Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 : Full SCIENTIFIC Review

Summary

The Galaxy Watch 6 by Samsung has been put to the test by postdoctoral scientist Rob, focusing on its health and sports tracking capabilities. After two weeks of rigorous testing, including heart rate monitoring during various workouts and sleep stage tracking, the watch showed mixed results. It performed well in detecting heart rate during indoor cycling but struggled with outdoor cycling and weightlifting. Sleep stage tracking was not as accurate as expected, often misidentifying deep sleep as awake time. Oxygen saturation measurements were a bright spot, showing good correlation with a reference device during a flight simulation. GPS tracking was adequate for casual use but not precise enough for detailed mapping. Overall, the Galaxy Watch 6 received a moderate rating of 3 out of 5 stars, with improvements suggested for sleep tracking and the potential for better value in its predecessors.

Takeaways

• 📈 The Galaxy Watch 6 has seen some improvements over the previous model, including a slightly larger screen, a newer processor, Bluetooth 5.3, and increased RAM.
• 🏃‍♂️ Heart rate tracking during indoor cycling was generally accurate, but the watch occasionally missed detecting heart rate dips during rest periods.
• 🚴‍♀️ Outdoor cycling heart rate tracking was less accurate, with a significant drop in correlation compared to indoor cycling, leading to the recommendation against using the watch for outdoor biking.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Weightlifting heart rate tracking was also not recommended due to the watch's inability to accurately capture heart rate peaks and dips.
• 💤 Sleep stage tracking was not up to par, with the watch often misidentifying sleep stages and recording too much awake time.
• 👎 The overall sleep stage monitoring received a low rating, with the watch not being recommended for this purpose.
• 🌟 Oxygen saturation measurements were a bright spot, showing good performance during a flight where reduced cabin pressure was expected to lower oxygen levels.
• 📍 GPS tracking was adequate for casual use but not precise enough for those needing detailed mapping of their routes.
• 🔄 The watch's performance can vary based on individual factors such as skin color, hairiness of the arms, and the presence of tattoos on the wrist.
• 🤔 Despite improvements in some areas, the Galaxy Watch 6's health and sports tracking did not show significant advancements over the previous generation.
• 💲 Considering the lack of major improvements, the Galaxy Watch 5 might offer better value for money.

Q & A

What was the focus of the review on the Galaxy Watch 6?

The focus of the review was on the health and sport tracking capabilities of the Galaxy Watch 6, including heart rate tracking accuracy, sleep stage tracking, GPS tracking consistency, and low oxygen saturation detection.

How long was the Galaxy Watch 6 tested before the review?

The Galaxy Watch 6 was tested for more than two weeks, which resulted in the reviewer having about four times more data compared to his initial review.

What device was used as a reference for heart rate tracking performance?

The Polar H10 ECG chest strap was used as a reference device for heart rate tracking performance.

What was the correlation value between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Polar H10 during indoor cycling workouts?

The correlation value between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Polar H10 during indoor cycling workouts was 0.92.

How did the Galaxy Watch 6 perform in outdoor cycling heart rate tracking compared to indoor cycling?

The Galaxy Watch 6 showed a significant drop in performance for outdoor cycling, with a correlation value of 0.6 compared to 0.92 for indoor cycling.

What was the reviewer's overall rating for the heart rate tracking performance of the Galaxy Watch 6?

The reviewer rated the heart rate tracking performance of the Galaxy Watch 6 at 3 out of 5 stars, stating it works decently enough for static exercises like indoor cycling.

How did the Galaxy Watch 6 perform in sleep stage tracking compared to an EEG device?

The Galaxy Watch 6 showed poor agreement with the EEG device for sleep stage tracking, particularly in detecting deep sleep and REM sleep accurately.

What is the reviewer's rating for the Galaxy Watch 6's sleep stage monitoring?

The reviewer rated the sleep stage monitoring of the Galaxy Watch 6 at two or maybe two and a half out of five stars.

How did the Galaxy Watch 6 perform in measuring low oxygen saturation during a flight?

The Galaxy Watch 6 performed well in measuring low oxygen saturation during a flight, showing patterns that matched closely with a reference device.

What was the reviewer's overall rating for the Galaxy Watch 6's GPS tracking?

The reviewer rated the GPS tracking of the Galaxy Watch 6 at three and a half or maybe even three out of 5 stars, noting that while it acquired signals quickly, the signal was quite noisy and not very precise.

What was the final overall rating given to the Galaxy Watch 6 by the reviewer?

The final overall rating given to the Galaxy Watch 6 by the reviewer was 3 out of 5 stars, considering it an average performer in health and sports monitoring.

Outlines

00:00

😀 In-Depth Review of Galaxy Watch 6

Rob, a postdoctoral scientist, conducts a systematic and scientific review of the Galaxy Watch 6 focusing on health and sport tracking capabilities. The review includes testing of heart rate tracking, sleep stage tracking, GPS tracking, and low oxygen saturation detection. The results are compared with previous models and other watches on the market. Timestamps are provided for easy navigation.

05:01

🏋️‍♂️ Heart Rate Tracking Performance

The heart rate tracking performance of the Galaxy Watch 6 is evaluated during indoor and outdoor cycling workouts and weightlifting sessions. It is compared against the Polar H10 ECG chest strap. The watch shows a good correlation in indoor cycling but struggles with outdoor cycling and weightlifting, sometimes detecting double the actual heart rate. The overall assessment is that the watch is adequate for indoor cycling but not recommended for outdoor cycling or weightlifting.

10:02

🚴‍♀️ Outdoor Cycling and Weightlifting Tracking

The Galaxy Watch 6's performance for outdoor cycling and weightlifting is found to be less accurate than indoor activities. During outdoor cycling, the watch has a significant drop in correlation value and shows more instances of inaccurate heart rate readings. For weightlifting, the watch also exhibits difficulty in tracking heart rate peaks and dips, resulting in a mediocre performance compared to other smartwatches.

15:02

💤 Sleep Stage Tracking Evaluation

The Galaxy Watch 6's sleep stage monitoring is tested against an EEG device called the Dreem 2. The watch's sleep stage detection is found to be inaccurate, often misidentifying deep sleep as light sleep or awake time. Samsung's claims of improved sleep tracking are questioned, as the main improvements seem to be in data presentation rather than tracking accuracy. The watch is not recommended for sleep stage tracking based on these results.

