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How accurate are fitness smartwatches? Not very, says FIU study

tampabay.com · 3h · first reportShare

A smartwatch is supposed to have all your resources literally at your fingertips. Other than checking the time, some people may use their device to respond to texts or track their health. But how accurate is it at recording the calories burned in a workout? A recent Florida International University study tested four of the most popular fitness watches against gold-standard clinical lab equipment. The results: Each smartwatch overstated how many calories people burned. “You can’t treat the calories burned number it gives you as an accurate number, because it’s not,” said Jason Kostrna, the study’s lead author and FIU associate professor of kinesiology and exercise science in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, to FIU News . “You could be off hundreds of calories each week and easily end up in a calorie surplus when you think you’re in a calorie deficit.” Here’s what to know about FIU’s study. What brands were tested in FIU’s smartwatch study? The smartwatches tested include the A