Amazfit - Active 2 Square

After much investigation and hesitation, I bought this Amazfit Active 2 Square ten days ago. My previous fitness tracker was an Amazfit Band 7, which I loved. Unfortunately, the screen broke and popped out for no reason. I tried gluing it back on, but after years of service it was time to let it rest (and this gave me the perfect excuse to buy a new one). I reduced my choices to the Bip 6 and the Active 2, and I decided on the Active 2 for several reasons. It has better build quality and a more compact design, as well as a couple more features. It also seemed to be free from the problems with the buttons and water that I read about in reviews of the Bip 6. I chose the square model over the round one because of the quality and features, but I must admit that I also preferred the square design. After testing it out, here are my thoughts on the pros and cons, in case anyone else is on the fence. # Pros: **- It has it all (almost).** Although losing Alexa from the Band 7 was disappointing, I gained Zepp Flow and many other third-party apps, which more or less compensates for the lack of Alexa. As for the other features, there are plenty of useful ones for any situation. Sleep, heart, oxigen, temperature, altimeter, barometer, NFC, compass, weather, maps, tides, agenda, voice control, voice notes, phone calls... and you can even tell the time! :) It's amazing that they can put so much in such a little device. **- Screen and materials.** Oh boy it looks good! Information is very readable and it looks bright and colorful in any scenario, even under the sun. It also feels premium, well built and with quality materials, much better in person than in the pictures. **- Very customizable.** You can make many different devices with both the integrated apps and features and the 3rd party ones. It packs so much that you'll find your perfect config for sure. And if you are brave enough to build your own watchface with your own shortcuts, then it will become a perfect tool. **- More comfortable than I thought**. The Band 7 was really light and small, so I was worried that the Active would be uncomfortable to wear during sleep. However, so far it has been great. I was worried about the size, but it fits me perfectly. It's a strap monster too!. Almost any 20mm strap will look good. # Cons: **- Fingerprint magnet.** This might not seem that important, but it's the thing that annoys me the most. I'm almost developing OCD from constantly having to wipe the screen. Do you guys know of any treatments or hacks to reduce this? **- Battery life.** It isn't that bad, but I was used to getting 10–14 days with the Band 7 and now I only get 4. It's not a big deal though; it's just a matter of getting used to giving it a quick charge while you're having a shower, for instance. **- Sensor accuracy.** Although I'm aware it's relatively cheap compared to high-end watches, the GPS is sometimes unreliable and the sleep and PAI features don't seem to accurately reflect my activity. **- Lack of Alexa and home integration.** I'm still exploring its capabilities, but not having Alexa or any alternative is a major drawback. Some useful features are also missing, such as a toggle for activating or deactivating the rise-to-wake function. **- Limited storage.** There is very little free storage space — enough for some apps and watch faces, but not for music or many heavy apps. Not a problem for me though, as I don't plan to use it as a music player. **- Maps**. This is the first time I have used integrated maps on a watch. Although I was initially impressed, I soon felt a sense of disappointment. Having seen Google Maps on other devices, I was expecting something similar, but this is nothing like that. The maps are very basic and the navigation is not as useful as I thought it would be. # Conclusion: Overall, I would recommend it if you can live with the disadvantages. It's a huge step up from a standard fitness band and, with the help of some third-party apps, it's a very powerful everyday companion. However, if you are very serious about fitness or outdoor activities such as hiking, I'd look for other options. It's a good device, but it's not for everybody. It depends a lot on who you are and what you will use if for. This is a device that does a lille bit of everything, but nothing exceptionally well. Remember that it's part of the Lifestyle series, so I'd say it's designed for urban use with the occasional informal outdoor trips. For office work , everyday life and basic fitness: almost perfect. For any specialisation or heavy users: definitely not the best. Any questions, let me know. Happy to help! \^\_\^

Yes I read your review before buying it!! :) thanks a lot for stopping by, and for your detailed review. GPS seems to be better now, maybe it was a temporary thing. Battery is around 4 days, not 5. How hard is it to make a watchface? I've been thinking about it, so that I could have the shortcuts that I want. Also... what about making your own programs?

FINALLY, another Active 2 SQ user!!! 😁 Also wrote my own review for it. https://www.reddit.com/r/amazfit/comments/1lmxdey/amazfit_active_2_square_review_fitness_squared/ I agree with yours. I have a Bip 6 and an Active 2 SQ and I am wearing the latter the most, out of the two, just because of how stylish and comfortable it looks. It's also very durable. And yes, like you said AND like I mentioned in my review, **the pictures on the website do not do it justice.** I absolutely love its vintage look. [Very customizable indeed for watchface designers like me.](https://freeimage.host/i/KJgYvnt) [https://freeimage.host/i/KJgaP0g](https://freeimage.host/i/KJgaP0g) [https://freeimage.host/i/KJg8xGn](https://freeimage.host/i/KJg8xGn) A small display yes. But I love how compact it is and the text size feature they've released, has been of great use. About the cons? I pretty much mostly agree as well. There have been a bit of differences from my experience. I definitely agree with the screen., It **is a FINGERPRINT magnet**. However, for some reason, after around a month or so, I have no idea why but it's less of an issue for me. Battery wise, I can stretch it to 6-7 days, but only when I'm not doing workouts or not using AOD. Else, 4 days or so is pretty much the ballpark, like you. I can't complain about the GPS for me, it's always been great, when I compare it with my other watches, and it matches my Apple Watch SE 2nd Gen. Accuracy wise, it's been good as well. It's not top tier, but it's been good with the exercises I'm doing. Except for weightlifting, but that is to be expected 🤣. I agree with the limited storage being a huge con. I am someone that design watchfaces and I have to store the QR codes inside a folder, since I can't keep them in my watch. And I've made several watchfaces for personal use. Not only that, I'd like to keep a map inside the watch, as well. I honestly hate the weather app, but that's a complaint I've made for every watches they have released. (And I will continue to do so, until they get it as right as the other brands.) Other than that, yeah, you wrote a great review and I agree with it. It's frankly the **sleeper hit** of the current watches lineup, as almost no one talks about it. Fun fact, I also own a Balance 2. But I switch between both quite often. Why?! Because its look and style truly stand out, even among other square smartwatches. 🙂