20:02

🌡️ Oxygen Saturation Measurement Test

The Galaxy Watch 6's ability to measure oxygen saturation is tested during an airplane flight where lower cabin pressure is expected to decrease oxygen concentration. The watch's measurements are compared to a reference device and are found to be in good agreement, showing a clear drop in oxygen saturation levels during the flight. This suggests the watch could potentially be used to detect sleep apnea.

25:04

🚴‍♂️ GPS Tracking and Route Mapping

The GPS tracking feature of the Galaxy Watch 6 is tested by cycling the same route multiple times. The watch quickly acquires the GPS signal but the tracking is not highly precise, with noticeable deviations from the actual route. The signal is noisy, and while it provides a rough estimate of the cycling path, it is not reliable for those needing accurate tracking. The GPS performance is rated as average.

30:06

📊 Final Verdict on Galaxy Watch 6

In conclusion, the Galaxy Watch 6 is rated as an average performer in health and sports monitoring. It tracks heart rate well under easy conditions but not in more challenging scenarios. Oxygen saturation measurements are good, and GPS tracking is sufficient for casual use. However, sleep stage monitoring is unimpressive. The watch is given an overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars, with the main concern being the lack of significant improvements over previous models.

Keywords

💡Heart Rate Tracking

Heart rate tracking is a feature in fitness wearables that measures the number of heartbeats per minute. In the video, the Galaxy Watch 6's heart rate tracking performance is tested against a Polar H10 chest strap, a device known for its accuracy. The watch's ability to accurately record heart rate during various exercises like indoor cycling, outdoor cycling, and weightlifting is crucial for users who rely on this data for health and fitness monitoring.

💡Sleep Stage Tracking

Sleep stage tracking is a health monitoring feature that analyzes different phases of sleep, including deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep. The Galaxy Watch 6's sleep stage tracking is compared to an EEG device, which is a more accurate method for measuring sleep stages. The video discusses the importance of accurate sleep data for providing useful health advice and the potential issues with relying on inaccurate sleep tracking.

💡GPS Tracking

GPS tracking in smartwatches is used to record the user's location and movement轨迹 during outdoor activities like cycling or running. The video assesses the Galaxy Watch 6's GPS tracking consistency by cycling the same route multiple times and checking for overlaps in the GPS signals. Accurate GPS tracking is important for users who want to map their routes and monitor their outdoor workouts effectively.

💡Oxygen Saturation

Oxygen saturation refers to the amount of oxygen carried by red blood cells, and it is a critical parameter in health monitoring. The Galaxy Watch 6's ability to measure oxygen saturation is tested during an airplane flight where reduced cabin pressure is expected to lower oxygen levels. The video discusses the potential use of this feature to detect sleep apnea, a condition where breathing is disrupted during sleep, leading to lower oxygen saturation.

💡Samsung Galaxy Watch 6

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a smartwatch developed by Samsung with a focus on health and fitness tracking capabilities. Throughout the video, various features of the watch are systematically tested, including heart rate tracking, sleep stage tracking, GPS tracking, and oxygen saturation measurement. The watch's performance is evaluated based on scientific testing and comparison with other devices to determine its effectiveness as a health and sports monitoring tool.

💡Polar H10 Chest Strap

The Polar H10 chest strap is a heart rate monitoring device that is worn around the chest and is known for its high accuracy. In the video, it is used as a reference point to compare the heart rate tracking accuracy of the Galaxy Watch 6. The chest strap provides a benchmark for how well the watch performs in recording heart rates during different types of physical activities.

💡Correlation Value

The correlation value is a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two variables, such as heart rate measurements from two different devices, are linearly related. In the context of the video, the correlation value between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Polar H10 chest strap is used to evaluate how closely the watch's heart rate readings align with the more accurate chest strap readings.

💡EEG Device

An EEG (electroencephalogram) device is a medical device that records electrical activity in the brain, often used in sleep studies to measure sleep stages. In the video, the EEG device is used to compare the sleep stage tracking capabilities of the Galaxy Watch 6. The device provides a more precise measurement of sleep stages, allowing the reviewer to assess the accuracy of the watch's sleep tracking features.

💡Blood Oxygen Saturation Measurement

Blood oxygen saturation measurement is a health monitoring feature that tracks the level of oxygen in the blood. The video discusses how the Galaxy Watch 6's measurement of this vital sign can be useful in detecting conditions like sleep apnea, where oxygen levels may drop significantly during the night. The accuracy of this feature is tested during an airplane flight, where reduced oxygen levels are expected.

💡Location Tracking

Location tracking is a feature in smartwatches that uses GPS to record the user's geographical location and path during outdoor activities. The video evaluates the Galaxy Watch 6's location tracking by cycling the same route multiple times to check for consistency in the GPS signals. The accuracy of location tracking is important for users who want precise mapping of their exercise routes and accurate distance measurements.

💡Fitness Wearables

Fitness wearables are electronic devices, such as smartwatches or fitness bands, that are designed to track physical activities, health metrics, and other wellness data. The Galaxy Watch 6, as discussed in the video, is an example of a fitness wearable that offers various health and sports tracking features, including heart rate monitoring, sleep analysis, and GPS tracking, which are essential for individuals looking to monitor their fitness and health.

Highlights

The Galaxy Watch 6 was tested for its health and sport tracking capabilities over two weeks, revealing some surprises in performance.

Rob, a postdoctoral scientist specializing in biological data analysis, conducted an in-depth review focusing on heart rate tracking, sleep stage tracking, GPS tracking, and SpO2 detection.

The watch's heart rate tracking was compared against the Polar H10 ECG chest strap during various workouts, including indoor cycling, outdoor cycling, and weightlifting sessions.

The Galaxy Watch 6 showed a correlation value of 0.92 for heart rate tracking during indoor cycling, indicating a good but not perfect agreement with the Polar H10.

Surprisingly, the watch sometimes doubled the actual heart rate during certain activities, as evidenced by a cluster of points in the data.

Outdoor cycling tests revealed a significant drop in correlation to 0.6, with many heart rate points falling below the ideal line, suggesting lower detected heart rates.

