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I really liked the color-coded presentation of the course’s elevation changes. This meant I could mentally prepare myself for the big climbs and look forward to sections that would be 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 the screen.
Then we get to battery life. Amazfit smartwatches generally post some great battery numbers. The thing Zepp Health wants to focus on here is when you use it in on mode. This is where it can last for up to 33 hours. You have more battery to play with if you’re willing to sacrifice GPS accuracy. By eliminating multi-band GPS, switching from sampling GPS data every second to once per minute, reducing screen brightness, and disabling always-on display mode, you can get a maximum of 228 hours of battery life.
I have never run anything close to the UTMB race distance. I was able to spend more than three hours with it as the battery dropped by 13 percent. This actually equates to about 25 hours. So, less than the mentioned 33 hours. This is where brightening the screen or keeping the screen on while tracking can hurt battery performance. The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro in the same mode dropped 17 percent, indicating 16 hours of battery life.
Photography: Michael Sawa
Overall, I’ve been happy with the performance of the Cheetah 2 Ultra when worn while running, swimming, and even gym workouts. What we’re missing is the ecosystem that ties everything together. Zepp OS has come a long way over the years, but there are still some elements I don’t like.
If you’re hoping for it to run as smoothly as an Apple Watch or Garmin when you’re not tracking your workout, that’s not the reality of using an Amazfit watch. The music player isn’t compatible with streaming services like Spotify, which you’ll get with Apple and Garmin, and the Zepp Health app store interface lacks major third-party apps. It also doesn’t have LTE or the latest satellite connectivity found in competing watches.
What I have a bigger problem with is actually having an Amazfit smartwatch that can do a lot of what the Cheetah 2 Ultra can do for less money. The T-Rex is an overtly rougher-looking watch but it’s not a watch that I think most racers would object to. It offers solid 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 not convinced it’s another Amazfit smartwatch that should exist.