[Amazfit Active 2 Square](https://freeimage.host/i/FRuQXF1) *Warning for the goldfish, this will be a VERY LONG read. This is a detailed review. And yes, I UNDERSTAND that this review will be overshadowed by the release of the Amazfit Balance 2 and Helios strap. It is honestly quite unfair, because this watch still deserves a look. 🤣 But anyway, welcome to another fun-filled personal, non professional review. It's funny, because we should have seen it coming. Amazfit did give us a hint when the product manuals called their first Active 2, "Active 2 (Round)".  Well now, it seems that the Square version is finally joining the party. Although, this sequel is nothing like the first Amazfit Active. It has considerable improvements, in build/hardware, software and in personality, might I add. It has a lot of similarities with its round brethren, but also quite a few differences. It doesn't seem to skimp a lot on features that are found in other more premium series, like the latest Balance and T-Rex, and in such a small package too (Quite literally) At the end of the day, it might come down to whatever form factor you prefer. For the amount of time I've had it, I have to say that I love it a lot more than I expected. It really wasn't on my radar and the official pictures really do not do it justice. #Build and Design Description | Details --- | --- Case and Frame | Frame: Stainless Steel; Fiber-reinforced Polymer (Fancy words for plastic) Color | Silver Dimensions (without Sensor base) | 43.32x36.9x9mm Weight (without strap) | 31.4g Buttons | 2 Straps | Size: 20mm; Comes with 2 straps; Black Leather and Red Liquid Silicone [Picture](https://freeimage.host/i/FRA2big) [Picture 2](https://freeimage.host/i/FRugCKJ) One word to describe the watch's design: "Vintage". This is a smartwatch **that doesn't remotely look like a smartwatch at all**. And for that reason, it makes it the most unique Amazfit watch currently released, in my honest opinion. It looks great when seen in person. Its design is very reminiscent of the Vintage Seiko and Brew. It also looks similar to some Acanver, and Patek Phillipe watches. Yes, just in case you didn't know, square mechanical watches have been around almost as long as round watches. It's not an Apple invention. And speaking of that, I think this is the first square smartwatch I've seen from a major brand, that remotely doesn't look like an Apple Watch. With its stainless steel curved sides and symmetry, it clearly carves itself its own identity, despite the inspiration of several classy watches. Something to note, this is not a female friendly design. It is very masculine. For women that really care about style and want to keep things square, I'd suggest getting the the first Active or the Cheetah Square. The Bip 6 is also fine but for the smaller wrists, careful. There's also the round version of the Active 2 that can also be considered. Oh, and here's a picture of the watch having the display entirely lit. As you can see, the "curved display" is an illusion that works well with watchfaces having a black background. [Size comparison pic](https://freeimage.host/i/FRAKhla) The watch is fairly small. In fact, as small as an Apple Watch SE 2nd generation and the current Huawei Watch Fit series. In anything, this shows how big the Amazfit Bip 6 is, compared to a lot of other square watches. (That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's a matter of taste here). It has two buttons, looking quite low profile. Clicky and works. It does lack a rotating crown, but I'll give a pass for this, as it makes the design look very consistent, no matter from which wrist you are wearing it. But it's omission does come with a rather glaring issue, you're gonna touch the screen a lot, and the sapphire glass **is a fingerprint magnet." I cannot tell you how many times I've had to wipe the screen off with a cloth. I didn't particularly bump the watch yet but I do expect the case and sapphire screen to be somewhat resistent to a certain level of scratches and bumps. So far, it looks as it was brand new. The smaller profle also helps in protecting it, you'll be less likely to bump it on the side and it might hit your bracelet first on your wrist, before reaching the watch's case.  As for comfort, wearing it with the leather and sillicone band, for a stainless steel watch, this is incredibly light. Because of its weight and small profile, it's easy to forget that you're wearing it, especially if your wrist isn't sensitive. Quite comfortable and it just sits well on the wrist. Note that it is slightly heavier than the Bip 6 (31g vs 27g), but that is to be expected, it is stainless steel! The vibration is fine. Unfortunately, you cannot modify the vibration's intensity, but you can modify the duration of the vibration using the Zepp App The watch is water-resistant at 5ATM and I will gladly not test its degree of resistance. 😆 My take from all of this? It looks and feels fantastic. I didn't expect to like it as much, but I was sold, the second I spent a day with it with the leather band. I do like the comfort of the sillicone band, but I am not really a fan I've been wearing it daily since then, with a fabulous 20 mm stainless steel band. Despite the fact that the watch is on the smaller size, it doesn't take much for it to stand out, due to its shiny case and its unique shape. Truly indeed a timeless design. It's small compared to the Bip 6, but it honestly doesn't bother me. In fact, truth be told, I think its smaller size works better for its design. Would definitely recommend wearing it at a formal event, it's really made for it. My only issue is the fingerprint magnet sapphire glass. It really does show. 9.5/10, would recommend. #Display Description | Details --- | --- Material | AMOLED Size | 1.75" Resolution | 390x450 Peak Brightness | Up to 2,000 nits PPI | 302 Touchscreen | Sapphire Glass It's a smaller display but it is very sharp and vibrant. It can go up to 2,000 nits so it is easy and bright to see outside. Prety similar to the kind of dsplay you'd find in the recent watches, starting from the T-Rex 3. (Yes, that means it is brighter and sharper that the Amazfit Balance. The Balance 2 cannot come soon enough). Compared to the competition in the same price bracket, the Huawei Watch Fit 4 matches the level of nits and its display is a tad bigger. The Always-On-Display looks great as well, nothing else to add. They've even improved on its auto-brightness. **Tap-to-Wake is included.** Fantasic. **Night Display** is also a thing, for those that care. They added Magnification. Basically you can zoom at a part of a screen for better visibility. Neat! In a future software update, you'll be able to change the size of fonts as well! #Software, Smartwatch features and Performance The Amazfit Active 2 Square actually starts with the ZeppOS 5 firmware, which at this time of writing, is the latest. ZeppOS can be a bit daunting, especially when you see the many apps and features it has, and honestly, it's a good thing. But when you get used to the software, it's honestly easy to get used to. It's fast and snappy to use. Seems that the newer watches have a better refresh rate. Also, a great QOL is that the some of the options are much more readable. But there are some quality issues like mispelled words, at times. They're rare but can be present! As your watch is set up, you are greeted with the "Luminous Flow" watchface. ##Watchfaces The watchface selection is... okay. but I do have a preference for the Bip6 selection. I do like the Luminous Flow and Vital though. But I miss the Energy and Multi-Module watchfaces. 