When most people picture a serious running watch, brands like Garmin and Coros tend to come to mind. Amazfit, not so much. That perception may be shifting, though. The Chinese brand’s latest release — the Amazfit Active 3 Premium — is sleek, solidly built, and loaded with tracking features, all for $169.99.
This is a budget fitness tracker, and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. According to Amazfit, the Active 3 Premium was designed primarily for fitness beginners and casual exercisers “working towards their first clear goal.” That means it’s built around simple, actionable insights rather than the dense, data-heavy analysis that defines Garmin’s ecosystem and other high-end platforms. That said, it brings enough to the table — including offline maps and up to 12 days of battery life — to hold its own against wearables that cost two or three times as much. With that in mind, it was put through a thorough review.
At first glance, the Amazfit Active 3 Premium bears a strong resemblance to the Amazfit Active Max tested a couple of months ago. Both are compact and unobtrusive, look sharp on the wrist, and share detachable silicone straps alongside engraved-style tick markers on a round bezel. Look closer, though, and the differences become clear.
The Active 3 Premium carries a slightly smaller AMOLED display than the Active Max – 1.32 inches versus 1.5 inches – which gives it a sleeker, more everyday-watch appearance. It also has four side buttons compared to the Active Max’s two, a practical design choice that makes mid-workout control far easier when hands are sweaty or gloved.
Durability is another area where the Active 3 Premium pulls ahead. Its bezel is stainless steel rather than aluminium alloy, offering better resistance to shocks, corrosion, and heat. The screen is protected by scratch-resistant Sapphire glass, while the Active Max has no display protection at all. Both share a 5 ATM waterproof rating, meaning they can handle surface-level swimming and shallow-water activities but aren’t rated for deep dives or high-pressure water exposure.
Wearing the Amazfit Active 3 Premium was a genuinely pleasant experience. It’s light, comfortable, and easy to forget about entirely – and it transitions well between activewear and casual clothing without looking out of place. Anyone fatigued by bulky, rugged-looking fitness wearables will find it a refreshing alternative. One caveat: the compact size won’t suit everyone’s taste, and those who prefer a larger watch face may find it a touch too small.
The display held up well throughout testing – bright, vibrant, and readable in direct sunlight, with no lag or freezing during demanding tasks. The one minor gripe is fingerprint smudging, which accumulates more visibly than on other running watches tested at this price point. It’s not a serious issue, particularly since the watch can be fully operated using the physical buttons, but it’s worth mentioning.
The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is built around fitness tracking, and that focus shows. Smartwatch features are present – Bluetooth calls, music control, NFC payments via Zepp Pay, and calendar notifications all make the cut – but the emphasis is firmly on workout measurement and analysis rather than general lifestyle functions. The result is an interface that feels purposeful rather than cluttered with widgets nobody uses.
The watch supports more than 170 activities but is clearly optimized for runners and race walkers. The running metrics on offer are notably advanced for the price bracket, including posture monitoring (detecting overstriding, hunching, or improper head position), lactate threshold assessment, ground contact balance tracking (measuring symmetry between left and right foot contact time), and running rhythm analysis that evaluates whether breathing, foot strikes, and body movements are properly synchronized. These are the kinds of data points typically reserved for premium athletic wearables.
Despite that depth, the Active 3 Premium remains approachable for beginners. It offers a range of structured running workouts and adaptive training plans, presented without overwhelming jargon or an excessive focus on constant progress metrics – a criticism frequently leveled at Garmin’s platforms. The overall effect is something like a compact running coach: providing feedback to improve form, reduce injury risk, and share achievements with others.
GPS is built in, with offline maps, turn-by-turn navigation, automatic rerouting, and point-to-point route planning. These features don’t match the depth and precision of what Garmin or Suunto deliver, but they’re more than adequate for basic navigation and phone-free outdoor sessions.
Amazfit rates the Active 3 Premium at up to 12 days of battery life under typical use, dropping to around 7 days with heavy use and 24 hours in continuous GPS mode. Real-world testing – wearing the watch day and night, tracking at least four workouts per week, and using GPS during outdoor sessions – landed around 10 days per charge, which aligns closely with those claims.
Outdoor tracking performed reasonably well. Testing across two full-day hikes through dense Welsh woodland and regular park runs produced location estimates accurate enough to serve as a reliable workout companion. That said, the Active 3 Premium uses single-band GPS rather than dual-band, which can limit signal strength in more complex, obstructed environments. Professional trail runners or those venturing into demanding terrain may find the GPS less dependable than they’d like.
Heart rate data was compared against readings from the Whoop MG screenless tracker, the Oura Ring Gen 4 smart ring, and the Polar H9 chest strap heart rate monitor. The results accurately reflected workout intensity and training load across most conditions. Accuracy dropped slightly during high-intensity efforts above 150 bpm, though that’s a common limitation across budget fitness trackers rather than a specific failing of this watch. Sleep and stress tracking both performed well.
Step counting and upper-body movement tracking were less reliable. The watch tended to underestimate steps and consistently struggled with exercises like indoor rowing, where stroke rate detection was noticeably off. Strength training tracking also left something to be desired. These shortcomings didn’t significantly affect the overall experience, and at this price point, they’re largely expected trade-offs rather than dealbreakers.
The Amazfit Active 3 Premium earns its place as one of the better budget smartwatches available for novice runners and casual exercisers. It’s durable, comfortable, reasonably accurate, and packs a genuinely impressive set of workout-tracking tools alongside beginner-friendly training guidance. The design holds up well across contexts, and the battery life is hard to fault. GPS and mapping fall short of premium standards, and the screen smudges faster than it should – but neither is a realistic expectation at $169.99.
✅ Buy it if: You’re a beginner or casual runner looking for a sleek, reliable smartwatch without spending a fortune.
❌ Don’t buy it if: You’re an experienced runner who needs advanced GPS accuracy and detailed mapping capabilities from a premium wearable.
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Robert Haba is the founder and editor-in-chief of Droid Tools. A lifelong gadget enthusiast with over a decade following the Android ecosystem, he built this publication to cut through the noise and give readers honest, real-world coverage of the tech they actually use.
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