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Comment by bookaway | Hacker News Reader

I don't use any of them, but I've heard firsthand from some like the author complaining about inaccurate data from devices like the Apple Watch and Oura, some getting rid of them due to this.

Since the OP continues to use them, am I to understand there is no better alternative that is comparable on the comfort/ease-of-use/cost-effectiveness axis with these devices?

The idea of making health decisions based on bad data makes me queasy, but do people who continue to use these devices despite knowing their inaccuracy still recommend their use because one shouldn't let "the perfect be the enemy of the good"?

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There's a Youtube channel from a Dutch researcher doing scientific tests on sleep and fitness tracking performance of wearables[1].

Ardently Apple devices and Oura are at the top in terms accuracy of what wearables can do, but if you want proper accuracy then you need to invest in dedicated sleep monitoring equipment as a watch on your wrist will never come close to electrodes on your head.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist

Thanks, will check it out.

Just yesterday, someone was complaining about having gone a hike and his watch registering 10k distance, while the watches of the two others registered 6k. Was wondering how common a problem that was before I came across this article.

I love his channel and comparisons but at the end of the day the tests are on a population of 1 and I guess accuracy can highly fluctuate between persons.

Also in some videos I remember he was using the Dreem headband as comparison standard.

I bought the Dreem 2 when it came out as it seemed like finally an accurate sleep tracker but the software and recording were very dubious: every night that didn't fit in a perfect sleeping pattern it failed to give any useful data. I ended up sending it back and wouldn't trust much the results after that.

Correlates with what I’ve seen. My Garmin is laughably bad but does give a rough idea of when I fell asleep and when I awoke (usually). Everything else in middle is trash.

Apple Watch was more precise with how I “feel.” Haven’t done an actual sleep test with either but I know Garmin is generally wrong and apple might be nearing an accurate approximation based on how I feel.

The withings sleep mat analyser seems very accurate (Its approved by the European Medical council). It diaganosed my sleep apnea.

Outside of devices used for sleep studies, sleep tracking is notoriously inaccurate in general.

There is even a condition for people who develop insomnia from sleep tracker anxiety. It's called orthosomnia, and you can learn more about it here: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/orthosomnia

I used to use AutoSleep religiously. It told you how much "sleep debt" you've accumulated. I've definitely lost sleep over worrying that I wouldn't "pay down" the debt (a useless endeavor, since sleep quality is something that's mostly out of your control once you're asleep).

These days, I just use Apple's built-in sleep tracker, and I don't put too much stock into it.

I've heard it said they are not especially good at absolute numbers, but for comparing i.e., last night to the night before, or to three months ago, that is, seeing the trends they are good.

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