A wearable that lets you track your movements is a solid companion on your health journey. Your options are a fitness band or a smartwatch, and the best choice depends on what you want to get out of it. A band like a Fitbit has a minimalist aura (both in function and appearance) and can track your daily fitness, but a smartwatch like the Google Pixel Watch does all that and more, meaning it’s often better for more demanding users. However, there are other important factors to consider here.
Take battery life. When comparing the Google Pixel Watch to Fitbit, the latter will hold a charge longer. After all, it has a smaller screen (or none at all) and fewer features, which results in a more “powerful” battery life. Reviewers claim a 7-day battery life for the Fitbit Air (which many users confirm), while Pixel Watch owners complain about having to charge the wearable daily, or even twice a day in some cases. Yet despite the simplicity of the equipment, many Fitbits tend to bite the dust pretty quickly. Some users keep theirs for more than 5 years, but most see theirs die after just 18 to 24 months.
Although many think that a Fitbit is simply no longer necessary, they still have a place in the wearable space because they are very inexpensive. For less than $100 you get the basics and can get 2 years out of it. A Google Pixel Watch 4 definitely has a better feature set, but lasts around 3 years, according to users. As such, it may not be worth considering if you’re only interested in fitness tracking.
What you lose with Fitbit compared to a Pixel Watch
Does longer battery life (and technically longer battery life when considering monetary value) make Fitbit Air better than the Google Pixel Watch 4, given that both are Google’s latest releases in their respective categories? It’s complicated. For example, it’s easy to assume that the Fitbit Air is a superior wearable in terms of raw fitness features, while the smartwatch is better for all the extras, but that’s not necessarily the case. Of course, the battery will last a full week (eliminating the hassle of constant charging), although you also lose some important sensors for tracking your workouts.
Fitbit Air includes a skin temperature sensor, pulse oxygen (SpO2) sensor, accelerometer, optical heart rate monitor (HRM), and gyroscope. That’s fair, but the Pixel Watch 4 has all that (its HRM is also more robust and its accelerometer is 3-axis), plus a continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor, an ECG function, an ambient light sensor and a magnetometer, altimeter, barometer and compass. More importantly, it uses dual-band GPS for location tracking, something the Fitbit Air lacks, meaning you won’t need to have your phone nearby during workouts. That’s not to say a Fitbit is useless. It’s just that a smartwatch gives you more accurate workout tracking, but also raises the bar with features like heart rate loss and satellite SOS.
Ultimately, it’s up to you. The Pixel Watch 4 is fully repairable (and the battery is replaceable), so it can last a few more years if you take good care of it. So you need something that works in a pinch? Fitbit will get the job done and hold a charge for 7 days, all without breaking the bank – a solid deal, all things considered.
