Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3
Which entry-level fitness tracker will work for you depends on future plans.
Good value for the dollar
You get impressively good value for the dollar with the Amazfit Band 7, which has tons of features you’d expect to find in a premium-priced tracker, and it works pretty well, too. The breadth of selection of workout types, sports, and even everyday activities you can keep track of is unique as well.
For
- Very affordable
- Has lots of unique sports and activity options to track
- Generous rated battery life
Against
- Notifications don't always work well
- There's no physical button
- Connected GPS doesn't always work well
Get into the Fitbit ecosystem
The Fitbit Inspire 3 is the perfect entryway into the Fitbit ecosystem, especially if you plan to upgrade in a few years to something more robust. It has tons of great features, including detailed sleep tracking, 24/7 heart rate, and more. Plus, there’s the option to get a Premium subscription for an even deeper dive into your health and wellness.
For
- Has an ambient light sensor
- Very slim in design
- Fitbit reputation behind it
Against
- More expensive
- Need Premium subscription to unlock all features
There’s a pretty big disparity in price when looking at the Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3. But they both fall into the affordable, entry-level fitness tracker category. Then the question becomes, which one should you get? You save a ton of money with one while getting some premium features but get into a deeper ecosystem with the other. Here, we’ll help you decide which one might be right for you.
Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3: How do they differ in looks?
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Both the Amazfit Band 7 and Fitbit Inspire 3 employ the typical long, rectangular face that you see in traditional fitness and activity trackers. The Amazfit Band 7 has a 1.47-inch HD AMOLED color screen that Michael Hicks refers to as “surprisingly bright and well-sized” in his review. But the touchscreen is the only means of operating it: there’s no physical button. It comes in three color options (black, beige, and pink) but you can use other straps, too, including green, blue, and orange from Amazfit and other third-party options.
Employing a swim-proof design, one of the Amazfit Band 7’s biggest selling points is the rated battery life: it’s an impressive up to 18 days per charge or 12 with heavy usage. With the battery-saver mode, you can extend the life even further to up to 28 days, great if you’re on an extended vacation and forgot to bring the charger along. Keep in mind, however, that the battery life will be reduced due to the always-on display, which Hicks says results in about a week per charge. That’s still relatively decent, though.
You can personalize the look with more than 50 watch face options, including eight you can edit with your own personal photos. It works with 10 mini apps for everything from weather to calculator, and you can choose what to download to it.
With a similar-sized 1.55-inch color AMOLED screen, the Fitbit Inspire 3 comes in Midnight Zen, Lilac Bliss, or Morning Glow, but there are tons of other interchangeable band colors and styles you can swap in, both from Fitbit and third-party brands. Check out our selection of the best Fitbit Inspire 3 bands to choose from if you want to further personalize the look. It also works with an accessory clip so you can wear it clipped to your clothing instead if preferred. Andrew Myrick calls it “extremely lightweight and comfortable” in his review.
You can personalize the clock face as well using a variety of optional ones to display what stats are most important to you. It has an always-on color touchscreen and ambient light sensor. There’s a side navigation button so you have another option for controlling the display and activating menu items. The Fitbit Inspire 3 is also swim-proof so you can wear it without a worry in the pool, shower, rain, or snow.
Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3: Let’s break down the specs
Let’s see how these two trackers compare when it comes to the bare bones specs.
Header Cell - Column 0 | Amazfit Band 7 | Fitbit Inspire 3 |
---|---|---|
Compatibility | Android, iOS | Android, iOS |
Colors | Black, Beige, Pink | Midnight Zen, Lilac Bliss, Morning Glow |
Swappable Band | Yes | Yes |
Battery Life | Up to 18 Days (12 Days with Heavy Use, 28 Days Battery Saver Mode | Up to 10 Days |
App | Zepp | Fitbit |
Heart Rate Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
Stress Tracking | Yes | Yes |
GPS | Connected | Connected |
Sp02 | Yes | Yes |
Sleep Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
Swimproof | 5ATM | 5ATM |
Phone Notifications | Yes | Yes |
Screen Size | 1.47 inches | 1.55 inches |
Screen Type | AMOLED | AMOLED |
There’s a lot alike about these two trackers. It’s when you dive deeper and decide what journey you want to go on that the decision becomes easier.
Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3: Fitness, workouts, and activities
What truly sets the Amazfit Band 7 apart from others is the 120 sports, workout, and activity modes you can choose from. These range from the usuals like walking, running, and cycling, to more specialized ones like HIIT workouts and yoga, to niche ones like gymnastics, and everyday activities like skating, bowling, or even playing board games.
Note that these modes are for logging purposes only: if you’re jumping rope, for example, you can log this as an activity but it won’t count the number of revolutions. If you’re boxing, you can log that but won’t get a record of punches.
However, for someone who wants to keep a detailed log of everything they do and track that back to the general workout stats, it can be a useful way to find out which activities yield the best calorie burn, for example, or gets you to your peak heart rate. The band can also automatically sense and track four common workouts if you forget to do it manually: walking, running, elliptical, and rowing machine.
What also makes the Amazfit Band 7 stand out are the detailed PeakBeats workout stats and Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI). PeakBeats tracks maximum oxygen uptake (V02 max), recovery time, training load, and training effect for every workout; while the Virtual Pacer tests your cardio level.
PAI, meanwhile, keeps track of activity for seven days and then awards you a score and points so you can determine how well you are performing, and push yourself harder if necessary. The score takes into account factors like your age, gender, maximum and resting heart rate, and response to exercise.
At any point, you can also tap to take a quick test of three core health metrics in 60 seconds, then view the stats in the Zepp app. If it detects abnormal heart rate patterns, you’ll get a notification.
The Fitbit Inspire 3 works with the Fitbit app and tracks all the same stats, including daily steps, calories burned, specific exercises, heart rate, and more. It only offers a limited number of exercises for tracking, like walking, running, swimming, and weightlifting, with automatic tracking of ones like walking and swimming. Thus, you won’t get a detailed picture of how specific activities play into your overall response unless you have a separate log to know specifically what you did and when.
A feature called Active Zone Minutes, however, tells you when you reach fat burn, cardio, and peak heart rate levels while working out, a great motivator and a way to get a sense that your workouts are helping you accomplish goals and you are pushing yourself as hard as you need to. Set a goal for Active Zone Minutes then aim to reach it every day.
You’ll get heart rate notifications with the Inspire 3 as well if it detects an irregular heart rate outside of when you’re exercising. Conversely, you can also make use of mindfulness exercises, like mindful breathing, when you need to calm down or de-stress.
There are additional features you’ll get with a Fitbit Premium subscription, (the band comes with a six-month trial) including something called a Daily Readiness Score. It advises how your body is responding and whether you need to take a day off or if you’re primed and ready for an intense workout.
Additional fitness features with the Fitbit Inspire 3 include a cardio fitness score, reminders to move, and the ability to participate in challenges with the Fitbit community, including your own friends and/or family members who also own Fitbit devices. The Fitbit app also includes access to free workouts, nutrition advice, mindfulness exercises, and, more, but you will need a Premium subscription to access the bulk of it.
Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3: What else do they have to offer?
We want more from our fitness trackers these days than just being able to track workouts. And both these devices accomplish that.
The Amazfit Band 7 also does 24/7 blood oxygen monitoring, heart rate, stress, and menstrual health tracking. It tracks sleep quality as well, including light, deep, and REM. With connected GPS, you can track a run while leaving your phone at home but note that Hicks experienced some issues with dropped connections.
You can view notifications from a connected smartphone on the Amazfit Band 7, which can also be used as a stopwatch and, as noted, show information from connected apps on its screen, like weather. With compatible devices, use it for Bluetooth music control as well. There’s a do not disturb that can be activated while at work in a meeting, for example, or in class.
