As a robust outdoor GPS smartwatch, the fitness brand Amazfit, which is still little known in Germany, is launching its new T-Rex 2 in the race for market share. How suitable is the wearable for everyday use and outdoors? We took a close look at the T-Rex 2.
I don’t want to beat around the bush here: no normal person needs 150 sport modes, 24-hour monitoring of blood oxygen saturation or an endless selection of watch faces. My opinion. The T-Rex 2, the new outdoor flagship from Amazfit, has and can do that and much more. And it joins a longer list of multi-talented wearables that are intended to accompany and support active and less active people through everyday life and in their free time. Is the T-Rex 2 just another GPS smartwatch in this booming market? Or can it do something that its competitors, for example from Scandinavia or the USA, cannot? The star has tested the T-Rex 2 over a longer period of time – day and night, on the beach and on the street, while running, cycling and in the shower.
Robust all round: Elegant is different
First the obvious: upon unboxing, it quickly becomes clear that the T-Rex 2 is an outdoor watch. The 1.39-inch, high-quality AMOLED touch display was pressed into a solid frame – on my test model, the rigid bezel comes in matt black. Striking: Amazfit has hidden a mini speaker between the two perforated buttons on the right side, which is protected by a slightly protruding bracket. This makes the already chunky watch, which is almost 14 millimeters thick, even chunkier. Unsurprisingly: At 66 grams, the T-Rex 2 is a noticeable 25 grams heavier than the Polar Pacer Pro, which was designed primarily for runners and which the Finnish sports watch manufacturer presented a little earlier this year (you can find the test report on the Polar Pacer Pro). The sensors for measuring heart rate and Co. are arranged on the underside in a silver-colored ring. There are also two so-called pogo pins, the counterpart of which can be found on the charging cable. The 22 millimeter wide silicone strap fits into the picture in terms of design. What a pity: it can only be removed and replaced with a special tool.
The remarkably detailed display is a nice playground. There are about a dozen dial designs on the watch itself. From the 1980s retro look to the classic pointer display to wildly flashing animations, there is something for everyone. The associated app also has an almost endless selection of other designs. You can also upload your own images from the smartphone memory.
First conclusion: The T-Rex 2 stands out – but not because of its elegance. The massive sports watch with a diameter of almost 50 millimeters looks severely oversized on narrow wrists. Everyone has to decide for themselves how comfortable and suitable for everyday use or perhaps also annoying the comparatively heavy wearable is. There are deductions in the B grade for the awkwardly interchangeable bracelet. In return, the display shines with an absolutely competitive resolution of 454 x 454 pixels and a brightness of a remarkable 1000 nits. This puts the T-Rex 2 on par with the Apple Watch Series 7.
Amazfit T-Rex 2: the specifications
The most important features and functions
Amazfit has given the second generation of its T-Rex series the now common and much more precise dual-band GPS. This is especially important for those who want to use this watch as a running coach or trekking companion. Compared to the predecessor, the developers have taken an important step forward here. Since the last OTA (Over the Air) update, the T-Rex 2 also has real-time navigation (not part of this test). You can also have the watch take you back to the starting point of the training session at the push of a button. This has also been possible with competitors for some time. Although you have to dig much deeper into your pocket here. But more on that later. The energy for the power plant on the wrist is supplied by a battery with a crisp 500 ampere hours (Ah) capacity (for comparison: a 247 Ah battery was installed in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4). If you activate all functions such as always-on display, 24-hour heart rate measurement, notifications and more, the battery will be flat after five days. As discussed at the beginning, this is neither effective nor really useful. If you disable some energy guzzlers and don’t have your sleep monitored every night, you can easily get by with the T-Rex 2 battery for ten to 14 days with two to three training sessions a week. Nice: A completely empty battery is 100 percent ready for use again within an hour.
Amazfit T-Rex 2: operation and menu navigation
Even newcomers to Amazfit like me quickly get to grips with the T-Rex’s finely tuned touch display. A quick swipe to the right brings up a long list of the most important apps on the screen. Basically, the most interesting features and functions of the T-Rex 2 are also hidden here.
A swipe from top to bottom reveals the control center with all system functions of the watch. Including a calendar, a small flashlight, a silent or theater mode and the battery status. The watch also navigates its wearer to further submenus via the settings. To hide a menu or submenu, wipe it back to where it came from. Alternatively, you can also use the button marked “Back” at the bottom right. Like the three other buttons, it is slightly perforated on the surface and can therefore be easily operated even after a workout with sweaty fingers. Gestures on the touch display can sometimes take a few seconds with sweaty fingers.
