With a market saturated with Smartwatches, it’s hard to make a splash when it comes to new product releases. People will willingly spend $500 or more on a watch that looks pretty, feels expensive and does just enough for people to justify the purchase. However, what if you didn’t have to spend exuberant amounts of money to get the same functionality and perhaps an even nicer aesthetic appeal? Well now you can with Amazfits’ new offerings – The Bip and Stratos Smartwatches.
Launched in 2014, Amazfit, set out to make the world more connected through smart wearable technology and data-driven innovations. They made a name for themselves with their Equator and Pace wearables that were well received by the fitness community and now they want to do it again and have set their sights on industry leaders Apple and Fitbit.
Their Bip GPS Smartwatch is the first shot fired in their direction. Retailing at an impressive $99 USD, it features a massive 30 days of battery life, which literally shatters the Apple Watch and Fitbit Versa by about 25 days. The squared design with rounded corners looks spectacular, the 20mm watchband is soft and comfortable and the always-on reflective 1.28-inch color touch display with 2.5D Corning gorilla glass generation 3 + AF coating looks great. We are particularly fond of the at-a-glance view feature which allows you to see time, date, steps, weather, sports stats and more at any given time.
On the inside, we also see some powerful features with GPS tracking, barometer, geomagnetic sensor, PPG heart rate sensor, 3-axis accelerometer for activity, sports and sleep tracking and not to forget multi-sport tracking. This feature can literally track your run, cycles and more using the GPS data. It also worth noting that the Bip also has ip68 water and dust protection, so don’t worry about getting it wet! Last and certainly not least, you also can receive notifications for calls, messages, emails, and other apps directly on the watch thanks to the Mi Fit app.
The Stratos is the more premium offering but features very similar functionality still at an amazing price with its polished ceramic bezel, scratch-resistant 2.5D Corning Gorilla glass, stainless steel physical buttons for easy navigation and an exchangeable 22mm durable silicone watch strap. We also see even better water resistance with a 5 ATM water resistance rating, meaning you can swim with the watch. You also get comparable premium features like built-in GPS, a barometer for elevation measurement, Wi-Fi, heart rate sensor and a welcome addition of onboard music storage, meaning you no longer must have your phone and watch with you on a run. You can even stream music into wireless headphones directly from the watch! Par for the course is also smart notifications from your favorite apps.
We also see even better sport tracking with the Stratos including – tennis, swimming, soccer and mountaineering to name a few and one thing which really impressed us was through their partnership with Firstbeat, the Stratos also measures maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), exercise load (TD) and recovery time.
With both watches costing less than $200, one must wonder why we are paying so much for these features in competitor brands. The Amazfit Bip and Stratos offer amazing value for money and offer equal if not better features. So, the next time you are in the market for a Smartwatch, save yourself the time and money and buy something from Amazfit.
BUY the Stratos here – Amazfit Stratos Multisport Smartwatch Huami VO2max, All-Day Heart Rate Activity Tracking, GPS, 5 ATM Water Resistance, Phone-Free Music, US Service Warranty (A1619, Black)
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