😭 You can download more, free and paid, from the Zepp App. You can also download A LOT of free watchfaces from the amazfitwatchfaces website and learn to make watchfaces using Zepp's own watchface editor (and some other third-party solutions). The Watchface community is very active. I've mentioned this with the Bip 6 review and it is still puzzling to me: - How come you cannot reorder watchfaces from the watch or from the Zepp app? You need to delete and redownload any watchfaces to order them to your liking? This is a very weird omission. (This is a common thing with all recent Amazfit watches For navigating the watch, - Swipe down from up, is the control center, which you can customize. - Swipe up from down are your notifications. - Swipe right from the left, your shortcut cards. - Swipe left from the right, your list of widgets, which you can add up to 10. Press the up button to access the list of apps; long press it to access Zepp Flow. Press the down button to access your shortcut button. You can also modify the shortcut of long-press of the Up button and the press of the small button. For the Control Center, here are the toggles - Battery - Do Not Disturb: Watch will not disturb for calls and notifications with exceptions - Sleep Mode: Puts your watch to sleep - Theatre Mode: A souped-up DND mode where Wake on Wrist Wake and Always On Display will be disabled - Date/Calendar: Leads you to the calendar app - Sound: Increase/Reduce volume - Stay lit screen option: Forces your screen to stay lit for the amount of minutes set - Display Brightness: Adjust the brightness level/Set Auto-Brightness - Settings: Leads to the Settings menu - Flashlight App: Self-explanatory - Bluetooth Toggle: Toggles on/off Bluetooth - Lock Toggle: Locks the touchscreen of the watch - Find Phone: Vibrates your phone - Alarm toggle: Goes to the Alarm app - Eject Water: Ejects water from speaker - Music: Leads you to the music app - Compass: Leads you to the compass app - Timer: Leads you to the Timer app - Stopwatch: Leads you to the Stopwatch app - Headphones: Pairs your headphome wo - Always-On-Display Toggle: Toggles on/off AOD - Night Display: Toggles on/off Night Display - **Barometer**: Leads to the Altimeter/Barometer app (Actually quite useful) Again, Amazfit? How about adding a Raise-to-Wake Toggle? Going to the settings everytime to activate/disable it is annoying. As for the Bluetooth options, it's still weird that the Bluetooth Disconnection alert is absent. This should be so simple to set up. I actually forgot my phone once without even realizing my because it didn't warn me about its disconnection. For the shortcut cards, it's certainly one of the most useful features. It's like a menu scrolling down an overview of muliple apps, kinda like an agenda. Widgets are kinda like tiles of each app to scroll to, it's useful as it's a quick way to access an app's most important info. Honestly, both are very similar in function and I guess it is a matter of preference. Speaking of apps, here is the list: - Readiness - Heart Rate - Real-time Heart Rate - Blood Oxygen - One-Tap Measuring - Workout - Workout History - Workout Status - Weather - Zepp Coach - Map - Activity - PAI - Stress - Sleep - HRV - Meditation - Phone - Membership Card - Music - Alarm - Calendar - Settings - Sun and Moon - Compass - Cycle Tracking - Stopwatch - Timer - Find my phone - To Do - Voice Memos - Podomoro Timer - Zepp Flow - **Barometer** - **Thermometer** Lots of basic things but I do want to highlight some notable smartwatch features here: ###Bluetooth Calling  I would indeed hope this is present in a watch of that price. It can respond or make calls and it does show the caller's name and phone number. Sound comes out well and loud enough in a quiet environment. I will forever roast the T-Rex 3 for not having such a feature AND for costing more than 300$. ###Voice memos  This watch can record voice memos. Be mindful of the amount of storage available. ###[Offline Maps](https://freeimage.host/i/FRsrtmg) For the most part, it works well. Navigation using the two buttons takes a bit to get used to, and you while you can pinch to zoom or go wide, you can't drag the map using a finger; you have to use the arrows. It's useful when in a pinch but when it comes to navigation, we've seen better from Garmin, Apple and Google. For outdoor workouts, it works well and actually better too. You should also know that you can import routes. You can upload track files in GPX, TCX, KML and some others, throuh the Zepp App and send them to the devic2. It is also compatible with komoot. Note that in some more premium watches, (Balance, T-Rex 3 for example), you have the option of choosing the kind of map you want;  Base Map, Ski Map, Contour Map. For the Active 2, you have the Base and Ski Maps. ###Timer Yes lots of watch has such an app. But I am seeing a increased number of people asking for a watch that can activate multiple timers. This watch can do so easily. ###Calendar App A full-blown Calendar app that shows a monthly calendar and your events, including all the details. The syncing is done seamlessly and it just shows them in a very neat way. Oh, and you can set reminders for the events. ##Third-Party apps What's great about the Amazfit ecosystem is that is there is a rather small but great community of developers, making third-party watchfaces. Some of them are comparable to features found on more premium watches! ###Remotify Plays tracks from your Spotify playlist! Requires premium account. ###Several Navigation Apps to pair with Google Maps Relays turn-by-turn navigation to your watch. Always a useful feature. ###Health Center Literally puts some of the most important health metric recorded by the watch, into a single app. Okay, now I want to mention some other few features and a few of my gripes. ###Offline Music storage Yes, the watch comes with the feature and it works. ###[Watch Storage](https://freeimage.host/i/FRizoEG) Unfortunately, the watch's storage is 445MB, most of which, occupied by your watch's OS. But weirdly enough, there's more space to use than on the Bip 6. Still, this makes it hard to add a map, several watchfaces and some offline music tunes. You're going to have to do storage management pretty frequently and expect to erase some of your stuff for updates. But less frequently than the Bip 6, I feel. ###[Night Display](https://freeimage.host/i/FRir4n4) Applies either a red, green or orange hue, to the entire watch's screen.. ###Weather (Copy Pasted from my Bip 6 review because it still applies) [Weather with the max/min on the y-axis, finally](https://freeimage.host/i/FRRAEZu) This is pretty self-explanatory. It shows you the weather in a given location. Current weather and temperature, a graph of an hourly forecast, risk evaluation for some activities and a week forecast. Pretty simple. That being said, I will be blunt. This is undoubtedly, the WORST weather experience, I have ever had on a smartwatch to date. And this applies to all Amazfit watches, at this time of writing. - To start, there is no way to manually refresh the Weather app, from the watch, and while you can pick different locations with the Zepp App, it doesn't automatically refresh. - Locking on a new location will take forever and again, it cannot be done manually. - [How can the UVI be 3 at night?!?!](https://freeimage.host/i/3lbSVaV). Also, funnily enough, it is never at 0 during nights. - Many times, [the temperature displayed in ALL watchfaces **will not match** the one displayed in the Zepp Weather App](https://freeimage.host/i/30fJU2S). And sometimes, the difference is quite significant! I've seen occurence where the difference was 7°C! A frequent bug that starts at midnight the next day! - The app has updated at 8:46 AM. Why is it still showing a night background on the list of shortcut cards? Also, notice the difference in temperature between the watchface and the app. - [The hourly forecast graph is unintuitive](https://freeimage.host/i/3lbDYg9)! Who designed this?! Where's the temperature scale on the side?! (Y-axis). This was added after an update!  