Zooey Liao/ZDNET/Apple Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways A known triathlete and blogger tried out the AirPods Pro 3. He tested the heart rate sensor while bicycling indoors and outdoors. The heart rate sensor got a thumbs up for its accuracy. Wondering if you should buy Apple's new AirPods Pro 3 for the health and fitness features alone? At least one expert is impressed by the accuracy of the heart rate sensor, which is new to the AirPods lineup. In his latest DC Rainmaker blog, triathlete and tester Ray Maker provided a hands-on review of the AirPods Pro 3 from unboxing to physical testing. In his review, Maker touched on such areas as fitting the AirPods, noise cancellation, and Live Translation. Also: AirPods Pro 3 review: Apple pulled off something I thought impossible But Maker's main purpose was to put the AirPods Pro 3 through the paces. And for that, he wore them while running, bicycling, and swimming. The new AirPods carry an IP57 rating, which means they can withstand water immersion of up to 1 meter (a little more than 3 feet) for as long as 30 minutes. Not sure I'd wear my AirPods while swimming, but they seemed to survive DC Rainmaker's dunking. Certain features, such as Live Translation and the expanded Fitness app, don't require the Pro 3 and are accessible on the Pro 2 and other AirPods. Citing the enhanced Fitness app as the biggest change in Apple Fitness this September, Maker said that this feature is designed to record workout data from your AirPods or other devices. Using the heart rate sensor After updating your iPhone to iOS 26, you open the Fitness app, tap the new Workout tab, and follow the steps to set it up. You'll then see a variety of workouts that you can record. Under each workout are three options. The first one will automatically play music when you work out. The second will enable the Workout Buddy to provide pep talks. The third one lets you kick off the workout immediately or set a specific number of minutes or calories. That leads us to the heart rate sensor on the AirPods Pro 3. Once the AirPods are in your ears, your iPhone will grab the heart rate from them. And here's where DC Rainmaker explains how the sensor works. "On the sides of the pods is a little black area, and under that are two infrared sensors that pulse light at 250 times per second," he said. "That's notably different than the more standard green LEDs used in the PowerBeats 2 Pro (which didn't work well). These infrared sensors look at the blood flow in your ears, and measure the movements of said blood." Also: Intrigued by Live Translation? You may not have to buy new AirPods to access it After your workout is over, you'll see a screen in the Fitness app on your iPhone with such stats as total distance, total calories burned, and your heart rate during the workout. This data also appears on the Lock screen of any iPhone with Live Activity. So how did the heart rate sensor fare based on DC Rainmaker's testing? To try this out, he compared the sensor on the AirPods Pro 3 with the one on the PowerBeats 2 Pro while cycling both indoors and outdoors. The heart rate for indoor cycling was easier to capture on both earbuds. But due to actual elevation and other factors, capturing the rate when cycling outdoors seemed to be more of a challenge. But here, the AirPods Pro 3 proved their worth. The earbuds struggled a bit to grab the heart rate at the peak of an interval as DC Rainmaker showed through a graph in his post. But otherwise, he was impressed. Also: I'm not swapping my Apple Watch for the AirPods Pro 3's heart rate tracking - here's why "Holy crap, that's good," Maker said. "I fully expected the AirPods Pro 3 to fail here, and it aced it. In any case, I'm blown away. Like, legit blown away. Not because Apple couldn't do it, but because the PowerBeats 2 Pro were so bad (and only about 8 months ago), that I'd kinda written off Apple's ability to get optical HR correct." In the end, DC Rainmaker summed up his opinion: "Apple has managed to do something that really nobody else has: Produce a pretty solid heart rate sensing device in your ears. It's not absolutely perfect, but it's really strong." Want to follow my work? Add ZDNET as a trusted source on Google. Featured