A fitness watch that’s a bang for your buck

If you’re looking to purchase portable fitness equipment in the $ 40 to $ 50 range, your options may be limited depending on where you live. The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has proven to be a worthy, affordable fitness tracker and is currently running unhindered in its price segment. However, people often forget that Xiaomi doesn’t do the fitness band. It outsources the contract to Huami, a leader in the basic fitness watch market, which also has a successful line of fitness watches under the Amazfit brand.

The Amazfit Bip U is Huami’s latest attempt at attracting budget buyers. The device made its debut in India after Huami recently renamed its app platform. The Bip U is priced just below the Amazfit Bip S and the Bip S Lite, but it offers a lot more in terms of features. Indeed, if and when it exits the Indian market, it could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Mi Band 5. But does it bring the goods in terms of performance? Read our full Amazfit Bip U review to find out.

What is the Amazfit Bip U and what’s new since the Bip S?

Imagine the Amazfit Bip U through and through as the Mi Band 5 with a square display. Huami will upgrade you with an additional SpO2 sensor (aka blood oxygen tracking) – a feature the Mi Band 5 lacks outside of China.

On the Amazfit Bip U with 2.5 D Corning Gorilla Glass 3, you get a 1.43 inch TFT LCD screen. You can set the display to stay on all day or to only light up when you raise your wrist. It’s in a plastic case, while the watch’s straps are made of silicone. The Bip U is available in green, pink and black.

Also read: The best smartwatches you can buy right now

I have the black model of the watch and at first glance it looks identical to the Amazfit Bip S. You’ll notice the subtle differences if you look carefully. The display of the Amazfit Bip S looks bigger, but with the Bip U you get more screen space in a similarly sized case. However, apart from design and manufacture, the two Bip watches have a few differences.

I really like the colorful display on the Amazfit Bip S, but the Bip U makes it even more vivid. The user interface has also been improved with newer elements like Apple Watch-style activity circles, faster navigation, improved notification views, and improved responsiveness.

Like most Amazfit watches, the Bip U is limited to fitness functions. It does not support third-party apps and cannot make or receive calls. It also doesn’t have its own built-in GPS like the Bip S, so it will use your phone’s location services to track walks, runs, bike routines, etc.

In terms of activity tracking, the Amazfit Bip U has more than 60 sport modes. These include running, cycling, yoga, dancing, kickboxing and much more. I didn’t have all of them to work with right away, but Amazfit added the missing ones through an update that arrived within a few days of the device’s official launch.

The Bip U also has an improved heart rate sensor, stress tracking, blood oxygen tracking, period tracking and new watch faces, making it more attractive than its predecessors.

Below is a full list of the Amazfit Bip U specifications.

Things I like about the Amazfit Bip U.

The Amazfit Bip U does what it was built to do, and it’s a lot better than the $ 200 Amazfit Stratos 3. Basics like step tracking, heart rate monitoring, and distance tracking worked flawlessly. I played the Amazfit Bip U against the Mi Band 5 and the tracking data generated by the two was largely identical. In the following pictures you can see comparable readings from both wearables after a short cycling routine.

You may have noticed that there isn’t much of a difference between the Amazfit Zepp app and the Mi Fit app. If you’ve used a Mi Band before, the Bip U’s app settings should make you feel right at home.

The Amazfit Bip U works seamlessly with the Zepp app.

Even so, Amazfit has vastly improved its app experience. Poor app connectivity and poor syncing have long been problems with Amazfit wearables. This is one of the main reasons I didn’t recommend some of the older Amazfit watches. However, the Bip U works seamlessly with the Zepp app. The synchronization of the activity data with the app is almost instant. Notification notifications are also timely. I didn’t miss any while checking the watch.

Another impressive feat that Amazfit has done is keeping track of SpO2, or blood oxygen, fairly accurately. The optical SpO2 sensors use red and infrared light to detect your blood oxygen levels and to detect changes in these levels based on the color of your blood. The Bip U also features a new OxygenBeats engine that works with Huami’s own biological data model to improve the accuracy of blood oxygen tracking.

The result is a percentage measurement of your blood oxygen content. The Zepp app shows you your maximum, minimum and average SpO2 values, which you can track for day, week, month or year. A new feature to improve sleep breathing is currently in the works for the watch. When released, the quality of your breathing will be assessed by tracking it while you sleep.

I compared the SpO2 values ​​on the Bip U with my fingertip pulse oximeter and got nine out of ten consistent results. The readings also matched those of my Apple Watch Series 6. The only limitation is that you have to tighten the watch firmly and not move at all to get a good reading.

Amazfit promises nine days of juice and the Bip U delivers.

When it comes to battery life, Amazfit promises nine days of juice and that’s exactly what the Bip U delivers. I cycled the watch for 30 minutes every day, continuously monitored my heart rate and received notifications with a display brightness set to 50%. You will not feel the need to increase the brightness any further unless you are exposed to direct, bright sunlight.

You can charge the Bip U to 100% in two hours. If the battery runs out at the last minute before you need to drive, you can place the watch on the charger for about 20 minutes for a 15-20% charge. This should be enough to get you through a few workouts and a few more.

What I don’t like about the Amazfit Bip U.

To be honest, I don’t like the Amazfit Bip U very much. It’s reliable, does activity tracking well, delivers notifications on time, helps keep track of sleep with clues for improvement, and more. I even like its Rs. Price 3,999 (~ $ 54). However, there is one problematic area that may not be a good fit for users.

By the end of the first week, I had a pretty bad rash on my wrist.

The plastics used on the watch are of extremely poor quality. It’s a problem that persists with Amazfit wearables, ranging from $ 200 to this inexpensive device. I inevitably had to take the watch off a few times a day because my wrist would be extremely itchy. After using it for a week, I had a pretty bad rash on the inside part of my wrist where the straps rest.

Your skin may not react like mine to the cheap plastic, but I should tell you that I haven’t experienced this when using the Mi Band 5 or the Apple Watch 6. A quality comparison with the latter may not be fair because of the big price difference, but if the Mi Band can get it right at this price, Amazfit has to think about the materials used.

Amazfit Bip U review: the verdict

The bottom line is that the Amazfit Bip U is a pretty impressive fitness watch at an equally attractive price point. At this price point, the only downside is the poor build quality. If you’re ok with this, you won’t be disappointed with the performance.

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However, you can always consider other options. For one, the Mi Band 5 is a close competitor, but it lacks SpO2 tracking. You could also buy the Amazfit Band 5 which has most of the features of the Bip U. Then there is the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, which is available for the same price as the Bip U. It doesn’t have bloody oxygen tracking, however, if the previous Galaxy Fit had anything going for it, the build quality should be much better than the Bip U’s.