How come the Wind isn't clearly shown, while on its own widget tile, it is?! - [I seriously question the usefulness of this](https://freeimage.host/i/3lbgc1j) - And sometimes, the temperature can be way off, as well as incorrect usage of icons. (When it rains with lots of clouds, there shouldn't be a sun) And back to the hourly forecast! [Keep it simple and show the weather forecast like this! Either Horizontally or vertically.](https://freeimage.host/i/3lbyNGR) People shouldn't need to use Zepp Flow for this! Seriously Amazfit, use AccuWeather, OpenWeatherMap or any other reliable weather provider. Because this is not it. And fix these issues, please. It's not totally unusable but many times, it can be quite unreliable. Good thing there are third-party weather apps in the Zepp App store! Although, performance-wise, most (if not all) are rather slow and clunky to use. ##[Notification Center](https://freeimage.host/i/FRifoJ9) This here, is my favorite aspect of the Amazfit Ecosystem (ZeppOS 3.5 and Up). (iPhone users are going to need Beeper for this) Like all smartwatches, you get your phone apps notifications and you can check all of them. However, some things stand out from the other brands. - All of your app icons are fully displayed, just like the Apple watches or Android WearOS watches. Gone are the generic app/messaging icon and multiple apps bundled together. They are each seperated and you can easily see which app notified you. - You can reply to every messaging apps with a keyboard. WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Discord, Google Messages, you name it. Can be harder to type on such a small screen, compared to a Bip 6, however. Furthermore, you can also use speech-to-text, and it picks up my words very well. It has never failed me, on that front. Comes with an Emoji keyboard as well. And also Zepp Flow assistant replies. This is where it analyzes the content of the message to make some smart replies. I'll be honest, it used to be slow but the execution has been improved woth the 2.0.0 update. A small suggestion. A small toggle to switch the language here would be useful. I am a polyglot, so switching between languages on the fly for faster speech-to-text replies would be appreciated. That being said, it is possible to ask Zepp Flow to translate your message. - If a person sends you a picture that can be shown in the notification shade of your phone, it will also show in the watch. For example, when a person sends you a picture in WhatsApp, it will show as well in the watch. It's kinda neat! - It pretty much shows everything that is shown in the notification. If your Gmail email the entire email message, the watch will also show the entirety of it, without cutting anything off. This is really useful, especially since, even with Android WearOS Watches, Google implements a limit of characters. On that note, Amazfit definitely does it better. If you swipe a notification to the left, you'll have the options to reply or pin the notification at the top. Swipe right again and you'll delete it. You can also instantly delete he notification from swiping to the left, completely from the right side of the watch. You won't need to swipe twice, haha. Ooooh and removing notifications from the watch will also remove it from the phone. Neat, huh? #Health and Fitness features [Workouts](https://freeimage.host/i/FRRU69R) ###Obligatory mention that your mileage may vary. This is my experience of using the watch and also, I am no athlete here. But I tend to be active. This watch sports the Biotracker 6.0 PPG sensor. This Photoplethysmography sensor has 5 photodiodes arranged in an X fashion and two LED lights on opposite sides. Namely, all you need to know is that it is the same sensor found in the Bip 6. which is the same sensor found with the T-Rex 3 and the upcoming Balance 2. Basically, the Active 2 is like the middle child between the Bip 6 and T-Rex 3. So let's talk about the performance. How really is it? Well, it's pretty good. No perfect, but good and useable. On me, it works well, due to the arrangements of the 2 LED lights on opposite sides and they are quite considerably bright. So there are two light points of reference, instead of a single one. Better for dark skinned folks! When idle, the HR sensor will do its thing and keep checking your heart rate unless you turn off that feature. It can check between different intervals, the absolute minimum being 1 min with the max being every 30 mins. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the continuous measurement feature found with the T-Rex 3. Amazfit, please add it. This would make HR tracking much more accurate for those having heart conditions as well. ####Outdoor walks/runs [Workouts](https://freeimage.host/i/FRRgMxI) This time, I only had time to compare it with one watch. And a good watch at that, too; The Apple Watch SE 2. The results were never far from each other and honestly, it's impressive. Even at the highest intensity, BPM was within ± 3 BPM. Impressive. It managed to catch every dips and rises, as well. Pace is more or less the same. Calories pretty much matches the total calories on the Apple Watch. Distance was off only by a few meters (11.59km vs 11.64 km). Pretty great. However, the elevation stats. Holy shit... It's not good. [Apple Watch SE 2 result](https://freeimage.host/i/FR6pcbI) [Amazfit pics with and without altitude calibration](https://freeimage.host/i/FRP2xxp) It seems that the elevation stats are way off from the watch, but when they are recalibrated by using the GPS data (you can do so with the Zepp app!), well, the data seems to be much closer than what the Apple Watch displays. (Except for the calibrated elevation gain). There seems to be an issue with the altimeter (and this isn't an Active 2 issue, this was also an issue I've noticed with the Balance), more on that later. But for the rest, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Calories consumption was fine. Distance was in the ball park. Pace and Speed were all okay. Cadence as well. Oh it also shows the Aerobic, Anaerobic Training effect and training load. Believe it or not, some of these stats are not available in some other watches. I don't bike, but one should expect a HR sensor to struggle for accurate measurements due to tension in the wrists and vibration duing the ride. As for weightlifting, I did a session with the Apple Watch. And as expected, this is where Amazfit falters. To be fair, it's not their fault. Weightlifting is extremely hard to get a good accuracy on, due to the tension and vibrations in the arms. That being said, the difference between both watches is quite noticeable, sometimes a good 20 BPM of difference. [https://freeimage.host/i/FR6Dydl](https://freeimage.host/i/FR6Dydl) [https://freeimage.host/i/FRPqUJ9](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPqUJ9) It does get the average right, more or less. There were not any rise/dips missing, which is good. What is surprising though, is how it calculates the reps for the set and it manages to recognize some weightlifting activitiesand muscles being worked with. That is truly impressive. But like I always say, get a chest strap for weightlifting. And luckily, you can pair one with your watch. Under most circumstances, the Heart Rate sensor does its thing well. GPS