Hi! I previously purchased the Galaxy Active 2 but quickly returned it when I learned that it doesn't accurately calculate calories burned. I was excited to see the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 but cannot find any information on how it calculates calories burned. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks in advance!
Generally speaking, all smart watches are inaccurate to a degree when measuring calories burned. Information on an exact measurement of accurateness is not available though. Here is a link to the information we do have available on burned calories with Samsung watches: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/troubleshooting/TSG01003163/
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Thank you for following up. For more information about how the calorie calculation works, I would recommend reaching out to our Samsung Health team directly at (855) 795-0509.
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Generally speaking, all smart watches are inaccurate to a degree when measuring calories burned. Information on an exact measurement of accurateness is not available though. Here is a link to the information we do have available on burned calories with Samsung watches: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/troubleshooting/TSG01003163/
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Thank you for your response. Why does the watch not consider heart rate when calculating calories burned during exercise? This seams like a huge miss for an active watch.
I have the exact same question. I’ll order the Watch 4 if they’ve changed the way it calculates calories burned.
I also had the Watch 2 and returned it immediately, when I discovered that it wasn't doing as advertised. I have a Fitbit that calculates (to the best of its ability) calories burned all day long, based on your height, weight, and heart rate. It shows you real time burned calories. The previous Samsung watches would only give you estimates of calories burned, based on the workout you chose. So, I could choose a workout and then just sit down on my butt for a half an hour, and it would show me the same calories burned as if I had been working out like a crazy person for 30 minutes. From what I understand, the only workouts that would take the heart rate into consideration are walking or running. I can't believe Samsung can actually market this as a fitness tracker using programming like that.
In response to the person that claims that none of these watches are 100% accurate, that may be true, but the Fitbit is for sure more accurate than a watch that tells me I've burned 200 calories just sitting down on the couch for 30 minutes, just because I chose a certain workout.
When I was testing out the Watch 2, I would select the same workout every day, but do a different aerobic routine, and the calories burned were the exact same every single day for a 30 minute workout, no matter which routine I did. Sorry, but that is terrible programming.
I attempted to call Samsung tech support (supposedly), the sales department, and the Samsung Health Team number provided in this thread, and none of them were able to answer my question. I can't believe that after an hour on the phone, no one at Samsung could answer a simple question as to how the new watch is going to work. The last person I spoke to is going to escalate the question and get back to me within 48 hours. We'll see if I get an answer.
Please let me know if you hear anything more from them on this! it seems like a huge miss, they cant market this as an active/fitness watch if it doesn't have some accuracy in calories burned. It tracks your heart rate so how is it so hard to use that data in calculating calories burned! The watch 4 can measure your body composition/BIA but not calories burned... makes no sense.
Well, I talked to the Samsung Health team again. They claimed they had a meeting, and they don't have that information available to them, so they couldn't answer the question. In other words, "We're too lazy to take the time to find somebody within the company that can answer the question."
So, it looks like it's going to be up to the consumer to find out the hard way, just like we did with the predecessors to the Watch 4.
I have been doing a ton of research and it appears that only the Fitbit Versa 3 actually uses your heart rate + BMR to calculate calories burned. Looks like that's the watch I'll be getting unfortunately.
