help menu

Join us on the Community Forums!

  • Community Guidelines

    The Fitbit Community is a gathering place for real people who wish to exchange ideas, solutions, tips, techniques, and insight about the Fitbit products and services they love. By joining our Community, you agree to uphold these guidelines, so please take a moment to look them over.

  • Learn the Basics

    Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page for information on Community features, and tips to make the most of your time here.

  • Join the Community!

    Join an existing conversation, or start a new thread to ask your question. Creating your account is completely free, and takes about a minute.

Not finding your answer on the Community Forums?

Cancel
Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Does Pixel 2 Watch record hike route and elevation gain

Replies are disabled for this topic. Start a new one or visit our Help Center.

‎10-31-2023 13:15

‎10-31-2023 13:15

I'm considering a Pixel 2 Watch and wondering how the hike tracking (using the walk function on Garmin) compares to my Garmin Vivoactive 4S.  My Garmin is on its last legs, and thinking ahead for a replacement.  I have a Pixel 6 Pro phone, so I'm interested in Pixel Watch.

I can start a hike on my Garmin, and at the end it will show me a map of the route and also elevation gain in feet, in addition to heart rate and speed information.

Does the Fitbit app do this for the Pixel 2 Watch?  I haven't had a Fitbit in many years, but as I recall to get this type of detail, I had to not only start the hike on my Fitbit device, but also on the Fitbit phone app.

Thanks

Also, can I pair a heart rate monitor (such as Polar OH1) to the Pixel 2 Watch? 

Best Answer
1 REPLY 1

‎10-31-2023 16:37 - edited ‎11-01-2023 02:08

‎10-31-2023 16:37 - edited ‎11-01-2023 02:08

Hi @anitacan.

Honestly I would stick with the Garmin for battery life alone, having to charge this watch every day is a pain. The GPS tracking has been problematic on my PW2 when I did try it (it dropped signal half way through and never reconnected). You would get a map of what it does track, along with the usual metrics, elevation gain being one of them. It's not possible to pair an external HR sensor with the Pixel watch 2 from the Fitbit side. I have read that it's possible with the Google Fit watch app but I haven't tried it as I use Fitbit. It may be possible to sync the workout from Google Fit to Fitbit via Health Connect, but again I haven't tried any of this so cannot confirm it. To me it just sounds like another inconvenience and something that might work or might not work.

These are the steps that I saw posted on Reddit (here). 

I have a Garmin Fenix 7 which I also use and the tracking is a lot more robust. Perhaps I was unlucky with the PW2, as I haven't had chance to test it again. Although I've seen plenty of posts on other forums with users describing the same issue I had. Whether Google can fix this in an update, I'm sure time will tell.

As a smart watch the Pixel watch 2 is great and I'm enjoying my time with it, but the fitness side of it is lacking. Although it's more of a Fitbit issue in general I my opinion. 

Community Council Member

Nathan | UK

Looking to get more sleep? Join the conversation on the Sleep better forum.

Best Answer