Amazfit Bip 3 Smart Watch

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About a week before Thanksgiving I was chatting with my bestie and she was telling me about the Fitbit she wanted to get her mother. At that point I realized I had been thinking how I wanted an Apple Watch.

My biggest concern, however, other than the price, was whether I could handle the size/weight of one since I never wear watches, or any jewelry for that matter. Other than the Apple store, you cannot try a watch on before purchasing it which to me is kinda crazy. I remember as a teenager going to Service Merchandise and trying on watches. I bought one that had a face that detached and went on different color bands. It was the coolest thing in my mind. But I digress…

Fast forward to November 30th and I saw through a deal site I frequent that Walmart was selling the Amazfit Bip 3 smart watch for $35 on an extended Black Friday sale (normally $50). I did a little reading up on it and in addition to the fitness stuff, learned it receives phone notifications, weather updates, etc. so I decided to order it. I figured it would be a cheap way to test whether I can handle wearing a watch after all these years.

The wait was difficult as the watch wasn’t due to be delivered until December 12th. Side note: If that delivery time frame was supposed to get me on board to keep my Walmart+ subscription after the free trial, they should think again. It got updated to the 8th but then delayed and was ultimately delivered on the 9th.

First impressions

I really like how they designed the box. Even opening it was easy and didn’t cause any damage to it. Everything was laid out inside nicely.

Amazfit BIP 3 box

Pull tab to open box

Inside the box

The battery was at 42%, so after letting it warm up to room temperature and briefly trying it on, I charged it. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get to 100%.

It was simple to set up. There’s a QR code in the little instruction booklet which when scanned takes you to where you download the app. Then you follow the instructions in the app to pair it to the phone. You can also mess with settings and whatnot.

Now that I’ve been wearing it daily for 12 days, I’ll break down the pros and cons:

Pros

» Lightweight (33gm) & comfortable despite the large 44mm case

» Exceptional battery life. I haven’t had to charge it since the initial charge & the battery is currently at 30%

» Seems to track steps accurately, although it lags behind and doesn’t do it in real time

» Can buy 3rd party bands to customize the look of your watch

» Price is very good for an introductory smart watch, especially for someone who doesn’t need all the bells and whistles

Cons

» Doesn’t seem to track sleep accurately; thinks any time I’m in bed I’m also asleep

» Doesn’t render notifications accurately so sometimes they’re missing pertinent info

» Watch face isn’t interactive, only informative

» You can only have two watch faces stored in the watch at a time, and one of those is a default that cannot be deleted. So basically you cannot easily switch watch faces as it’s a multi-step process in the app where you have to delete the face, then download and install the one you want

» Current weather often stops displaying until you go into the app to re-sync the watch; otherwise it just shows you the predicted high & low for the day

» Allows you to control what’s playing on your phone (such as music or podcasts) but lacks the 15 second skip ahead feature for podcasts (which I use frequently to skip over ads)

Conclusion

Instead of satiating my desire for an Apple Watch, owning this watch has only increased it. Not that it was a total failure – it made me realize I could handle wearing a watch all day (although I do take it off when showering & at night for a break since the sleep tracking sucks anyway).

New Association & Fire Alarm Inspection

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Sometime back in October my payment to our association was rejected by the bank with a notice that the PO BOX had been closed. And this was how I learned that we had a new association (that no one ever told us about). Luckily I have a few neighbors’ contact info and was able to get the whole welcome packet digitally from one of them. Apparently it was mailed to everyone, but I spoke to other neighbors who didn’t get the info either. Trying to get an email response or accurate information from this new association didn’t go well either. Very aggravating!

Eventually they created a website and suddenly seemed to magically now have my email address (which was always on my account) in order to send notices and whatnot. One of those was about upcoming fire alarm inspections. The way in which they laid out the information caused confusion, though. Had it not been for the two people on our board who showed up at my house to discuss voting for new board members, I would have thought the inspection for our unit was on a Wednesday, not Friday. I’m guessing the same confusion happened to the neighbors on either side of us too since neither were home the day they showed up. That sucks, because they will be charged for the inspectors to come back out.

