Most of you think your fitness tracker data is good enough

Fitness trackers generally need to be reliable because the last thing you want is your mileage accumulated, steps taken, and more to be completely wrong. But how sure are you about your tracker’s sensor data?

That is the subject of our latest poll results article, as we asked Android Authority Readers to see if they thought the sensor data from their fitness tracker was correct. That’s how you answered it.

Do you trust the sensor data of your fitness tracker?

Results

We released the poll on Thursday April 29th and it received over 2540 votes. A total of 56.6% of respondents felt that their fitness tracker data gave them a good general idea of ​​their metrics. Most of the readers surveyed then clearly do not expect perfect results, but are nonetheless satisfied with what they get.

In the meantime, just over a quarter of those surveyed said they were actually skeptical about the readings from their fitness trackers. We’re not surprised so many people have felt this way, especially after devices like the Fossil Hybrid HR and Amazfit GTS 2 and GTR 2 showed sketchy readings in our reviews.

Finally, 17.4% of the readers surveyed felt that their fitness tracker data was indeed correct. And it’s understandable that devices like the Apple Watch and Garmin VivoActive 4 are praised in our reviews for being closely followed up.

Remarks

• saimin: My Garmin watch with built-in GPS is much more accurate than my friend’s Fitbit, which is based on her phone’s GPS. The distances on my watch are always within 5% of the distances calculated by Google Maps, while their distances are always 10% to 30%, even if we drive the same route together.
• Phil Gartman: I have the Samsung Gear Fit 2. The only thing I really use it for is as a heart rate monitor while I work out. And for that I know for sure that it is actually very accurate. I go on dialysis three times a week, where my blood pressure and heart rate are checked every 30 minutes. Most of the time, my tracker is dead at or within a few BPM. I don’t really care about other metrics. I have my own computer and Strava for cycling. I trust them far more.
• perico_jones: Let’s say they’re a little off, but I don’t care if I’m arbitrarily above or below 20,000 steps in a day, not whether I’ve done 20,000 or 20,005.
• Albin: I leave general fitness data tracking (for myself and for multinational corporations) to someone else, but I bought a consumer non-networked SPO2 fingertip reader that follows the big NYT article a year ago about dangerously low blood oxygen levels warn otherwise asymptomatic COVID-19 for early treatment. The professional tests are routine at the medical check-in. The home device is affordable and precisely to the extent that the readings in your mid-90s are “safe” and sudden falls would mean calling the doctor.
• Bryan Hill: In any case, the Apple Watch has the wrong reading for me, especially with regard to step count and “exercise” as it uses a very mild count.

Thank you for voting in our fitness tracker poll and for leaving comments. What do you think of the bottom line? Let us know below.