Garmin vs Whoop Band - HRV, Training Readiness, Sleep, and Recovery Compared!

Dumb question here, but: I just bought a Garmin Forerunner 265 half a year ago. Now I definitely see the advantages in wearing the Whoop - should I now get one and like just throw away the Garmin? Would feel really dumb and a waste of money (I'm also at university rn, so money really is a kind of a thing uk). Really looking forward to an helpful answer already, thanks! Have a good one!

HRV 44 at balanced? Ouch…

Any updates on the Garmin or Whoop? I have had several updates to my FR955.

Hey Dave, great video as always. Love these health metrics videos! Regarding the HRV bit of your video, I think the Garmin values were the 7d average, which is why it was consistent and didn't change much, whereas the Whoop HRV values were the overnight averages. You can compare the Garmin overnight averages with the Whoop's for a better comparison. Keep up the great content :D

Only problem with garmin is terrible sleep tracking

Well, I have two garmins and I want to try a whoop also. So, you are about to get a whoop order on your link from me in just a minute.

Do you have to have to have your Garmin watch on all day to make the most out of all the features? I could wear it during my runs, to bed, & anytime I’m not working just not during work as I work a manual job where I could probably damage the screen easily, thank you!

Sometimes my Garmin has not recorded an HRV. Yesterday for example, my watch recorded my sleep, but didn't get any hrv data for some unknown to me reason... Now my watch says HRV baseline interrupted. Does this fully reset my HRV? I work nights, and sometimes the watch struggles to see my sleep at all... Any advice? Really looking forward to HRV baseline since I think it will help so many other categories...

Where can I find the recovery status (resting hours to next activity) in the Fenix 6 or Garmin Connect? I can't locate it; has it been replaced by Body Battery?

Really useful, thanks!!

спасибо !

I love my Garmin. The HR, just from the watch can be a little off at times. I do have the band quite loose, which may be a factor. It's cheaper to buy and own a watch, you can add apps onto the Garmin. WHOOP is expensive for me. Really good video....proved to me my Garmin is better for me. I have the Fenix 6 pro. I do like the sleep monitor on the WHOOP

Thanks for doing this comparison. Great work. 
You asked why your Whoop HRV data were apparently less consistent over the past week than your Garmin HRV data. There are a few reasons. 
1. Most importantly, your Whoop data is just from the previous night, but the results you were looking at on your Garmin were rolling 7 night averages ('rolling' means that on any day, the average is adjusted to take in only the 7 most recent nights' data). To unpack this: as a rule, averages calculated over 7 nights will always show less variation, night to night, than data collected after a single night. That mostly explains why you saw more consistent values from one night to the next on your Garmin (because those values were all averages from the preceding 7 nights). 
2. As an aside, Garmin use HRV data collected over the whole night, whereas Whoop focus in on just your deep sleep to determine HRV. The companies give their own rationales for taking these different approaches (whole night vs. deep sleep only), and there are pros and cons to each approach; neither is really 'right', they're just different. But Whoop's aim is try to cut down some of that variation you see in a single night when you look at your HRV status on your Garmin, to facilitate night-by-night comparison. 
3. One other thing to note, is the that you can make the overnight HRV data show on Garmin connect by clicking 'Overnight Averages': that shows you the individual, night by night values (averages from all the values in a single night), as an overlay on the same graph. If you click that, you'll have a better way of comparing what your Whoop and Garmin are measuring. One caveat is that given that Whoop and Garmin take a different approach to collating your nightly data (deep sleep vs. whole night), you'll certainly see some differences between the two brands, and that difference doesn't necessarily have any bearing on accuracy - i.e. which device is giving you a more meaningful handle on your HRV.

Loved the comparison. I will definitely go with the Whoop as being a cyclist I have the Karoo 2 for my bike rides and have the Apple Watch Ultra for my call and message notifications during work hours. Whoop being lightweight can wear it 24x7.

Hi Dave, I am struggling with the decision on whether to invest in Whoop. I have recently tried an Oura ring alongside my Fenix 7 and the Oura ring was great for my sleep and readiness score. It detected my naps automatically with very high accuracy and prompted me via the app to log it if it was correct. Garmin however, does not do this.
Reading online, it states that Garmin does detect things such as naps and adds them to Body Battery etc. But, when I look in Garmin Connect, I can't see any logs of naps I have had in the day??
I started to find the Oura ring a little uncomfortable and cumbersome, but I really miss the accuracy of nap and sleep detection, which is why I considered the Whoop.

Am I missing something with my Garmin or is it that this type of function just doesn't really exist in the same vein as Oura?

Is the training readiness score the same score as your body battery score 🔋?

whoop is a subscription based! No No for that...

Can i know from where did you buy the band for the garmin 955 you have ? Thank you so much

Basically the whoop is a pointless piece of kit unless you need the data. In which case, if you at a level or situation where you need this level of information then you should or would already have a fitness based watch. And a subscription too. In a 20 month block, you Will pay £520 to track heart rate and sleep. No thanks, you can get this data with many different bands these days. Good review with highlights of the use and pointless nature of the band.

Maybe someone could help me, I'm looking for a chest HR Monitor that saves my data without the need of a smartwatch nor the need to pick up my phone to turn it on. Does this exists in the market?
Of course after my training I could sync the data to my phone or my pc.

