Fitbit - Inspire 3 Health & Fitness Tracker - Midnight Zen

Some context... I'm a long-time Apple Watch user, but as a tech support person, I like to be familiar with Android options. I bought a $400 Pixel Watch and it stopped working after two days due to a recent update that caused many people to have broken watches. So, I purchased the Fitbit Inspire 3 as a low-cost replacement. I was curious to learn about the limitations compared to the Pixel Watch and Apple Watch. I've been very impressed with the Inspire 3. When considering the features of the Inspire 3, it's better than smartwatches costing hundreds of dollars more. Battery life is rated as 10 days, and it seems to charge quickly. My Apple Watch needs charing just about daily. The Inspire 3 is very light. Smart watches are big and bulky. I like how the Inspire 3 shows real-time heart rate at a glance. On my Apple Watch, it takes a few seconds after tapping on the heart rate icon to get a new heart rate reading displayed. I like the simple minimalist design. The GPS function of my smartphone is sufficient for tracking outdoor activities like biking and walking. So, there's no need to incorporate that into the fitness tracker which would drain the battery faster. I was originally enthusiastic about smartwatch devices, but prefer using the larger screen on my smartphone for tasks rather than squinting to see a smartwatch screen. I've used the Google Fit software on Android phones and it does a good job of tracking outdoor walks and steps with the phone's accelerometer and GPS. Having the addition of an Inspire 3 allows the smartphone to know pulse which offers a more precise insight into the activity level, and the ability to do sleep tracking. I like the default display color scheme with green accents.

If you are in the market looking for an entry level Budget friendly fitness tracker to track your workouts and health metrics, Fitbit Inspire 3 is the tracker/smart watch for you. Priced just under 100$, it is one of the budget entry level tracker from the Fitbit which does not upset us. Pros: 1. Vivid colors to choose from - Morning Glow (Orange), Lilac Bliss (Purple) and Midnight Zen (Black) 2. Sleek and Lightweight - With 1.55 inches (39.32 mm) Length, 0.73 inches (18.6 mm) Width and 0.46 inches (11.75 mm) Height and just weighing 17.69 grams (0.039 lb), this is one of the thin and lightweight trackers available in the market. It feels like we are not wearing a tracker at all. Its a good choice for people who don't like wearing thick and heavy watches. 3. AMOLED color touchscreen - AMOLED color touch screen is a big aesthetic upgrade when compared to that of the Inspire 2's grayscale OLED. The display looks crystal clear and so appealing. Fitbit has done an excellent job in keeping the Watch interface simple yet stylish. The touchscreen is quite responsive to the swipes and there is not much lag as one would expect for a 100$ watch. Though the text on the display is tiny it is clear. 4. Brightness levels, Light sensor and Timeout - There are 3 brightness levels - Dim, Normal and Max. A built-in light sensor helps the screen adjust for optimal visibility based on lighting conditions. While Indoors the screen is bright and easy to read. But the same is not the case with the outdoors. There are four display timeout options: Default, Medium, Long and Always on. 5. Waterproof - Inspire 3 is Waterproof to 164 feet which means it can be worn to the pool or one doesn't need to worry about when doing rigorous workout and need not worry about the sweat. 6. Fitness and Health tracking - Inspire 3 features an accelerometer, optical heart rate monitor, and infrared sensors for overnight blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurements. 7. Battery - Inspire 3 has the best battery life among all the Fitbit trackers with an impressive battery life of about 8 to 9 days on an average. But it depends on the usage. For example if we turn on the Always on Display the battery will last only between 3 to 4 days. 8. Charging time - It takes about 2 hours to fully charge the tracker from 0%. There are no USB adapters provided and the USB charging cable is short. 9. Compatibility - Inspire 3 is compatible both with both Android(Android 9 and above) and iOS(iOS 14 and above). 10. Exercise app - The app supports up to six activities on the device (at a time) including Walking, Running, Biking, Swimming, Workout and Treadmill that are pre=installed. We can add the following shortcuts to our tracker via the Fitbit app - Bootcamp, Circuit training, Elliptical, Golf, Hike, Interval workout, Kickboxing, Martial arts, Outdoor workout, Pilates, Spinning, Stair climber, Tennis, Weights and Yoga. Cons: 1. Small watch screen - With the watch being tiny it comes with its own disadvantage of the screen being too small for reading the data as well as the limitation of how much of data can be viewed without scrolling. This is a known limitation that one should be aware of before buying. There are few things one have to compromise and for this watch it is definitely the screen size and amount of data one can view. Having said that still one can see the data in the Fitbit app on their phone if they want the detailed metrics. 2. Font size - Font size cannot be adjusted which might be an hinderance for someone with poor vision and sometimes it will be difficult for even the other people to read the metrics during the activity itself. 3. Outdoors - While using this watch in the outdoors in bright sunlight, glare is the biggest problem to read the text on it. 4. No SpO2 (On-demand reading) - One can get the details of the overnight SpO2 for the past few nights but it does not come with an on demand SpO2 measurement. It would have been an excellent tracker if this was included. 5. No GPS - Though this watch has plethora of features for the price we pay, it would have been nice if GPS was included. This will be a drawback only if we decide to leave the phone at home. If someone is going to carry the phone with them especially during outdoor running or workout, we really need not worry about this tracker lacking the GPS feature. Though the tracker will provide an approximate distance later when it connects with the phone, one has to keep in mind that due to the lack of GPS the measurement of distance will not be accurate. 5. Certain features like Daily Readiness Score, a metric that indicates if our body is for the workout or needs a days rest is available only with a Premium Subscription which costs $9.99 for a month or $79.99 for a year along with access to 90-day health metric trend graphs and more than 1,000 video and audio workouts, guided meditations, healthy recipes and more. Functionality 1. To Wakeup - Double tap on the screen or rotate the wrist towards the face 2. To view the Metrics - Swipe up to view the tracker's battery percentage, daily snapshot of health/fitness stats including steps, distance, Active Zone Minutes (a Fitbit metric for weekly activity tracking), hourly activity (step count that hour), heart rate, sleep, SpO2, and exercise (number of days vs. your weekly goal) 3. To access apps - Swipe left or right on the display. The Inspire 3 offers the following apps: Alarms, Exercise, Find Phone, Notifications, Relax, Settings, SpO2, and Timer. 4. To access Settings - Swipe down from the clock face, including Sleep Mode, Do Not Disturb, and Find Phone. 5. To go back to the previous screen - Swipe from left to right. 6. To quickly go back to the clock - press the haptic buttons on the left and right sides of the case. Final verdict: Costing less than 100$, this Fitbit though it is tiny and does not contain a bigger screen it packs a lot of features/information except a few of them like GPS or on demand SpO2 measurement. It all depends on what one needs. If someone wants a compact watch/tracker with minimal features then Fitbit Inspire 3 is the best bet. Instead if you want a bigger screen with more information, bigger text and additional features like GPS, ECG and SpO2 measurements then Fitbit Charge 5 for an additional 50 bucks will be a better option. Overall this tracker fits both my hand as well as my pocket. I am very pleased with the purchase as I don't really need the GPS or ECG. I would definitely recommend this tracker to anyone who is in the market for a small, budget friendly tracker that doesn't compromise on the quality or features provided.

Overall I've enjoyed the performance of this model. Ive tried all the HR Inspire models. I wish the baterry life was longer. Ive tried turning off GPS. I do like the items it tracks - sleep, heart rate, miles, readiness, etc. I buy the little screen protectors for it. The shape of the screen of this model maintains the screen protector well, unlike previous models that were too rounded. Hope Fitbit keeps affordable simple models like this one. Has held up now that I've had it over a year.