The Galaxy Watch 6's sleep stage tracking was compared to an EEG device, showing low agreement, particularly for deep sleep and REM sleep detection.

Samsung's claims of improved sleep tracking on the Galaxy Watch 6 were found to be mainly in data presentation rather than tracking accuracy.

Oxygen saturation measurements during a flight showed promising results, with the watch accurately detecting drops in levels, similar to a reference device.

The Galaxy Watch 6's GPS tracking was found to be quick to acquire a signal but suffered from noise and imprecision in tracking the exact route taken.

The watch's performance in health and sports tracking was considered average, with better performance in static exercises like indoor cycling.

The Galaxy Watch 6 was rated 3 out of 5 stars, with the main drawback being the lack of significant improvements over previous models.

The reviewer suggested that the Galaxy Watch 5 might offer better value for money due to similar performance and potentially better sleep tracking.

The Galaxy Watch 6's oxygen saturation feature showed potential as a preliminary tool for detecting sleep apnea, although it's not a medical device.

The watch's sleep stage monitoring was not recommended due to inaccuracies, particularly in detecting deep sleep and wake times.

The GPS tracking, while quick to start, was not precise enough for those needing an accurate record of their route.

The review emphasized that individual performance may vary based on factors like skin color, gender, and wrist hairiness, which could influence tracking accuracy.

Transcripts

in this review we're going to

systematically and scientifically test

the ins and outs of the Galaxy watch 6.

