impressed with optical Hr as this has never worked for me with other watches. (Always too cold or too loose or too tight’) … today the Fenix 8 was spot on - the whole time … and in cold conditions. Switched back from AWU 2 to Garmin… all good 👍

I wear the enduro 2 on my left wrist and the AWU2 on my right wrist, I always get pretty consistent readings out of both. Every time I look down at my watches the heart rate is basically the same. The key is to have the straps tight, almost uncomfortable tight. The enduro 2 has the gen 4 heart rate sensor and still gets very accurate readings. Ive also worn my polar h10 to compare and both watches and can say, they are extremely accurate if you wear them correctly. It's not the watches fault if you don't wear it correctly. Tighten the strap down and you'll have near perfect readings.

Makes complete sense to me. I am in the chest strap camp for tracking actual workouts so the accuracy of the watch isn't quite so important for that stuff.

Garmin watches optical sensor have also been horrible for me. Fitbit and Apple were much more accurate. Garmin watches are just so much better overall though I just stick with garmin + a chest strap

Garmin 255s with Garmin's 18mm nylon strap, sweet and as light as 10 feathers 😁

Problem is, all good Garmins are too chunky and too big to be a sport watch for me. The new Instinct 3 is 45mm minimum. My wrist is ~18cm, and I can't wear something more than 42mm in diameter. And having Instinct 2s, I see the size is not a real problem... When the chest strap shows 180 and you see 120 on your wrist, you want to give up on Garmin and never trust them.

It's a lousy product. I always run with Polar band because the Fenix 8 is terrible on my wrist. As for most. Some are a bit more lucky though. But I think many only compare the average heart rate and thas says exactly nothing.

The tests done are basically flawed. One size arm. One guy choosing how tight to adjust the strap. Therefore statistically irrelevant.

I always use nylon band. Those silicon bands are crap. They are heavy and uncomfortable. I'm a Huawei watch user and I'm very happy with it. Of course I swapped the original silicon band, for nylon one. There are easily available at Ali Express and they are quite cheap there.

hmm.....

I won’t be so nice I be straight up rob is a straight apple fan boy. I stopped watching every time he reviews a new watch he mentions & shows “the Apple Watch is the accurate device” 👆every video same mentions. Even top of his charts every AW including the ultra is like no.1 Is it the most accurate device yes but is it perfect hell NO. The number no.1 con AW needs iPhone tough luck for any android user. But the biggest con weak pathetic battery life it’s known fact AW won’t longer day or two before it dies I’m a android user my device pixel 9 pro xl, I use windows pc, Samsung tablet, my main watch Fenix 8 51mm solar for my needs and training superior 1 month battery life garmin never lets me down 👍 I like the videos Dave 👏

An excellent balanced review, Garmin optical HR sensor is just fine, I think Apple does it best...but as youve said theres limitations to any optical sensor, we cant expect a BMW to beat a lamborghi so why would people compare optical to ECG!!!

Yep, what you said makes perfect sense. If you don't use a tool correctly it's not going to give you the best results. Whether it's running sneakers for a runner or a high-tech bathing suit for an Olympic swimmer not having the best fit will give you poor results. Getting great, accurate results means understanding the limitations of the technology you are using. One size doesn't fit all. 😄

QS did some tests to show how HR accuracy is very sensitive to multiple factors. He did tests comparing wearing same watch on left are right hand, he compared HR accuracy of the same watch but with different straps. He tested the same watch on 2-3 other people. All this results were different. There are many youtubers testing HR accuracy. There are at lest 3-4 youtubers that get almost perfect accuracy no matter the watch. There are many people on Apple forum complaining that they get horrible HR accuracy. So it all depends on the person wearing the watch.

AWU2 on a heavy wach side too! But more accurate from what i see

And tattoo impact very much

I have a fenix 7X pro solar and I was having the same issues of the watch moving on my wrist. I bought straps that are like on the Enduro three the nylon ones and before every run I tighten down the watch a little bit more and it doesn’t move anymore at all gets better heart rate accuracy on point again.

Note quantified scientist says he wears Garmin most of the time. I like some of the sensor performance of the apple watches but I don’t think I can live with that dorky little square on my wrist, nor do I want another device that needs daily charging. The Garmin looks like an actual decent looking men’s watch.

Most people wear the watch too lose, resulting in inaccuracy. It has to be tight with zero movement

Well done and informative. I’ve been happy with the Fenix 8 47mm heart rate accuracy - for reference, 195mm wrist size. Nylon bands do also help quite a bit.

That's wy i use the coros armband. You can put inside your forearm, wher e you see a big vein. If you don’t use a nylon band and don’t wear the watch above the wrist bone, the heart rate test can’t be serious.

I tested 2 different Garmin versus an amazfit and a mobvoi ticwatch. In all cases, the Garmin did better. I'm not saying the Garmin did perfect. But I'd give them like an 8 out of 10. Compared to a chest strap, I also tested some cheaper watches. And the results I got with those was comedic, and had nothing to do with reality. In general, I really don't mind the bigger Garmin.I don't have a huge wrist either, but i'm also not averse to cinching it down.

Omg , that was very useful , after all of d hours of watching videos about A W s n garmin ones this vid did actually answered my questions , wow thank u 🤝

Thank you! It was clear to me that his results were muddied by the movement of the, heavy, fenix 8. Very good info.