Best Wearables for Sleep: Scientific Rankings

Best Wearables for Sleep: Scientific Rankings

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Reference devices:
ZMax + Dreamento: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.18.553744v1 & https://github.com/dreamento/dreamento
Polar H10: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004219/
🔴 Polar H10: https://geni.us/hnXc

Spreadsheet with all information: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XDeGOXzLuR05PTLnOx1eEDdtt1DALVjq2WHiWNieCic/edit?usp=sharing
Note, as a starting point I used a table from a very nice paper: Birrer et al. 2024 Table 1 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10948771/)

Timestamps:
00:00 Quick Intro
00:31 Sleep – Wakefulness Detection (Scientific Papers)
04:33 Sleep Stage Detection (Scientific Papers)
10:59 Most Recent Device Testing (Own Testing, Pt1)
14:09 Most Recent Device Testing (Own Testing, Pt2)
15:27 Conclusions

I went through hundreds of scientific publications to find out which the best sleep stage trackers are that money can buy, depending on your budget. Is it Apple, Google, Samsung, Oura, Garmin, Polar or maybe Fitbit. Well, today you are going to find out! This is a video I’ve been wanting to make for a long time, and the results are super interesting. It also shows us some major problems with sleep tracking I have not addressed in my previous videos. A spreadsheet with all the statistics and references I base my findings on is in the description below, and of course there are timestamps on this video’s timeline to make things easier for you.

Detecting whether you are asleep or awake is what wearables would traditionally measure in the early 2010s, with the launch of the first Fitbit Tracker for instance. However, during that same decade more and more companies tried to do something much more complicated: tracking the sleep stages defined by scientists, albeit in a slightly simplified form, which were termed light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. This is actually really hard, since these are usually studied in the lab by measuring brain waves, eye movements, and muscle movements. Instead, a wearable has to do it based on just your heart beats and movements. In my testing I’ve seen that wearables are becoming much better at this, and more people than ever seem to be using them to keep track of their sleep patterns. Over the last few years I’ve also found that it’s becoming more and more accepted in the scientific community to use smartwatches and smart bands in sleep research. However, for both consumers and scientists it’s important to know which devices are good at tracking stages and which are not so reliable, since some are quite bad. Luckily, scientists are recognizing the value in actually testing the performance of wearables using polysomnography or EEG, giving us an idea which smartwatches are good, and which are not. However, they usually test only one or a few devices at a time, so similar to before I went through literature, and extracted the results from all papers I could find to give us a good overview of the performance of different devices.

Intro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/moire/new-life
License code: OBLD6VBBCTRDFZQP

50 Comments

  1. @arselihp on August 19, 2025 at 9:55 pm

    These videos are excellent. I would love to see a single gadget tested over several nights, to see if it is consistent, regardless of accuracy. Even the worst watch could be useful if it could be used to identify patterns over time.

  2. @sven5378 on August 19, 2025 at 9:59 pm

    my englisch is bad what wa s the top 3 ?

  3. @SaitamaSENSEI-123 on August 19, 2025 at 10:00 pm

    So basically Apple watches are rock solid for performance!

  4. @theMick52 on August 19, 2025 at 10:03 pm

    Still wouldn’t take any apple products even if they were free so Oura ring 3 it is!

  5. @syedarsh on August 19, 2025 at 10:05 pm

    what about amazfit devices?

  6. @kah1995 on August 19, 2025 at 10:07 pm

    what about the Samung Galaxy Ring

  7. @rimus888 on August 19, 2025 at 10:09 pm

    This great video just saved me money by clarifying that most of these devices only work for people with no sleep problems, so thank you!

  8. @ashton6866 on August 19, 2025 at 10:13 pm

    what is the best professional sleep monitor that you actual use to compare these personal devices you evaluated? I notice it seemed to have a white rectangular element connected onto your forehead?

  9. @lupero1234 on August 19, 2025 at 10:14 pm

    Great video, Rob, once again. Thanks!

  10. @Good_At_This_Game on August 19, 2025 at 10:15 pm

    Can you do a current, updated list?

