Review of Amazfit T-Rex Pro - a harsh fitness watch for extreme fans

The sports smart-watch Amazfit T-Rex Pro from the Huami brand appeared in Russian stores. The cost of the device is from 13,500 rubles. He received 15 military certificates confirming the gadget's ability to work in harsh conditions. According to the assurances of the creators, the device can operate at temperatures from -40 to +70 ° C. We walked with the new product more than 100 thousand steps, tested it during many trainings and found out what it is capable of.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Screen
• Interface
• application
• Workouts
• Other functions
• Autonomy
• Outcomes

Specifications

Design and ergonomics

The appearance of Amazfit T-Rex Pro can be described in one word: brutal - to match the "predatory" name. The case with angular protrusions, notches around the perimeter of the display, impressive ribbed buttons, numerous screws evoke associations with the armor of a futuristic tank or a combat starship.

The choice of colors is appropriate. No frivolous white, pink, or gold - just desert gray, steel blue, and meteor black. We got the third option. Judging by the pictures, the other two look at least as good.

For those released in 2020 Amazfit T ‑ Rex the color palette was larger: gray, camouflage, khaki, army green and black. The rest of the design of the watch has hardly changed.

Against the background of the monochrome case stands out a dark gray bezel with the names of the buttons written in white font. There are also four notches on the ring: for blue and black watches they are red, and for gray ones they are blue.

The case material is a slightly rough shock-resistant plastic. The touchscreen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 with an oleophobic coating. Unlike the Amazfit T-Rex, the Pro version has a two-tone 22mm strap. It is equipped with a classic buckle and a trainer. Frequently spaced holes allow the watch to be worn comfortably for owners of any wrist. The strap can be removed by unscrewing the retaining screws. If you are not satisfied with the material or color, then there are enough on sale analogs for this model.

Sensor heart rate and magnetic connectors for charging are located on the back of the case. On the Amazfit T-Rex, they were built in the shape of a cross; on the new model, their placement has changed slightly.

The watch is water resistant, withstands pressure up to 10 ATM - twice as much as its predecessor - and is protected according to the IP68 standard. This means that the gadget is suitable for all water sports except diving.

We immersed the Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro in water and also watered the device from the shower - it continued to work. To test the resistance of the watch to low temperatures, we put it in freezer. During this time, the battery was not discharged even by a percentage. A fall from a 1.5-meter height onto a tiled floor also passed without consequences for the device.

Screen

The watch has an AMOLED display with a diameter of 1.3 inches and a resolution of 360 × 360 pixels. The pixel density is not the highest - 277 PPI. The frame near the screen is visible, but it is quite narrow. The text on the display is readable in all conditions, although in direct sunlight the image will fade as expected.

In the settings, you can turn on the wake-up of the gadget by raising your hand, adjust the brightness, set the time for automatically turning off the screen (from 5 to 30 seconds). The Always on Display option is also activated there. In this mode, the watch constantly displays the time, date, battery level and number of steps taken per day. The function can be configured so that it works only during a certain period of the day - this allows you not to waste the energy of the device at night.

Interface

You can control the gadget using a touchscreen and four physical buttons located around the perimeter of the dial. SELECT and BACK are on the right, UP and DOWN are on the left.

Pressing the BACK key on the main screen opens the main menu. Does the same swipe to the left. In other cases, the BACK button returns us to the previous screen. Also, the role of the "Back" key is performed by swipe to the right.

SELECT turns on the workout selection. During activity, by pressing the same button, you can pause the recording, and then use the on-screen keys to complete the workout completely or resume it after a break.

The system works conveniently, although the display button "Save" could have been done more: after exhausting physical exertion, it was not always possible to hit it with a finger the first time.

UP button lowers curtain. It contains a flashlight, brightness control, a phone search key, and an activator for the "Do not disturb" mode. On the same page, power-saving and "theater" modes are turned on (minimum brightness, inactive Always on Display, no reaction of the gadget to raising a hand). Also, from the curtain, you can go to the device settings.

