Marketing for the new OnePlus Watch 2R frames it as a sporty, durable Wear OS watch for “active lifestyle inspiration,” with a lighter design for “those who value all-day fitness” tracking. I love watches that take care of me directly, but my colleagues who tested the OnePlus Watch 2 denounced its health data as its Achilles’ heel. So I decided to test the accuracy of the Watch 2R myself.
With the original OnePlus Watch 2, our reviewer Harish complained that it was “simply not reliable for day-to-day step counting or activity tracking,” that it misjudged calories burned after workouts, and that stress data was artificially inflated.
Meanwhile, my colleague Nick did a week-long test of the OnePlus Watch 2 and had similar complaints of under-estimated steps and significantly lower HR values during anaerobic training. Both Nick and Harish suspected that the watch was using its low-power RTOS coprocessor to handle health and fitness sampling, and that it wasn’t fast or consistent enough to get correct readings.
This made me hesitant to test the OnePlus Watch 2R, a fitness watch that theoretically can’t handle fitness that well. So, just like in my Galaxy Watch Ultra fitness test last week, I strapped on two smartwatches to see how the Watch 2R stacks up against my Garmin Forerunner 965 for heart rate and dual-band GPS accuracy.
My OnePlus Watch 2R fitness test
OnePlus’ OHealth companion app doesn’t let you export TCX/GPX files like Samsung Health, and I had some issues with Health Connect sending my data correctly, so I couldn’t do my usual HR or GPS charts for direct comparison; For now, I’ll use tables as an alternative.
| Execution #1 | OnePlus Watch 2R | Garmin Forerunner 965 |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | 3.05 miles | 3.09 miles |
| Wed. / Max HR | 146 bpm / 159 bpm | 147 bpm / 158 bpm |
| Cadance | 161 steps per minute | 162 steps per minute |
| Stride length | 3.28 feet | 3.35 feet |
| Wed. Vertical ratio | 8.8% | 8.7% |
| Wed. ground contact time | 301 ms | 283 ms |
| Calories burned | 318 kcal | 421 kcal |
For my first jog, the OnePlus Watch 2R stayed mostly in line with the Garmin Forerunner 965. I checked my heart rate on the spot on ten different timestamps, and the 2R matched the 965 four times and was 1 bpm short six times, matching 1bpm—more -low average.
GPS accuracy generally remains on par. It’s hard to say whether the OnePlus’s dual-band accuracy is more or less reliable than the Garmin’s, as both maps made me veer off the pavement at odd times, but I appreciated that they both fell into the same general running field with some green signal blocking.
In terms of running dynamics, the OnePlus Watch 2R syncs pretty well for stride length and average vertical ratio, but measures my vertical oscillation as 1cm shorter and average ground contact time as 18ms longer.
| Performance #2 | OnePlus Watch 2R | Garmin Forerunner 965 |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | 3315 meters | 3220 meters |
| Wed. / Max HR | 174 bpm / 191 bpm | 176 bpm / 191 bpm |
| Cadance | 180 steps per minute | 174 steps per minute |
| Stride length | 4.42 feet | 4.43 feet |
| Wed. Vertical ratio | 6.0% | 6.6% |
| Wed. ground contact time | 241 ms | 223 ms |
| Calories burned | 194 kcal | 229 kcal |
I ran eight 400m laps for my second track run and the Garmin predictably stayed put because it uses saved track maps to estimate your likely location. The OnePlus had more problems: the Watch 2R was constantly buzzing on my wrist with lap or mile times around 350 meters away. It was like the starting point was completely wrong, but then the GPS was extremely accurate when I hit that wrong spot. Still, it threw off my estimated pace by a decent margin.
I figured heart rate for a hard-paced track workout would be the obstacle, but its HR average was more accurate than the Galaxy Watch Ultra during my track workout last week. It certainly doesn’t match Garmin’s results – usually 1-3 bpm at some point – but it usually levels off to the correct number given enough time. Of course, the Watch 2R did much better than the Watch 2 in this area.
Again, OnePlus’ running dynamics data differs slightly from Garmin’s. I don’t understand how OnePlus said I get more steps per minute while keeping my feet on the ground for longer. However, I realized after my run that OHealth listed my height as 5’7 (I’m 6’1), so maybe that skewed the results for things like vertical sway. Regardless, I don’t think it’s worth getting obsessed with releasing data from forms.
Overall fitness impressions of the OnePlus Watch 2R
It might just be a case of low expectations skewing my impressions, but the OnePlus Watch 2R feels like a strong budget fitness watch. It has a comfortable weight for its display size, three-day battery life with Wear OS 4, Google Assistant, and a $229 price tag that I’d expect from an Amazfit watch — not something with proper app support.
OHealth provides some in-depth and surprisingly accessible running data, offering detailed context for certain stats like training effect, running dynamics, VO2 Max, and recovery time—although the Garmin wants me to rest an extra day and has my VO2 Max just under -short.
However, it’s still pretty basic compared to other related fitness apps. OHealth provides a lot of individual running data, but its long-term training loads and training summary data are on the simplistic side. If I were using the Watch 2R long-term, I would most likely auto-sync the data to Strava and rely on that instead.
Going back to my colleagues’ complaints about the original OnePlus Watch 2, my final step count in both series was 11,670 for the Forerunner 965 and 11,560 for the Watch 2R.
Garmin watches beat every other brand in my first and second step count tests, so I’ll treat the first number as an accurate control group. About 100 steps out of 11,000 steps is almost a rounding error and significantly better than the OnePlus Watch 2 over the Pixel Watch 2 at the same distance (1860 short). The same goes for my recent test of the Galaxy Watch Ultra against the Forerunner 965 after 10,000 steps (348 short steps).
The OnePlus didn’t really count my calories burned compared to the Garmin, but honestly, I did never you’ve seen two watch brands agree on how many calories you’ve burned. I don’t know what goes into this algorithm and how to know who is flattering you or selling you. So I’m not too worried about OnePlus appearing to be on the low end, as that’s just an estimate.
Really, my biggest complaint with the OnePlus Watch 2R is the same one I have with the Galaxy Watch Ultra: the lack of a crown. OnePlus gave the Watch 2 an inactive crown that spins and does nothing, while the Watch 2 has two simple buttons, one of which downloads workouts by default unless you change the shortcut. I appreciate that, but the sweaty displays in the photos above should show why I don’t like to rely on drag during workouts. Give me up/down or crown buttons any day.
I need more time for a full OnePlus Watch 2R review that dives deeper into health and sleep related stuff. But I’m much more bullish about its chances of being worthwhile for casual athletes than I was a week ago – and matching the best cheap Android watches for quality.
An affordable Wear OS fitness watch
The OnePlus Watch 2R has a Snapdragon W5 processor, a 500mAh battery, a 1.43-inch display, dual-band GPS, NFC touch to pay, Google Assistant, and detailed performance metrics. It’s not quite as stylish or rugged as the original Watch 2, but it’s much lighter, more affordable, and seemingly free of the same HR issues.