Overall, the T-Rex 2 scores with a reliably functioning touch display that is neither too sensitive nor too harsh. All in all, the menus are logically structured and intuitive. Once learned, a few gestures are enough to find the desired function. The settings for interval training follow a logic that I (and presumably other runners too) cannot understand. This confirms my overall impression that the T-Rex 2 is unlikely to get stuck in the running community.
testing and conclusion
Amazfit sells and markets its T-Rex 2 as an outdoor GPS smartwatch and, in addition to the training functions, particularly emphasizes the various tools for measuring and monitoring all sorts of health parameters, including sleep. The manufacturer is trying to bridge the gap between a training companion for athletes and a smart everyday manager (for day and night). In the test, we recorded 15 running training sessions and a few trips to work by bike. The steps were recorded daily, the heart rate was measured continuously. In addition, the T-Rex 2 was allowed to go to bed for a few nights to record the sleep data. Every now and then I checked the oxygen saturation (in 9 out of 10 cases at 99%) and my stress level. The latter averaged 54 on a scale of 0 to 100. So average. I still don’t get really smart from this value.
All measurement data recorded by the T-Rex 2 during training and everyday use can be evaluated very well. After a self-counted 1000-step walk in the residential area, the pedometer spat out a result of 985 steps. An acceptable deviation of 1.5 percent. The GPS of the T-Rex also convinced us. It usually took the watch less than ten seconds to switch from pre-start to training start mode. It only does this when it is connected to the corresponding satellites. The values that the T-Rex determined on frequently walked routes essentially matched those of the Polar Pacer Pro in a direct comparison. As with the Finnish sports watch pioneer, according to the map evaluation in the Zepp app, you sometimes walk a few meters off the road, in the bed of a small stream or on the shore of a lake. However, the GPS accuracy is perfectly adequate for hobby and leisure runners.
It’s a bit annoying that the T-Rex 2 regularly updates the assisted GPS (A-GPS) data shortly before the training run. This happens especially when the watch has not been connected to the smartphone (and thus the Zepp app) via Bluetooth for a long time and often lasted several minutes in our test. In some cases the update also failed. A-GPS uses data about the orbits of the GPS satellites to speed up the GPS positioning of the watch.
The T-Rex 2 also delivered comprehensible values for the heart rate measurement, which corresponded almost 1:1 to the Polar product. The watch tends to wobble a bit on the wrist due to its weight. It should therefore be closed as tightly as possible in order to receive data reliably and without interruptions. When cycling, the small, slightly protruding protective bar of the speaker on the right side of the T-Rex 2 was a nuisance. When the handlebar grip was unfavorable, it pierced the wrist uncomfortably and left a red mark. With the right tools and a bit of fiddling, however, the little troublemaker can be unscrewed.
Since the T-Rex is also touted as a health manager for everyday use, I also wore the wearable on my wrist for a few nights. It’s not comfortable in the long run. This is not only due to the weight, but above all to the sheer size of the watch. Anyone who is not used to wearing something on their wrist at night will be irritated at first. Otherwise, the T-Rex 2 records the sleep phases and other parameters based on the nocturnal movements. The morning after, it provides a colorful and numerous analysis of REM, deep and light sleep, average heart rate and a few things more. To do this, it calculates a sleep score that summarizes parameters such as sleep duration and quality in one value. In most cases, my subjective feeling matched the score that the T-Rex 2 presented to me in the morning.
I find the Personal Activity Index, PAI for short, a little more exciting. This is a kind of inner bastard that monitors daily activities and assigns points according to a system devised in a Norwegian study. So you get 50 PAI for a training run of about seven kilometers with an average heart rate of about 140 beats. According to the HUNT Fitness Study, a PAI score consistently above 100 is said to help reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The principle: The watch adds the activity points earned within seven days to a PAI value. Means: On the eighth day, the points of the first day are lost and must be worked out again. From my point of view, a smart idea to virtually kick the butt of the wearer of the watch.
As mentioned at the beginning: The Amazfit T-Rex 2 is packed with features and functions. The bulky wearable won me over as an overall package. The price (RRP: 229.90 euros) and the powerful battery make the watch a recommendable option for outdoor fans because the T-Rex 2 also has a compass and barometer. If you want to document trekking or mountain bike tours and keep an eye on your fitness level, you won’t go wrong with T-Rex 2. In my opinion, however, the T-Rex 2 is only suitable to a limited extent for ambitious runners or cyclists. By the way, you can’t pay or make phone calls with the Amazfit smartwatch.
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