Pressing UP again allows you to scroll through the "Favorites" section. You can add a daily heart rate graph, statistics of the last workout, the current the weather and other data pages.

The DOWN button also opens the favorites view, but in reverse order. You can go to the same section with a swipe up on the main screen. Swiping down brings up a shutter, and swiping to the right brings up notifications. In general, the management of smart watches can be figured out fairly quickly.

application

Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro works in conjunction with the free Zepp app for Android and iOS. We tested the gadget on an Apple operating system. When you turn it on for the first time, a QR code appears on the watch screen - it remains scan his smartphone camera and install the app. Pairing two devices via Bluetooth is almost instantaneous.

Zepp has a stylish design and comes across as a very solid program. There are really a lot of options in it, but not all of them can be combined with the Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro. For example, this gadget lacks an NFC chip and voice control.

Zepp gives you access to advanced watch settings. So, through the application, you can change the interface language (at first, we searched for this feature for a long time and in vain in the menu of the gadget itself). It also allows you to customize notifications and set training goals, for example number of stepsthat you plan to take in the day.

In addition, through the app, you can set up reminders on the Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro, add friends to follow their progress, or use Find My Device, which vibrates on hours.

You can also change the dial in Zepp. Only five options are stored in the gadget itself, you can select any of them with a long touch of the display. But in the appendix to this poor assortment, more than 30 dials are added, different in design and set of displayed data.

Workouts

Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro offers the user as many as 104 sports modes. For comparison: the predecessor model had only 14. From the choice of the eyes just scatter: 16 different ball games, 10 types martial arts, nine dance directions... The menu even includes such exotic things as parkour, curling, cricket and lyanga (admit, you also went to Google what it is).

In the settings, automatic recognition of up to eight types of activity is set: this is walking on the street and indoor, outdoor jogging, treadmill, outdoor cycling, pool swimming, elliptical and rowing machine. The gadget is able to understand what you are doing and start recording your workout. True, this function increases energy consumption.

Upon detecting some activity, the device starts a countdown. If you do not press the Cancel key within 8 seconds, the workout tracking will start automatically. The creators took into account that during a fast run (especially on the track) or cycling it is not very convenient to be distracted by hours.

We have tested almost all workouts that the Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro automatically identifies. In general, the function works fine: GPS tracking is turned on in a matter of seconds, which is important if you want to record the route of your bike ride or hiking trip. The watch is connected simultaneously to two global positioning systems. The GPS company can be formed by the Russian GLONASS network, the European Galileo or the Chinese BeiDou.

During the entire period of testing, the device only once incorrectly recognized the activity, considering running on the track like a street one. At the same time, the gadget identified walking on the same simulator correctly - as walking indoors.

Sometimes the recording of a workout starts almost instantly, sometimes - 1-2 minutes after the start (this is exactly what happened, as we experienced the gadget on a bike ride). While running at a stadium at a far from slow pace, the device started tracking only after one and a half laps. However, when the activity began to be recorded, we were relieved to see the distance covered by 600 m on the display - the device did not ignore our efforts!

If the training recording started automatically, then after stopping the movement, the watch prompts the owner to stop tracking. True, overlaps happen here. For example, when walking outdoors, the device intermittently disabled recording due to reduced speed. Sometimes, on the contrary, the tracking workout continued even when we stopped for a few minutes. Therefore, if you need the most accurate tracking possible, it is better to start and stop tracking manually.

All recorded information is sent to the device log. The Training Status section displays additional information such as your Activity Index for the last seven days or your VO2 max (Maximum Oxygen Consumption). You can study your results in more detail in the application: a lot of data about each workout is stored there.

Amazfit T-Rex Pro also records the PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) index. It is calculated based on heart activity data from the last seven days.