also performed very well despite being a Single-Band GPS. I have no complaints. For all workouts, you can modify the data page and add as much as 6 data metrics in a single page. Quite a great set of fitness features. Note that your watch can sync to some Third Party Fitness Apps such as Strava, adidas Running. TrainingPeaks (via Terra), komoot, Relive, Google Fit and Apple Health. We're still waiting for Zepp app to completely be able to sync all data with Health Connect. It may not be the best value proposition like the Bip 6, however, you're still getting a great deal here. And with STYLE. ##Let's go on the health side of things ###[Blood Oxygen](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPoHzu) Nothing much out of the ordinary. Just make sure that your watch is strapped on your wrist, well. ###[Stress](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPxn3l) Nothing out of the ordinary for the stress. I haven't had a particular majorly stressed day since I got the watch so... looks pretty normal. ###One-tap Measuring An app that allows you to make measure heart rate, stress, blood oxygen and breating rate. Honestly, the app is a waste of time, the results aren't recorded anywhere. Honestly, if it had ECG and Vascular Age to go with this, it could have been more useful. ###Sleep Tracking [Active 2 SQ vs Apple Watch SE 2](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPTGuS) [Sleep Duration](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPAvQ1) [Sleep Stages](https://freeimage.host/i/FRP7SC7) Amazfit is not that famous for great sleep tracking. In fact, it's usually a hit and miss. But they are improving slowly on it. For one, it gets the sleep duration perfectly, in my case. (A few minutes of difference is negligeable). As for the sleep stages, now this is where it gets interesting. Since I now have a proper comparison, it does seem to confuse REM sleep with light sleep quite often. It often misses Deep sleep at times too. But it's not the end of the world and it's not terrible, I feel. And it is quite consistent if you have a good strap. Oh, it does show Sleep HRV, which is honestly a great indicator of health, as well. I cannot vouch for its accuracy since I don't have anything else to compare it but, I can say that it is consistent. Also, for the people that are nocturnal, change your sleep schedules in the settings for optimal results. ###[Readiness](https://freeimage.host/i/FRseGM7) Readiness is like a half-baked Body Battery (it doesn't change throughout the day). What it does is give you a score about how your body is feeling, based on the quality of sleep and a few other activity metrics, I am sure. Since the more recent watches, the Readiness score algorithm has been adjusted. As a result, it is a bit decent, but sometimes, it is hard to make out the sense of it, and how the score is done. Something to note, the Balance 2 and Helio strap have introduced the BioCharge feature, which is meant to replace the Readiness feature. It is planned to be introduced in the other watches, but there is no guarantee. ###PAI PAI stands for Personal Activity Intelligence. Simply put, it's a personalized score for physical tracking ability, given from the heart responses to a physical activity. Your PAI score increases everytime you manage to keep your heart rate over 100 bpm under a certain threshold of time, which may vary depending of the effort, activity, age, sex, and other physical stats. The incentive here is to keep your PAI score over 100 every week. Apparently, doing so reduces cardiovascular health risks and makes you more active. It's a nice simple way to visualize your fitness level and keep yourself in shape. Note that, as you get more fit, your body gets used to the intensity of your workouts. You'll realize that keeping it over 100 gets gradually difficult. But that's the point. To push yourself further, and this is a nice way of motivating people to do so. Good on you, Amazfit. ###[Skin Temperature](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPbeRV) Pretty self-explanatory, measures the temperature of your skin. Not to be confused with **body temperature**. This is most useful for women but not as much for men. Although it does factor in the readiness score, so it does have some utility for both sexes. Something more of a side effect, the temperature sensor can also catch infections. When you catch a fever, body temperature rises, which will also rise the skin temperature and your watch will pick it up. Combined with a higher than normal heart rate, this will lower your readiness score. :) I can see this being extremely useful for the new BioCharge feature. ###Cycle Tracking It's present, but it is rather funny, because the design of the watch is really more masculine. But it's better to have it than not. ###[Barometric Altimeter](https://freeimage.host/i/FRPpUFa) Part of why the Active Square 2 can easily be considered a premium Bip 6 series, in terms of functionality, is partly due to this. Measures the atmospheric pressure and the altitude of where you currently are. The barometer does its job very well. And I love the fact that it even gives you Storm alerts. The altimeter though?! Horrendous. (And this was an issue with the Balance, as well.) It has trouble keeping its calibration while staying indoors and this is worse in a basement. Sometimes it either slowly rises in value or slowly dips. The saving grace of this is that, while working out, it calibrates. But even so, I find that some of the data is off. I think this needs to be worked on further. This can become a big deal for sports using the altitude, like Skiing and even Mountain hiking. Another thing to note. If you have multiple Amazfit watches, steps, distance and other workout stats aren't synchronized with each other. (Although some other stats like PAI, and Readiness scores are). This could be a bit problematic, considering some Amazfit watches (like this one) are stylish to wear and sometimes, we just want to change wearables. #Battery life Description | Details --- | --- Battery Size | 260 mAh Typical Battery Life | Up to 10 days Heavy Usage Battery Life | Up to 5 days Battery Saver Mode | Up to 19 days GPS continuous usage | Up to 21 hours The battery life is fine, as long as you don't do much with the watch. The second you start the Always-On-Display, watch the battery life drop like a rock. I'm exaggerating a bit, but I once dropped from 100% to 54% at the end of the day, for using the Always-On-Display, 1h30 of workout, loads of notification wake-ups, and all the sensors active. It'll still outlast any WearOS and Apple Watch though. The watch comes with its own charging puck. This one though, doesn't have a cable. Instead, you connect it with any USB-C cable and then use the other end of said cable to plug it into an outlet. I like it because of its ease of usage and you don't have to carry any cable. However, note that due to its size, it makes the puck easy to lose. Fun fact, it uses the same charging puck as the Active 2 Round (okay, duh) and the Bip 6. If you want a square watch with a bit more battery life, choose the Amazfit Bip 6. #Personal thoughts and closing statements Hmm, after using this watch, I think I understand where Amazfit is going for, with its Active series. It looks like it tries to be hip, stylish, easy to wear and look at, rather than look like a sport watch like most of the Garmin watches. For that aspect, I think it does it very well. I think the Active 2 is a much improvement and quite a nice entry to the Amazfit Ecosystem. Although, only if you want a bit of that premium feel, which it does very well. However, functionality wise, it