Knowledgeable’s Score
Professionals
- All the time-on color display screen
- Trendy & comfy
- Complete monitoring
- Good battery life & charging
Cons
- Tiny display screen
- Premium wanted for some options
- Quick charging wire
- No GPS
Our Verdict
The Encourage 3 is one other stable health tracker from Fitbit at an reasonably priced value with a extra trendy design and some good upgrades. Nonetheless, the display screen is frustratingly small and the machine lacks GPS.
Worth When Reviewed
$99.95
Finest Costs At the moment: Fitbit Encourage 3
$84.95
$99.95
Fitbit has up to date considered one of its slim and attractively priced trackers for 2022. The Encourage 3 now comes with options like an always-on color display screen and blood oxygen monitoring, but prices lower than its predecessor.
It’s extra reasonably priced 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
- Comparable however improved
- Contact delicate buttons
- Absolutely waterproof
It’s maybe no shock that the Encourage 3 appears similar to its predecessor, the Encourage 2. It is a pretty typical entry-level health tracker when it comes to model.
That’s to say it’s received a tall and skinny design the place the display screen is portrait quite than spherical or sq. just like the Fitbit Versa 4 and Fitbit Sense 2.
One tweak to the design is that the strap matches to the principle physique extra neatly. The flush design makes the machine look much more trendy. Primarily, it’s rather a lot just like the Fitbit Luxe.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
I examined out the Lilac Bliss silicone band, however you too can get Midnight Zen (black) or Morning Glow (orange) choices. Different equipment can be found individually similar to a chrome 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 carrying boxing gloves.
It’s a really comfy and light-weight health tracker that means I might put on it 24 hours a day with none discomfort.
There aren’t any bodily buttons right here as you should use the contact display screen to navigate in addition to the capacitive sensors on the facet. These will wake or sleep the show or get you again to the principle watch view regardless of the place you’re within the interface.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Oddly, you’ve received to the touch each on the similar time quite than say double faucet one which I discover a bit of awkward and double tapping the display screen itself to wake it’s apparently a no go. Nonetheless, with the Encourage 3’s new always-on show you won’t want these buttons a lot anyway (extra on that later).
The Encourage 3 has a water lock characteristic which isn’t to do with preserving water out – it’s waterproof to 50m – however switches the buttons off so the water doesn’t activate them.
Display
- Now in color
- All the time-on possibility
- Nonetheless small
There are some good issues in regards to the display screen and a few not so good. On the plus facet, issues have moved – very like the Luxe – to a color show and the Fitbit Encourage 3 gives an elective 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 major gripe right here is that the show is so small. Fitbit doesn’t really listing a measurement within the specs for this machine, however I’m not overly shocked because it doesn’t even take up 50% off the glass entrance.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
This makes issues cramped, exacerbating the standard difficulty of those portrait screens the place something longer than the phrase ‘show’ must slowly scroll throughout the display screen so that you can learn it.
In comparison with the bigger screened Xiaomi Mi Band 7 and Honor Band 6 the Encourage 3 appears a bit foolish and whereas I can dwell with it for fundamental features, issues like getting WhatsApp notifications or related are basically pointless because the display screen can’t show them in a readable format.
Should you don’t thoughts these downsides then the display screen does look good and crisp and I discovered the ‘regular’ brightness setting to be completely good always of day in several situations. Dim and Max are additionally out there.
Monitoring & Options
- Complete monitoring
- Added SpO2
- No GPS
- iPhone and Android
As you’d count on from Fitbit, the Encourage 3 is suitable with iPhone and Android. The vary of monitoring out there on the tracker is great, 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 a bit of 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 whenever you’re doing sure actions, however you too can begin a session from the machine itself if you want. By default, the choices are Stroll, Run, Bike, Swim, Exercise and Treadmill however you’ll be able to reorganise these shortcuts from the app.
Be aware that for GPS monitoring, you’ll want to move out along with your smartphone because the Encourage 3 nonetheless doesn’t have this in-built – nor does it have NFC for contactless funds.
As a substitute, the most important new characteristic is SpO2 monitoring – aka blood oxygen degree – which for lots of customers gained’t imply a complete lot. A standard studying is 95-99% and mine appears to be unwavering at 96%.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Fanatic athletes will likely be extra concerned about SpO2 ranges than the typical client however I think about they wouldn’t think about the entry-level Encourage 3 within the first place, so this characteristic is more likely to be extra helpful for anybody with well being points that have an effect on respiratory and should assist detect sleep apnea.
Again to different monitoring and you would 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 program and water.
The Group part is the place you’ll be able to 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 stories 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 12 months.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Premium means that you can entry numerous exercises, mindfulness classes, guided applications and video games in addition to deeper details about your information similar to a Sleep Profile which goals that will help you perceive your sleep patterns in addition to injecting some enjoyable by matching you with a sleep animal every month. It’s a must to put on the tracker to mattress for at the very least 14 days in a month for this, although.
It’s price making use of the free trial however after that Premium will value you a fairly hefty £7.99 per thirty days 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.
The truth is, in my testing, I discovered the health tracker was utilizing lower than 10% per day suggesting it might go longer.
The draw back right here is that if you wish to use the brand new always-on show characteristic, it’s going to cut back the battery life considerably.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
How a lot is dependent upon elements like display screen brightness and utilization, however you’ll get round a 3rd of the complete potential. So, for many, it’ll be roughly three or 4 days.
General, it’s higher than the Xiaomi Mi Band 7 for battery life however the Honor Band 6 is a better option if that is excessive up your precedence listing.
Charging is first rate although, so would possibly make you extra more likely to swap that display screen to always-on as a result of in simply quarter-hour the Encourage 3 gained 32% and an additional 34% after half-hour. That’s nice however a puny charging cable that’s solely barely over 20cm in size is basically irritating.
Worth & Availability
The Fitbit Encourage 3 is accessible 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 patrons 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 rather a lot to love in regards to the Fitbit Encourage 3 together with the very fact it’s cheaper than earlier than – nicely, at the very least within the UK.
Nonetheless, on the similar value elsewhere it comes with a extra trendy design just like the Luxe that’s additionally comfy sufficient to put on 24/7 with no points.
Enhancements similar to a color show that may be always-on and SpO2 monitoring are welcome, though the latter will not be of a lot use to many individuals. GPS could be a extra helpful improve nevertheless it’s typical to go away that out on cheaper gadgets. It’s a must to spend almost 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 stable, too, though the Encourage 3 will want extra common charging if you happen to use the always-on characteristic.
The Encourage 3 is an fulfilling health tracker however it will be simpler to suggest if the display screen was greater 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.