Not all fitness tracking is created equal, and strapping three watches to your wrists at once is the fastest way to prove it. I wore the Pixel Watch 5, Galaxy Watch 9, and Garmin Cirqa through a full 5K run and then followed it up with 5,000 steps of walking, and the differences between them were more interesting than I expected. Some of it was about accuracy. Some of it was about comfort. And some of it came down to what these watches actually think fitness tracking is for.
As reported by Android Central, Garmin has been pushing hard on smarter training tools and faster map performance across its lineup, and that philosophy shows up even in a more accessible device like the Cirqa. Where Google and Samsung are building watches that try to do everything, Garmin is still laser-focused on athletes. That focus is both its biggest strength and its most obvious limitation depending on who’s buying.
During the 5K, the Garmin Cirqa was the most serious about the run itself. Pace data felt snappy, GPS locked quickly, and the post-run breakdown was detailed without being overwhelming. The Pixel Watch 5 kept up reasonably well, and Google’s heart rate tracking has gotten noticeably better. But the Galaxy Watch 9 tripped up a few times on pace readings mid-run, which isn’t a great look for a watch Samsung is selling as a premium fitness device.
The walking portion told a slightly different story. Step counts across all three were close, within a few dozen steps of each other, but the way each watch presented that data varied wildly. Samsung gave you the most visual feedback. Google kept things clean and simple. Garmin barely seemed to care that you were walking instead of running, which says a lot about its priorities.
Here’s what stood out across both tests:
- Garmin Cirqa had the most accurate GPS and pace data during the run
- Pixel Watch 5 showed the most improvement in heart rate consistency
- Galaxy Watch 9 had the richest post-workout visuals but inconsistent mid-run pace readings
- All three were within close range on step counts during the walking test
- Garmin’s recovery and training load suggestions were the most actionable after both activities
So who wins? It depends what you want. If you run seriously and want a watch that treats every workout like data worth studying, the Garmin is hard to argue with. If you want a watch that handles fitness alongside texts, payments, and Google apps without missing a beat, the Pixel Watch 5 is a better daily driver. And the Galaxy Watch 9 is a solid all-rounder, but Samsung needs to sort out that pace tracking before charging flagship prices. Good hardware deserves better software to back it up.