the focus will be on the health and

Sport tracking capabilities of this new

release from Samsung based on more than

two weeks of testing which did result in

a few surprises we will test their heart

rate tracking accuracy sleep stage

tracking performance GPS tracking

consistency and low oxygen saturation

detection now as always I do not want to

waste your time so there are timestamps

in the description below so you can

easily navigate to those things that

matter to you let's get started

foreign

for those of you that are new to the

channel my name is Rob and I'm a

postdoctoral scientist specializing in

biological data analysis now this will

be my first in-depth review of the

Galaxy watch 6 and compared to my

initial review a few weeks ago there

were a few surprises now that I have

about four times more data to work with

now as always I'm not gonna bother you

by listing the specs of this watch since

you can find those on Samsung's website

the most important things to know are

the screen is a bit bigger the processor

is a bit newer it now uses Bluetooth 5.3

instead of Bluetooth 5.2 and the ram has

increased slightly otherwise the watch 6

is largely similar to The Watch 5 so

instead of going through these specs in

detail we're gonna purely be focusing on

Independent testing of the performance

of this watch since Samsung did promise

improved Health tracking now as always

let's start off by looking at the heart

rate tracking performance of the Galaxy

watch 6 which I tested during a total of

nine indoor cycling workouts 18 outdoor

cycling workouts and 8-way lifting

sessions and this is an overview of how

the Galaxy watch 6 performed during 9

indoor cycling sessions and will test

the Galaxy watch 6 by comparing it

against the polar h10 ECG chest strap

which can generally record my heart rate

very accurately now each dot here is a

single heart rate measurement with

longer horizontal axis the value

according to the polar h10 ECG chest

strap and on the vertical axis the value

according to the Galaxy watch 6 and if

the Galaxy watch 6 perfectly agrees with

the polar h10 all values should be along

this blue diagonal line and the darker

black to color the more dots that are in

that location and as you can see most

points are indeed nicely along this blue

line now there are some points away from

it but generally it looks pretty okay if

the points are below the Blue Line it

means the Galaxy watch 6 detected it to

low heart rate and if they're Above It

it means detected to a high heart rate

and we can see especially here there's a

cluster of points where detected to high

heart rate and in these moments we

detected about double the heart rate

that it should have so it detected a

heart rate of 150 beats per minute

whereas it should have detected a heart

rate of about 75 beats per minute and

we've seen this before with some watches

that they either attack double or half

the actual heart rate but we can take a

look at some of the individual training

sessions to see how often this actually

happens first let's take a look at this

r value up here which is the correlation

which is 0.92 in this case now the

correlation cannot be higher than one so

0.92 is pretty good though it's not

amazing still it's probably good enough

for most people but like I said let's

take a look at some of the individual

training sessions to see what the

patterns actually look like and here we

have the first spinning session I wanted

to share with you now in blue green I

uploaded my heart rate according to the

reference polar h10 ECG chest strap and

in red is my heart rate according to the

Galaxy watch 6. now along the horizontal

axis we have the clock time and my heart

rate is along the vertical axis and as

you can see for this indoor cycling

session there's a pretty good agreement

between the Galaxy watch and the polar

h10 they generally over will have it

very well only in the dips in my heart

rate when I'm taking a rest in between

my intervals the Galaxy watch 6 isn't

able to pick up those decreases in my

heart rate fully so as you can see

usually my heart rate drops to about 80

85 BPM and the Galaxy watch 6 isn't

fully able to detect this usually it

stops at about 100 BPM detecting the dip

in my heart rate still overall the way

the Galaxy watch 6 tracked my heart rate

for this ride is generally good enough

for most people there's also this small

artifact right here where it really had

trouble picking up on the dip in my

heart rate but still this ride looks

quite good and many rides are actually

somewhat like this though there are a

few rides that showed some artifacts and

one of them is this right right here

here we see that in the beginning of

this ride where I had a big dip in my

heart rate the Galaxy watch at some

point actually detected an increase in

my heart rate and this is what we

actually saw in that overview before the

Galaxy watch 6 attacks a heart rate of

about 150 bpm where in reality my heart

rate was closer to 75 BPM so here it

actually detected double my actual heart

rate now for the rest of the ride it

actually looks pretty good so somewhat

similar to what we saw for the previous

session so overall the tracking is

pretty good but sometimes it dips in my

heart rate aren't fully picked up still

this artifact is somewhat surprising to

me I would think this would be easy

enough for the Galaxy watch to detect

now there was one more ride than an

artifact like this and that's this right

right here this one was a bit more messy

in general so I don't know if for some

reason it was shifted a bit more on my

wrist but you can see right here that

when I was taking a rest in between my

intervals it chewed up the decadent

heart rate of about 75 70 BPM when

reality it again detected double my

heart rate so about 150 bpm and also

right here it had trouble detecting that

dip in my heart rate and also later in

the ride it actually detected the two

low heart rate but this right looks

somewhat messy in general with more

noise also on the peaks in my heart rate

so it could have been that for some

reason the watch wasn't optimally

positioned on my wrist I'm not sure what

happened here I always try to be very

consistent with the way I put the

watches on my wrist but you know know

something can always happen but these

were the only two rides out of nine

total that show these artifacts so some

actually looked really good like this

one right here where the overlap is more

or less perfect and then most rides were

somewhere in between where they might

show some minor artifacts like right

here and right here where it shows a

delay in picking up a change in my heart

rate still overall I expected most rides

look good enough for most people alright

that's looking fairly solid so far I

have to get a clearer understanding of

how the Galaxy watch 6 performs let's

put these results into context let's

compare them against 70 different

watches I previously tested this way you

can determine if there's possibly a

better choice waiting out there for you

and here you can see that overview of

how the performance of the Galaxy watch

6 comparison of many other watches now

the correlation value I was talking

about before is the value we'll use for

this and this is displayed along the

horizontal axis and the watches are

ordered from worst the best on the

vertical axis so the further to the

right and the higher devices the better

is its agreement with the ECG device and

here I've highlighted the Galaxy watch 6

in red and as you can see it's somewhere

in the middle of all the watches so it's

definitely not performing poorly but

there's also many better devices out

there but let's zoom in a bit because

it's quite difficult to read and that

way we can see what watches it is

similar to but also Weight Watchers are

doing a bit or a lot better and that

zoomed in view is displayed right here

so I've only pulled the better watches

so those with a correlation of 0.9 or

higher right here and as you can see the

Galaxy watch 6 in red is super close now

to the Galaxy watch 6 classic so they're

performing more or less the same I would

say this is a bit different from my

initial review where I felt that the

Galaxy watch 6 was doing a bit better

than the Galaxy watch 6 classic so I'm

not really sure what happened there it

could have just been by chance at the

Galaxy watch 6 did better than the

Galaxy watch 6 classic in those tests

and now that I have about four times

more test data the Galaxy watch 6 and 6

classic are performing about the same

which does make sense since they have

the same sensor and are also performing

about the same as the Galaxy watch 5 Pro

the previous generation though

interestingly if we look at the Galaxy

watch 5 so the non-pro version the

normal Galaxy watch 5 and the Galaxy

watch 4 both of these seem to be doing

significantly better than the Galaxy

watch 6 and the Galaxy watch 5 Pro and

I'm not sure why this is now of course

