Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review 2024: Great Affordable Smartwatch

The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is a smartwatch that tries to do a lot. With a price tag of $229, it goes beyond the company’s reputation for making affordable wearables. So, can it really compete with the best smartwatches on the market? With a BioMetric 3.0 health sensor that is supposed to be more accurate than the one in the Amazfit GTR 2, the GTR 3 Pro can measure your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, stress levels, and more all in one place.

The watch’s built-in apps, hands-free voice controls, and menu layouts can be changed to fit your needs when you’re not checking on your body or working out with the 150+ exercise types. But the Zepp smartphone app is a big part of the customization.

Compared to other devices in its price range, it doesn’t have as many wearable apps. Plus, the few strange trade-offs mentioned in this Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review could throw you off, depending on what you want from a smartwatch. For example, you can answer calls on your wrist, but you can’t respond to text messages.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro specifications

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: Design

The design of the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro isn’t very impressive. It has a flat screen, small bezels, and two crowns on the top and bottom of the right side. When I wear my unit for a long time, the brown leather strap can get uncomfortable and make my wrist itch.

But it’s fine for everyday wear and easy to forget most of the time. With auto-brightness turned on, the screen can get very bright, and at 331PPI, it also has a pretty high resolution. The screen is easy to read from outside, especially when “raise to wake” is turned on.

When the always-on display is turned on, the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro looks like any other watch from a distance. The top crown button opens the list of apps, and by twisting it, you can move up and down in menus. The bottom button can be set to do something specific, but by default, it brings up a list of workouts from which you can choose.

This smartwatch doesn’t have a particularly interesting design, but that’s not a bad thing. The heart rate monitor and SpO2 sensors are on the back of the watch. Along with the regulatory information, there are also the two charging pins that stick to the charger. Overall, the design isn’t the most unique, but watch designs are always subjective and personal. You can buy this smartwatch from its official website.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: Display

The 1.45″ AMOLED display has a higher refresh rate than before. The second-generation watches ran at 30Hz, but the GTR 3 Pro display goes above 50Hz (we don’t know the exact number). The display works with Always On Display, and each watch face has two looks: a beautiful, detailed one for when the display is on, and a simpler one for when it is not.

The second one uses black backgrounds and thicker, solid lines to save power and make it easy to read. There is a “raise to wake” feature, but we didn’t use it because the AOD watch faces show the time (and possibly the date and other information, depending on which face you choose), which is mostly what we want to see at a glance.

Plus, they all look different, so this is enough to change how the watch looks. You can have a digital face with thick arms or an analogue face with thin arms. Some faces are pretty simple, while others show more information. Also, if you like the active watch face but don’t like how it looks with AOD, you can switch to one of the other pre-installed AOD faces.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: Tracking

The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is ready for almost any kind of workout because it has more than 150 workout types. It has presets for everything from traditional cardio machines to foosball and esports (serious.) we kept doing my usual walking, running, indoor cycling, and yoga, but Zepp Health’s unique features helped me change up my motivations.

For one, the GTR 3 Pro has Zepp’s native Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) score, which reminds me of the Activity Zone Minutes tool on the best Fitbits, like the Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Charge 5. The goal is to get and keep at least 100 PAI points over the course of a week. This isn’t hard to do if you work out regularly.

Even walking my dog for a mile every morning helped me earn 15 points. Then, when we finally started running (after testing some of the best running headphones), we used the virtual pacer feature on the watch. After setting a goal pace, the workout interface gives me a running partner and tells me if they are ahead or behind me.

It was usually the second, but we liked how it was made into a game. It helped that the built-in GPS didn’t have any problems and picked up a signal in about 10 seconds.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: Performance

One of the best things about the GTR 3 Pro is that it’s supposed to have a 12-day battery life with normal use. This depends on which features you have turned on, but we found that its 450mAh battery would last well over a week on a single charge, even with Bluetooth connected all day and GPS turned on for a few rides.

Sometimes the touchscreen doesn’t work right away. The display can be slow to “wake up” when you move your wrist, and even though the GTR 3 Pro should automatically switch to workout mode when you start cycling, we often had to do it myself. You also don’t get any maps or navigation.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: Battery Life

The GTR 3 Pro’s battery life depends on how and what you use it for, because some features drain the battery more. Zepp says that if you use it like most people do, the battery will last up to 12 days. If you turn on the battery saver mode, that number goes up to 30 days.

In this mode, the Bluetooth connection and features like heart rate monitoring are turned off, leaving you with only basic data like steps and basic sleep data. When used a lot, that time drops to six days. If you use the GPS to track your workouts outside, the battery should last up to 35 hours.

To give you an idea of how long this GPS battery lasts, Garmin’s Forerunner 245 running watch, which costs about the same, can last up to 24 hours. We think the GTR 3 Pro will last a week if you use features like notifications, continuous vitals monitoring, and GPS maybe two or three times a week.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: Price

The GTR 3 Pro can last longer than those two by a few days. It doesn’t have the best battery life, as the plain GTR 3 is said to last more than a week longer. But for some, the Pro model’s better screen, hands-free calling, and ability to store music are worth the extra $50/€50.

But for some people, the two watches that aren’t Pro are a better value for the money. Unless making calls through your watch is a must-have feature, we’d recommend the GTR 3. It has similar looks and features, a better battery, and a price that won’t make you wonder if you should get an Apple or Samsung watch.

Final Words

Based on other smartwatches we’ve tested, the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is a bit of a miracle. It has a big screen, a seemingly endless number of activities to track, a wide range of watch faces, and a strong set of tracked metrics.

Its design will seem classic to some and maybe a little old-fashioned to others, but we think it looks good. Even though it can’t work with third-party apps (at least not yet), there’s a lot to like here, and it’s easy to get around its suite of built-in apps.

FAQs

Can Amazfit GTR 3 Pro answer calls?

The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro smart watch is able to accept phone calls and can also be used to conveniently control the music that is playing on your phone when it is connected to your phone via Bluetooth.

Can you text on Amazfit GTR 3 Pro?

Sending replies can be done with the help of the quick reply option on your watch. The watch will notify you when you have new messages, and you can quickly respond to them by tapping the screen. The majority of messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Gmail, Signal, and Facebook Messenger, all include the capability to send a rapid reply to a user’s message.

Is Amazfit GTR 3 Pro waterproof?

Yes. The water resistance grade of the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is rated at 5ATM. It is suitable for use in aquatic activities that take place in relatively shallow water, such as those that take place in a swimming pool or on the beach. Nevertheless, it does NOT support sauna, hot springs and diving.