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Stuff.tv
4 days ago
- Health
- Stuff.tv
The Whoop MG is the best fitness tracker I've reviewed
Stuff Verdict The Whoop MG packs medical-grade ECG and daily blood-pressure tracking into a sleek, screenless band. But the hefty subscription and auto-tracking blind spots let it down Pros Medical-grade measurements for a wide range of metrics Insights that actually teach you about your body Slick, intuitive app with seamless integrations Cons Requires a pricey annual subscription to use Only one specific band allows ECG and Heart Screener features Auto workout, step and VO2 Max readings aren't always reliable Introduction After a month spent wearing the Whoop MG day and night, I'm convinced this is the best fitness tracker I've used – with one major asterisk. You see, this thing is more like a pocket-sized clinic you strap to your wrist. With the MG, Whoop has taken its signature screenless design and sprinkled in medical-grade ECG and daily blood pressure estimates. These features transform what was once a simple exercise recovery tool into what feels like the most advanced tracker you can buy. Yet all its smarts come at a price – every month. There's a certain thrill in waking up to a fresh batch of numbers that genuinely matter, rather than just another simple sleep-stage chart. Still, between certain strap restrictions, occasional tracking blind spots, and the hefty subscription, it's far from perfect. How we test wearables Every smartwatch and fitness tracker reviewed on Stuff is worn 24/7 throughout the testing process. We use our own years of experience to judge general performance, battery life, display, and health monitoring. Manufacturers have no visibility on reviews before they appear online, and we never accept payment to feature products. Find out more about how we test and rate products. Design & build: Slim Jim At first glance, the Whoop MG is virtually indistinguishable from its sibling, the Whoop 5.0. The only differences are the slightly chunkier conductive clasp and an LED status light. The most standout design choice here is the lack of a screen. Unlike almost every other fitness tracker available, you can only see your readings in the companion app. Ordinarily, I'd want to see metrics on my wrist. But in Whoop's case, I think the lack of a screen is a worthwhile feature. Weighing a mere 27g, it's light enough that I mostly forgot it was there, even under shirtsleeves. That said, it did take me about a week to get used the wearable on my non-watch wearing wrist. But that's down to my own preferences rather than the Whoop. Its IP68 rating (up to 10m) means it shrugged off showers, hand-washing, and swims in hotel pools. Like with a traditional smartwatch, you can swap out the straps to find something more stylish. Whoop even offers ankle straps, bicep bands, and underwear (that idea makes me squirm) that holds the Whoop sensor in body locations where it can get a reading. That's ideal if you want to conceal the device when you need to dress up smart – something I cannot say about the Apple Watch. Personally I stuck with the wrist, but it's good to know that I have options should I need it. But there's a problem. Only the included SuperKnit Luxe band lets you use ECG and Heart Screener functions. If you swap to a cheaper fabric or bicep band and you're back to basic PPG tracking. This is down to how you take the readings, so it's not exactly Whoop's fault. But it doesn't seem right that if you wear it elsewhere you only get half the functionality. Fit and finish are spot-on. The smooth aluminium shell feels premium against skin, and the adjustable clasp snaps shut with a reassuring click. However, this shell is quite flimsy – I managed to accidentally bend it while taking the strap off. Speaking of, I found myself adjusting the strap tightness a lot in the first few days. Too loose and ECG readings failed, too tight and my wrist ached by afternoon. Once dialled in, comfort was exceptional throughout daily life and any activity. Health & fitness: A lean, mean tracking machine The Whoop MG really can track just about everything under the sun. That includes metrics like exercise strain and recovery to ECG readings, blood-pressure estimates, sleep stages, skin temperature and more. It combines optical PPG sensors, electrical ECG electrodes, and software algorithms to deliver daily health snapshots, on-demand heart screening, and predictive pressure models. You can view all of these readings in the app at any time. Strain tracking remains the bread and butter of the Whoop ecosystem. It's Whoop's proprietary metric for quantifying your total exertion each day, on a scale from 0 to 21. It combines cardiovascular load (time spent in different heart-rate zones) with all your other movement movement. So walking around the shops counts, even though it's not a workout. Recovery is Whoop's measure of how ready your body and mind are to tackle that strain again, calculated each morning as a percentage. It blends four pillars: heart-rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate (RHR), sleep