  11. @snrnsjd on August 19, 2025 at 10:16 pm

    0:02 wow

  12. @GurjitSinghKhehra on August 19, 2025 at 10:18 pm

    Is there a new video with Huawei and new Samsung watches?

  13. @goasrasrasr on August 19, 2025 at 10:19 pm

    bravo

  14. @rayzeune7123 on August 19, 2025 at 10:21 pm

    Your testing is very helpful – thank you! I hope you can add the newish Garmin Index soon. Perhaps since it’s geared specifically toward sleep it will perform better than the previous devices?

  15. @Daniel-rj2ci on August 19, 2025 at 10:21 pm

    So basically the best one is the hypodyne zmax because you used that as control right?

  16. @dj_johanna_joy on August 19, 2025 at 10:22 pm

    brilliant video!❤

  17. @BelfastBiker on August 19, 2025 at 10:22 pm

    You and DCR. We need no others.

  18. @wpmitra7251 on August 19, 2025 at 10:23 pm

    I expected the famed Garmin venu 3 to be leagues ahead of others. I don’t like Apple Watch.

  19. @lucyf9034 on August 19, 2025 at 10:23 pm

    I’m not going to pay monthly for a product I already own. It’s incredibly f*ed up.

  20. @murrik on August 19, 2025 at 10:24 pm

    Apple, fitbit, oura 16:00

  21. @Chocapintos on August 19, 2025 at 10:24 pm

    Recommendation would be to put the price points of the products here too. Because one might have excellent results but not be within the budget

  22. @ParodyMocap on August 19, 2025 at 10:25 pm

    Just out of curiosity, why no Galaxy Watch in the comparison?

  23. @BelladonnasJewelry on August 19, 2025 at 10:26 pm

    As someone with a sleep disorder- I’m narcoleptic; I appreciate all the work you do!! However, it makes me sad that these companies aren’t putting more effort into helping us, who, as you said, could benefit the most from them.
    As a side note: I have an Honor 5 band, I’ve had it forever, I’m wondering is there anyway you could test that and see how accurate it is?
    And how accurate are these devices in tracking daytime sleep??? That’s the most important question for me. Because, fit it doesn’t track daytime sleep at all, but my honor band catches it every time I’m asleep for more than about 10 minutes.
    If there’s any way you could look into this sort of data I (and many narcoleptic people I would guess) would be eternally grateful!!!
    Thank you for all of your hard work ❤❤❤

  24. @MCKallejones on August 19, 2025 at 10:26 pm

    Hi,
    is there any wearable that has a smart alarm, waking you up after a specific duration of having slept?
    I would love to not set my alarm to a specific time, but rather to like 8 hours (since I tend to be wake up quite frequently during the night).

  25. @jacob042 on August 19, 2025 at 10:27 pm

    Conclusion: they all suck, buy an EEG.

  26. @lauren61956 on August 19, 2025 at 10:30 pm

    The information you gave about people with sleep disorders was so helpful for me! I have an Oura ring and I’m finding The data it offers me very different than my experience. I’m experiencing that I’m sleeping through the night, although in a very restless way with some interruptions, but the ring shows me awake all night until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. when it shows me sleeping until 10:00 this means the ring is telling me I’m sleeping 5 hours when in fact my experiences that I’m sleeping longer. So it was very interesting. The information also on devices that can tell when you’re awake or asleep because it’s not doing very well with my sleep disorder.! And your information validates my experience. Thank you very much!

  27. @lizj4509 on August 19, 2025 at 10:30 pm

    What about charge 6?

  28. @TheQuantifiedScientist on August 19, 2025 at 10:34 pm

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    🔴 Oura Ring Link: I recommend you search for a discount on reddit with the "Refer-A-Friend" program! If you can’t find one: https://ouraring.sjv.io/rQ4L33 (affiliate link that supports the channel, but doesn’t have a discount)
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  29. @finlayclarke347 on August 19, 2025 at 10:34 pm

    be interested to see if the new garmins are any better

  30. @hotpepperkites on August 19, 2025 at 10:35 pm

    Super bedankt kerel, ik ga voor de Apple 9. Weltruste.

  31. @Nspiration on August 19, 2025 at 10:36 pm

    Did you test the Fitbit Versa correlation?

