What if you went out to buy a fitness tracker and came back home with a smartwatch and some unexpected savings. That’s entirely possible with the Amazfit Bip Lite, a smartwatch with a Rs 3,999/- price tag. It takes on fitness trackers in their price zone but delivers a smartwatch experience. It’s a pared-down version of the Amazfit Bip; we had checked out Huami’s Amazfit Verge a few ago for Man’s World and came away quite impressed. Does the Bip Lite deliver the goods for its aggressive sticker price?

The Bip Lite takes design cues from the Apple Watch. It’s the same squarish rectangle shape and features a crown that’s placed in the centre of the right spine. But the similarities end at a fair distance; this is an all-plastic build. The Bip Lite feels remarkably light and is comfortable to wear for long durations. Despite its silicone strap and plastic build, it certainly doesn’t look cheap. The 1.28-inch colour display is decent but don’t expect colours to be super vibrant. It packs 176 x 176 pixels and I had to turn it up to maximum brightness for clear visibility under direct sunlight.

Setting it up (I set it up on an iPhone; it’s also compatible with Android devices) with the Amazfit companion App is quite effortless. The App has quite a few data points and is quite easy on the eye. It packs quite a few features like calorie and step counts, sleep tracking and also allows you to play around with a bunch of watch faces. Some of the more data-heavy watch faces don’t work with the display but there’s still a whole lot of options.

The Amazfit Bip Lite comes with a host of fitness features loaded on the watch. It’s also 3ATM Proof (up to 30 metres), this is a great value-add at this price point. It means you can plunge into the pool with this watch but it doesn’t track swim laps. It can track your runs and cycling laps but depends on your smartphone for GPS. The Bip lite is embedded with an optical heart rate sensor for more detailed fitness tracking. In terms of smartwatch functions, it offers call, text and email notifications as well as weather updates.

Navigation around the menus is quite simple. The touchscreen is quite responsive while the crown functions as a simple back key, keeping the overall watch interface quite friendly. We also like the always-on display option that doesn’t impact battery life. You don’t have to worry about tilting or shaking the Amazfit Bip Lite for its most basic function – checking out the time.

The Amazfit Bip Lite is quite barebones but punches way above its price tag. This is a good option for first-time smartwatch buyers without major expectations. It does most of the basic stuff well including battery life. After 4 days of use, it still didn’t drop below 80%. Huami claims 45-days of battery life. That’s something most smartwatches can’t match.

The Amazfit Bip Lite is priced at Rs 3,999.