I’ve been hanking after an Apple Watch for a long time, but I can’t bite the bullet and click ‘Buy now’. So when I unboxed the Amazfit Bip 5, my mind was blown.
The Bip 5 is a fiery little fitness tracker that looks almost exactly like the Apple Watch SE, with a vibrant, 260 PPI screen and a sleek TPU strap. And the best part: it’s only $89.
But, for that price, does it work like an Apple Watch?
Stats? Completed it, mate
Now, I feel like once you get a smartwatch or one of the best fitness trackers, you can’t really go back. There’s just something so cathartic and insatiable about knowing your sleep quality, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels.
I go to sleep excited to wake up and see my sleep stages. A fitness tracker isn’t even something you have to actively think about — the good ones do all the work for you. and the Bip 5 is just that.
Stuffed into its $89 price tag are a vast array of features. It does everything from measuring your blood oxygen — which worked every time, unlike some $800 smartwatches I've reviewed, like the Suunto Vertical — to telling you recovery times.
PAI packs a punch
I love it when health companies support their information with recognized scientific studies. In the Zepp app, which is the one you need to use for Amazfit devices, you get a ‘PAI’ score.
This is a physical health score derived from long-term ongoing research, known as the HUNT Study at a Norwegian university, and has real science backing it up. With every activity you complete, you earn PAI score. The score is cumulative, so everything you earn within a 7-day period adds up. If you hit 100, you win!
Well, you don’t win anything per se, but you get bragging rights! You have to complete a lot of exercise to score those points, but hey, nothing in life comes free, right? The highest I got to in a week was 52, so I’ll have to work harder next week to get that elusive 100.
Apple Watch spot the difference
Perhaps the most eye-grabbing aspect of the Amazfit Bip 5 is its appearance. No, that’s not an Apple Watch. It’s actually $160 cheaper than the cheapest Apple Watch. You could get two and a half Bip 5 watches for the price of one Apple Watch SE.
While it doesn’t do everything an Apple Watch SE does — namely no Strava integration — for $89, it does a lot. You can get Amazfit-branded meditation apps, reminder apps, smart alarms, and menstrual tracking apps. And one of my favorite things; custom watch faces. I couldn’t say no to the fishing cat.
So if you’re just dipping your toes into the world of fitness wearables and you don’t want to spend $200+ on an Apple Watch, the Amazfit Bip 5 is a great place to start. Or, if you're after something more geared toward the outdoor enthusiast, one of the best Garmin watches might suit you more.
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