PineTime: steps counter accuracy
How accurate is a $25 smartwach pedometer? Let's find out!
Methodology
Surely the accuracy of the PineTime must be average as it's sooooo much cheaper than other smartwatches, right?
I compared my PineTime with 2 other more expensive watches: a Suunto 9 Peak and
an Apple Watch Series 6.
Those 2 watches are meant for exercising, so the pedometer is pretty accurate.
Initial testing
I did the first series of tests with the PineTime on my left wrist, and the
Apple Watch on my right wrist.
This gives a good comparison, but being right-handed, I found out that this
gives discrepancy (more steps on the Apple Watch in that case), e.g. when I'm
vacuuming or washing the dishes.
Refining testing
This led me to a new round of testing, where I wore two watches (including the
PineTime) on my left wrist, and sometimes another watch on my right wrist.
That made me look a bit weird but I don't really mind - plus my kids didn't even
blink as they're used to having a geeky father ^^
As you can see on the above pictures, as time goes, the Apple Watch (which I'm wearing on my right wrist) gets a lot more steps than the PT and the Suunto on my left wrist.
Eventually I stopped wearing a watch on my right wrist as the comparison just didn't make sense, and rather focused on the additional watch on my left wrist.
Tests
Initial testing
(PineTime on left wrist, Apple Watch Series 6 on right wrist)
| PineTime | Apple Watch | % diff | Notes | |
| Day 1 | 27336 | 26118 | 5 % | long run (21k) |
| Day 2 | 8138 | 6430 | 27 % | normal day, no exercise |
| Day 3 | 16846 | 14163 | 19 % | 11k run |
| Day 4 | 16800 | 15338 | 10 % | 12k run |
| Day 5 | 19156 | 17270 | 11 % | 13k run |
| Day 6 | 5742 | 4858 | 18 % | not much activity :) |
| Day 7 | 23882 | 21525 | 11 % | long run (21k) |
As you can see, the PineTime reports between 5 to 27% more steps!
But again this is not a fair comparison, as both watches are not worn on the
same wrist.
Refined/Proper testing
(PineTime on left wrist, another watch on left wrist)
| PineTime | 2nd Watch | % diff | 2nd watch model | |
| Day 1 | 27348 | 26747 | 2 % | Suunto 9 Peak |
| Day 2 | 16102 | 16403 | -2 % | Suunto 9 Peak |
| Day 3 | 18860 | 18444 | 2 % | Apple Watch Series 6 |
| Day 4 | 7554 | 7953 | -5 % | Suunto 9 Peak |
Much more interesting, isn't it?
Because I was wearing both the PineTime and either the Suunto or the Apple watch
on the same wrist, the difference is +/- 2%, which is really acceptable IMO.
I'll be adding a few more lines to this table in the coming days, but you get the idea.
Conclusion
I'm glad I made a proper test of the PineTime pedometer: my gut feeling was that it was "good enough", but I had in mind something between 5 to 10% difference, based on my initial experiments.
Doing proper testing (i.e. wearing 2 watches on the same wrist, which seems obvious) proves that accuracy is really good and you can trust your PineTime to correctly count your steps! :-)
Tags: PineTime