Google Pixel Watch review: A great smartwatch, but not the best for fitness tracking

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Before I even unboxed the Google Pixel Watch, I assumed it would function like a souped-up version of the now-Google-owned brand, Fitbit. After wearing one every day for a month, I found this to be only partially true.

As a smartwatch, the Pixel Watch is outstanding. Using the Android-based (and Google-made) operating system, WearOS, it does almost everything you want in a smart wearable. There's a variety of available apps, the interface is simple to navigate, and you can send texts and emails and even make and take phone calls.

But as a fitness tracker, the watch falls flat on its face. Despite Fitbit being an in-house brand, the Pixel Watch is plagued by inaccurate activity tracking due to unreliable GPS syncing. And while this is a first-generation watch that's bound to experience growing pains, I still expected Google to get the fitness part right.

Aside from that, I was otherwise impressed with its smartwatch functionality and health features. If Google finds a way to fix its syncing issues, the Pixel Watch would be a top competitor as the best Android smartwatch.

A stylish design and comfortable fit for wearing indoors and outdoors

Although the Pixel shares some DNA with Fitbit's wearables, its design is distinctly different. The watch features a circular face with smooth, rounded edges that roll right into the watch band. It's a subtle design that forgoes the more sporty, squared style native to Fitbit in favor of something more formal.

As someone who primarily wears sporty activity trackers, I still appreciated the Pixel's more conventional smartwatch design. It feels like Google intended it to lean more toward being an understated smartwatch than a rugged fitness tracker.

The watch does come standard with a rubber sport band, giving it some utility as an activity tracker right out of the box. But it's still sleek enough to complement more dressy attire for the office or a night out. I liked how comfortable this band was, too, and that it didn't irritate or chafe my skin during workouts.

The Pixel Watch offers a premium smartwatch experience thanks to WearOS

One of the Pixel Watch's biggest strengths is its smartwatch capability, led by its intuitive and easy-to-use operating system, WearOS. Whereas a smartwatch like the Fitbit Sense 2 is hamstrung by a restrictive operating system that doesn't allow third-party app support, WearOS enhances the Pixel's usefulness.

For instance, it offers Google-branded support via features like Google Assistant, Google Wallet, and Google Maps, as well as a wide selection of apps from the Google Play Store. This includes apps like Spotify, Strava, and, of course, Fitbit.

The Pixel even lets you make phone calls right on the watch, in addition to receiving and responding to text messages. I found it to be a pain typing out long texts on the somewhat small watch face, but with short messages, I was all for it. Voice-to-text, in a quiet area, worked well, too.

What impressed me most about its smart features is just how easy they all were to use. It was a seamless experience whether I needed to check app notifications, log a workout in Strava, or take a quick phone call on my wrist.

To me, this is exactly what the true worth of a smartwatch is. Being an effective extension of your smartphone lets you avoid fishing your phone out of pocket every few minutes to see what the latest buzz of a notification was. The Pixel nails this.

Works with all current Android phones without a knock to the overall experience

Just because the Pixel Watch is a Google product doesn't mean the watch's full compatibility is confined to the company's Pixel line of phones. Rather, the watch is compatible with any Android smartphone that's able to download both the Fitbit app and the Google Pixel Watch app via the Google Play Store. 

This is in sharp contrast to its biggest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy line of smartwatches. While Galaxy watches, like the Watch5 Pro, do work with other Android smartphones, they're best utilized with a Samsung phone and lack some major features when paired with anything else. 

Although I don't view the Galaxy Watch's lack of broad compatibility as a total dealbreaker, the fact the Pixel Watch experience is the same on the Google Pixel 7 as it is on a Samsung Galaxy S23 (the phones I used for testing) does give it wider appeal.

One of the worst fitness-tracking experiences I've ever had

This is where the Pixel Watch lost me. Not only did its built-in GPS routinely have trouble connecting during a workout, but that lack of connection would throw the tracking entirely out of whack. It got so bad during testing that I decided to wear a second watch just to get an accurate read of my workouts.

