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Fitbit Air vs. Apple Watch: Who Wins the Run?
31 May
Summary
- Fitbit Air and Apple Watch Ultra 3 showed close heart rate and calorie readings.
- Fitbit Air's GPS reliance on iPhone led to inaccurate pace and distance tracking.
- Apple Watch Ultra 3 offered more detailed running metrics than the Fitbit Air.
The new Google Fitbit Air, a screenless fitness tracker featuring an AI-powered Google Health Coach, has been put to the test against the Apple Watch Ultra 3. During a 10-kilometer run in the UK, both devices were evaluated for their accuracy in tracking metrics like heart rate and calories burned.
The Google Fitbit Air demonstrated impressive accuracy in its heart rate and calorie estimations, showing only a minor difference of 3bpm for heart rate and less than 25 calories compared to the Apple Watch Ultra 3. This performance suggests the Fitbit Air's optical heart rate sensor is highly reliable.
However, the Fitbit Air's lack of onboard GPS became apparent when tracking pace and distance. It overestimated pace by 10 seconds per kilometer and recorded a longer distance, despite using the same iPhone GPS data as the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 provided more granular data, including stride length and vertical oscillation, which the Fitbit Air does not capture.
