Fitbit Inspire 3 review

With health, wellness and fitness more important to many of us than ever before, activity trackers are becoming more popular than ever. So, how do you find the right one for your needs? Fitbit’s newest tracker in the Inspire series, the Fitbit Inspire 3, is a great, affordable option. If you’re looking for a tracker that helps you meet step goals, or maybe you are on a fitness path and need a way to monitor your progress, I’ll tell you what using this one is like, since I had a chance to use one for a few weeks to see what the experience is all about.

What’s new & improved: Fitbit Inspire 2 vs Inspire 3

The Fitbit Inspire 3 improves upon the Fitbit Inspire 2 in a few ways, while also providing the user-friendly tracking and monitoring experience we have come to know from Fitbit. The Inspire 3 has all new software, making it work a bit faster than its predecessor, but the key upgrades are that the Inspire 3 has a new, slimmer more streamlined design, a better touch-enabled screen since it’s now in colour and the Inspire 2 was greyscale, it tracks blood oxygen.

In short, the advancements are not groundbreaking, but they do help make the Inspire 3 a small cut above its predecessor.

Options for bands & clips

I opted to add a metal mesh band and a clip to my Inspire 3 so I can wear it out or hide it altogether; a nice option you can’t so with most trackers or sports watches.

What is Fitbit Inspire?

Fitbit Inspire is made to be a lower profile fitness and activity band. It tracks basic metrics like steps, sleep and 27/7 heart rate. It will also record floors climbed, Sleep Stages (REM, deep, Lite) and swimming. It will also send call, text and calendar alerts direct to your wrist, but you can’t reply to them or respond if you use an iPHone; you’ll need to go to your phone for that.

Fit & comfort

Fitbit Inspire 3 is definitely easy to wear and comfortable. The new slimmer design it doesn’t make a huge difference in my opinion to the overall aesthetics, but it does still keep up appearances as a low profile device. I do like the new marigold coloured band and it’s secure locking silicone band. I also appreciate the small loop that keeps the end of the band tucked in.

The tracker is extremely light and it’s very easy to forget I’m even wearing it, which is particularly handy at night. Swapping the bands is easy enough once you get the hang of it, and I like the versatility of being able to put it in the small clip and clip it to a pocket belt or bra.

The new colour screen is actually a nice addition and brings a little more to the table when it comes to checking your digital readout.

Sleep tracking

We all know that our parents old advice that a good night’s sleep is vital, is true. That’s why so many smart devices make sleep tracking a big part of their features. Fitbit is no different. Fitbit breaks down your time spent in bed into four different stages: Awake, REM, Light, and Deep. The Inspire 3 can track how long you spend in each sleep zone, and uses this data to produce a Sleep Score that gives you an idea of how well-rested and recovered you are after a night’s rest. Tracking your sleep can help you find trends in your recovery and help you always reach for peak performance.

Calorie burning

If you track caloric intake and want to keep tabs on how much you have burned, the Inspire 3 can assist. Using your profile information, heart rate and activity monitoring, the Inspire 2 will make estimates of how many calories you are burning each day. This information is all stored in the Fitbit app so you can track trends, set goals and keep tabs on weight.

Set up

Getting Fitbits set up is now easier than ever. Make sure it’s charged up, then open the Fitbit app and find the Add Device option. The Inspire handles the rest and I was set up and tracking in no time. Possibly worth noting is that you can’t have two trackers connected at the same time, so if you’re currently using an older tracker, the app will disconnect it in favour of the new version.

How to see data from Fitbit

When it’s time to start taking a look at your data there are two ways to do it: the first is to simply swipe up on the touchscreen tracker face and view basic data here. On your wrist you can view steps, distance, floors climbed, calories burned, and your activity. You can also check your heart rate, which is also generally available on the main screen. It will also display your sleep score, blood oxygen and let you know when your next period is due.

To get additional detail or drill down into any of these metrics, you will need the Fitbit app for your smart phone. The app is quite easy to read, understand and it contains a lot of data. You can also customize what you see to some extent, which is handy.

Does using Fitbit require a subscription?

It’s worth noting that the basic Fitbit app and metrics are free to use and access. But if you want some of the additional functionality or more granular data, you will need to pay for a Fitbit Premium subscription. I won’t go into detail about all the selling features of this package, but it does offer a quite a bit more including workout programs and additional metrics.

The Fitbit Premium membership costs either $9.99 per month or $79.99 for a year subscription.

Battery life

The Fitbit Inspire 3 has not seen any changes or improvements on its battery life. I’m not actually super disappointed about this since battery life is about 10 days on a single charge.

This is days longer than many other trackers and smart watches, and means you can spend a lot more time tracking your progress and a lot less time charging. It also means that it’s a lot better at sleep tracking, because unlike some smart watches, you won’t need to worry about removing this one each night to recharge, and missing out on those sleep metrics.

The long battery life allows for greater flexibility when it comes to charging and helps ensure you will get the most out of your tracker. A full charge takes two hours using Fitbit’s unique magnetic charger. Like the Inspire 2, the Inspire 3 is also water-resistant up to 50 meters and it can track swimming or laps in the pool.

New Blood Oxygen (SpO2) metrics

Blood Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) measures the amount of oxygen in your blood. Fitbit measures your  SpO2 level via an infrared sensor that shines a red/infrared light onto your skin and blood vessels and reads how much light returns.  Unlike some other trackers or SP02 sensors, you can’t get an on-the-spot blood oxygen measurement; you need to wear the tracker while you sleep, making this less than helpful for athletes or those with health concerns.

GPS: connected, but with a caveat

Fitbit Inspire 3 has connected GPS. This means if you want to go for a run and track your path, you need to bring your phone along, since the tracker uses the phone’s GPS to log of where you went.

There are plenty of other Fitbit features and metrics that you can access on the Inspire 3, including menstrual cycles, stress, so if there’s a particular metric that you want to ensure is available on this device, it’s worth looking up the detailed specs to see. Fitbit inspire three had all the fitness and health data that I was looking for.

Overall review: Fitbit Inspire 3

The Inspire 3 is a great option for someone looking for a no-frills tracker, since it deftly balances a lot of really useful features at an affordable price. The physical activity tracking is of the quality we expect from any Fitbit device, and the heart rate and sleep monitoring are great tools for tracking recovery and fitness trends. If you want to start out on a fitness journey or just want something small and light to keep tabs on your sleep and movement, this is a solid device. I have long been a fan of Fitbit devices because I think they work extremely well, they operate pretty much bug free, they’re useful, easy to set up, and from my experience they have a long lifespan.

When it comes to any downsides, it might be in the tracking capabilities it does not have… Things like a larger screen, built in GPS so you can ditch the phone or advanced health and wellness features like an echocardiogram or electrodermal skin temperature sensor. Getting those features is as easy as upgrading to another device like a Fitbit charge five or Fitbit sense smart watch, but not surprisingly you’ll pay more for these privileges.

But there’s really no downside to the Inspire 3 and for that reason I can definitely recommend the Fitbit inspire 3 to you.

**A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada & TechGadgetsInternational is supported by our readers. Occasionally I will include affiliate links in my reviews. I do this partly for convenience of the reader (since I’ll almost always include a link to the company website or similar anyway) in case you want to read more or purchase, but I also may get a small commission from the click, which helps me keep the blog running. If you choose to use this link I thank you greatly for supporting the blog. There’s no obligation or cost to you for using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.