I really liked the color-coded presentation of the elevation changes on the course. It meant I could mentally prepare myself for the big climbs and look forward to the sections that were going to be much kinder to my legs. It’s similar to Garmin’s great ClimbPro mode, but without the ability to configure the additional data you see on screen.
Then we get to battery life. Amazfit smartwatches in general post up some impressive battery numbers. The one Zepp Health wants to focus on here is when you’re using it in trail-running mode. That’s where it can last up to 33 hours. You do have more battery to play with if you’re willing to sacrifice GPS accuracy. By ditching multi-band GPS, switching from sampling GPS data every second to once per minute, reducing screen brightness, and disabling the always-on display mode, you can get a maximum of 228 hours of battery life.
I didn’t run anything close to the distance of a UTMB race. I did manage to spend over three hours with it where the battery dropped by 13 percent. That would actually equate to roughly 25 hours. So, short of the 33 hours stated. This is where screen brightness or keeping the screen on during tracking can hurt battery performance. A Garmin Fenix 8 Pro in the same mode dropped by 17 percent, pointing to a 16-hour battery life.
Photograph: Michael Sawh
Overall, I’ve been happy with how the Cheetah 2 Ultra has performed when worn for runs, swims, and even gym workouts. Where it’s lacking is the ecosystem that ties everything together. Zepp OS has come leaps and bounds over the years, but there’s still some elements that I don’t love.
If you’re hoping it’ll operate as slickly as an Apple Watch or Garmin when you’re not tracking exercise, that’s just not the reality of what it’s like to use an Amazfit watch. The music player isn’t compatible with streaming services such as Spotify, which you would get with Apple and Garmin, and the Zepp Health app storefront lacks major third-party apps. It also doesn’t have LTE or the newest satellite connectivity found on rival watches.
What I have more of a problem with is that an Amazfit smartwatch already exists that can do a lot of what the Cheetah 2 Ultra can do for less money. The T-Rex is a more overtly rugged-looking watch but not one I think most trail runners would be opposed to. It delivers a strong GPS performance, offers similar mapping and navigation features, and has enough battery life to last for most ultra races. The Cheetah 2 Ultra has added confusion to the Amazfit lineup. This is not a bad smartwatch. I’m just not convinced it’s another Amazfit smartwatch that needs to exist.
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