I’ve been on a fitness kick recently, so I needed to check out the new Amazfit Band 7 and see if it’s one of the best fitness trackers out there. After getting a new bike to scoot around the city on, trying to beat my deadlift personal record, and attending three yoga classes a week, I needed something to analyze my efforts.
Thankfully, the Amazfit Band 7 had my back. Given its $49 price tag, I was skeptical about its fitness and sleep tracking, and I worried that its built-in oxygen monitor wouldn’t work. But I was happy to have my preconceptions absolutely destroyed.
With the same sleek design as a Fitbit Charge 6 and a vibrant touchscreen, the Amazfit Band 7 could truly be one of the top fitness trackers under $50. It’s not flawless, and there are a few things you should be aware of before you make your final decision. So find out what I thought of this budget tracker in my Amazfit Band 7 fitness tracker review.
Amazfit Band 7 review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? An affordable Fitbit lookalike fitness tracker with a great companion app
- What does it cost? $49/£49 at Amazon
- Who is it for? People dipping their toes into the world of fitness tracking, or those looking to save dollars without skimping on quality
- What do we like? The price is very appealing, as are 120 exercise types, a great companion app, and improved sleep tracking versus other Amazfit wearables
- What are its weaknesses? It doesn’t have GPS, but neither does the Garmin Vivosmart 5, which is $150
Amazfit Band 7 review: Specs
| Price | $49/£49 |
| Colors | Black, white |
| Size (face) | 1.5 inches |
| Size (strap) | 1.6 x 1 x 0.5 inches |
| Weight | 1 ounce |
| Battery life | 12 days (heavy usage), 28 days (battery saver mode) |
| Charging time | 2 hours |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Durability | 5 ATM (50 meters) |
Amazfit Band 7 fitness tracker review: Price & availability
The Amazfit Band 7 is a super budget fitness tracker. It’s mind-bogglingly cheap at just $49 at Amazon U.S. and £49 at Amazfit U.K.. This is a supremely low price point for a fitness tracker of this quality. The Band 7 is $110 cheaper than the Fitbit Charge 6 and $50 cheaper than the Fitbit Inspire 3, which the Amazfit clearly takes inspiration from for its styling.
Amazfit Band 7 fitness tracker review: Design
I feel like all budget products have a pricier option they borrow aesthetics from, and for the Amazfit Band 7, that’s the Fitbit Inspire 3. Whether you like it or not, it’s a good design technique — it gets people talking. The Band 7’s design is almost identical to the more well-known Fitbit, and, in my opinion, looks miles more attractive than the Garmin Vivosmart 5. I love the smooth touchscreen and the soft bezel on the fitness tracker’s edges.
The Band 7’s touchscreen is bright and vibrant, with no lag, which is great (and surprising) to see at this price point. There are no buttons, but the touch controls are pretty intuitive — after a few minutes of use, I had mastered the simple controls. You can also choose from tons of custom watch faces in the Zepp app, some of which are more visually pleasing than others.
The design isn’t without flaws, though. The watch strap is made from TPU (a type of plastic), not silicone, which makes it flexible and durable, but not as flexible and durable as silicone. It’s comfortable, but I noticed it got extra sweaty during workouts and sometimes caught on my sleeves or bag strap and came undone. If you’re in a rush, you don’t want your fitness tracker flying across the room as you put your bag on.
Amazfit Band 7 fitness tracker review: Fitness features
The Band 7’s features 120 workouts, including chess and board games — an unusual addition also found on the smartwatch-esque Amazfit Bip 5. Starting a workout is as simple as tapping the screen and scrolling down to ‘Workout’.
I used it to track my cycling, strength training, and yoga classes and found that the Band 7 is great at monitoring your activity and compiles the workouts nicely in the Zepp app. The app (available on iPhone and Android) also separates your heart rate zones in the app, too, so you can easily see how far you’re pushing yourself.
Amazfit/Zepp branded fitness trackers come with something called ‘PAI’ score. This is basically a physical fitness reward system, but if you reach 100 points, you don’t get a prize, just bragging rights. The science behind this ‘PAI’ score is from the HUNT study at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which found that (unsurprisingly) people who keep active generally live longer and healthier lives.
While the PAI scoring system is a great way to see your fitness level, it feels really hard to earn. On Saturday, I cycled to the gym, did an 80 minute strength training workout, walked around the city all day, and cycled back home (up a really steep hill). Yet I only earnt 16 PAI. I feel like I did a lot.
On Sunday I was achy all over! Still, I’m not sure if this is a science issue or a Zepp/Amazfit issue, so it would be unfair of me to put all the blame on the Band 7, but I had the same experience when testing the Bip 5. I was extremely active and had a good day, but the low score made me feel like it wasn’t enough and that I needed to train harder.
Amazfit Band 7 review: Extra features
The Band 7 isn’t limited to just tracking fitness. There are mindfulness apps like ‘Breathe’ and ‘Pomodoro timer’ in the watch itself, which are easily accessible and well-labeled, so you don’t have to scroll through loads of menus to reach them. While they are both effectively just timers, it’s nice to have their uses marked out so you feel like you’re doing something good for yourself.
On top of these wellness features, the Band 7 has Alexa voice assistant, find my phone, stress levels monitoring, and basic features like weather, sunset and sunrise times, and calendar synchronization. Find my phone works by ringing your phone so you can locate it with sound (there’s no map display like on Apple’s Find My), and the calendar is linked to the Zepp app, but you can sync it with your phone calendar or Google Calendar should you want to.
Some things you’ll find on a Fitbit Charge 6 ($159) that you won’t find on the Amazfit Band 7 are: skin temperature monitor, ECG app, and a navigation button. But some things you will find on both the Fitbit Charge 6 and the Amazfit Band 7 are: menstrual cycle tracking, smart wake alarm, sleep score. While there’s no built-in GPS, the Band 7 had no problem syncing up with my iPhone 11’s GPS to generate a map of my cycling.
Amazfit Band 7 review: App
As with all of the Amazfit fitness trackers, the Band 7 syncs with the Zepp app. It’s a super easy-to-use app with clear navigation and a good amount of information. Unfortunately you have to pay $70 a year to access Zepp premium, but I used the free version for this review and found it more than enough. I wouldn’t recommend paying the extra $70 for the premium app — you only get a couple of weekly reports for that price.
In the app you can scroll through your activity history and view in-depth analytics, change your watch face, edit the homepage shortcuts, view training loads, view personal records, and much more. You only need the free version to do all that.
Amazfit Band 7 review: Battery life
While Amazfit claims the Band 7 can last up to 28 days in battery saver mode, I left the fitness tracker in normal battery mode, around 20 days, for my testing. I used the smart wake alarm feature every night and tracked at least an hour of activity per day, sometimes up to three hours. In 10 days, the battery decreased to 31%, which I think is obscenely impressive, considering some $300+ smartwatches only last 18 hours (*cough Apple Watch 9 cough*).
Should you buy the Amazfit Band 7?
If you’re after a fitness wearable that you only have to break a $50 bill for, look no further than the Amazfit Band 7. It does everything I want it to: tracks my sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, activity, and even does things I never thought about, like meditation and calendar integration. I don’t think you’ll get a better wearable for a lower price than this.
The Bip 5 ($89) has the same wonderful range of activities as the Band 7, but if you’re just starting out in fitness, I would recommend getting the Band 7 first. You’ll probably be able to pick up the Band 7 easier than the Bip 5, just because it has fewer options. Then, if you do get really into fitness, you could maybe invest in a more advanced smartwatch like the Apple Watch 9 ($399) or Google Pixel 3 watch ($349).
