Amazfit GTR 3 review: Classic looks with excellent battery life and performance

Last month, we took a look at the Amaxfit T-Rex Pro rugged smartwatch. While a decent smartwatch, the rugged look isn’t for everyone. Fortunately, the company has another option for those looking for a more refined look.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Our Amazfit GTR 3 review looks at a classic-looking fitness smartwatch with up to 21-day battery life and decent performance at an affordable price. Read on for our full review.

Specifications

The Amazfit GTR 3 smartwatch we reviewed has the following features and specifications:

Display	1.39″ HD AMOLED display, 454 x 454 resolution, 326 PPI, always-on display
Touchscreen	Tempered glass with anti-fingerprint coating
Body material	Sport-Aluminum alloy
Strap material	Silicone rubber, quick release
Sensors	BioTrackerTM3.0 PPG biometric sensor (supports blood-oxygen, 6PD + 2LED), Acceleration sensor, Gyroscope sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Barometric pressure sensor, Ambient light sensor
Positioning	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS, QZSS
Water-resistance grade	5 ATM
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.1 BLE
Battery	450 mAh (typical value)
Battery life	Up to 21 days (typical usage), up to 10 days (heavy usage), up to 35 hours GPS continuous working time
Charging time	Up to 2 hours
Charging method	Magnetic charging base
Supported devices	Android 7.0 and above, iOS 12.0 and above
App	Zepp App
Other features	Alexa built-in, offline voice assistant, microphone,
Strap width	22mm
Strap length	122mm (long), 78mm (short)
Colours	Thunder Black, Moonlight Grey
Dimensions	45.8×45.8×10.8mm
Weight	32g (without strap)

What’s in the box

• Amazfit GTR 3 smartwatch
• Standard strap
• Magnetic charging base
• User manual

Design

The Amazfit GTR 3 looks like your classic wat at a glance. Our review unit came in Thunder Black, and you can also get Thunder Grey. It has a nice black finish on the casing. Around the bezels of the watch are small ticks at each hourly position. Unlike the four side buttons on the T-Rex Pro, the GTR 3 has only two buttons, both on the right hand side. The top button takes you home from any screen while twisting it will scroll through whatever list you may have on your current screen. The bottom button opens up your physical activity tracking. The back houses the heart rate sensor and two charging plates, as with almost every other smartwatch.

The 22mm silicone rubber watch strap is attached to the lugs with a quick-release pin, making it easy to swap out. The strap is black with angled lines on the top and horizontal bumps on the back. Our watch came with a longer band, and it has a total of 14 adjustment holes, allowing pretty much for a perfect fit. The plastic buckle secures tightly and has two moveable loops for holding the excess strap in place.

The watch itself is pretty lightweight and comfortable to wear due to the materials used, and it doesn’t feel or look cheap at all.

Display

The Amazfit GTR 3 has a 1.39″ HD, 360 x 360, AMOLED display with an always-on option. It is slightly larger than the T-Rex PRo’s 1.3″ screen. The colours are nice and rich, as is the case with AMOLED displays. The slightly higher resolution is nice and crisp as well. The auto-brightness feature works great with the watch being easy to read outside in brighter conditions. On the other hand, it wasn’t blinding late at night when viewed in a darker room. The touch surface was very responsive as well; no issues there either.

Ease of Use

Like the Amazfit T-Rex Pro, the GTR 3 fitness smartwatch is easy to set up and use. First, you’ll need to download the Zepp app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Once installed, you’ll be prompted to add a device. Select watch, then scan the QR code that appears on the smartwatch display. After that, it’s a matter of following the instructions and finishing the set up.

Once set up, you can customize the watch settings through the app. This includes what notifications and reminders will show, health monitoring like heart rate frequency, toggling auto-sleep and stress monitoring, apps, and more.

On the actual watch, long pressing the watch face lets you select one of ten watch faces. There are many more watch faces that you can download through the Zepp app as well. Swiping left takes you through fullscreen displays of your current daily activity, heart rate, weather, PAI, sleep, and a tile screen. The displayed tiles include Alexa, weather, forecast, PAI, alarm, sleep, heart rate, activity and blood oxygen. You can customize the order or what tiles display on this screen, except for the Alexa tile. Swiping down lets you access quick toggles and settings, while swiping up gives you access to your notifications.

The watch is pretty straightforward to use between the two buttons and the touch controls.

Software

The Zepp app is where you’ll likely spend most of your time if you want to track your historical data. On the home screen, which is configurable, you can see stats like your PAI (weekly activity score), Sleep, Heart Rate, Stress, Weight, Workout History, and more. Tapping on any of these tiles will display more information and historical data for the past week, month, or year. The health page shows your recent walking, running, and cycling history and lets you set your target settings for steps, calories, and sleep. Finally, the profile page lets you adjust your profile and watch settings.

An icon in the upper right looks like four circles with flat edges. Tapping it will bring up all your exercise data, status data, health signs, and body measurements. Some of this is auto-updated; others, like measurements, you can update and then track over time.

