Fitbit Inspire 3 review

Fitbit has up to date one among its slim and attractively priced trackers for 2022. The Encourage 3 now comes with options like an always-on color display and blood oxygen monitoring, but prices lower than its predecessor. 

It’s extra inexpensive for these within the UK the place it’s £5 cheaper at £84.99. For these within the US and Europe, it stays at $99.95/€99.95 which remains to be good contemplating the upgrades. 

Nonetheless, there are cheaper choices on the market such because the Xiaomi Mi Band 7 and Honor Band 6 so can the Encourage 3 do sufficient to win your affection? 

Design & Construct 

• Related however improved 
• Contact delicate buttons 
• Totally waterproof 

It’s maybe no shock that the Encourage 3 seems to be similar to its predecessor, the Encourage 2. It is a pretty typical entry-level health tracker when it comes to type. 

That’s to say it’s bought a tall and skinny design the place the display is portrait slightly than spherical or sq. just like the Fitbit Versa 4 and Fitbit Sense 2.

One tweak to the design is that the strap suits to the principle physique extra neatly. The flush design makes the machine look much more fashionable. Primarily, it’s so much just like the Fitbit Luxe. 

I examined out the Lilac Bliss silicone band, however you may as well get Midnight Zen (black) or Morning Glow (orange) choices. Different equipment can be found individually equivalent to a stainless-steel mesh band ($69.95/59.99) or a clip ($19.95/£19.99) if you happen to don’t need to or can’t put on it in your wrist – for instance, when sporting boxing gloves. 

It’s a really comfy and light-weight health tracker which means I might put on it 24 hours a day with none discomfort. 

There are not any bodily buttons right here as you need to use the contact display to navigate in addition to the capacitive sensors on the aspect. These will wake or sleep the show or get you again to the principle watch view regardless of the place you might be within the interface. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Oddly, you’ve bought to the touch each on the similar time slightly than say double faucet one which I discover slightly awkward and double tapping the display itself to wake it’s apparently a no go. Nonetheless, with the Encourage 3’s new always-on show you may not want these buttons a lot anyway (extra on that later). 

The Encourage 3 has a water lock function which isn’t to do with protecting water out – it’s waterproof to 50m – however switches the buttons off so the water doesn’t activate them. 

Display 

• Now in color 
• At all times-on possibility 
• Nonetheless small 

There are some good issues concerning the display and a few not so good. On the plus aspect, issues have moved – very similar to the Luxe – to a color show and the Fitbit Encourage 3 affords an optionally available always-on show mode. 

No extra having to get up the show both by elevating it or utilizing these touch-sensitive buttons is a pleasant possibility, though it does have an effect on battery life. 

My principal gripe right here is that the show is so small. Fitbit doesn’t really checklist a measurement within the specs for this machine, however I’m not overly stunned because it doesn’t even take up 50% off the glass entrance. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

This makes issues cramped, exacerbating the same old subject of those portrait screens the place something longer than the phrase ‘show’ must slowly scroll throughout the display so that you can learn it. 

In comparison with the bigger screened Xiaomi Mi Band 7 and Honor Band 6 the Encourage 3 seems to be a bit foolish and whereas I can reside with it for primary features, issues like getting WhatsApp notifications or related are primarily pointless because the display can’t show them in a readable format. 

If you happen to don’t thoughts these downsides then the display does look good and crisp and I discovered the ‘regular’ brightness setting to be completely good always of day in numerous circumstances. Dim and Max are additionally obtainable. 

Monitoring & Options 

• Complete monitoring 
• Added SpO2 
• No GPS 
• iPhone and Android

As you’d anticipate from Fitbit, the Encourage 3 is appropriate with iPhone and Android. The vary of monitoring obtainable on the tracker is superb, and all of the fundamentals like steps, energy and distance are naturally taken care of. There’s additionally a wealth of different choices together with sleep, stress and extra – though some want activating within the companion app to get going. 

A type of is ‘Zone Minutes’ which is slightly complicated at first however tracks the quantity of minutes you spend doing train with a sure coronary heart fee. These are break up into fats burn, cardio and peak. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Monitoring is mostly automated and the Encourage 3 can detect once you’re doing sure actions, however you may as well begin a session from the machine itself if you want. By default, the choices are Stroll, Run, Bike, Swim, Exercise and Treadmill however you may reorganise these shortcuts from the app. 