this was testing I did in the past with

previous firmware versions but still

here they consistently did better than

the Galaxy watch 6 does now now I'm not

sure if this is just a fluke and by

Chance the Galaxy watch 6 is doing worse

in my testing now than the Galaxy watch

5 and fored it in my previous testing or

if there was a change in the sensor

architecture that I don't know about

that did change the results or if

potentially the firmware was updated and

this actually resulted in a poorer

performance of this sensor now it does

quite often happen that with new watches

firmware updates are released over time

that really improved the results we saw

that for the Galaxy watch 4 for instance

but I still find it strange that the

Galaxy watch 6 which as far as I know

has more or less the same sensor as the

Galaxy watch 5 and also the Galaxy watch

4 is performing worse than those watches

even though I would suspect that the

same firmware could be used on the

Galaxy watch 6 to track the heart rate

but these are just the data that I have

and I want to present them to you if you

have any idea why this could be or if

you have any experience with the Galaxy

Ward 6 and also the Galaxy watch 5 or 4

let us know in the comments below now as

regular viewers will know Apple watches

are performing by far the best and also

some selected Huawei watches doing quite

well now let's tackle a more challenging

activity for this watch to track outdoor

cycling cycling Outdoors is generally

more difficult for a watch to track

because of the increased tension on my

arms but also largely because of the

increased bumpiness let's find out if

and how this affected the performance of

the Galaxy watch 6 and here you can see

a similar overview plot to before but

now for cycling outside and again we

want the points to be as close to this

blue line as possible now as you can see

most points are still close to the Blue

Line because there's a lot of dark black

close to the blue line but there are a

lot more points away from the Blue Line

especially below it right here so that

means that in these moments the watch

detected are too low heart rate and we

can also also see that the correlation

dropped from 0.92 for cycling indoors to

0.6 for cycling inside so that's a very

significant drop but let's take a look

at the individual cycling sessions to

see what's actually happening here now

this is the first individual bike ride I

wanted to share with you I had a total

of 18 bike rides where I tested the

Galaxy watch 6 and I will select a few

that are somewhat representative of the

different patterns I wanted to show with

you so some rights look okay I would say

like this one right here where there's a

generally okay-ish agreement between the

Galaxy watch 6 in red and the polar h10

in blue the Galaxy watch 6 right here

does tend to miss the absolute peaks in

my heart rate sometimes you can see that

right here but also right here right

here right here so there's some delay in

it picking up an increase in my heart

rate still overall this doesn't look

terrible but there were also some rides

that were much worse like this one right

here for instance where it really from

most of the ride wasn't able to pick up

on the peaks in my heart rate and it

always detected a much to low heart rate

you can see there were many moments I

had a really quick increase in my heart

rate and the Galaxy watch just wasn't

able to detect this for this ride it

just kept detecting sort of my Baseline

heart rate and it wasn't able to follow

along well with the chest trap and some

rides were a bit of a mix between the

things we've seen so far but for the

beginning of the right here the Galaxy

watch 6 did quite well but then later it

really started to struggle and just kept

detecting a too low heart rate and

looking at all the sessions from most

rides the Galaxy watch 6 just wasn't

able to attack my heart rate accurately

you can also see it for this ride right

here where I get detected a much too low

heart rate some bike rides were a bit

better like this one right here where

for at least half the session it was

able to track my heart rate quite

accurately still though it showed some

artifacts in the middle right here so

based on my results and how it performed

on me I cannot recommend the Galaxy

watch 6 for biking outside this is a bit

of a difference compared to my initial

review where I had a limited set of

tests that I did where it seemed to

perform a little bit better than the

Galaxy watch 6 classic wherefore my my

latest testing I don't feel like the

Galaxy watch 6 is doing any better than

the Galaxy watch 6 classic but let's now

compare the performance of the Galaxy

watch 6 that have many of the auto watch

stuff tests in the past to see how good

or bad this result actually is and here

we have a similar overview to before but

now for cycling outside and again the

further to the right and the higher

devices the better is its agreement with

EGD chest strap and the Galaxy watch 6

marked in red here isn't doing that

great compared to other devices it's

actually really close to the Galaxy

watch 5 Pro and also quite close to the

Galaxy watch 6 classic I tested last

week now there is a slight difference

between the two with a classic

performing slightly better than the

normal version of the Galaxy watch 6 but

I suspect this is random variation and

not actual Improvement in the

performance though interestingly again

the Galaxy watch 4 and the Galaxy watch

5 are doing better than the Galaxy watch

6. so I'm not sure what's going on here

again this could be by random chance

that for some reason while I was testing

the Galaxy watch 4 and 5 the

circumstances were just bit better than

for the Galaxy watch 6. it could have

been due to for instance sweating versus

non-sweating I tested the Galaxy watch 6

on quite warm days so there are plenty

of devices I tested on warm days like

for instance the Huawei band 8 did it

quite well now as regular viewers will

know Apple watches are performing the

best by far out of any devices out there

I know some of you think I'm an apple

Fanboy but these are just the data and

I'm presenting them to you you can draw

your own conclusions from this also some

Huawei watches are doing quite well like

the Huawei GT3 Pro and we all see that

some cheaper watches like the Huawei

band 8 are doing quite well and a lot

better than some more expensive watches

next let's take a look at another

difficult exercise for a watch to track

weightlifting now for weightlifting it's

not the movement per se that makes it

difficult to track your heart rate but

it's more difficult because of the

increased tension on my wrist and on my

arm making it much harder for the watch

to get a clean heart rate signal I have

our first a quick side note if you're

interested in the latest updates on the

wearables I'm testing I'm planning to

start back up with my newsletter and

posting more Optical things on my

Instagram and my YouTube shorts channel

so if you're interested in any of those

those are linked below of course you'd

also make me really happy I need to help

my efforts if you subscribe to this

YouTube channel but of course this is

totally up to you now enough self

promotion let's take a look at the

performance during weightlifting which I

tested during a total of eight training

sessions now again this is a similar

overview plot and we still want those

points to be as close to the blue line

as possible and as you can see there is

a lot of dark black here close to the

blue line so that's good so especially

here in the lower heart rate range the

polar h10 and the Galaxy watch agree

very well but in the higher heart rate

range there's a lot more deviation we

see some points above it and also below

it so that's somewhat surprising since

most watches only detected to low heart

rate during weightlifting for the moment

I'm doing a set of exercises my heart

rate increases but due to the tension on

my arm and candle detectives so in those

moments it would actually detect it too

low hard right so it would keep

detecting that low heart rate when I'm

in between sets but in this case for

some reason it also quite often attacks

it to high heart rate and the

correlation is also not amazing at 0.73

but let's take a look at the individual

training sessions to see why it's also

detecting a two high heart rate in total

I did eight weightlifting sessions with

the Galaxy watch 6 and here we have the

first result I wanted to share with you

and this session shows how it sometimes

detects it to high heart rate so again

we have the Galaxy watch 6 in red and

here in the beginning it actually takes

a bit of a too high heart rate when I'm

weightlifting later on it does appear to

be performing okay but here it struggles

a bit but for most of the sessions we

actually see patterns we see for many

smart watches where the moment I do a

set of exercises my heart rate increases

as you can see in blue green for the

