Amazfit Active 3 Premium vs Amazfit Active Max

Same Price, Two Very Different Watches

The Amazfit Active 3 Premium and Active Max are two of the best-value running watches you can buy right now. Both cost about $170, and both have offline maps, wrist calls through a built-in speaker and mic, 4GB of storage for maps and music, and bright AMOLED screens rated up to 3,000 nits. That's a feature list Garmin charges two or three times as much for.

Since they cost the same, this isn't about budget. It's about which trade-off fits how you run: the Active Max's bigger screen and huge battery, or the Active 3 Premium's tougher build, extra buttons, and deeper running tools.

What's the Same

Price. Both sell for about $170, so you're not paying extra for either set of strengths.

Maps, calls, and storage. Both have offline maps, a speaker and mic for taking calls from your wrist, and 4GB of storage shared between maps and music.

GPS. Both use single-band GPS, not the dual-band GPS you'll find on pricier watches like the Coros Pace 4. For most road running, single-band is fine. Under heavy tree cover or between tall buildings, your track and pace can drift.

Health and training basics. They use the same heart rate sensor and share the same sleep tracking, BioCharge energy score, VO2 max, training load, and Zepp Coach adaptive training plans. Both work with external heart rate straps, which is worth it for interval work, since optical heart rate on both can get jumpy during hard efforts.

Water rating. Both are rated to 5 ATM.

Battery Life: The Active Max's Biggest Win

This is where the Active Max pulls away. It has a much bigger battery (658mAh versus 365mAh), and it shows:

• Continuous GPS: up to 64 hours on the Active Max, versus 24 hours on the Active 3 Premium
• Typical use: up to 25 days, versus 12 days
• Always-on display: up to 10 days, versus 4 days
• GPS with music: up to 22 hours, versus 10 hours

The Active 3 Premium does have a power-saving GPS mode rated for up to 76 hours, but that trades away accuracy, so it's better suited to long hikes than to runs where you care about pace.

In practice, if you run four or five times a week, you'll probably charge the Active 3 Premium every week or so and the Active Max every couple of weeks. If you're training for a marathon with long weekend runs, or you just hate charging things, the Active Max is the easier watch to live with.

Build and Display

Active Max: bigger screen. It has a 1.5-inch, 480 x 480 display in a 48.5mm case. That extra screen space makes maps and data fields much easier to read when you glance down mid-run. The case is aluminum with a polymer back, and it comes in one size and one color.

Active 3 Premium: tougher build. It has a smaller 1.32-inch, 466 x 466 display in a 45mm case, covered by sapphire glass and wrapped in a stainless steel frame. Sapphire is far more scratch-resistant than regular glass, and it's rare at this price. It's also the better fit for smaller wrists.

Weight. Without straps, they weigh about the same, 38 grams for the Active 3 Premium and 39.5 grams for the Active Max. The Active 3 Premium is smaller, but its steel frame keeps the weight close.

Buttons

This is a bigger deal than it sounds. The Active 3 Premium has four physical buttons, like a traditional sports watch. The Active Max has two.

Mid-interval, with sweaty fingers or gloves on, buttons are much more reliable than tapping a touchscreen. With four, you can start, stop, lap, and scroll without touching the screen. If you do a lot of structured workouts, the Active 3 Premium is easier to use on the run.

Running Features

The Active 3 Premium has deeper running data. It adds running power, lactate threshold estimates, and form metrics like ground contact time and posture. It also syncs with TrainingPeaks, Runna, Intervals.icu, and Strava, so it fits into whatever training plan or app you already use.

Navigation is smarter on the Active 3 Premium. It adds turn-by-turn navigation with automatic rerouting if you miss a turn, a feature that used to be reserved for Amazfit's pricier watches. The Active Max has offline maps, including topographic and ski resort maps, but not the same rerouting.

The Active Max covers the essentials. Pace, distance, heart rate, training load, VO2 max, and over 170 sport modes, including strength training. If you mostly want reliable tracking and a training plan, it does that well.

Either way, you can build a free plan with our Training Plan Generator and follow it on either watch.

Who Should Buy Which

Get the Active 3 Premium if you want the better running watch: four buttons, sapphire glass, running power and lactate threshold, and smarter navigation, in a smaller case. You'll just need to charge it about once a week.

Get the Active Max if battery life and a big, easy-to-read screen matter most. It's the better pick for runners who want to forget about charging and just run, and for anyone who wants maps they can actually read mid-run.

Both have single-band GPS, so if accurate pace under trees or between buildings matters to you, step up to a dual-band watch. Our best running watches of 2026 ranking covers some strong options, and the Watch Finder matches you to the right watch in four quick questions.