is really hard to beat the Amazfit Bip 6 in terms of value proposition. But you do get two bands and a premium feel at a low price. It's not like you're buying a Huawei Watch GT5 Pro, Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro or a Amazfit Balance 2, all of them having a premium build and a sapphire screen. So it might feel a bit expensive but looking at it with another perspective, it's not a bad deal. In addition, the Active 2 (both Round and Square) does get several more features than the Bip 6. In fact, its also a bit like a way to incite users to go for more. I would say that it fits the middle child well. It certainly doesn't feel like you're missing anything from the flagship series, as all the major features are present. The caveats here, are really in terms of storage and battery life. The design for the Square version could be rather polarizing, but for me, it's the best thing about it. It looks great. Very premium. Very Vintage. And feels great wearing it. More so than the Bip 6, honestly. Less prone to scratches is a bonus. Also, the size of the Active 2 watches might turn a few off. Either for the round or the square version. Personally, as I mentioned before, it doesn't bother me. But it's probably because I am using the square version and I've grown accustomed to it, from wearing a Huawei Watch Fit 3 and Apple Watch. The HR tracking is honestly good and should definitely serve most people. Really, it's a decent package. So far, the Active 2 Square has become my favorite Amazfit watch, with the Bip 6 being a close second. Would I recommend it? Absolutely, if it is of your taste. Can't get enough of its uniqueness. That being said, I can't wait to get the Amazfit Balance 2 next. 😁 Both watches will most likely be the ones I will switch between, depending on my mood and events. Pros | Cons --- | --- Great premium design | Small size might turn off some people Excellent AMOLED Display | Sapphire glass is a major fingerprint magnet Heart-Rate tracking is overall solid | Weather experience could be a lot better Excellent Notification Experience | Low amount of storage Great amount of Health/Fitness options | Lack of watchface organization Good GPS | Altimeter needs major improvement Some software QOL improvements | Battery life isn't the best, especially compared to the Bip 6 Good premium value | Bip 6 does a lot of what the Active 2 can do #Alternatives ##Amazfit Bip 6: Honestly, the best alternative. It doesn't get the Barometric altimeter and the temperature sensor. However, it does get the same T-Rex 3 HR sensor, a bigger screen, a nice neutral design (especially when choosing other than black), and much better battery life. If the Active 2 Square isn't your thing for its size and design, then the Bip 6 should fit the bill. ##Amazfit Cheetah Square:  This is a rather unique alternative as it is really more focused for runners, like the other Cheetah watches. But it does have a few interesting features. For one, it has 3 buttons. A functional rotation crown (that can be pressed) and an Up and Down button. It also comes with Dual-Band GPS, Temperature sensor, Barometer and Altimeter! Since it is on ZeppOS 4, it also has similar software features like the latest notification center and a keyboard. The caveat?! No speaker. Meaning, no bluetooth calls possible. Keep this on mind. HR tracking is slightly worse, as well. ##Amazfit Active:  You sacrifice a bit of features like the lack of auto-brightness and an older HR sensor, but it could be a nice choice, if you want things on the smaller side. If I rememember correctly, it's at ZeppOS 4, so the software experience should be very similar. (Yes, it also comes with the keyboard.) Only choose this, if the other two square watch mentioned don't do it for you. ##Amazfit Active 2 (Round):  It's round bretheren. Literally the same in features. However, the Square easily keeps a much lower profile and due to its shape, is quite more comfortable to wear, because it takes less space on the wrist. ##Amazfit Balance 2 (If you want peak Amazfit experience) The brand new flagship to buy and so far, it's looking to be an improvement to the first Balance in every way. But if we compare to the Active 2 Square, well, it is round, much larger build and larger sapphire screen, same maximum display nits at 2,000, has a much larger battery, much larger storage, a rotating crown, a stylish design (although I think I prefer the Active 2 Square, looks wise), the same Biotracker 6.0 PPG sensor, a barometric altimeter, thermometer sensor, Dual-Band GPS, a golf mode, a new Bioactive feature (Goodbye Readiness), and more. Is it worth nearly 3x the price? Probably not, for most. But smartwatches are also a luxury and if you are someone that is used to buy expensive Garmin watches, this could be a great value. That being said, if you just want a casual premium smartwatch with the occasional workouts, this is where the Active 2 becomes a great value at its current pricing. ##Amazfit Balance (Do so, ONLY if on a budget): Almost two years old and in some aspects (especially display quality and glass), it is starting to show its age. However, it is still good and a rather accessible watch in Amazfit's arsenal. Good HR sensor and performance, despite being older. The rotating crown is great and useful to use. A storage ampunt of 4GB. Dual-Band GPS (which is excellent), Temp. sensor, Barometer, Altimeter, etc. With the latest updates, a lot has improved as well. A watch on the larger side with excellent battery life. ##Amazfit T-Rex 3:  Extremely bulky, resistant in harsh ordeals and can be used for some diving exercises. Great heart rate sensor that were brought to the Active 2 and Bip 6. A lot of exclusive features tailored to adventurers. A monstrous amount of storage with a total of 32GB (some of which is occupied by system resources of course, so great for map storage and offline music storage (Note that your playlist limit is 499 songs). A very long battery life, up to 27 days (700 mah battery capacity}, it screams overkill. One caveat though (and this is frankly unacceptable for a watch at its price): No speaker. So no bluetooth calling. Outside the ecosystem ##WearOS: I'll be honest, as the years go on, it gets harder and harder to recommend WearOS watches, when the alternatives are getting so good with weeks-long battery life. But here are some suggestions I can think of value proposition: ###OnePlus Watch 2/2R ###OnePlus Watch 3 (43mm) Should be released in July 2025. It's a WearOS watch so expect lower battery life, but at least, you're getting the entire smartwatch experience minus the LTE (as of yet). That's it. I'm not even recommending the Galaxy watches honestly, especially not the GWFE. Only reason for that would be for relatively easy access of ECG and Blood Pressure. The rest (performance, battery life), absolutely trash-tier. ##Apple (WatchOS) ###Apple Watch SE 2: Used it for comparison, overall was a great experience in terms of health and fitness. (And actually better than Amazfit, in terms of accuracy.) And it's relatively cheap! Battery life is **considerably worse**! But it is very dependable and a very high quality of experience, as much as I hate to admit it. ##Others - Huawei Watch Fit 4 costs significantly more than the , but a great watch. Even adds offline maps and barometer/altimeter, which is a first for the Fit series) - Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro (if willing to splurge a bit more), better sensors, ECG capabilities  offline maps, etc - Fitbit Charge 6 (Fantastic HR tracking) - Redmi Watch 5 (and Watch 5 Active) Thank you for reading my Non-Professional review. It was fun to write.