performance, and respiratory rate – then benchmarks them against your personal baseline. I've seen my Recovery scores adjust wildly, being affected by sleep, travel, and alcohol. You can see which specific reading is causing a dip, and use the Whoop Coach to explain more thoroughly. Where Whoop really shines is the dialogue between strain and recovery. Based on yesterday's strain and today's recovery, the app recommends an Optimal Strain target. So if you've done a heavy workout the day before, Whoop might tell you to take it easy the next day, or to do some light activity to boost recovery. I've found these personalised insights remarkably hard to argue with. Working hard on a red day always felt like a mistake, and on green days the extra oomph usually translated into better workouts. Then we come to my biggest complaint about the Whoop MG: auto-detection. Let's start with the easy stuff. It managed to detect long runs or walks I went on pretty reliably, but shorter bursts under fifteen minutes often slipped through the net. But that's about it. Most of my other activity involves strength training, which Whoop really struggled to detect. To avoid manual logging (so my workouts counted), I continued to wear my Apple Watch. The Whoop app syncs with Apple Health, so automatically grabs your workouts. It doesn't grab any of the data, mind, so that's all down to Whoop. For strength training, there's an extra step you can take in the Whoop app to add your sets so it can calculate your muscle strain. It sounds great, in theory, but I seldom found myself using it thanks to the manual inputting required. But just how reliable was the Whoop MG? For the most part, I found that its heart rate readings were almost identical to that of my Apple Watch, confirmed with a chest strap. This means your calorie and strain calculations are going to use some pretty accurate data. But, I got some mixed results in two key areas. My step reading was an area that seemed slightly fishy. Counting to 1000 steps (yes, I really counted), my Apple Watch Ultra almost nailed it with a reading of 1006, but the Whoop struggled to count them all at around 950. I guess that underestimating is better than overestimating, but it's a not insignificant amount. And since I'm hot on step tracking, it was particularly annoying for me. The other area was the VO2 Max estimation. Whoop's reading was wildly higher than my Apple Watch Ultra's – almost a difference of 15ml/kg/min. To try and work out which was more reliable, I used the Cooper Run test. This showed that the Whoop was overestimating my VO2 Max (slightly high) while the Apple Watch was underestimating it – with the true reading somewhere in between. Other fitness features: What can't it do? Whoop's Healthspan feature took about three weeks to settle on a reliable 'Whoop Age.' Mine was a surprisingly encouraging 3 years younger than my actual age, once my routine normalised. If you've used a Garmin watch, this feature is similar to the Fitness Age – though I'd argue Whoop's visualisation of longevity metrics feels more intuitive. It tells you exactly which factors are affecting your Healthspan, and shows you what you can do about it. I found it to be a very motivating way of presenting data and insights. ECG readings are delightfully straightforward. You just touch both electrodes on the SuperKnit clasp, count down 30 seconds, and the app confirms whether your ticker is behaving or if it spotted any irregularities. It's an almost identical process to holding down the crown on my Apple Watch Ultra. It's FDA-cleared and impressively robust, but utterly manual. This is no different to any other fitness tracker, but I found myself rarely using the feature. Regular prompts might be a helpful addition here. The blood-pressure estimates impressed me most of all, as someone that suffers from high blood pressure. Thanks, genetics. After three cuff-based calibrations (I used my Withings BPM Connect), the Whoop MG began tracking (it's more like estimating, really) my blood pressure. It only does this overnight, so you'll have to wait until each morning to check your readings. Consistently, I found that the algorithm tracked my blood pressure within 3 mmHg of my manual readings. It's not a replacement for a proper machine, but as far as wellness features go, having a ballpark figure without an inflatable cuff is ideal. I'm led to believe that every time you upload additional manual readings it improves what the algorithm spits out. Just bear in mind that errant calibration or wildly fluctuating pressure could send your metrics haywire. Interface: Home-page hero The Whoop companion app is one of the best designed and most intuitive apps out of all the fitness trackers I've used. The home screen gives you readings for Sleep, Strain, and Recovery – with access to their dashboards just a tap away. Integration with Apple HealthKit and Google Health Connect means runs logged in on your smartwatch or Strava appear in Whoop's strain tally – no manual imports required. Daily Outlook, powered by GPT-4, was a much more useful feature than I first thought. It delivers a