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If you recall, we brought you word of the new AmazFit T-Rex Pro last month (seen here), particularly notable for it’s sponsorship and association with the Spartan Race. While I’m not planning to take on one of those endurance-style races, I do like knowing how I’m doing in my morning jogs. So, that’s where we put the AmazFit T-Rex Pro to the test.
As with any fitness watch I get in, I start off with a direct comparison to my trusty Polar Vantage M. Out of the gate, they’re fairly similar sizes, and close to the same weight – 46g for the Polar, and 59g for the AmazFit T-Rex Pro. I suppose if you’re ultra-marathoning those 13g might be important, but for us regular folks, it’s not going to be a notable difference. When I took it out on the trail, I found similar heart rate readings between the two devices, as well as similar distances recorded (helpful when the watch can talk directly to GPS satellites). Where they diverged a bit was in the calculated calorie burn between the two watches. While they weren’t wildly disparate, it was notable. Then again, most folks get a device and stick with it, and in that case the trends are the more important.
In terms of the feedback from the AmazFit T-Rex Pro, I really liked what I was being told. As you’re out and about, it’s not just showing you a heart rate reading – it’s telling you what range you’re in (ie, warm-up, fat burning, aerobic, anaerobic, and so on) along with color coding. So, if your training has a specific range you want to be in, you’ve got a quick and easy way to see it. You’ll also get a quick buzz on your wrist as you clock each mile, and other notifications of things like keeping your HR in the fat-burning zone for 30 minutes or burning 300 calories in the session. It’s giving you that positive reinforcement in a sort of gamification method that, well, just clicks with you.
Speaking of clicking – like the Polar, the AmazFit T-Rex Pro has a set of buttons on it. Unlike the Polar, though, the AmazFit T-Rex Pro has full touch screen. As I spent more time with it, I really began to appreciate the setup more and more. With cooler temps, I’m out in at least a thin pair of gloves, and those don’t tend to work well with touch screens. Even if they’ve got the touch-sensitive tips, the small real estate of a watch screen doesn’t play well with that. In those cases, relying on the buttons on each side of the case gets the job done in a cinch. And when you’re gloveless, then hey, the touch screen is your friend. Another nice benefit here is in the silent alarm.
I rely on a silent alarm to get up in the morning, so it’s great that the AmazFit T-Rex Pro has that built in (with a variety of schedules you can setup and sync over. While you use the touch screen to turn the alarm off, if you feel the need for a snooze, you don’t even need to open your eyes to see where to swipe. Just press a button and it snoozes the alarm, and you can grab another few minutes of shut-eye.
Speaking of the screen – you’ve got a decent amount of customization options available to you with the AmazFit T-Rex Pro. Much like with an WearOS watch, you can load in custom watch faces, though you need to get those (and download them to the watch) via the Zepp app. I played with a few of them, but found many to be just flashy, or cramming way too much on the screen. I settled in on one that reminded me of an 80s digital watch display, that gave a good mix of information while keeping it all readable. Of course, a quick swipe up gets you into other information (stats of the day, weather, and so on), a swipe to the right gets you to the notifications (as this can get all the smart watch notifications from your phone that you might want), a swipe to the left gets you into the various apps on the watch (timer, changing watch faces, workout modes, and so on), and a swipe down is the quick-settings for a variety of things.
Speaking of the Zepp app, that’s where you can see all the data your AmazFit T-Rex Pro is recording, including training load (the watch will tell you how many hours until recovery is completed), VO2 max (how much oxygen you’re using at full load), and something they’re calling a PAI score. This is more of the gamification, but it’s a measure they come up with based on the activities the watch is recording, as well as the biometrics the watch captures. It sets various goals for you to hit (get that next achievement!), as well as calculating a “health age” (getting it lower than your actual age is another goal). In some ways, the sleep tracking can be a bit game-y as well, as you’re getting details of your deep, light, and REM sleep states, comparing that to your overall averages, as well as the broader base of Zepp users. In short, if you want goals other than the sort of (run X miles over Y days, or whatnot) then they’ve got some built-in things to help you motivate yourself.
Oh, and in terms of workout tracking (and the readings it takes) – you’re not locked to the device or the app. You can easily sync the health data over into your phone’s health info (Apple Health or Google’s version), as well as cloning your workout data out into other popular apps such as Strava (got get those kudos and complete challenges there, as well!). While it’s good to have an ecosystem between the watch and phone app, the ability to put the relevant pieces of information into other areas is very much appreciated, and gives you more flexibility.
One other thing you’ll want to think about with a smart fitness watch is the battery life. With going out on the trail 5 days a week using GPS signal tracking, as well as having the HR tracking going throughout the day (and during sleep), I was easily able to get a week between charges, which is pretty solid for a watch of this sort. Of course, you could dial down some things – or even use low-power mode – and stretch it further if need be. Of course, with things like auto-off / auto-on for the screen helps cut that power consumption (when in exercise mode, the screen is always on), as does auto-dimming.
When it comes time to charge it up, there’s a small magnetic charger that hooks onto the back and plugs into a USB port, and you’re topped up fairly quickly. While I’m not super-enthused about proprietary charging cords, that seems to be part-and-parcel of the current crop of fitness watches (at least the ones I’ve experienced) – though I’ll hold out hope for Qi-compatible circuits to show up one day.
All in all, I came away very, very pleased with the AmazFit T-Rex Pro. It fit very nicely into my morning wakeup and workout routine, and was an able companion tracking my efforts during yardwork in the evenings and over the weekend. If you’re looking for something that’s more than just a basic smartwatch, and aren’t engaged by stoic fitness readouts, the slightly gamified approach this watch (and app) takes should be of interest to you. And for the hard-core athletes out there, the sensors built in should give you some solid insight into your workouts.
If you want to pick up your own AmazFit T-Rex Pro, it’s available in three different colors – black (which we reviewed), blue, or grey. Hopefully they’ll offer up spare straps at some point as well, as you’ve got an odd lug configuration which means you can’t easily fit a standard strap on it. That aside (and really, most fitness watches have custom straps), I think that the AmazFit T-Rex Pro will be right at home on the wrists of those just looking to get more fit or those who are actively training for events, as well as being a good downtime companion for whatever the summertime weather brings your way. It’s available now for $179.95 from either Amazon or directly from Amazfit.
Tech Specs from Amazfit
- Dimensions: 47.7 X 47.7 X 13.5mm
- Weight: 59.4g (with strap)
- Body material: Polycarbonate
- Strap material: Silicone rubber
- Strap length: 122mm (long), 78mm (short)
- Strap width: 22mm
- Water-resistance grade: 10 ATM
- Touchscreen: Tempered glass + anti-fingerprint coating
- Display:
- 1.3″ HD AMOLED Display
- Resolution: 360 X 360
- Always-on Display
- Sensors
- BioTracker™ 2 PPG bio-tracking optical sensor
- 3-axis acceleration sensor
- 3-axis gyroscope sensor
- Geomagnetic sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- Barometric altimeter
- Positioning: GPS+GLONASS, GPS+BeiDou, GPS+Galileo
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0 BLE
- Battery:
- 390 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery
- Charging timeUp to 1.5 hours
- Charging method: Magnetic 2-pins Pogo Pin
- Battery life
- Typical usage: up to 18 days
- Heavy usage: up to 9 days
- GPS continuous working time: up to 40 hours
- Operating system: RTOS
- Supported devices: Android 5.0 or iOS 10.0 and above
- Packing list: Watch body (including standard strap)
- App: Zepp App
