At first glance, the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro looks an awful lot like an Apple Watch (one of the best fitness trackers), with a curved square face, similar digital crown, and very familiar overall aesthetic choices. The kicker with this budget fitness tracker, though, is that it’ll cost about a tenth of what a higher-end, recent Apple Watch will cost.
Amazfit Bip 3 Pro: Essential info
Two-week battery life
GPS
5ATM water-resistant
1.69-inch display
Weight: 33.2g (0.07lb) without strap
When you add that context, it’s perhaps a lot to expect it to function close to Apple’s wearable, and while it’s nowhere near, that’s not to say the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro doesn’t have plenty of tricks and functionality that make it worth a look at this price point.
Its larger display, an array of included trackers (including sleep tracking), mammoth battery life (that’s far better than any Apple Watch), and surprising third-party app integrations actually put it ahead of Fitbit in some aspects. It’s still less a smartwatch and more a fitness tracker, but if you’re looking to get off the couch and stretch your legs, it’s a great option.
Amazfit Bip 3 Pro: Price and release date
The Amazfit Bip 3 Pro arrived worldwide on June 15 2022 at a price point of $69.99 or £69.
With seasonal discounts, we’ve already seen it as low as $49.99.
Amazfit Bip 3 Pro: Design and display
As we noted earlier, it’s immediately apparent where the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro gets its inspiration from – it follows a very close template to the Apple Watch Series 4 onwards, with a 44mm casing that has a rounded square display that measures 1.69-inches.
Sadly, the screen isn’t AMOLED, and while much of the UI is black, it’s just not dark enough to convince us it’s doing a good impression of one either. It’s not bad, but if you’ve come from something like a Huawei Band 7 (opens in new tab) you’ll feel a little disappointed in the muted palette here.
The Amazfit Bip 3 Pro comes in black, pink, and cream variants. Whichever option you go for, there’s a small, clickable “crown” on one side of the device. It’s pretty central, which means if you have it pointing up your arm, it’s easy to accidentally press it during exercises like press-ups. There are no other physical buttons to be found on the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro.
Interestingly, there’s only one strap size in the box. The strap can be removed with a subtle pin, and the option included is ideal for larger wrists, but smaller arms may want to look into a replacement.
Amazfit Bip 3 Pro: Features
The Amazfit Bip 3 Pro is an odd fitness tracker because it clearly has ambitions of being something a little more all-encompassing. Since it’ll run on Android and iOS, it runs via the Zepp app, which works well – it offers the kind of Fitbit-esque dashboard for your tracking and exercises you’ll likely have seen elsewhere.
Where it goes above and beyond, though, is where it lets you send your data. As with many fitness trackers, it can write to Apple’s Health app, but perhaps most impressive is its integration with Strava. This is ideal if you’re a heavy user and don’t want to manually input your data each time, and it’s still a major point of frustration for many that cheaper apps don’t play nicely with the service – so that’s a big win.
There’s no music player, though, but you can leave your phone at home when it comes to GPS – the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro comes packing not one, not two, but four GPS systems. It’s not going to pick you up to the square meter that an Apple or Garmin watch might, but it’s definitely a great addition — even more so on a device that’s considerably under $100.
Sadly, it may look like an Apple Watch, but you shouldn’t expect to be able to handle calls or texts on the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro itself. It’ll give you notifications, but you’ll need to open your phone to action them.
It’s also worth mentioning the two week battery life again, because at this price that remains a huge boon. It’s a great length of time because it facilitates not just daily use, but impressively deep sleep tracking too. It works pretty well, tracking heart rate and depth of sleep, although it doesn’t offer the kind of accurate tracking of when the user falls asleep that you’d find on pricier trackers.
Amazfit Bip 3: Performance
The Amazfit Bip 3 Pro is more of a tracker than a smartwatch, but there’s no shame in that — especially at this price point. For one, the heart rate tracking on offer is surprisingly accurate given Amazfit has a newer sensor available on other models, although some user reviews have noted inconsistencies in the data collected. This writer has a very low heart rate, particularly when resting/asleep, but your mileage may vary.
The blood oxygen measurement, which not too long ago was a headline feature of many more expensive trackers, works well here, and there’s stress tracking too. It’s not an EDA scan like you’ll find on Fitbit’s Sense models, but instead recommends breathing exercises if your heart rate does start to climb.
This will seem a bizarre complaint, but our only issue with testing the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro during exercise was almost how light it is given its form is so close to that of an Apple Watch. Sure, it’s double the weight of the Huawei Band 7, but that’s a much leaner device. It was easy to forget we were wearing the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro, and while that’ll be a positive for many, the muscle memory of having an Apple Watch on the wrist for so long meant it took a while for our brain to catch up.
There are over sixty workout modes included, but as you start to get more nuanced you’ll end up getting limited data. For example, we wouldn’t expect much in the way of metrics for skateboarding, but more basic workouts are well catered to – with running, walking, cycling, and more all included.
Should you buy the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro?
The Amazfit Bip 3 Pro won’t have Fitbit or Apple quaking in their boots, but at this price point it doesn’t need to – it offers more than enough value to be worth a look for anyone curious about getting into fitness.
There are plenty of sensors, a load of workout modes, and a huge battery to keep it going for a fortnight. The inclusion of GPS at this price point is a very welcome one, as is the ability to hook it up to Strava.
If this product isn’t for you
The Amazfit Bip 3 Pro is a solid budget option, but it won’t be for everyone. If you’d like something similarly priced, the Huawei Band 7 is a great alternative but trades the GPS functionality found here for an AMOLED display (albeit with a slimmer design).
The Fitbit Sense takes much of the design language found on the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro and adds Fitbit’s array of sensors and tech, but it’s considerably more expensive.
Finally, if you’re looking for a genuine Apple Watch experience, you can’t go wrong with anything from the Series 5 onwards. Check out our Apple Watch Series 7 and Apple Watch Series 8 reviews for our in-depth analysis.