morning briefing of yesterday's key takeaways, the weather forecast, and personalised activity suggestions. I found it works particularly well when you combine it with the Journal feature that asks you questions about your day (like your caffeine intake, etc). I've loaded my Journal up with plenty of questions to get some thorough insights. There are over 160 lifestyle inputs to pick from! It's a truly clever feature – spotting that my HRV (and therefore Recovery score) was low after drinking a pint the night before, for example. Advice can feel generic at times ('consider a light session') rather than pinpointed suggestions based on my activity history. But for the most part, I really like this feature. I just wish it automatically sent these outlooks rather than firing up a painfully slow chatbot page. My biggest complaint about Whoop's companion app is the lack of a simple search bar. Finding specific data points can feel like sifting through a haystack at times. For example, all your regular heart metrics are on the home page if you scroll down, but you need to head to the Health page to see the blood pressure readings. It was definitely somewhat confusing at first. Battery life & charging: It just keeps going Credit to Whoop: the MG delivers a rock-solid two weeks of battery life, even with occasional ECG readings and round-the-clock PPG monitoring. In just over a month of testing, I only had to charge the Whoop twice from the 82% it was delivered on. I'm truly impressed by this thing's reluctance to die. Charging remains delightfully painless. The wireless charger clips on without you even noticing, and a full charge takes just under two hours. A single hour on the pad nets you about seven days of use, which is plenty if your routine includes nightly top-ups on your bedside table. You juice up the charger via a USB-C port, and the switch to a braided USB-C cable was appreciated. Whoop MG verdict The Whoop MG is a polished evolution of Whoop's screenless fitness tracker. It's been elevated into quasi-medical territory with ECG and algorithmic blood-pressure tracking, and I love all the metrics it spits out. The hardware is understated yet feels robust; the app remains a triumph of clarity over clutter. But the cost of admission is hard to swallow: $359/£349 per year for Whoop Life. Before the Whoop 5.0 and MG were released earlier in 2025, the previous 4.0 model came out in 2021. So you might end up using this thing for around four years – which is most $1500/£1400 in total. Other manual quirks, like strap restrictions and questionable auto-tracking, also temper the experience. If you live and breathe fitness metrics, crave distraction-free data, and your bank balance can handle a luxury subscription, the MG is as good as it gets. For everyone else, the Whoop 5.0 on the Peak plan likely delivers 90 per cent of the value at a fraction of the cost. The one condition attached to awarding this thing the crown of best fitness tracker I've used? The fact I've still got to wear my Apple Watch for activity tracking. Stuff Says… Score: 4/5 The Whoop MG packs medical-grade ECG and daily blood-pressure tracking into a sleek, screenless band. But the hefty subscription and occasional auto-tracking blind spots mean it's a luxury rather than a no-brainer. Pros Medical-grade measurements for a wide range of metrics Insights that actually teach you about your body Slick, intuitive app with seamless integrations Cons Requires a pricey annual subscription to use Only one specific band allows ECG and Heart Screener features Auto workout, step and VO2 Max readings aren't always reliable Whoop MG technical specifications Sensors PPG heart rate, ECG electrodes, accelerometer, skin-temperature sensor Compatibility iOS and Android (via Bluetooth LE) Durability IP68 (up to 10m) Battery life Approx. 14 days Subscription Whoop Life membership required ($359/£349 per annum) Dimensions 35x24x10mm, 27.3g
Tom's Guide
4 days ago
- Health
- Tom's Guide
I just went hands-on with the Amazfit Balance 2 — this premium multisport smartwatch boasts 21 days of battery life
Amazfit just announced the Balance 2, a high-end smartwatch designed for multisport athletes and boasting a sizable AMOLED touchscreen, a pair of physical controls, 100 meters of water resistance and support for more than 170 workout types. The brand also unveiled the Amazfit Helio Strap. Similar to the Whoop 5.0, the Helio Strap is a screen-less wellness tracker designed to be worn on the wrist and promising continuous heart-rate monitoring with minimal fuss. Amazfit says that using the two in parallel, with the watch being your primary device for recording workouts and the Helio Strap being your go-to for monitoring sleep and recovery, should result in even greater holistic-tracking accuracy. All of the data from both gets processed and combined in the Zepp app. I haven't gotten my hands on the Helio Strap just yet, but I have been wearing the Amazfit Balance 2 for a few days now. Here's everything you need to know about this freshly debuted fitness-focused smartwatch. The Amazfit Balance 2 is available now for $299, making it one of the brand's priciest wearables. The Amazfit Helio Strap is also available now for $99. The devices are additionally being sold in a bundle for $379 or $20 off. The Balance 2 is built around a roomy and bright 1.