Wearable comparison during Olympic Triathlon. WHOOP MG (5.0) vs Polar360 vs Amazfit Helio strap vs Garmin Instinct 3 vs Oura 4.

A few weeks ago I mentioned I’d be racing an olympic distance triathlon with a stack of wearables strapped to me. Well, I did it, and here are the (raw) results.

TL;DR: Raced a tri with WHOOP, Polar360, Helio strap, Garmin Instinct 3, and Oura Ring 4. Polar was the most reliable, WHOOP decent but spiky in swim, Helio finicky about placement, Garmin surprisingly messy, Oura useless for sport.

For anyone not familiar, Olympic distance triathlon is:

1. 1.5km swim

2. 40km bike

3. 10km run

On the right arm I had the (from top) WHOOP MG, Polar360, and Helio strap stacked up. On the left, the Garmin Instinct 3 and Oura Ring 4. I looked ridiculous (but not more than everyday since I wear them all constantly), but I was curious to see how they’d compare across swim, bike, and run in real race conditions.

Hybrid athlete xD

Here’s how it went:

• Swim: I got both legs cramped at 1km mark. Thoughts of DNF were running through my head, but I really wanted to see the comparison (:P), so I prevailed and swam the last 500m with my arms only, dragging my uselessly cramped legs behind me.

• Bike: When I finally got my legs moving again, the bike leg went smoothly. Hit a steady 34km/h avg pace. I could've pushed more, as my HR was between 150-160, but I was afraid of losing my legs again.

• Run: This was actually the easiest leg for all wearables, and myself. By the end of the run the different devices were surprisingly aligned, except Oura that was again useless.

Overall impressions:

• Polar360 was the most reliable of the bunch. I was definitely not expecting that!

• WHOOP is decent but not flawless, especially in water. It had the best arm placement of all the wearables, so there should be no excuses (I know some people will find many).

• Amazfit Helio started with a disadvantage of being the lowest on the wrist, when moved up, was decent. In my opinion better than WHOOP, worse than Polar360.

• Garmin Instinct 3 really surprised me with how messy the HR data was. I am very negatively surprised with these results.

• Oura Ring 4 confirmed what most of us already know: great for sleep and recovery, not for sport.

My current band rating:

1. Polar360

2. Helio strap

3. WHOOP

4. Garmin

5. Oura

Why did I do this? Mostly curiosity — and partly because I’m working on a side project (reThrive) where we’re digging into how different devices capture performance and recovery. I figured some of you here would appreciate raw, messy comparisons like this too.

Next on my list is to look at how each of these devices calculates recovery scores over the last month and see if they align at all. If you’re interested, I’ll share those results too.

I will also be racing a half-marathon later this month, also wearing them all. And will post the update here as well.