Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: a rugged adventure watch, at an excellent price

The Amazfit T-Rex 2 has an awful lot going for it — it’s a rugged outdoors watch, with dual-band GPS technology, an AMOLED touchscreen, 150+ sports modes and impressive battery life, all for around $200. Out of the box, it looks and feels like an adventure watch — it’s bulky, it’s waterproof and it has a number of features designed to get you through all of your escapades in the great outdoors. 

But how does it stack up against some of the best running watches and best fitness trackers on the market, especially watches like the Garmin Epix Gen 2, and the Garmin Fenix 7, which have similar features but at a much higher price tag? To find out more, I put the Amazfit T-Rex 2 to the test over a number of outdoor runs and hikes, as well as indoor cycles and strength sessions. Read my full Amazfit T-Rex 2 review to see how it fared. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Price and availability 

The Amazfit T-Rex 2 is $229/£219 full price, but at the time of writing, is already down to $179 on certain sites. It’s available in four different colorways — black, wild green, black and gold, and khaki. As you’ll read below, this is an excellent price for a high-spec sports watch, at the time of writing, the Garmin Epix Gen 2 is $999, and the lowest-spec Fenix 7 is $899. It's also comparable to the Garmin Instinct 2, which starts at $349 for the non-solar version.

The Amazfit T-Rex 2 is the upgraded version of the original Amazfit T-Rex, which is likely to be on sale for those looking for an even cheaper sports watch. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Design

The Amazfit T-Rex 2 is a chunky, outdoor sports watch. It’s 47mm wide, and about 14mm deep, with a large, 1.39-inch screen. Its rugged look is completed with exposed screws on the wide bezel, and four buttons — two on each side, which help you navigate around the watch. The design won’t be for everyone — it’s similar in size and design to the Fenix 7, but unlike the Fenix 7, there aren’t options to customize the watch to make it less bulky; for example, there’s no 42mm size or rose-gold bezel options. 

Yet thankfully, all that heft doesn’t come with too much baggage — the watch weighs in at 66g. For context, the basic 47mm Fenix 7 weighs 79g. As someone with pretty petite wrists, while I did feel the watch looked pretty bulky (this definitely isn’t a watch I’d wear with a summer dress in the evenings), it felt remarkably lightweight. Of course, the look of the watch is purely personal preference, and some users are bound to prefer to wear a large, hefty sports watch — if you’re going to spend your weekends scaling El Capitan, why not let everyone in the office know with your accessories? 

Size aside, one thing that really stands out when it comes to the design of this watch is the bright, 1.39 inch AMOLED screen, with a resolution of 454 x 454 pixels. It really is vibrant and crystal clear, and is easy to view on the move, even in direct sunlight. As we’ve seen with watches like the Fenix 7 and the Forerunner 955, the screen also has touchscreen capabilities, although, like Garmin, you can still navigate around the watch via the buttons should you have sweaty, or wet fingers. 

The watch comes with a silicone strap, which is pretty standard for most sports watches on the market these days. It’s worth noting, however, that the silicone band seems to be attached to the watch with unusual-looking screws, so if you’re someone who prefers to customize your watch, it might prove difficult to add a different strap. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Battery life

When debating whether you should buy an Amazfit watch or fitness tracker, one huge plus with the brand’s line-up of products is always battery life, and the Amazfit T-Rex 2 is no different. Its battery life is impressive — it takes around two hours to go from 0 to fully charged, and in battery saver mode, it can last up to 45 days. 

Here’s a breakdown of the battery life stats: 

Again, this battery life stacks up well when compared with its main competitors. Garmin’s Epix Gen 2 lasts for up to 16 days in smartwatch mode and up to 42 hours in GPS-only mode. The basic Fenix 7 model without solar charging capabilities lasts up to 18 days in smartwatch mode and up to 57 hours in GPS-only mode. The Instinct 2 without solar charging capabilities lasts 28 days in smartwatch mode, and up to 30 hours in GPS-only mode. With solar capabilities, however, the Instinct 2 has an unlimited battery life. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Sports tracking 

Of course, one of the main reasons you buy a sports watch is to track different activities, and the Amazfit T-Rex 2 has bucket loads of options. There are more than 150 sports modes available on the watch, all of which can be customized to show different data screens during the activities. Eight sports, including running, swimming, outdoor cycling, and walking, can be automatically tracked on the watch once you’ve enabled its ExerSence algorithm.  