reference of eyes so you can see in red

that in most cases the Galaxy watch 6

wasn't able to track these peaks in my

heart rate and sometimes when I was

taking a rest in between my sets as you

can see right here but also right here

the Galaxy watch 6 again detected to

high heart rate and this is not that

typical for smart watches now for a few

sessions we see that the Galaxy watch 6

is some times able to detect a peak in

my heart rate for instance right here

and right here but overall still many

Peaks are missed and sometimes it also

overshoots the Peaks as you can see

right here and also right here and right

here where it wasn't able to pick up on

the dip in my heart rate so overall for

weightlifting I cannot recommend the

Galaxy watch 6 but the same is true for

many other watches but to show you how

Auto watch is performed for

weightlifting let's take a look at an

overview where comparing many of the

watches I've tested in the past to the

Galaxy watch 6. and again this is a

similar overview to before but now for

weightlifting with the further to the

right and the higher devices the better

is its performance and as you can see

the Galaxy watch 6 is somewhere in the

middle of all devices it's not terrible

like for instance some amazed with

devices but also not great like the

Apple watches and some selected Huawei

watches now based on this it looks like

the Galaxy watch 6 is mediocre compared

to other watches and again we see at

least in my testing it's super close to

the Galaxy watch 6 classic which makes

sense as they have the same sensor and

also use this same firmware we actually

see that for weightlifting in this case

they're doing better than the Galaxy

watch 4 and the Galaxy watch 5 so that's

somewhat surprising to me that for this

exercise they do seem to be

outperforming the Galaxy watch 4 and 5

whereas for the other exercises they

were doing significantly worse now this

for me could be an indication that there

have been firmware changes that these

firmware changes were actually

detrimental to some exercises but maybe

slightly beneficial to other exercises

but I'm actually retesting the Galaxy

watch 5 now in conjunction with the

Galaxy watch 6 to see if there's any

difference between the two or if not

with the latest firmware they're

performing about the same and this has

led to a decrease in performance for

certain exercises and a slight increase

for weight lifting but those results I

will share in a future video since I'm

still Gathering the data still honestly

for weightlifting it doesn't matter too

much because both the Galaxy watch 6

Galaxy watch 5 and 4 all of them aren't

doing good enough to be used for heart

rate tracking at least not during

weightlifting I would only use devices

with a correlation of at least zero

point 9 preferably close to 0.95 for

tracking my heart during weightlifting

and if you really think it's important

to track your harder during

weightlifting just wear an HD chest

strap that is generally the most

reliable way to track your heart rate so

in general the Galaxy watch 6 seems to

be an okay heart rate monitor but it has

some major issues it tends to work well

enough for indoor cycling at least on me

and I think this level of performance

would be good enough for most people if

I expect most people will not be

satisfied with the outdoor cycling

performance I observed it's performed

during weightlifting also wasn't that

impressive but this might have been

expected since most watches software

performance issues while weightlifting

on the whole I'd rate the heart rate

tracking performance of the Galaxy watch

6 at 3 out of 5 Stars it works decently

enough but only for static exercises

like indoor cycling but okay let's

switch gears and delve into another

Health tracking feature sleep stage

monitoring in their release video

Samsung actually claims they have

significantly stepped up their game in

sleep tracking on the Galaxy watch 6 and

6 classic but as I indicated earlier in

my previous videos I'm afraid that this

Improvement mainly touches upon the data

presentation and not on the actual sleep

stage monitoring itself and I do find

this slightly concerning honestly

because any sleep advice provided by a

watch based on inaccurate data may be

detrimental instead of helpful but this

means it's time to take a closer look to

check if the Galaxy watch 6 can detect

my sleep stages or compare to an EEG

device called to dream 2 that can

actually imagine my brain waves and has

been shown to be relatively reliable at

sleep stage tracking and here I show an

overview of the sleep test results now

if we're getting an overall impression

of how well the Galaxy watch 6 performs

The Dream 2 should likely be good enough

however the gold standard would be poly

sonography which I did try on the Galaxy

watch 6 but I still need to analyze

those results and I also tested that on

the Galaxy watch 5 and you can find that

video right here now on top here are the

sleep stages as recorded by the EEG

device and on the left are the sleep

stages as recorded by the Galaxy watch

6. I wore both EEG device and the guy

Galaxy watch 6 the bet for 8 nights and

we will see how close the predictions of

the Galaxy watch 6 are to those of the

EEG device now each column here sums to

100 meaning that we can see what

percentage of each of the sleep stages

according to the dream 2 was predicted

as a sleep stage by the Galaxy watch 6

and if they perfectly agree all values

on the diagonal should be 100

now first of all we see that only 34 of

what the EEG device detected as deep

sleep was also detected as a deep sleep

by the Galaxy watch 6. so this is a

really low number it detected more of

what the EEG device detected as deep

sleep as light sleep instead at about 54

but let's now take a look at some of the

individual Knights so we can maybe

understand better what's happening and

here you can see their first night I

wanted to share with you now on top we

have the sleep stages according to the

dream to EG headband with long

horizontal axis of time and my sleep

stages along the vertical axis and on

the bottom we have a similar plot but

now for the Galaxy watch 6 and now in

purple right here I highlighted the deep

sleep as recorded by the EEG device and

as you can see there's a marginal

agreement between the EEG device and the

Galaxy watch 6. so some of the deep

sleep with the dream to EEG had been

detected was also detected by the Galaxy

watch but only about half of it right

here I would say and the Galaxy watch

also detected some other deep sleep

right hand right here and it didn't

detect a short deep sleep segment right

here so I would say this isn't looking

that great and for the second night

right here we even see worse agreement

now first of all took a while for the

Galaxy watch 6 to actually detect that

fallen asleep so I'd likely fallen

asleep right here roughly but it took

about 15 minutes more for the Galaxy

watch 6 to detect this and it detected a

lot of awake time here in the beginning

where I actually had some deep sleep so

none of the Deep Sleep detected by the

EEG device overlaps with the Galaxy

watch 6. so that isn't looking too good

and it even attacks some awake time

during these moments now this somewhat

matches with what we saw for the Galaxy

watch 6 classic which also seemed to be

very sensitive and detected too little

deep sleep and too many awake moments

now again we see something similar for

this Knight right here where the Galaxy

watch 6 detected very little deep sleep

and many awake moments though in this

case the moment it did detect deep sleep

it overlapped quite okay with the EEG

device it just detected too little of it

now light sleep agreement was okay I

would say it's 67 so 67 of what the EEG

device that was light sleep was also

detected slightly by the Galaxy watch 6

however also about 20 percent was

detected as RAM sleep instead and about

11 percent as awake time now Ram sleep

agreement was also pretty poor so

similar to Deep Sleep agreement at about

37 percent more of what was a ram sleep

according to the EG device was actually

detected as being a light sleep instead

so also very similar to what we saw for

deep sleep now this is a similar plot to

before but now with the ram sleep as

recorded by the EEG device marked in red

and as you can see there's a pretty poor

overlap between the EEG device and the

Galaxy watch 6. so as you can see I

likely had one two three four Ram sleep

segments with some light sleep in

between and as you can see the Galaxy

watch takes basically detected none of

this it detected some ramps deep right

in between these two segments right here

and it only detected a little really a

tiny bit of REM sleep when I was

actually having Ram sleep according to

the EG device so you see a little bit of

overlap right here and some overlap

right here but generally the ram sleep

detected by the Galaxy watch 6 is very

different from the EEG device at least

