Apple Watch Series 4 CrossFit Review
Apple Watch Series 4 General Review
*Special Heart Rate Commentary*
AutoSleep App Review
Workout Comparisons.
This was a great test of the new Optical Heart Rate sensor as it compares to a chest strap. Reasonable wrist flex with the burpees, thrusters, and even kipping pull ups - and the Apple Watch maintained almost the same level as the H10. It has never been this close with a wrist-based device, and it clearly shows the accuracy is advanced. Still.... no useful metrics other than heart rate average and caloric burn.
Here is a workout where I attended a Barre class with my wife. The wrist flex wasn't significant so the heart rates were similar when compared to both the Polar Ignite and H10 Chest Strap. The biggest variable is the difference in seeing a clear heart rate chart as it compares to the others, and the workout evaluation is definitely absent. You can see the caloric burn and heart rate measures but there's no evaluation of effort expended or time for recovery. I used Cardiogram for the clearer heart rate visibility, which is useful.
This was a simple indoor ride workout compared to the Polar Ignite to evaluate the general performance of the watch during traditional exercise. The heart rate doesn’t completely lined up, but I am uncertain of which one is more accurate exactly. The main thing you can see is that the Apple Watch displays general details while the polar beat app displays recovery time and output.
Sleep/Recovery Tracking.
Of course the Apple Watch doesn't have sleep tracking built in, but after review of many 3rd party options it seems Autosleep is the best one available. After using it for a few days - to give it time to adjust to my patterns - it continues to show excessive Deep sleep when compared to the Ignite (which tracks about the same as the Fitbit Ionic). It also gives scores for the night overall and 'Readiness' for the day. These seem okay but I still am unsure of its overall accuracy.