If you’re looking to upgrade your watch and you’re trying to decide between the Garmin Forerunner 570 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, you’ve come to the right place. I’m a fitness editor with a decade of experience testing the best smartwatches on the market; below, I’ve compared the step-counting abilities of Garmin’s newest mid-tier Forerunner and Samsung’s newest watch.
Of course, both watches will do an awful lot more than track your steps. They are both designed to be worn 24/7 and will track your heart rate, sleep, menstrual cycle and more.
If you’re trying to decide between the two, the Garmin has more sports tracking capabilities and is compatible with Android and iOS via the Garmin Connect app. The Galaxy Watch 8, on the other hand, needs to be connected to a Samsung phone and cannot connect to iOS.
For this test, I wore both watches on my 4.5-mile morning run, then a dog walk and a third walk to my first meeting of the day. For both walks, I carried a manual clicker with me and clicked each time I took a step. Once I got home, I downloaded all the data and compared how close each watch got. Read on to see my results.
I took 15,000 steps with the Garmin Forerunner 570 and Galaxy Watch 8 — here’s the results
Run one
As I mentioned, this test involved a run and two separate walks. I decided counting my steps while running would be too much, even for me, so instead, I used the following calculation to work out my step count.
My average stride length when running is 0.99 meters, which is 38.9 inches. I divided one mile (63,360 inches) by 38.9 to calculate how many steps I took per typical mile — 1,628 steps. I then multiplied this by 4.5, which was the length (in miles) of my run, to get my total step count for the workout — 7502 steps.
Both watches accurately measured the run. The Garmin Forerunner 570 said I covered 4.51 miles, and calculated my average pace as 8:48-minute miles, and my average heart rate at 158 beats per minute. The Galaxy Watch 8 recorded a 4.54-mile run, with an average pace of 8:47-minute miles and an average heart rate of 159 bpm.
Here’s the step count data:
|
Manual |
7,502 steps |
|
Garmin FR 570 |
7,692 steps |
|
Galaxy Watch 8 |
7,630 steps |
Walk one
As soon as I got in from my run, I swapped my shoes and took the dog out for a quick walk as my second test, this time with my trusty clicker in hand. Both watches count your steps by using an internal accelerometer, which measures the swing of your arm.
Each swing counts for two steps. It doesn’t matter whether you wear your watch on your dominant or non-dominant hand, or whether you’re walking with your hands in your pockets, or holding something; the accelerometer should still measure your body’s movement.
Here’s what both watches recorded:
|
Manual |
3,150 steps |
|
Garmin FR 570 |
3,224 steps |
|
Galaxy Watch 8 |
3,176 steps |
Walk two
|
Manual |
3,500 steps |
|
Garmin FR 570 |
3,506 steps |
|
Galaxy Watch 8 |
3,477 steps |
Total
|
Manual |
14,152 steps |
|
Garmin FR 570 |
14,422 steps |
|
Galaxy Watch 8 |
14,283 steps |
As you can see, the Galaxy Watch 8 beat Garmin in my testing, and I think this is the first time since starting these tests I’ve seen one of the best Garmin watches come in second place. Of course, the results are very close — both watches were within 139 steps of one another, which is a tiny margin over the course of 7.5 miles.
It’s also worth noting that both are very different watches — the Galaxy Watch 8 is a competitor to the Apple Watch 11, with a built-in AI assistant and a number of health and fitness features.
The Garmin Forerunner 570, on the other hand, is a watch that could easily get you around your first or faster marathon. It’s got tons of Garmin’s most advanced health tracking features, and includes useful tools like Body Battery, Garmin Coach and Training Readiness.
The Garmin Forerunner 570 launched on 15 May 2025, and all models of the watch cost $549.99 / £459.99. It comes in two sizes — 42mm and 47mm — and there are three colors available for each size.
The Galaxy Watch 8 starts at $349 / £319 for the Bluetooth, 40mm version, and $379 / £349 for the Bluetooth, 44mm. With LTE support, this goes up to $399 / £369 for the Galaxy Watch 8 (LTE, 40mm) and $429 / £399 for the Galaxy Watch 8 (LTE, 44mm).
Both are brilliant watches, and the right one for you will depend on your training needs. That said, I’ve been impressed with the Galaxy Watch 8’s accuracy, and I’ll be doing more testing now that the Apple Watch 11 has dropped.
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