The app itself is easy to use and navigate and is pretty thorough in the information that it displays. One thing I will add here, however. I couldn’t see a way to link this to Google Fit or MyFitnessPal, so you’re pretty self-contained to the Zepp App when it comes to your health data.

Performance

The Amazfit GTR 3 smartwatch does a great job of tracking your daily steps, heart rate, sleep quality, various fitness activities with GPS, and blood-oxygen saturation. It also has notification alerts, music control, and even comes equipped with a compass and barometric altimeter. For day-to-day use, I found that the step tracking, sleep quality monitoring, and other basic features worked as I would have expected. Step count and sleep monitoring seemed pretty accurate based on past experience. Being able to check notifications or feel that a phone call was coming in also worked great.

With over 150 different sports modes, you’re pretty much covered for activity tracking. The various modes included with the Amazfit GTR 3 include:

• Running & walking: Outdoor running, Treadmill, Walking, Trail running, Indoor walking, Race walking
• Cycling: Outdoor cycling, Indoor cycling, Mountain biking, BMX
• Swimming: Pool swimming, Open water swimming, Fin swimming, Artistic swimming
• Outdoor workouts: Climbing, Hiking, Orienteering, Rock climbing, Fishing, Hunting, Skateboarding, Roller skating, Parkour, ATV, Offroad motorcycle
• Indoor sports: Elliptical, Rowing machine, Stair-climbing machine, Stair stepper, Spinning, Indoor fitness, Mixed aerobics, Cross-training, Aerobics, Group calisthenics, Body combat, Strength training, Step training, Core training, Flexibility training, Free training, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Gymnastics, Horizontal bar, Parallel bars, Battling ropes, Stretching
• Dance: Square dance, Ballroom dance, Belly dance, Ballet, Street dance, Zumba, Latin dance, Jazz dance, Hip-hop dance, Pole dance, Breaking, Folk dance, Dance, Modern dance, Disco, Tap dance
• Combat sports: Boxing, Wrestling, Martial arts, Tai chi, Muay Thai, Judo, Taekwondo, Karate, Kickboxing, Fencing, Jiu-Jitsu, Kendo
• Ball sports: Soccer, Beach soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, Beach volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Rugby, Hockey, Table tennis, Badminton, Tennis, Squash, Gateball, Cricket, Handball, Bowling, Polo, Racquetball, Billiards, Sepak takraw, Dodgeball, Water polo, Ice hockey, Shuttlecock, Indoor soccer, Footbag, Bocce ball, Pelota, Floorball
• Water sports: Outdoor boating, Sailing, Kayak, Rowing, Dragon boat, Paddleboarding, Outdoor skating, Indoor surfing, Tubing, Water skiing, Snorkeling
• Winter sports: Skiing, Snowboarding, Downhill skiing, Cross-country skiing, Ski orienteering, Biathlon, Outdoor skating, Curling, Bobsleigh and Tobogganing, Sledding, Snowmobile, Snowshoeing
• Leisure sports: Hula hooping, Frisbee, Darts, Kite flying, Tug-of-war, Jianzi kicking, Esports, Air walker, Swing, Shuffleboard, Foosball, Motion sensing game
• Board & card games: Chess, Checkers, Go, Bridge, Board game
• Others: Jumping rope, Archery, Equestrianism, Driving, Stair climbing

I did test the GTR 3 fitness smartwatch with a few walks. The route and information tracking seemed to be pretty accurate in each instance compared to previous watches I’ve reviewed.

Battery Life

Amazfit states that the GTR 3 smartwatch gets up to 21 days of battery life with typical use and ten days with heavy use. During our testing, I was able to get 19 or 20 days between charges. Considering I wore it day and night to track fitness activities and sleep quality, the GTR 3 has excellent battery life. I also did have a few apps set up to send notifications to it as well.

Charging is pretty simple as all you need to do is put the watch onto the charging base, make sure the charging plates are aligned and plug it into a USB port on your computer or a USB power adapter. Both times, I charged it at 10%, and it took about an hour and a half to fully recharge.

Price/Value

Priced the same as the T-Rex Pro with an MSRP of US$179.99, the Amazfit GTR 3 is pretty affordable when compared to other fitness smartwatch offerings. Given the price point, feature set, and performance, the GTR 3 fitness smartwatch offers excellent value.

For those wanting a slightly larger screen, the GTR 3 Pro has a 1.45″ screen with similar features, the ability to take calls, and a somewhat shorter battery life for $229.99.

Photo Gallery

Wrap-up

The Amazfit GTR 3 is an excellent classic-looking smartwatch with plenty of fitness tracking options. While I liked the T-Rex Pro, I like the GTR 3 just that much more with its more refined look. Like the T-Rex Pro, the GTR 3 is an easy contender for one of the easiest classic smartwatches I’ve used to date. In fact, it’s a shoo-in for a Top Pick of 2021 Award here at Techaeris.

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