From time to time, messages about your "anniversaries" appear on the screen of the gadget, for example, that you walked 10 thousand steps in a day or worked in fat burning mode for 30 minutes in a row. Also, after training, the device shows the approximate time it will take to recovery.

Other functions

In short, there are a lot of them. Unlike the Amazfit T ‑ Rex, the new smartwatch detects SpO2 (blood oxygen) levels. The measurement of this indicator takes about a minute. Also, the gadget displays the weather and allows you to search for a lost smartphone. He squeaks to the extreme disgusting, but in this case it is a plus.

In addition, the device has an alarm clock, compass, barometer, stopwatch, timer, flashlight and music control. All these functions worked fine for us: the alarm clock drove sleep with persistent vibration, the compass after a small calibration correctly found the north, and the songs were replaced by pressing the desired button on the display hours.

Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro allows you to track sleep - both nighttime and day. Detailed monitoring results can be found in the appendix. Statistics include the duration of various sleep phases, the number of awakenings, the quality of breathing (the function has beta) and other information - there is even a comparison of your results with the statistics of others users.

The only poorly implemented option is stress monitoring. Only one attempt out of three was successful, in other cases the gadget gave the answer "Failed to measure." In this respect, the device, alas, loses even to inexpensive fitness trackers like HONOR Band 6.

Autonomy

The watch has a 390 mAh battery. The declared operating time is up to nine days in the usual format and up to 18 days in standby mode. When satellite navigation, Always on Display mode and other power-consuming functions are turned on, the device honestly warns: this will significantly reduce the autonomy of the device.

We tried to use the gadget as wastefully as possible: we turned the brightness to maximum, set the screen to turn off after 30 seconds, activated automatic recognition of even those sports, which they were not going to do, turned on GPS and GLONASS, as well as Always on Display. Well, and most importantly - we "forgot" to activate the night shutdown of unnecessary functions. As a result, the battery was completely planted in about six days.

The watch has an energy saving mode. When it is turned on, the gadget only shows the date, time, the number of steps taken per day and the battery level, and can also monitor sleep. We activated this mode for exactly one day - as a result, the energy consumption was 3%.

The Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro comes with a 80 cm USB cable with a convenient magnetic charger. Fully recharging the battery takes 1.5 hours, and about half of this time is spent getting the last 20%. Almost by Pareto's law, according to which 20% of efforts give 80% of the result.

Outcomes

In general, we really liked the gadget. Nice screen, combat design, resistance to extreme conditions, excellent navigation performance, a huge number of sports modes and other functions, an informative application.

Compared to the 2020 model, the device has increased water resistance, the ability to measure the level of oxygen in the blood has been added. the number of training modes has increased several times and the line of colors has been updated, although otherwise the appearance of the device has remained almost unchanged.

Of course, not without problems: automatic recognition activity sometimes it fails, stress monitoring is also unstable (although this metric in itself is rather dubious). It is hoped that these bugs will be fixed with the next patches.

In any case, the advantages of the watch outweigh the minor disadvantages. Of course, if your activity is limited to a couple of easy runs a week, then it is hardly worth spending about 14 thousand for a fancy device - an inexpensive smart bracelet is enough. But advanced athletes, travelers and lovers of active recreation should definitely pay attention to the Amazfit T-Rex Pro.

As for competitors, that is, "armored" fitness watches at a similar price, released relatively recently, the closest rival of the gadget can be called HONOR Watch GS Pro. The device went on sale in the fall of 2020 and also boasts military reliability certificates. The watch is equipped with 4 GB of internal memory and a slightly larger display: its diameter is 1.39 inches, and the resolution is 454 × 454 pixels. In addition, the claimed battery life is up to 25 days in economy mode. True, the water resistance class of this device is lower than that of the Amazfit T ‑ Rex Pro - WR50, and the watch is more expensive - 16,990 rubles.

Buy

The editors would like to thank the Huami brand for the device provided for testing. The company had no way of influencing its outcome.