Stiftung Warentest: Only two Smartwatches to obtain a good valuation

Who uses a Smartwatch to Monitor his Fitness, gets a amount of data delivered as a pulse, stages of sleep, distance traveled and calories burned.

Such as ‘Stiftung Warentest’ now shows in a comparison of 13 Smartwatches, you should not rely, however, on exactly this information – especially in the case of the fitness functions there is often.

Not only that, but Even basic applications such as Sending messages, making phone Calls or Navigating to showed significant shortcomings.

Only the “good” models deliver correct data

Of the 13 models tested, only two expensive devices could cut a “well”. Other, cheaper models to protect the purse, not provide the user but really good information.

Especially in the case of the determination of pulse rate and distance during various sporting activities such as walking, Jogging, Cycling, and Swimming showed almost all of the models weaknesses.

Only the two “good” models, Apple Watch Series 5 for 480 with a grade of 1.8, and the Garmin Forerunner 245 Music for 335 euros and a grade of 2.2 were able to capture the data almost completely correct.

Reading tip:The Apple Watch Series 5 in the FIT FOR FUN Test

The correct values only for exact information

Who wants to identify with its Smartwatch step number and calorie consumption, should not be stingy with the personal information, by the way.

The watch calculate this data is only correct if gender, age, size and weight are carefully specified. The sparser the own information, the less votes the supplied values.

At least the testers were able to determine that this Fitness and health data without permission be disclosed to third parties.

Disclosure of personal data

It’s different for a number of personal data, which can be queried for the Set up of the user account as well as for the pairing with the Smartphone.

Six of the providers in the Test will be asked in this context, not only for the function of unnecessary data, but reserved the right, this collected information to third parties.

In nine of the 13 manufacturers of the testers were able to prove in General, significant deficiencies in the privacy policy. The Xlyne Jolie XW Pro dropped due to insufficient data protection all the way through.

In the gallery:10 tips for more movement in everyday life

Fitness areas not convincing

After the two “good” advertised Smartwatches, many other models have achieved only a “satisfactory”. Including the Huawei Watch GT for 191 euros, with an overall rating of 2.8.

The fourth place will share the Fossil Q Explorist HR Gen 4 for 259 Euro, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active SM-R500 for 195 Euro, both with a grade of 2.9.

There is a Fitness area but could convince none of the models really. Also, the Fitbit Versa Lite Edition was awarded in the category of Fitness just adequate to 4.4.

Pollutants in the bracelets

Three watches were incurred as a result of contaminants on The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active SM-R500, the Swisstone SW 700 Pro as well as the Xlyne Jolie XW Pro.

The bracelets contained a high amount of the substance Bisphenol A, which can affect the hormone balance, and even fertility.

Although no acute health exists through the proven amounts of risk, however, the absorption of Bisphenol A should be kept as low as possible, since the fabric can also in many other everyday objects are.

Source

• Stiftung Warentest (2019): Smartwatches in the Test, Only 2 out of 13 are good, retrieved on 20.11.2019 https://www.test.de/Smartwatch-Fitnessarmband-Laufuhr-Wearables-Test-5254021-5542786/

Cornelia Bertram

*The contribution of “Stiftung Warentest: Only two Smartwatches received a good review” is published by FitForFun. Contact with the executives here.