Which is more accurate: the Garmin Instinct 3 or the Apple Watch Ultra 2?
I went on a big hike in the beautiful Wye Valley in the UK to test out AllTrails’ new Peak subscription service. AllTrails is one of our best fitness apps, and I wanted to update its review, taking the new Peak service into account.
However, also wanting to make the most of the opportunity, I wore my Apple Watch Ultra 2, my Garmin Instinct 3, and the all-new Whoop MG, the medical-grade version of the Whoop 5.0.
The main wearables I wanted to test were the Instinct 3, the best Garmin watch for outdoor adventures at its price point, and the Whoop MG. The Instinct series is super-popular because it’s cheaper than the high-end Fenix series, while still offering fantastic GPS and navigational capabilities, albeit at the expense of some features like full-color maps.
I often use the Apple Watch Ultra 2 as a litmus test when checking the GPS and heart rate indications of other, cheaper wearables. I’ve done these sorts of tests before: last year, I ran the London marathon with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Garmin Epix Pro and compared their results against Strava and my official marathon chip time. You can see that video below.
This time, I’m taking Garmin’s Instinct 3, comparing it with the readings from my Apple Watch Ultra 2 and AllTrails’ map of the route I walked. I’m also testing the new Whoop MG’s heart rate readings, comparing them against the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Garmin Instinct 3 to set a standard for wrist-mounted heart rate detection.
