Should you buy a Fitbit Air or Pixel Watch? It’s complicated

If you’re a fan of Google’s fitness trackers, the new Fitbit Air will likely have caught your attention. It marks a departure from the company’s usual devices thanks to its screenless design and it boasts a more budget-friendly price as a result.

But if you already own a Pixel Watch, or are on the market for a new wearable, you may be wondering whether to go with Google’s existing smartwatch lineup or opt for the Fitbit Air instead. The answer isn’t as simple as you may hope, though.

Google designed the Fitbit Air with certain people in mind — those that find wearables too expensive, bulky, or complicated. As a result, the device is Google’s smallest tracker yet, which is especially helpful for people who may find smartwatches and fitness trackers too uncomfortable for sleep tracking. It also provides a distraction-free experience with no notifications, benefiting those that find smartwatches too bothersome with their notifications and alerts. Rather, the Air’s vibration function is only used for its alarm.

Notably, it doesn’t feature a screen. Rather, it is a small tracker pebble located inside a strap that you can switch out. Although it loses a screen, it gains battery life. The Fitbit Air’s battery lasts up to seven days. Thanks to fast charging, you can also get a day of battery life with just five minutes of charging.

Despite its minimalist design, it still features a range of important health and fitness features. This includes constant heart rate monitoring, heart rhythm monitoring with Afib alerts, heart rate variability monitoring, and SpO2 measurements.

In terms of fitness tracking, it can record your steps, auto-detect workouts, and even keep track of swimming. It’s also able to measure your sleep duration and stages, while supporting Smart Wake alarms.

The device’s design comes with another benefit: its price. At $99, it’s significantly cheaper than the Pixel Watch 4, which costs $349. Even Google’s Fitbit Charge 6 costs $159 (though it’s often discounted nowadays), which makes the Air an attractive offering.

Over the years, fitness trackers and smartwatches have become more difficult to differentiate, with many overlapping features. But the Fitbit Air’s lack of a screen makes this distinction more concrete. This distraction-free setup may work for some people, but it could be a deal-breaker for smartwatch fans.

There are some overlapping features between the Air and the Pixel Watch, such as heart rate and sleep tracking. However, the devices use different sensors to accomplish these tasks. For example, the Fitbit Air has an optical heart rate monitor, while the Pixel Watch uses a multi-path optical heart rate sensor. The multi-path option uses multiple light sources to increase the accuracy of readings.

When it comes to detecting your skin’s temperature, the Air uses a device temperature sensor, while the watch uses a far-field skin temperature sensor. A far-field sensor can detect temperature without direct contact, which makes it ideal for instances where the device is not worn tightly or there is interference from sweat.

The Fitbit Air is a lot cheaper than a Pixel Watch, but with that comes a significant loss of functionality. Although the Air uses vibration for its alarm feature, it doesn’t use this for notifications. So if you like to use wearables to keep track of messages, events, and incoming calls, losing this functionality can affect your productivity.

If you’re used to being able to see workout tracking and other information by glancing at your wrist, the Air’s screenless design can make this information easier to miss. To see the data from the tracker, you need to use your connected smartphone. You can always log missed workouts afterwards, but if enough time has passed, you may not remember the exact details.

Google’s Pixel Watch 4 comes with a significantly shorter battery life of 30 to 40 hours (depending on the size you get and whether you enable the Always-On Display). However, it also has additional features. You can use Gemini from your wrist, send replies to messages, and even take phone calls.

But besides the functionality that the Pixel’s screen and built-in microphone provide, it also has additional fitness and health features. This includes additional exercise modes, heart zone and pace training, all-day body response tracking for stress, stress notifications, and stress management with EDA sensors.

Finally, the Pixel Watch also supports certain safety and emergency features. This includes loss of pulse detection, satellite SOS communication, and fall detection. So even if you’re not strictly looking for smartwatch features, the Pixel Watch offers functionality that the Fitbit Air does not.

At the same time, it’s difficult to ignore that wearing a smartwatch constantly can be uncomfortable. The shorter battery life of the Pixel Watch also means that you have to charge it a lot more often too.

The choice between a Fitbit Air and a Pixel Watch may not be clear for everyone — and even Google seems to acknowledge this. So much so that the company notes that you can use both devices at the same time. The new Google Health App allows you to pair both the Air and Watch simultaneously.

For example, someone may want to use their Pixel Watch during the day, but then use the Fitbit Air for sleep tracking. Since the app allows you to pair both devices, you can easily switch between the two.

You may also want to use a Pixel Watch for activities where you want to track your location without using your phone, since the Fitbit Air doesn’t have GPS. Some people may want to use the Air to act as an accessory to boost their smartwatch’s battery power, with the watch sitting on standby or charging more often without the user losing out on tracking.

Of course, there’s also the style aspect — the Air is easier to wear as an accessory with different straps to suit different occasions.

In many ways, it feels like the Fitbit Air is an additional companion to other Google wearables. At the same time, there is definitely a market for screenless trackers, with the Air competing with the likes of the WHOOP 5.0 or even smart rings. I personally prefer using smartwatches or trackers with screens, but the right choice will depend on your own preferences.

Budget also plays a role here, since not everyone can afford a smartwatch. Though it’s worth noting that there are plenty of brands that offer devices across a range of prices.