I spoke to the guys who did the inspection and was told that our system really needs replacing but it would be very difficult to do so. Who knows what that means for the future. They were required under their contract to replace two heat detectors in each building and chose our unit for both, so they replaced the one in the laundry room and the other in the garage. Not sure why they didn’t replace one in another unit, though. Kinda seems unfair we got two (of the four in our unit) replaced, but whatever. I’m just happy that is over, for this year at least. They choose the dates and you have to be home or you get fined. It’s really shitty, if you ask me.

Master Bedroom Window

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Over the past few months I’ve noticed the master bedroom has been draftier than usual and it seemed like I could hear the wind whipping around at night more. Plus I could hear the relentless beeping from the big post office across the street. I chalked it up to the fact that our windows aren’t that insulated and asked Joe if he could install a window insulation kit since it’s been so cold in there lately.

Sunday was the day and in order to do it we had to remove the blinds first. So glad we did as that’s when we discovered that the glass had slipped, leaving a small gap where all the air can come in.

Everything makes much more sense now!

Unfortunately Joe couldn’t get the glass to budge no matter what he did and he was worried he’d break it if he used too much force so he put some insulation foam in the gap and caulked the hell out of it to temporarily seal it.

The windows are 30 years old so we decided we’ll be replacing them next year. It sucks, because it isn’t going to be cheap, but I’m really looking forward to having windows that are easier to open. Plus I’ve wanted a new patio door for years.

I’m going to start doing some research so we choose a company carefully. I also plan on speaking to our neighbors to the west as they had all their windows and patio door replaced last year and they look nice.

Joe’s Surgery

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Earlier this year Joe noticed a lump under his left arm. His primary care sent him for an ultrasound which was inconclusive so he had an MRI done. That was inconclusive as well, so he referred him to a surgeon.

I went with him to the appointment. The surgeon walked in, felt the area and said “yea, it’s a lipoma” (not to be confused with a lymphoma). He went on to explain it wasn’t cancerous, but would continue to grow, so he’d have to schedule surgery to have it removed. He remarked that he wished Joe’s doctor had sent him over before having all the unnecessary scans done. Luckily our insurance is very good and the ultrasound was $45 and the MRI was $100, so it could have been worse. But that’s still $145 we didn’t need to spend.

Joe’s surgery was scheduled for November 18th since we knew he’d need time off work to recover and two of the days would be covered by Thanksgiving. The day of surgery we got to the hospital at 5:35 am to check-in for his 7:30 am procedure. We’ve never had a procedure at this particular hospital (Central DuPage) before but I liked how organized they were. Not only is there a screen in the waiting room updating the status of each patient (using a number they give you at check-in to keep everyone’s privacy), but they also text you updates. Unfortunately those updates tend to be delayed. By the time I got the one stating Joe was in surgery and doing well I was being led back to a consultation room to talk to the surgeon. That part freaked me out a little but luckily he was just telling me everything went well.

Everyone was really nice, everyone except one douchebag in the waiting room were wearing their masks properly, and all things considered it was uneventful. We were home by 10:30 am.

One snag was when I was talking to the surgeon I realized no one had ever scheduled Joe’s follow-up visit he’d need before being released back to work. We were under the impression it would be on November 29th so he could go back on the 30th but when I called the office (from Joe’s recovery room), they had no appointments available so he had to wait until December 1st with a return to work on the 2nd (assuming no complications).

Update 12/6/22 – He was cleared for work and returned on December 2nd. Everyone missed him as they fell behind without him there and also having people out sick. He got his biopsy results on the 1st and they confirmed the growth was benign. It had almost doubled in size between when he first saw the surgeon in mid September, though.

Refrigerator Organization

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I wanted our new refrigerator to be more organized than the last one and just so happened to come across two perfect items at Costco back in late September.

It took a little convincing to get Joe on board with the egg holders, but now that we’ve been using them for awhile he really likes them. I like how they, along with our fresh fruit and yogurt, are all contained in one space giving more room for other things.

I liked our old fruit containers but they were too large and didn’t stack well. The Rubbermaid containers solved that issue and I haven’t noticed any difference in how long before the fruit spoils.

Our fridge is now laid out as follows:

Top shelf – pre-packaged items for future meals, such as soups or meal kits
Second shelf – leftovers
Third shelf – eggs, yogurt, cream cheese, and fruit
Fourth shelf – milk, creamer, juice
Produce Drawer – fruits & veggies, plus extra butter (we buy in bulk)
Meat Drawer – tortillas, sour cream, and cheeses (block, shredded, and cottage)