- Amazfit Bip 6 - Active 2 Round (Regular or Premium) - Active 2 Square Note that for all 3 mentioned, they have a total storage of 445MB. So around 150 MB is available to the end user. If you need more storage, you could get the - Cheetah Square (Lack of bluetooth calls option but bigger storage at 2 GB)

So sorry. I was at work. Well, the Cheetah Square is much lighter than the round and smaller as well. Both qualities are highly favored, when it comes to sports. The less heavy a watch is, the easier it will stick on your wrist. The Cheetah Square also has 3 buttons, instead of 2, found on the Cheetah. The Cheetah Round, just like the Cheetah Square, lacks the speaker for bluetooth calling. However, the Cheetah **Pro**, which is a round watch that is slightly bigger, does. But if you don't mind the bluetooth speaker missing, honestly, I think the best out of the three Cheetah Watches, is the Cheatah Square

Thank you for your detailed review! I had an experience with Amazfit Bip 6 and Huawei Fit 3. And I'm aggrege with you regarding the useless weather chart on Amazfit Bip 6. The weather is much informative on Huawei Fit 3. Also, sometimes, Amazfit Bip 6 don't react when I touch a home screen, the UI just ignores my touches within first 3 seconds after turning on the screen. And I don't like the vibration on Amazfit Bip 6, it's very loud and too intensive because they use a rotated motor there. The microphone on Huawei Fit 3 is much better then microphone of Amazfit Bip 6 (interlocutors can't hear me loud enough when I keep my hand at waist level in a silent place). Is a microphone of Amazfit Active 2 better then a microphone of Amazfit Bip 6? What can you say about vibration of Amazfit Active 2 comparing of vibration Amazfit Bip 6?