When it comes to tracking different workouts, the watch has all the metrics you’d expect — from simple time, distance, calories burned, and heart rate, to the more technical, such as training load, anaerobic capacity, and VO2 max. The watch also has "training templates," which are pretty much workout plans on your watch. 

There’s sleep tracking, a built-in barometer and compass, and a multiband GPS, which is seriously impressive for a watch at this price point. During testing, I found the GPS to be as accurate as my Garmin Fenix 7, which was ever-so-slightly crisper, but still, very impressive. 

If you are buying this watch for a multi-day trail running adventure, or even a long hike, it’s worth noting that some of the mapping features mentioned on the website are not yet available on the watch. At the time of writing, you cannot upload GPX maps on the watch — you can only use the breadcrumb functionality to navigate back to the start of your run or trail. This should be changing soon, however.

The watch has triathlon and multisport modes, which is also impressive for a watch at this price point. However after weeks of testing and googling, I could not work out how to connect a third-party sensor, such as my Bluetooth heart rate strap, to the watch. After much searching, I contacted Amazfit, who confirmed this wasn't an option. Like most watches, the heart rate isn’t anywhere near as accurate as it is on my chest strap, and if you can’t connect the two, I’d argue this is a serious drawback for anyone putting any serious training in for a race.

During testing, I predominantly used the watch to track my marathon training runs, rides, and strength training sessions. On a couple of occasions, the watch seemed to get stuck when loading the sports mode. Again, this isn’t a complete deal breaker — it didn’t happen very often, but it would be a deal breaker if it happened at the start line of a race. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Smartwatch features 

From a smartwatch perspective, the watch allows you to see your smartphone notifications, although you cannot yet respond to them — when enabled, you can see your notifications at a glance by swiping left from the home screen. There’s a weather widget, which allows you to see the day’s predictions at a glance, and you can add widgets like your calendar, menstrual tracking, and breathing to the watch. 

When paired with your smartphone, you can use the watch to play, pause, and skip music playing on your phone, meaning you don’t have to dig around in your pocket or backpack mid-hike. You cannot upload music onto the watch, however. 

Other cool apps I appreciated during testing was the camera remote app, which, when connected to your iPhone or Android device in camera mode, allows you to use the watch as a remote for mid-hike selfies. I also thought it was neat that you can download a GoPro app onto the watch, and use it to start and stop videos on your GoPro when connected. This is definitely a watch designed with weekend adventurers in mind. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Amazfit app 

For me, the biggest drawback with Amazfit is its Zepp app, which is where you can view all of your workouts, and your sleep data. Compared to the likes of Garmin Connect and Fitbit Premium, it’s just clunky, and not all that intuitive. The metrics are split between the homepage and the health tab, and while there are plenty of them, there’s no actionable advice on what you can do with all the information.

The app can connect with the running app Strava, so you can sync your metrics to keep up with activity challenges among your friends. 

Amazfit T-Rex 2 review: Verdict 

All-in-all, the Amazfit T-Rex 2 is a decent watch for those looking for a bunch of features and want to spend around the $200 mark. You could easily use this for most of your activities, and it can track just about every sport under the sun. That said, the chunky design won’t be for everyone, and neither will the Zepp app, especially if you’ve ever used the likes of Garmin Connect. 

If you are looking for a Garmin around this price point, the Forerunner 55 is the brand’s entry-level running watch, which will easily get you around most races. Spend a little more, and you can grab the newer Forerunner 255, which is a seriously impressive watch that comes in a smaller package, and also has multisport modes. 

The bright display and the excellent battery life make the Amazfit T-Rex 2 a decent choice for weekend adventurers on a budget — just be prepared for the inevitable dinosaur gags.