I'm basically looking for automation as much as possible.

I've tried the woop band for a year and automation is perfect but its not chest strapped and found that its not so accurate. And in top of that the price for subscription is very high, now that I haven't paid the sub I don't really own my data.

Thanks in advance.

I’m really excited. I’ve owned a Fenix 3HR since it was released in early 2016 and just purchased a Tactix 7 Pro online. I’ve been interested in trying out HRV for years but a) couldn’t justify the cost and b) didn’t want to wear the Whoop band and a watch (Whoop would be smart to add smartwatch functions to the next generation).

Now I get a huge upgrade from my current watch that will be better in every way, AND I’ll get HRV tracking which seems to be comparable to the Whoop.

This kind of test should be between 3 devices/data. It makes sense to build a quorum with 3 devices. When you see a difference between deep sleep analysis, you can find potentially 2 data points closer to each other and it would give you an idea which device is not measuring correctly.Thank you for the review.

Tried the whoop, returned it. If I'm going to be wearing something on my wrist it should at least tell me the time.

Great video! Thank you

i take both ;-)

I think you misspoke as you mentioned that 955 and 255 both have training readiness, however this feature is only in the 955.

i was on the fence of buying a whoop or garmin fenix 6x. Sure glad i went with the 6x. Such an amazing watch and the update last night gave it HRV status. I cannot pay $30 a month for a strap with no display. Maybe $10, but the garmin is really killing it lately.

Awesome video. My physio wants me to get the whoop. But I like the Garmin Fenix 7. It’s looks pretty comparable.

Do you know if the 7 has all this info on it yet? Thanks.

Great video! Thanks for sharing your insight!

Also on the 255?

The top watches need this update. Also wish garmin app did something with the health snapshot. Seems a pointless to record it if the app doesn’t interpret the information.

The proportion for which a Whoop makes more sense than a Garmin watch has gotta be very very small, with pretty niche uses. Firstly there's not having all the useful smart watch functions, then there's the absurd subscription price of using a Whoop band. Enough of a put off that I hope Garmin and other sports watch manufacturers don't even consider going down that path.

I pay for inreach subscription, because there's really no alternative, but I'll can't see myself ever paying for a subscription based fitness tracker.

Do you get all that Garmin data with the Venu 2 plus? Can the 955 give all the same data but more than the Venu 2 ?

Good review...bottom line seems to be that Whoop is a feature and not a company... certainly not a subscription.

To be honest the majority of people do not know what to do with the data they receive. They get a low HRV score and think that means they shouldn't train, well it doesn't mean that, you can train.
The fact that both devices give different results is telling.

Did i hear right? The 255 got also the training readiness ?

I have some friends who swear by the Whoop bands. I have noticed that they tend to more gym focused where not having a GPS or timer on their wrist isn’t a concern. Metrics look primarily the same. So the big usability difference seems to be the lack of a screen. That, even more than the subscription model, seems to be the big break point for users.

Hey Dave! Thanks a lot for your videos, you inspired me a lot...up to the point that I'll (hopefully) finally run my first marathon end of September! Would really like to buy some of your hats, unfortunately its bit of a pain to ship it to Europe (costs, customs etc.) I'm visiting Boston 09/05-09/08, is there any chance to buy one of your trucker hats while im over in the US? I dont have a car over there, but Im sure i'd find a way to come around...Thanks again + please continue like this!

Question for the group, has anyone tried wearing their garmin on their bicep? For work I can’t wear watches or anything on my wrist and used to wear my whoop in the boxers. Curious if you could wear garmin either on bicep or even ankle to get reading during day. Being a doctor in an OR, my HR can spike in some scenarios.

Hi sir can i know what earbud you use?

Thing I like abt my whoop is that I can wear my classic watches while wearing it. Plus I really like that I can charge it while wearing.

Great review sir... I actually have the Garmin fr 955, the Garmin hrm pro plus and the whoop 4.0 and I've been wearing both 24/7 the last few weeks... Honestly it's simple... Whoop tracks your sleep way better than Garmin does.... Garmin will track your activities way better than whoop ever will... That's what it comes down to... Whoop will even pick up naps Garmin will not.... So if you're more about your running and workout data get the Garmin, if you're wanting to track your sleep accurately get the whoop...

I'd try Garmin if they have a screenless device or as low profile, with on wrist charging or fast charge. The sensors and metrics, body battery, appear superior from reviews. Long term I don't tolerate a watch at night. Whoop 4 has the best sleep metrics I've tried, and overnight HRV based recovery seems on point.

Whoop is SpOx also.

I've had pretty much all the main brands of fitness tracker watch now, Garmim Fenix 6, Apple watch 5, two fitbit models, Withings and an Amazefit Trex ... In relation to sleep tracking surprisingly the Fitbit was by far the most accurate in my experience, from catching the most accurate data to tracking naps with incredible accuracy. I just hate the watch designs and interface of that ecosystem, hence I wear a Garmin (upgrading at end of year) these days. But for me, it's sleep accuracy was outstanding.

Whoop should merge with Coros. Both would benefit. Whoop may not last much longer considering they charge a monthly subscription vs. no cost for Garmin for the same info.

Would it be available on Instinct 2 series