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen protected by sapphire glass. The max brightness is 2,000 nits, the same as two of the best smartwatch models in 2025, including the Apple Watch Series 10 and Google Pixel Watch 3. The combination of an aluminum alloy frame and fiber-reinforced polymer (plastic) should mean a durable yet reasonably lightweight construction. At just under 60 g with the included rubber strap attached, the Balance 2 weighs roughly the same as the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The circular case has a somewhat large diameter of roughly 48mm and a fairly standard thickness of around 12mm. In my first few days with the Balance 2, I'm finding it wears quite comfortably, even though I tend to prefer smaller smartwatches; I especially like the orange strap, which is plenty stretchy, soft and with ample adjustment points. Two physical controls adorn the side of the case. The upper one is both a digital crown, which can be used to scroll through apps and info on the app, and a pressable button that brings up the main menu by default. The lower button opens up the workout menu by default. With 100 meters of water resistance, you can safely wear the Balance 2 while swimming or even scuba diving (don't worry, there's a dedicated tracking mode for that). The Balance 2 sports Amazfit's latest holistic sensor array (BioTracker 6.0) and can monitor everything from heart rate to blood oxygen saturation to stress to menstrual health. It should also be a darn good watch for sleep tracking, based on my experience with other recent Amazfit models. Meanwhile, an onboard GPS and barometric altimeter should provide accurate location and elevation data. The Balance 2 additional sports an onboard temperature sensor. Designed for multisport athletes dedicated to their training, the Balance 2 has over 170 workout tracking modes, including the usual suspects, like running and cycling, and more nuanced/recently trending activities like freediving, pickleball and HIIT workouts. It automatically recognizes over 25 strength training movements and even generates post-workout muscle heatmaps to help you target areas for future sessions. Amazfit's Zepp Coach feature uses AI analysis to provide personalized training plans for runners to help prep for a 5K, 10K or marathon. The device additionally has a dedicated HYROX racing mode. The Balance 2 isn't only for hardcore workout buffs, though, despite its billing. For those who love hitting the links and/or the slopes, it offers a large cache of global ski resort maps along with support for over 40,000 golf courses worldwide. I'm especially curious to check out the watch's new BioCharge Score (coming soon, date TBD). It's similar to Garmin's Body Battery or Samsung's Energy Score except it's dynamic, changing throughout the day based on a user's rest and exertion. There's no cellular connectivity but the Balance 2 does have an onboard speaker and microphone for taking calls from a paired smartphone. Speaking of which, the companion Zepp app works with Android (7.0 or later) and iOS (15.0 or later) devices. Like most modern smartwatches, the Balance 2 supports mirrored smartphone notifications. It also has some handy tools, like an onboard notes app and camera remote function. Similar to the recently launched Amazfit Active 2, the Balance 2 supports offline maps with turn-by-turn directions. However, let's hope the user experience has improved some since my testing, as I found the brand's take on offline maps to be less than smooth and user-friendly. Amazfit says the Balance 2 battery should last for up to 21 days in smartwatch mode with normal use. However, the brand doesn't state how long the device will last when using GPS for tracking, a notorious power hog. The Balance 2 ships with a small charging puck that works with USB-C — the same one used by the Amazfit T-Rex 3 — but you'll need to provide your own cord and outlet adapter. The Amazfit Balance 2 has the build quality and features of a flagship smartwatch, along with a hefty price tag to match. At $299, the Balance 2 is competing head-to-head with devices like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, which is not only a fantastic full-featured smartwatch but also an impressive fitness and wellness tracker. Historically, one of the things that sets Amazfit apart from larger brands, like Samsung, Google and Apple, is a focus on wallet-friendly wearables that don't skimp on high-end wellness features or design. The $99 Amazfit Active 2 is a perfect example of this. The Balance 2 is Amazfit's attempt at something more premium and luxurious. And though it has some advantages over the Active 2, like greater water resistance and a clicky digital crown, I'm not convinced those are worth three times the cost... but we shall see. Stay tuned for a full review of the Amazfit Balance 2 and the Amazfit Helio Strap.