The issue seems to lie directly with how quickly the watch starts a workout. As soon as you hit the start icon, a short, seemingly un-pausable countdown begins before the timer starts. While this is happening, you can see the watch attempting to connect to GPS but instead of waiting for that connection, the watch just begins the workout.

This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the GPS just synced shortly after the workout started. However, I'd go an entire multi-mile run without it ever syncing. The result would be a tracking inaccuracy of anywhere between a minute and a half and two minutes off my normal mile time. I may not be training for any specific race or event but a discrepancy of that size renders my training data useless.

I've seen poor tracking like this before and it happens to come from another wearable in Google's broader lineup: the Fitbit Versa 4. While reviewing that watch, we found the exact same GPS issues and tracking inconsistencies, so it's disappointing to see that the problem persists beyond just the Versa 4 (the Fitbit Sense 2, however, our pick as the best Fitbit, tracked and synced perfectly fine when we tested it).

To me, this is a major flaw, and something that should give most Pixel Watch users pause, especially active folks. If fitness features aren't a priority, then its inconsistent syncing and spotty tracking capability may not matter all that much. As someone who's fairly active and wears and tests fitness trackers every day, I can't look past it. I hope Google implements a fix via a future firmware update.

Google's acquisition of Fitbit is most noticeable with the Pixel's solid suite of health features

The Pixel Watch's batch of health features is the closest replication of what it's like to use a Fitbit smartwatch and is clearly where Google leaned on that brand acquisition the most. And for everything it gets wrong with its fitness tracking, it's actually an alright health tracker.

It offers standard features like heart rate readings and heart rate zone tracking but also has an ECG that can log heart rhythm data. This can be used to detect atrial fibrillation and is set up so people can easily share their data with a doctor.

There's also an in-depth sleep tracker that provides useful insights into your sleep patterns and can help you chart out habits to improve or adjust your sleep schedule. Some watches, like the Apple Watch Ultra or Watch5 Pro, can be heavy when worn to bed, but the light weight of the Pixel Watch made it so I hardly noticed I had it on. 

Some of these features are only available via Fitbit Premium, including in-depth sleep insights, stress management recommendations, and Fitbit's new Daily Readiness Score. You do still get basic access to features like heart rate zones, the ECG app, and some sleep monitoring. Google includes six free months of Fitbit Premium when you buy the watch, so you can test it out before committing to any subscription cost (which is $10 a month or $80 a year).

Be prepared to charge it daily

The Pixel Watch's battery life is another area where it dramatically differs from the Fitbit experience. Whereas something like the Sense 2 can last upwards of a week on a single charge, I found myself charging the Pixel Watch nightly. 

No matter how I used it, it was always just dead enough to require a plug-in. Even if I didn't totally sap the battery throughout the day, I knew I still needed to give it some juice overnight to avoid it dying the next day by mid-morning or early afternoon.

Apple Watch users are all too familiar with this kind of recharging schedule, so it's unfair to knock the Pixel Watch too much because of this. And it's worth pointing out I was always able to go from 0% battery to 100% in just shy of two hours (and I could get 30% battery in under a half hour, which was often good enough for several hours of use in a pinch).

Should you buy it?

The Google Pixel Watch is a solid smartwatch that's held back by a severe fitness tracking deficiency. It's a disappointing aspect of an otherwise great watch experience and one that's made even more confusing by the fact that Google owns Fitbit.

And although Fitbit's own fitness tracking experience has never been on par with the more advanced offerings of something like a Garmin watch or the Apple Watch, the tracking inaccuracies with the Pixel Watch were so bad that anyone would be frustrated by them. It's a big difference to think you ran a 10-minute mile when you actually ran an 8-minute mile.

Our recommendation comes down to how much you value accurate activity tracking. If Google were to update the interface to allow you to pause the start of a workout until GPS synced, that would make a world of difference. As it currently stands, working out with the Pixel Watch doesn't provide reliable data. 

To the watch's credit, it does offer a satisfying smartwatch experience. WearOS suits the Pixel Watch well and is intuitive and easy to use. Plus, navigating the watch, whether it's to access apps, check notifications, or send text messages is a breeze.

So, while the Pixel Watch nails being a smartwatch, its severe lack of accurate activity tracking ultimately holds it back.