  32. @umutkeltek on August 19, 2025 at 10:36 pm

    What about correlating those results against price, battery life? It would be nice!

  33. @EdeOlsen-w7m on August 19, 2025 at 10:38 pm

    I have an Amazon 13 mini watch and bought a RingConn gen 2 for sleep apnea monitoring info. My concern is that REM and Deep sleep amounts are incredibly off. The ring detects less than 1/2 the amounts reported by the watch. That makes me wonder if the ring is worthless for alll sleep apnea monitoring info. The rings seems to fit as it should. What can I trust? Any comments?

  34. @jacob042 on August 19, 2025 at 10:38 pm

    Can you do a video on your EEG setup?

  35. @peterman8848 on August 19, 2025 at 10:40 pm

    The problem is that you are using 3 to 4 year old devices here. How does this help anyone make a decision about which watch to buy today

  36. @eugenescarberry1416 on August 19, 2025 at 10:40 pm

    Trying to monitor sleep for my wife are insurance company gave us Fitbit sense to I bought a Fitbit for a Galaxy 7 and a amazfit. I’ve seen all of them show poor sleep due to not falling asleep till 4 a.m. yet she was in bed not moving around. Or there will be dropouts in the middle of the night for a couple hours where they don’t record awake or anything is there a minimum signal is required to quote be in bed and awake versus dropout. I appreciate your thoroughness I would appreciate understanding how to watch us decide to say awake or they don’t record anything. I’m a former sleep researcher in the field of Pap therapy

  37. @yubstep on August 19, 2025 at 10:41 pm

    Do ring only review please

  38. @ZensationalRZ34 on August 19, 2025 at 10:42 pm

    Have you heard of the Pavlok Shock Clock Max? It has sleep tracking, but I’m unsure how accurate it is. I wear it to help me wake up in the morning. Just don’t ever get it wet. I only turn it on to wear it to bed & then turn it off as soon as I am awake.

  39. @dontgetmadgetwise4271 on August 19, 2025 at 10:43 pm

    I’ve owned five Fitbits. Bands have always sucked… and Google refuses to fix the security problem. Then they moved sleep results behind a subscription pay wall. On my first Apple Watch now…

  40. @feelsoezy on August 19, 2025 at 10:43 pm

    It was sponsored by oura ring….. So don’t trust any of these findings. Come on man can you really not do a true independent study.

  41. @loverboy78-lj9xf on August 19, 2025 at 10:45 pm

    Awesome work dude! 👏

  42. @michaelcorbin3720 on August 19, 2025 at 10:46 pm

    Best wearable for sleep ,putting you to sleep is Hapbee wearable,,thank me ltr

  43. @drk-ent on August 19, 2025 at 10:47 pm

    Have you heard of or tested snorelab app for snoring? If linked to a wearable it should have alot of info about Obstructive Sleep Apnea

  44. @DZ60 on August 19, 2025 at 10:49 pm

    Thank you for this comprehensive review

  45. @TheFigalito on August 19, 2025 at 10:50 pm

    Is it possible that Apple Watch is not good at tracking sleep if one sleeps in a bed with others.

    With ours ring I was getting sleep scores in the 90% for the night and 1 hour+ of deep sleep. Apple Watch gives me zero to 20 mins.

    I wonder if because Apple Watch measures sleep based on movement it is the least effective if one co sleeps with a child and or sleeps with a spouse.

    Thoughts?

  46. @lucyf9034 on August 19, 2025 at 10:50 pm

    Too bad you didnt test a galaxy watch 😢

  47. @hermes8258 on August 19, 2025 at 10:51 pm

    Thank you very much. I hope you get plenty of subscribes, supporters and ad income. you must have spent $5000 just on devices to test.

  48. @FreeMindsCounseling on August 19, 2025 at 10:51 pm

    The affiliate link for the oura ring is broken

  49. @geodesicmonkey on August 19, 2025 at 10:51 pm

    For those with sleep disorders, have you seen improvements in the Apple Watches data tracking for daily reference?

  50. @michaelcorbin3720 on August 19, 2025 at 10:53 pm

    Best wearable for sleep is
    HAPBEE WEARABLE, check it out you wont regret it
    It literally puts you to sleep …

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