that's what we see for this night now

for the second 90 degrees a bit better

so again I had one two 3 4 REM sleep

segments and the Galaxy watch 6 detected

three out of four of these so that's

pretty okay though it did miss this

first short ram sleep segment right here

and detected some extra Ram sleep right

here the overall for this night it looks

okay though for other nights again it

looks pretty bad as we also see for this

night right here where there's very

little overlap except for this last

segment right here and also the first

night we were looking at was pretty bad

and that also means that in most cases

the Galaxy watch 6 cannot affect your

sleep cycles so you go through roughly

four to six sleep cycles each night each

one starting with light sleep and deep

sleep Market in blue and each one ending

in Ram sleep marked here in red now as

you can see I likely had one two three

four sleep cycles this night and the

Galaxy watch wasn't able to detect any

of these now as I mentioned before the

second night I shared with you looked a

lot better and it would have been able

to detect three out of four Cycles so

it's a bit hit and miss though for most

nights it doesn't look very promising

now awake time detection is okay so

similar to light sleep agreement at

about 69 percent and again similar to

light sleep most confusion is with REM

sleep at about 19 but there's also a

significant percentage of what was awake

time according to the EEG defies being

detected as light sleep instead by the

Galaxy watch 6. but again let's take a

look at some of the individual Knights

to see what's actually happening here

this is a similar plot but now with the

awake time as detected by the EEG device

in green and as you can see there's a

pretty poor agreement between the Galaxy

watch 6 and the dream to EEG headband

the dream 2 detected a few awake moment

so one right here and one right here and

the Galaxy watch six detected none of

these also the Galaxy watch 6 attacked

me as falling asleep later and waking up

sooner and also detected a bunch of

extra awake moments during the night so

this doesn't look very promising at

least not for this night but we

generally see something similar for most

nights where the Galaxy watch 6 attacks

a bunch of extra awake moments and also

doesn't fully agree on the moment I fell

asleep and the moment I woke up alright

that doesn't seem too impressive but

let's give it a fair shot by stacking up

the Galaxy watch 6 against a lot of the

other devices I've tested previously now

this graph shows you an overview of the

agreement of different watches with the

EEG device along the horizontal axis we

have the average agreement over the four

individual sleep stages and on the

vertical axis we have the agreement of

the worst sleep stage so the better the

agreement the more to the top right the

devices now the watch is marked in blue

right here were actually tested against

the polysomenography device which is

actually the gold standard of sleep

stage tracking and the device is not

marked in blue or tested against the EEG

device we were just looking at and I

would say that generally the conclusions

drawn based on the EEG device and those

based on the polysonography device

actually give very similar results and

as the regular viewers will know the

devices with the best agreement so far

were different Apple watches in this

case the series 7 Series 8 but also the

Apple watch SE and Apple watch Ultra the

HD both 3 also performs very well and

other good devices include different

fitbits whoops traps the Google pixel

watching the window sleep analyzer

though the agreement is not quite as

good as that of the Apple watches and if

I now plot the results of the Samsung

Galaxy watch 6 in the same plot we can

see it's not doing that great it's

actually very close to the Galaxy watch

5 Galaxy watch 4 classic Galaxy watch 4

Galaxy watch 5 Pro and Galaxy watch 6

classic so all Galaxy watches are more

or less the same area of the plot so I

suspect they use this same algorithm and

their sleep tracking performance is

about the same Samsung does a bit better

than Huawei watches for instance but

still overall they're not doing that

well therefore at the moment at least I

cannot really recommend Galaxy watches

for Sleep stage tracking as you might

have seen in their release video of the

Galaxy watch 6 and 6 classic Samsung did

refocus on sleep tracking though I don't

think they changed their algorithm any I

do think they change the way they

presented it to you and how

interpretable it is but if the

underlying data isn't any good I cannot

really recommend you use the Samsung

Galaxy watch 6 or 6 classic for that

matter for Sleep stage tracking I think

the only thing is good for at the moment

moment is roughly knowing when you fell

asleep and when you woke up so you can

keep yourself accountable for getting

enough sleep opportunity alright while

this honestly aligns a bit with my

general expectations this sleep stage

monitoring of the Galaxy watch 6 just

isn't good enough at least not on me

therefore overall my rating of the

Galaxy watch 6's sleep stage monitoring

would be two or maybe two and a half out

of five stars but moving on let's now

turn our Focus to a feature which could

help some of you discover they have a

sleep disorder you might not even know

you had I'm of course talking about the

oxygen saturation measurements taken by

the Galaxy watch low oxygen saturation

is a common occurrence in sleep apnea

which is a disorder where you basically

stop breathing for parts of the night

which could potentially be diagnosed

with the watches oxygen saturation

measurements because as you stop

breathing your oxygen saturation drops

now where heart rate is generally

recorded using green light red and

infrared light are generally use to

track your oxygen saturation and I

wanted to find out if the Galaxy watch 6

can detect a lowered oxygen saturation

now the test that I took to watch with

me on airplane flight in the plane the

air pressure in the cabinets decreased

during the flight which effectively

lowers the oxygen concentration which

then in turn lowers the oxygen

concentration of my red blood cells and

here in pink you can see plotted Hammer

oxygen saturation roughly vary during

the flight that a reference device I use

for this wasn't perfect so this is a

ring that measures my oxygen saturation

which is pretty good but I did work

during the flight so I typed a bit and

that can influence the measurements but

still we can see I had a higher oxygen

saturation before takeoff than as the

plane ascended my oxygen saturation

decreased it set more or less low during

the flight right here there were some

Peaks right here which are probably due

to movement of my finger then as the

plane descended again my oxygen

saturation increased and it stayed at

normal levels after we landed so let's

now take a look at how the Galaxy watch

6 performed and the measurements I took

with the Galaxy watch 6 uploaded as

green dots right here connected also by

Green lines and as you can see the

patterns match very well with the

reference EEG device

so there are more or less normal values

at ground level that decrease as the

plane was ascending they stayed low

during the flight so much lower than you

would expect at normal levels so at

about 93 or lower then as the plane

ascended again they increased and they

were at their highest when the plane was

back at ground level so this actually

looks quite good and the Galaxy watch 6

performed very well in this testing now

there will be some variation we saw last

week that the Galaxy watch 6 classic

showed similar patterns with a bit more

noise and since they have the same

sensor this might have been due to me

wearing it on a different arm or maybe

the fit was a bit worse still overall I

do think that with both the Galaxy watch

6 and 6 classic you would able to detect

significant drops in oxygen saturation

though again if you get a single low

measurement or even a few there's no

need to panic this is not a medical

device but it could be a reason if this

is something you see consistently during

a knife for instance to get checked by a

doctor and see if we potentially have

sleep apnea and as always I cannot give

you actual medical advice this is just a

YouTube video if you have any issues

please disgusting with your doctor okay

this looks quite good actually now do

keep in mind that this is only a

preliminary test but the results so far

are encouraging therefore I'd rate the

oxygen saturation measurements of the

Galaxy watch 6 with 4 out of 5 Stars

moving on let's now explore a feature of

the Galaxy watch 6 that is likely

utilized by many users the GPS or

location tracking will test this feature

by cycling the same route multiple times

checking if the signals overlap well

which would be a good sign or if we

actually spot significant divergences

between the recorded signals which would