Tom's Guide
18-06-2025
- Tom's Guide
Whoop rivals are coming — Polar launches subscription-free band as Garmin hints at new sleep tracker on Instagram
For years the best smartwatches have focused on providing bigger and brighter screens, but right now the trend seems to be ditching the display entirely. Whoop has long set the pace for screen-free fitness trackers and launched its latest Whoop 5.0 device in May, and now Polar has announced its first screenless wrist wearable will come out on 3 September. Meanwhile, rumors of a Garmin Whoop rival have circulated for months and the brand added fuel to that fire with an Instagram story on 17 June that suggested a new sleep tracker is set to launch soon. Polar hasn't given many details about its new wearable device, but it did confirm that it will be a subscription-free alternative to other trackers. That sounds like a reference to Whoop and its subscription-based model, but until Polar announces the pricing of its new band it's impossible to say whether it offers better value for money. The band is designed to be worn at all times, tracking activity and workouts alongside your sleep, and Polar suggests it will be lighter and less intrusive than having a watch on your wrist. 'Our users have been asking for a new kind of wearable,' Sander Werring, CEO at Polar. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. 'One that puts them in control of their health and fitness right out of the box, without the distractions of screens or the pressure of constant notifications.' Other details are thin on the ground, but Polar did launch the Polar 360 screenless band last year. It's designed for business-use only, but could give an idea as to what the new consumer tracker could look like, with a simple black band and an optical heart rate sensor. Rumors suggesting a screen-free Garmin device is coming have gathered pace in recent weeks, and Garmin poured fuel on that fire with an Instagram story on its main account yesterday. This showed a woman in bed with the caption 'how did you sleep? Find out soon'. No further info on the tracker has been released yet, but it would be somewhat ironic for a screenless tracker to arrive hot on the heels of the Garmin Venu X1 watch, which features Garmin's biggest AMOLED display yet. The focus on sleep in Garmin's story suggests that the new tracker could be designed to be used alongside a Garmin watch, which you'd wear in the day and could sync the sleep tracking over to. Fitness tech blog the5krunner has reported on unreleased Garmin devices in the past and claims the new band will launch in July or August. The appeal of a screenless product is simplicity and style. If you don't want another distracting screen in your life but do want to track your activity and sleep stats, a screen-free band is a great alternative to the best fitness trackers, and you can wear it alongside more traditional jewelry and watches. However, for screenless products to be a success, the partner app has to be exceptionally good, which they are for Whoop and indeed the best smart rings like the Oura Ring 4. These apps provide clear info in an engaging way. I've been testing Polar and Garmin watches for years and while I'm a fan of both as a keen runner, I'd say their apps will need some work to deliver the same experience as Whoop or Oura. Garmin Connect and Polar Flow are both very heavy on data, which is good, but that data is not always clearly presented, especially for the more casual fitness audience that might use a Whoop-style product over a traditional sports watch. Whether the new products can unseat Whoop as the top screenless band will depend on getting the presentation of data right, though price will be the key factor. The cheapest tier for using Whoop costs $199 a year, so Garmin and Polar may look to rival that figure with the price of a subscription-free band.