Word that for GPS monitoring, you’ll want to go out together with your smartphone because the Encourage 3 nonetheless doesn’t have this in-built – nor does it have NFC for contactless funds.

As an alternative, the main new function is SpO2 monitoring – aka blood oxygen degree – which for lots of customers received’t imply an entire lot. A traditional studying is 95-99% and mine appears to be unwavering at 96%. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Fanatic athletes will probably be extra desirous about SpO2 ranges than the common client however I think about they wouldn’t take into account the entry-level Encourage 3 within the first place, so this function is prone to be extra helpful for anybody with well being points that have an effect on respiration and will assist detect sleep apnea. 

Again to different monitoring and you possibly can spend hours within the companion app taking a look at every kind of figures and metrics. There’s choices to set weight objectives (not that the Encourage 3 can weigh you) in addition to weight loss plan and water. 

The Neighborhood part is the place you may add family and friends and compete on step depend, though it’s unclear what time interval the figures are for. And the Uncover tab has every kind of issues from challenges to studies to clock faces. 

A number of options are locked behind the Fitbit Premium subscription. You get a 6-month free trial with the machine however Fitbit used to supply a full yr. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Premium permits you to entry a lot of exercises, mindfulness classes, guided packages and video games in addition to deeper details about your knowledge equivalent to a Sleep Profile which goals that can assist you perceive your sleep patterns in addition to injecting some enjoyable by matching you with a sleep animal every month. You need to put on the tracker to mattress for no less than 14 days in a month for this, although.

It’s price making use of the free trial however after that Premium will price you a fairly hefty £7.99 monthly or £79.99 yearly. 

Battery Life 

• As much as 10 days 
• Much less with always-on show 

The Encourage 2 introduced with it double the battery lifetime of its predecessor and the Encourage 3 can nonetheless hit that 10-day determine.  

In truth, in my testing, I discovered the health tracker was utilizing lower than 10% per day suggesting it will possibly go longer. 

The draw back right here is that if you wish to use the brand new always-on show function, it is going to scale back the battery life considerably.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

How a lot depends upon components like display brightness and utilization, however you’ll get round a 3rd of the total potential. So, for many, it’ll be roughly three or 4 days.

Total, it’s higher than the Xiaomi Mi Band 7 for battery life however the Honor Band 6 is a more sensible choice if that is excessive up your precedence checklist. 

Charging is respectable although, so may make you extra prone to swap that display to always-on as a result of in simply quarter-hour the Encourage 3 gained 32% and an extra 34% after half-hour. That’s nice however a puny charging cable that’s solely barely over 20cm in size is absolutely irritating.

Value & Availability 

The Fitbit Encourage 3 is offered now for $99.95/£84.99/€99.95 making it the identical value because the Encourage 2 within the US and Europe however barely cheaper within the UK.

In addition to shopping for direct (hyperlinks above) you will get it from BestBuy, Lenovo and Amazon within the US. In the meantime, UK consumers can head to Amazon, Argos and Currys.

As talked about earlier, the Xiaomi Mi Band 7 and Honor Band 6 are key rivals and can be found for across the £50/$50 mark so examine them out in addition to extra choices in our greatest health tracker chart.

Verdict

There’s so much to love concerning the Fitbit Encourage 3 together with the actual fact it’s cheaper than earlier than – nicely, no less than within the UK. 

Nonetheless, on the similar value elsewhere it comes with a extra fashionable design just like the Luxe that’s additionally comfy sufficient to put on 24/7 with no points. 

Enhancements equivalent to a color show that may be always-on and SpO2 monitoring are welcome, though the latter might not be of a lot use to many individuals. GPS can be a extra helpful improve but it surely’s typical to depart that out on cheaper gadgets. You need to spend practically double to get GPS on the Fitbit Cost 5.

Monitoring is well-rounded and Fitbit Premium is there for anybody eager to dig deeper (and pay extra). Battery life is strong, too, though the Encourage 3 will want extra common charging if you happen to use the always-on function. 

The Encourage 3 is an satisfying health tracker however it could be simpler to suggest if the display was larger and subsequently extra viable for issues like notifications. It’s price contemplating the aforementioned rivals from Xiaomi and Honor earlier than you splash the money.