Tags: Review | Amazfit | Men's | Smart | Military
10.5.2021 | 7 MIN
They are named after the prehistoric animal, and quite possibly these watches would survive if the Tyranosaurus Rex accidentally stepped on them. They underline their endurance not only with a sharp name, but also by meeting the military standards for endurance. In addition to all this, Amazfit T-Rex Pro also received decent sensor equipment, a good dose of functions and, most importantly, a very pleasant price tag.
Immediately after opening the T-Rex package, I got quite terrified as I associated the watch to a toy you get in a supermarket as a reward rather than to a really durable watch piece.
For some reason, I didn't like the metallic paint, which is supposed to give a metallic look, but for me it had the opposite effect. But it was just a detail that bothered me for like 10 seconds before I turned the watch on. Then I was more or less thrilled.
I can't even imagine that a model with such a name would have compact dimensions. Personally, I like more robust watches, and T-Rex with dimensions of almost 48 millimeters fits my wrist perfectly. Since the thickness of the watch is 13.5 millimeters, it stand out a bit, but it's nothing that would bother me with a watch built for the extreme. Thanks to the use of hardened plastic, T-Rex weighs a comfortable 59 grams, which is really low in comparasion with the size.
The bezel of the watch is then supplemented by the already mentioned metallic paint and inscriptions, which reveals the functions of individual buttons, which are, in addition to the touch screen, another control option. The buttons have a rough surface, so that your finger does not "come off" the button like it can happen with the smooth ones.
But what I definitely like are the four protruding parts, two of which are attached to the strap with screws. I usually complain about the absence of a quick-release system, but with this type of watch, the screws make absolute sense to me. The fact it is black colored and with rough surface gives the watch a slightly "industrial" look.
The silicone strap (width 22 mm) has a light structure on the inside, again with some grooves, that make the surface rough, so the watch doesn't slip from the wrist. It is one of the most comfortable strap I've ever had, because it's really soft, but at the same time strong enough to withstand any rough treatment. What I am worried about is the plastic buckle, that might not survive some stronger yank.
I took the watch to several environments. To the mud, to work, but I also wanted them to undergo the so-called workshop test. I assume that the watch will be popular mainly amongst people who likes mountains, but also by those who work manually. And since I have a passion for woodwork, I took them to my workshop. Even after a few days in the workshop, I did not find any scratches, dust or other debris on the watch. I didn't even even have to wash the watch, more or less all it took was to blow on it a couple of times and it was like new.
Apart from the wood workshop, the watch will survive much more. This actually has a proof in the form of the military standard MIL-STD-810 and water resistance of 10 ATM.
The upper side of the watch is covered with Gorilla Glass 3 with DLC treatment, which protects the glass from scratches and also prevents unwanted fingerprints. Even though you run your finger across the screen all day, there are only few prints on which don't spoil the look of the watch.
An indisputable advantage is the bezel, which slightly protrudes above the glass making it better protected from scratches and shocks. Even so, I would recommend sticking a protective glass, especially if you know that you will expose your watch to such a risk.
The glass hides an AMOLED display with a size of 1.3 inches, resolution of 360 x 360 pixels, fineness of 277 ppi (smaller than the new models from the GTS or GTR series) and an automatic brightness control as well as the Always-On option. AMOLED displays often struggle with the sun, but the backlight is strong enough and I had no problem.
Another pleasant thing is definitely the sensor equipment. In addition to standards such as accelerometer, gyroscope, pedometer, thermometer, heart rate sensor and GPS, the sensor equipment is also enriched by barometer, altimeter and pulse oximeter measuring blood oxygenation.
What is dissapointing about this model is the heart rate measuring frequency that measures every minute as a minimum. I understand that the watch is set up this way to save battery power, but for me, the ideal scan setting is every second, because then all the analyzes are much more truthful and useful.
And speaking of the battery life, Amazfit came up with another uniqueness. I mean ... At least on paper. The watch should last 9 days in standard mode and up to 18 days in more economical mode. Although I am one of the slightly more demanding users, I still only got to about 3 days. With the fact that I went for a run almost every day and GPS is one of the biggest battery eater.
I have to say, Amazfit did a good job on the user interface. What I would like to highlight the most is the dual control of the watch. You can choose whether you want to control the watch with buttons or touch screen. For example, during sport or with gloves, button control is definitely better. The touch screen may be more convenient during the day, when standard use.
Shortcuts such as flashlight, brightness control, Find my phone function, etc. are hidden in the top bar (or after pressing the upper left button) and important data such as weather, number of steps, heart rate and others are hidden in the lower bar (or after pressing the lower left button).
Swiping right accesses notifications from the phone and swiping left (or pressing the bottom right button) accesses the watch menu. By pressing the upper right button you lets you choose from more than a hundred sports activities.
This control is actually not utterly standard, because most smart devices have screens that you scroll through, but here every movement or press of a button moves you to a specific function or selection. I would say this type of control is a little bold, but I think it's a bomb.
T-Rex has a pedestal mainly composed of elements such as durability and large sensor equipment. As for smart features, you'll have to settle for notifications from your phone (with emoji support), control of music from your phone, weather, stopwatch, alarm clock, timer and calendar.
Lifestyle department then has sleep monitoring (light, deep and REM phases), stress monitoring, all-day heart rate monitoring, oxygenation of blood and steps.
What really surprised me is the monitoring of sports activities. Not only can the watch combine several satellite system (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou), but it has many additional features. As a runner, I definitely appreciate the various tempo maintaining assistents, cadence (watch vibrates at regular intervals), heart rate, but also the Virtual Rabbit function, which will create a virtual opponent (tempo) against which you can compete.
You can also set various safe heart rate alerts, mileage alerts, and more.
What I also found striking was the pretty bad evaluation of the average cadence, for example. In reality, I almost always have a cadence above 170, and even the T-Rexe itself showed me the current cadence, for example 175. But when I finished, I had 159 in the average cadence evaluation. But I hope this is something that will be solved in an update.
Other data was also shown in the Zepp and Strava. Strava takes data from the Zepp app, so I really don't understand this, for example, the cadence in Strava was displayed correctly and I had an average heart rate 3 beats higher.
Otherwise, running with the T-Rex was nice and the final analysis, including VO2 Max estimation or EPOC, is pretty decent.
8.4.2021
What is VO2 max?
It's a really great watch. After the release of Garmin Enduro, it is another novelty that pleasantly surprised me this year. If the watch did not measure heart rate only every minute outside of sports activity, I would really think about purchasing the watch. I can take them to the workshop, to work, on a run, and in any environment I can use a slightly different type of control and a slightly different need for endurance. I consider it the best piece from Amazfit.
high resistance
dual control
battery life
sensor equipment
sports features
minor errors in activity analysis
the Zepp app might be confusing for some people
