Ocean Liner Challenge: Smartwatch vs. 100-Year Record

Summary

In a unique trans-Atlantic adventure, Michael Fischer attempts to break a 100-year-old walking record of 100 miles aboard the RMS Queen Mary 2, all while testing the latest smartwatches from Apple and Google. His goal is to walk over 14 miles daily for seven days, requiring 39 laps around Deck 7 each day, which translates to about five hours of walking. To ensure accurate tracking without GPS interference from the ship's movement, he disabled GPS on the Google Pixel Watch 4 and used the indoor walk setting on the Apple Watch Ultra 3, relying on step counts as the primary metric, backed up by a simple pedometer and a coin-swapping method for lap counting. The journey presented challenges, including rough seas, unexpected weather, and the complication of crossing five time zones, which required manual time adjustments on the watches and caused issues with data syncing, particularly for the Pixel Watch and its Fitbit integration. Despite physical strain and equipment glitches, Fischer persevered, noting the Apple Watch Ultra 3's step count appeared more accurate than the Pixel Watch 4's. He ultimately completed 103 miles, exceeding the original record. The experience highlighted the resilience of ocean liner travel and the practical, albeit imperfect, utility of modern smartwatches for extreme challenges.