I walked 7,000 steps with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs. Garmin Venu X1 — and the winner is clear

Tom's Guide

5 hours ago

The new Garmin Venu X1 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 have a lot in common. Both are flagship smartwatches with big square touchscreens, sleek titanium cases, cutting-edge wellness and fitness tracking tech and $800 price tags.
These sporty, oversized wearables also come jam-packed with safety features, workout training and recovery tools, useful sleep insights and handy communication features. However, only the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is cellular compatible.
But which one tracks your fitness more accurately? That's what I set out to find out in this Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs. Garmin Venu X1 walking test.
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is one of the best full-featured smartwatches money can buy, boasting a tough-as-nails design with 100 meters of water resistance, a programmable Action button, loads of holistic and fitness tracking tools, a virtually endless number of third-party apps, first-rate communication and safety features, and the best battery of life of any Apple Watch.
The Garmin Venu X1 is the brand's latest high-end smartwatch, sporting the largest screen of any Garmin wearable to date, along with the thinnest case design. Like the Apple Watch Ultra 2, it offers plenty of workout and wellness tools, along with safety features and some smart features. Where it beats the Ultra 2 is in training and recovery tools. It also tracks a much wider range of workout types.
I've already covered how the Garmin Venu X1 could finally be the Apple Watch Ultra 2 alternative I've been hoping for, though further testing of the former is needed to confirm its bona fides.
That said, one key advantage the Ultra 2 might have over the Venu X1 is when it comes to location tracking accuracy. This is because the Apple Watch has a comparatively more sophisticated multiband GPS antenna versus the single-band GPS in the Garmin.
Multiband is especially helpful when using GPS in locations with obstructed skies, like cities or forests. And as a resident of Seattle, Washington, I'm fortunate to have access to both via a short walk out my door.
I'm also fortunate to have just gotten my hands on a Garmin Venu X1 review unit, which means that it's time for a classic Tom's Guide smartwatch walk test showdown between two titans of the wearables world: Apple versus Garmin.
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Most of you probably know the drill by now, but for any newcomers, the following is how we test smartwatch tracking accuracy head-to-head. One device is worn on either wrist; in this case, the Garmin was on my left and the Apple Watch on my right.
The main metric we're comparing here is step count accuracy, followed by distance and elevation gain. As a control for the first, I manually count each step taken during my walk. With my left foot only taking odd-numbered steps and my right foot taking only even-numbered ones, I keep tally until the total hits on hundred. Then, I click my old-timey manual tally counter and start the process over again at one.
Meanwhile, Strava (run on a trusty iPhone 12 mini) acts as a control for distance and elevation data.
So which of these two powerhouses turned in the more accurate set of metrics, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 or the Garmin Venu X1? Check out the table below for results, followed by my analysis.
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Garmin Venu X1
Control
Step count
6,959 steps
7,056 steps
7,000 steps (manual count)
Distance
3.74 miles
3.77 miles
4.07 miles (Strava)
Elevation gain
458 feet
486 feet
478 feet (Strava)
Average pace
17 mins, 17 secs per mile
17 mins 26 secs per mile
15 mins, 46 secs per mile (Strava)
Average heart rate
125 bpm
125 bpm
n/a
Max heart rate
158 bpm
159 bpm
n/a
Total calories burned
547 calories
445 calories
n/a
Device battery usage
5%
12%
n/a
Across the board, this was a very close one, with both smartwatches performing admirably. However, with a total step count that's just 41 steps shy of my actual total, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 beats the Garmin Venu X1, which overcounted by a still reasonable 56 steps.
For what it's worth, Strava bested both devices with a step count total of 7,004 steps.
Apple and Garmin both measured roughly the same distance covered, which is — interestingly and oddly enough — a full quarter-mile less than Strava's metric.
Meanwhile, Garmin's elevation gain data more closely aligns with the control, with just 8 feet separating the two; Apple undercounted by a more notable 20 feet.
Pace data is also roughly the same between the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Garmin Venu X1, while Strava's elapsed pace metric is quite a bit faster. This makes sense given Strava calculated a further distance covered in the same amount of time as the other two.
Heart rate data is additionally a near match between these two premium wearables, while the Apple Watch noted slightly more calories burned during my roughly one-hour walk. On the flip side, Garmin burned through more than twice the battery capacity as Apple, using GPS to track my trek.
As predicted, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 had a slight upper hand when it comes to tracking accuracy. However, both devices produced step count totals that I'd consider well within a margin for error. More importantly, across the board, both the Garmin and Apple Watch largely produced the same data, from heart rate to pace.
There are a few exceptions. This is far from the first time I've encountered an Apple Watch that undercounts my climb data compared to the competition. Still, I'd consider either smartwatch to be a rock-solid fitness tracker and more than worthy of your wrist.
Which wearables should I test head-to-head next? Let me know in the comments below.