One neat feature that makes the Amazfit Band 7 stand out beyond fitness is the inclusion of Alexa voice control. You can use voice commands to set an alarm, for example, or even ask questions. But you must first trigger Alexa via the app. Since the band only has a mic and no speaker, the replies are delivered in text format not audibly.
The Fitbit Inspire 3 has tons of other features, too, including a stress management score with a Premium subscription, skin temperature variation measurements, blood oxygen tracking, and menstrual health tracking. It also has connected GPS and features like a timer, stopwatch, and do not disturb.
With regards to sleep, Fitbit is one of the best, if not the best, when it comes to measuring detailed sleep duration and quality, including light, deep, and REM sleep. You’ll also get access to the new Sleep Profiles with a Premium subscription as well. This logs your sleep over a period of time and then compares your typical sleep patterns with that of an animal. If you are like a parrot, for example, it means you keep a consistent bedtime, and fall asleep quickly, but don’t get enough REM. You can use this data to try and make positive changes and check your animal to see if it changes over time.
Like the Amazfit Band 3, the Fitbit Inspire 3 can display phone notifications. While there’s no voice control, there are Quick Replies with a compatible Android phone so you can send a preset message with one touch if you need to let someone know you’re busy and will call back, for example. You cannot, however, download any apps to the Fitbit Inspire 3, but you can sync it to receive notifications from other apps, like MyFitnessPal and Peloton.
Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3: Which should you buy?
When it comes to the Amazfit Band 7 vs. Fitbit Inspire 3, they are pretty in tune when it comes to the basics they offer. You’ll get to log and track your workouts, sleep, and other core metrics like heart rate and oxygen saturation. You’ll receive phone notifications, enjoy connected GPS, and even get some additional useful features like menstrual health tracking.
It really comes down to budget and future plans. If you’re on a tight budget and looking for something simple to use as an entry into the fitness tracker world, or a cool gift for a teen or someone looking to get an idea of their health and wellness, the Amazfit Band 7 might meet your needs. Hicks calls it the “ideal budget fitness tracker for casual athletes.”
However, if you’re in it for the long haul and suspect you might be ready to upgrade to something more robust and feature-rich down the line, you’d be better off going with the Fitbit Inspire 3. Not only does it offer enticing features like the ability to access workouts from the app along with mindfulness activities, very reliable sleep tracking, and a huge community of users to share and compete with, you can test out other features with the trial Premium subscription and decide if it’s worth keeping.
But most importantly, if you switch to a newer, more feature-rich Fitbit down the line, all your stats will still be accessible in the app for comparison purposes. You’ll be able to track your journey from the start, whether that’s to try and lower your resting heart rate, lose weight, or improve your cardio fitness score. There’s a lot of value in that as a motivating factor when you’re trying to live a healthier lifestyle.
If you do opt for the Fitbit Inspire 3, once you’re ready to move up, check out the best Fitbits for other options in the line-up to consider.
A good starting point
You can’t go wrong with the Amazfit Band 7 as a good and affordable starting point. But if you decide later that you need something more robust, you’ll lose those stats as part of your history unless you get another Amazfit band and the Zepp app. This band, however, is a great option for tracking all your activities in a simple way, and ideal for those who want to know what activities give them the best results.
A foot in the Fitbit door
As a perfect entry into the world of Fitbit, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is a simple yet premium fitness tracker that you can use to track basics sports and activities, heart rate, and sleep. Once you decide to get something new, all the stats will remain in the app and sync with the new device so you can keep the journey going. And with a Fitbit Premium subscription, you can unlock even more with it about your overall health and wellness.
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Christine Persaud has been writing about tech since long before the smartphone was even a "thing." When she isn't writing, she's working on her latest fitness program, binging a new TV series, tinkering with tech gadgets she's reviewing, or spending time with family and friends. A self-professed TV nerd, lover of red wine, and passionate home cook, she's immersed in tech in every facet of her life. Follow her at @christineTechCA.