

This is because the newer tracker can also measure blood oxygenation (spO2) as well as heart rate, which involves analyzing the amount of red and infrared light reflected back onto these sensors. Take a look at them side-by-side and you'll see the Inspire 2 has two little light sensors, while the Inspire 3 has three. Straight-up new features are provided by the next-generation heart rate hardware. However, these look much better on the Fitbit Inspire 3's sharper screen. They can also receive notifications from your phone, which is handy for checking emails or messages without getting your phone out. These watches have a vibration motor too, which is used for alarms and timers. If you want a real fitness watch-style experience for workouts, you will need to carry your phone. Connected GPS uses location data from your phone, beamed over to the watch using Bluetooth. The Fitbit Inspire 2 and 3 don't have their own GPS chips. These show you mid-workout stats on-screen, and the outdoors ones use connected GPS to log your location throughout. The Inspire tracks your sleep, counts your steps and offers exercise modes you start manually. They both measure your heart rate throughout the day and can automatically register when you go for a walk or run. While there are some feature gaps between these two models, the differences are not all that dramatic because the Inspire 2 and Inspire 3 have the same goal: They want to be easygoing, low maintenance trackers - not for marathon runners who want training guidance. This shows the clock face all day long, so you can casually glance at your tracker to see the time. There's an "always on" option too, missing in the Inspire 2. The Inspire 3 also has an ambient light sensor, used to increase brightness during outdoor activity automatically, and bring it back down when indoors in a dimmer environment. This is very important if you want to look at distance or pace stats while you go for a run. We found the Inspire 2 can struggle with display visibility outdoors on brighter days, which isn't really an issue in the Inspire 3.

The colour OLED also gives the watch a clearer sense of personality. The Inspire 3’s 206 x 124 pixel resolution looks far sharper than the 126 x 36 of the Inspire 2.