be a bad sign and here you can see the

results for nine times I cycle two work

now I didn't give the Galaxy watch 6 any

extra time to acquire the signal so I

immediately started cycling and I always

started my exercise on the corner right

here and as you can see it did acquire

the signal quite quickly so most points

are quite close to this corner right

here but they are a bit spread out

meaning that the signal wasn't super

accurate in the beginning so that's both

good and bad some watches take a bit

time to acquire the signal but the

Galaxy white shakes didn't need that

time but the accuracy is sort of the

Precision of that signal wasn't very

good in the beginning still overall I do

think it's really good that it required

the signal so quickly and let's now see

it for the rest of the rise the results

were very consistent so the signals over

that very well or if there's a lot of

deviation and a lot of noise in the

signal so we actually need to zoom out a

bit to look at that better and as you

can see most of the time I took the

exact same route one time I needed to

make a small detour but then quickly

went back on track and as you can see in

the beginning there's quite some

deviation between the signals sometimes

they're quite close together but for

instance this signal right here is

deviating quite a bit from the others

then later in the ride some parts look

quite good as you can see right here

there are also some parts where it

struggles quite a bit so the signals are

deviating a bit more again and as we go

along the right we see there are some

regions where it's performing quite well

and some regions were all deviating a

bit more so again here the signals come

together for a bit but for instance here

and also here that we see quite a bit

more deviation than as we go further

along the right we see that the signals

get a bit more consistent especially

here it doesn't look too bad and if we

zoom out a bit we can see that even

better so here the signals are

overlapping quite okay I would say that

the second quality here is acceptable

and if we zoom into this corner right

here where I know that I take quite a

straight angle of this corner there is a

bit of smoothing right here and some

deviation between the signals still

overall it does track where I cycled

roughly but we can all see that quite

often when I had to stop in front of a

traffic light the signal starts to

deviate a bit in place so you can see

some signals right here go a bit to the

left some a bit to the right but it's

not very precise at keeping that signal

at exactly the right spot and later on

we see some more deviations between the

signals especially here deviating quite

a bit so overall even though it roughly

tracks your location and you get a rough

estimate of where you cycle called I

don't think the precise locations are

very accurate and also the total

distance that I cycled might vary quite

a bit because there's noise in the

signal but let's take a look at some

more rides where our Cycles from work

back home and see if the second quality

is a bit better in that case and those

results are displayed right here so

these are seven times I cycled back from

work and I always start my workout right

here in front of the building and you

can see five times it acquired the

signal almost instantly though with some

deviation and two times it took a little

bit of time but this cannot have been

more than 15 seconds or so so this is

quite good so again the signal is

acquired quite quickly though there is

quite a bit of noise in the signal

especially in the beginning and if we

then look at the consistency between the

signals we see more or less the same

thing as we saw before though it might

look a little bit better because I think

cycling back from work it has a bit of

an easier job so there's fewer

interference of buildings around but

let's take a look so in the beginning

here it actually looks quite good and

this is what we see from many watches

that in the beginning here is easier to

track than if we go bit along the Route

right here we see there's quite some

deviation so here it almost never tracks

me is going exactly along the street it

actually has me going through some

buildings as well so the signal quality

here I would say is not that great and

especially right here we see a big

deviation between the signals three

times it really went off track so one

signal right here one right here and

also one right here then as we cycle a

bit further along the ride it looks a

bit worse than I expected honestly it's

just quite some deviation again here and

for this part it maybe looks a bit

better so it's more or less following

the street layout now and also the

signals are more consistent but then

again here we see a bit more deviation

and also right here twice I had to stop

to go into a building it might have been

McDonald's but as you can see then

there's a big deviation in the signal

but this makes sense of course because I

go into a building so I cannot fold it

for that luckily after that it does

acquire the signal quite quickly again

the overall I would say that the signals

are quite noisy we can also see that

right right here and right here that the

signals just aren't super consistent you

roughly can see where you cycled but

it's not really following the street

layout which could of course be a

systematic error in Google maps that

there's a slight deviation from the GPS

positioning of any watch but we also see

that there's a big deviation between the

signals so many watches do a lot better

than this for instance apple and

especially Garmin are a lot better at

tracking my route so long story short

the Galaxy watch 6 doesn't offer the

most impressive location or GPS tracking

the signal is quite noisy and the main

thing that it is going for it is that it

acquires the signal quite quickly this

means it's good enough for people just

wanting to casually map their route

however it's not good enough for anyone

looking to have an accurate record of

their bike ride therefore overall I'd

rate it at three and a half or maybe

even three out of 5 Stars since the

results are even a bit worse compared to

what we saw for the Galaxy watch 6

classic last week though I do expect

this to be random variation given the

similarities between the watches now

before I dive into my overall

conclusions of this watch it's crucial

to mention some of the limitations

regarding my testing methods firstly I

must note I could only test the watch on

me and it might perform differently on

some people factors such as your skin

color gender the hairiness of your arms

and even whether you have tattoos on

your wrist could potentially influence

the performance still I do believe my

testing gives you a general impression

of the watch's performance but keep in

mind that there could be some variation

from person to person also more

extensive testing and future updates

could influence the performance of this

watch as we saw for the Galaxy watch 4

for instance but alright what is my

final verdict well it's not that

different from my impressions of the

Galaxy watch 6 classic I reviewed a week

ago in terms of health and sports

monitoring the Galaxy watch 6 seems to

be an overall average performer it

manages to track my heart rate well

enough but only under easy conditions

and it's not good enough for those

tougher circumstances the oxygen

saturation measurements were actually

pretty good and the GPS tracking was

good enough as long as you don't care

about any of those details on the other

hand is sleep stage monitoring wasn't

impressive very often recording way too

much awake time and limited deep sleep

therefore to sum it up I would rate the

Galaxy watch 6 at 3 out of 5 stars now I

know I'm repeating myself a bit but the

main thing that bugs me personally is

the lack of improvements compared to the

previous generations yes the screen is a

bit bigger now and some other specs show

improvements but the actual health and

sports tracking don't seem to have

improved much and potentially even got a

tiny bit worse though I do want to do

more testing to be sure of that

therefore if I wanted to get value for

my money I would look at a good deal on

the Galaxy watch 5 which potentially

offers more bang for your buck now if

you do decide to get a Galaxy watch 5 a

Galaxy watch 6 a whoop strap another

device or anything at all on Amazon for

that matter even something as small as

toilet paper and at the same time you

want to support this channel there are

different affiliate and non-affiliate

links in the description below they do

not cost you any extra and some even

provide a discount now given that you

watch this whole video on the Galaxy

watch 6 you might also be interested in

some other watch testing and you can

find those videos right here in the

meantime thank you so much for watching

and catch you in the next video

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