Tom's Guide
30-05-2025
- Health
- Tom's Guide
Watch out Whoop — Garmin reportedly working on a screenless health band that'll track your sleep
Garmin could soon offer a new alternative for anyone who wants sleep and recovery data without strapping on a bulky smartwatch overnight. According to a new report, the brand behind some of the best fitness trackers on the market may be preparing to launch a minimalist health band, featuring no screen, a focus on sleep tracking, and key features like heart rate monitoring and smart alarms. The band would reportedly include Garmin's optical heart rate sensor and support smart alarms that detect lighter sleep phases — similar to features found in many of the current best Garmin watches. The blog the5krunner, which has a track record of reporting on unreleased Garmin products, claims to be '100% sure' the device exists, citing a 'source document' and a launch window as early as July or August 2025. The appeal of a screenless device is simple: comfort and discretion. Many users find Garmin's bulkier multisport watches uncomfortable to wear overnight, especially for sleep tracking. A compact wristband could offer similar insights without the larger presence and could be more desirable to wear consistently for some. It could also attract those who prefer wearing a traditional or luxury watch during the day but still want to track health metrics around the clock. If released, the Garmin Sleep Band would naturally draw comparisons to the Whoop Strap, which is a screenless health tracker that collects round-the-clock data on sleep, strain, and recovery. However, Whoop requires a paid membership, with the cheapest tier currently costing $199 per year to access core features. You can read our full Whoop 5.0 review to see how it works. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Garmin's business model, by contrast, typically doesn't lock health data behind a paywall. While some newer features are tied to its recent optional Connect+ subscription, core metrics like heart rate variability (HRV), sleep stages, and Body Battery remain free. If Garmin continues down that path, a subscription-free sleep band could appeal to those who want advanced health tracking without an ongoing cost. While the report provides some intriguing details, a lot remains unclear. There's no confirmed pricing, design, or indication of whether the device would support workout tracking independently or require pairing with a Garmin watch. It's also unclear if this band would use Garmin's latest Elevate v5 sensor, found in high-end devices like the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970, which would enhance accuracy for sleep and recovery metrics.
Engadget
23-05-2025
- Engadget
One of Whoop's new wearables has a bug so bad the company is issuing replacements
Whoop's new screen-less, fitness-focused Whoop MG wearable might have a major bug that can leave the device unusable, according to reports from Android Police and TechIssuesToday . Whoop launched the Whoop MG and Whoop 5.0 at the beginning of May, the company's first major hardware release since it launched the Whoop 4.0 in 2021. According to complaints on Whoop's community forums and X, after setting up a Whoop MG, the wearable can mysteriously became unresponsive hours later, refusing to connect to a smartphone even when it should be charged. "I wore it for about 20 hours or so, but then it suddenly disappeared from the app, no sensor lights on, nothing appearing in the app," one new Whoop MG owner shared on Reddit. On the company's forums, Whoop suggests trying things like charging the MG, reconnecting it to your phone or resetting the wearable to see if that fixes things. Whoop owners have also been directed to contact Whoop's Support team, and multiple faulty Whoop MG owners report that they're being sent replacement wearables. Engadget has contacted Whoop to get a sense for how widespread this issue is and what the company is doing to address it. We'll update this article if we hear back. Unlike other companies, Whoop doesn't expect customers to buy a fitness tracker and then pay a subscription; Whoop's subscription fee is inclusive of its hardware. With the Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG, the company is also hoping to expand the number of metrics it tracks beyond just activity and sleep tracking to things like real-time stress monitoring and, in the case of the MG, blood pressure and ECG readings. What features you're able to access ultimately depends on both the wearable you have and the subscription you're paying for, though. To access the Whoop MG in particular, you have to pay $359 annually, which starts to feel pretty egregious when the wearable might not work. Prior to this issue, Whoop was also caught denying free hardware upgrades to existing customers after previously suggesting it would send out new wearables to anyone who'd been a member for six months or more. Whoop reversed that decision a few days later.
