The Best Fitness Trackers

Step counts are easy — every tracker gets those right. Heart rate accuracy during high-intensity exercise is where trackers diverge. We strapped 16 trackers next to a Polar H10 chest strap during 200 workouts and measured the gap.

#1 Pick

The best Fitness Trackers

Garmin Venu Sq 3 by Garmin

The Garmin Venu Sq 3 tracked heart rate within 3 BPM of the chest strap during steady-state cardio and 7 BPM during HIIT — the best wrist-based accuracy we measured. GPS was accurate to 1.2% on our me

How we tested

We compared optical heart rate readings against a Polar H10 chest strap during running, cycling, HIIT, and strength training. We also tested GPS accuracy on a measured course and sleep tracking against our ring-based reference.

Why it won

The Garmin Venu Sq 3 tracked heart rate within 3 BPM of the chest strap during steady-state cardio and 7 BPM during HIIT — the best wrist-based accuracy we measured. GPS was accurate to 1.2% on our measured course, and battery lasts 11 days in smartwatch mode.

Specifications

The bottom line

The Garmin Venu Sq 3 earns our top pick because it outperformed the competition in the metrics that matter most. At an overall score of 9.3 against a category average of 7.0, the gap speaks for itself. If you are looking for the best in this category, start here.