I walked 5,500 steps with the Apple Watch 12 vs Garmin Venu 4 — and the winner was nearly too close to call

In a recent test, two top smartwatches, the Apple Watch Series 12 and Garmin Venu 4, were used while walking 5,500 steps to determine which fitness tracker excels. Both devices are outfitted with the latest heart rate tracking technology, onboard GPS, and barometric altimeters for elevation tracking, making them highly capable in monitoring fitness.

The comparison involved wearing the Apple Watch on the left wrist and the Garmin Venu on the right during a 50-minute stroll around hilly Seattle, Washington. Using a tallied counter, I manually counted the steps, recording 5,520, which both smartwatches came remarkably close to matching: the Apple Watch slightly overcounted at 5,531 steps and the Garmin Venu undercounted by just 2 steps.

Distance measurements were also nearly identical, with the Apple Watch off by just 0.02 miles and the Garmin Venu by a mere 0.06 miles. The climb data from the Apple Watch was slightly generous, adding an extra 38 feet, while the Garmin Venu logged 417 feet, which was closer to the 5,520 steps recorded by my manual count. Heart rate data from both watches was spot-on, averaging 131 BPM and maxing out at 160 BPM.

However, the Garmin Venu consumed four times more battery power during the workout compared to the Apple Watch Series 12. In summary, both smartwatches performed impressively well, but the Garmin Venu 4 emerged as the overall winner, excelling in step tracking, pace data, and overall accuracy.