So, I had Amazfit Bip 6 while couple of days. The microphone of Amazfit Active 2 Square is better then Amazfit Bip 6. The vibration of Amazfit Active 2 Square is weaker then Amazfit Bip 6. And it still much more louder then the vibration of Huawei Fit 3. Also: I hate backlight of Amazfit Active 2 Square - I can see blinking in the evening and the lowest bright isn't low enough on dark.

I've been using the Amazfit Active for a while now and I really like it. Before I bought it I was between that and the Bip 5. I ended up getting the Active because it went on sale for 80. The fitness items are really robust and IMO it looks nicer than the Bip 5. It also has some stronger materials than the bip 5 that I like cause I do a lotta work around the house and it helps to have a watch that can stand up a bit of a beating.

It went back up to $109, but that's temporary, because it's price history says its mostly been at $80, so I have it droplisted on Honey. Honey is annoying af, but I can droplist items and get notified if the price falls over 5%.

Just bought it when it dropped. Gotta be better than my fitbit charge 5, it was shutting off several times a day, and the only way to restart it was to plug it in to charge.

I have an Amazfit Active that I use both in the pool and on a lake. It seems to do good with both. Its distance reports a little further than my sister’s Apple Watch, but it was comparatively cheap.

Moved from Fitbit to an Amazfit active 2 a few months ago. Couldn’t be happier for $100

Amazfit Active 2. Around 90 bucks. Has GPS and decent HR tracking. Wearing one right now.

I don't think it does calls. But you can read texts.

I tend to wear my watches about 3 finger width behind my wrist bone. With the TRex 3’s default strap on the tightest hole that’s mostly okay but I do use an external HRM during workouts. If I swap in a different strap (similar in style to the Apple sport band with all the holes in it) I can get the device pretty securely in place and have no issues. With the Balance 2 (using the red strap, I haven’t tried the black one) I have zero issues. If either watch were *any* bigger it would be a problem though. They do look massive on my arm, but I like that style. If you’re not sure, the slightly smaller Active 2 might be a safer bet. Feature and sensor wise it’s almost the same. It doesn’t have multi-band GPS, but neither does my Apple Watch 10 and it doesn’t great with GPS accuracy. Sometimes the specs aren’t the whole story.

Just picked one of these up. So far so good, but one warning: if you don’t want a notification for every calendar event forever, don’t ever give it access to your calendar. I had to do a factory reset to make it stop. Very annoying behavior. Removing access to calendar does not work.

Second the Amazfit Active 2, I picked it up on prime day and love it. It has a good number of features for the price. Has a mic and speaker for calls, HR and GPS, even has navigation which comes in handy. My favourite feature is you can pair workout accessories which is pretty rare for the price point, so I can pair my power meter for my bike for power data during the workout.

The battery life decreased dramatically after Google updated my Sense watch. Bought an Amazfit Active 2 for $129.00. Charged it this Tuesday and today, Sat, battery life is 50%. The only feature I miss is AFIB detection.

That's what really makes me sad, esp. at this price. My $100 Amazfit Active 2 has almost all the same health tracking and fitness features, and it gets more than 4 days AOD. Sure, no flashlight or ECG, but at least it has native on-screen maps *and* turn-by-turn.

Amazefit Active 2. The $99 one (with an additional 10% off for signing up for their emails) is a fantastic deal.

active 2 is the best sa mga pinakita mo

It has an absolutely TINY amount of internal storage for music.

bought my wife an Amazfit Active 2. Accurate gps, amazing features for its price.

what about the Amazfit Active 2? The premium version (sapphire glass + leather band) is right now 27% OFF, $95 on amazon, seems like the Prime deal is still up for whatever reason. It’s a great watch that I think check your boxes, like 10 days of battery life, and at a very accessible price point, it’s the lowest price I’ve ever seen for this watch.

Active 2 user here. so far so good. gps accuracy goods naman running around bgc. Running info for me goods din. sa price nakuha ko sya for 4k++ sa lazada sale

check out the Actitive 2, it just got an update that allows for music storage. It's newer than the GTR2 and cost about the same.

Amazfit Trex 3 for sure, such a sick watch tested for the cold, offline GPS maps, waterproof, shock proof, 10-15 day battery life, so much more cool stuff. I have the active 2 the baby version of it and it’s amazing, would highly recommend and probably the cheapest of all the watches on here and it even has an AI assistant

Hi gps accuracy is my complaint about Amazfit Active 2 (like Bip 6) but difficult to compare with my actual Fenix 7x GNSS multiband But gps accuracy is lower than my old Fenix 6 which have a singleband gps chipset I think that t-Rex 3 is far away and very accurate as per the exchange I had with some testers

Yes and no When the turn by turn indication said turn "now" and the map is misaligned from the way with approx 50m it is a problem Or when you loose 500m distance during run, and finished with 1500m lower compared to Suunto, Coros, Garmin for the watch present during the same activity It is a real issue, and all metrics are false

You can get away with something like a bip or active 2 if you're feeling like a splurge. You can even cheap out and get a miband. I think a Fitbit is a better fit for you, like a Charge 6 is a great wellness/health device 

No it doesn't. There's a subscription but it provides very little value so most people skip it. Amazfit may seem better on the surface but they like to gate new things for new watches only. Active 2 is almost identical to balance 2.

I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and used the Active 2 before. Before Samsung I used Fitbit. I found the algorithms for the health information is probably different. I'm very interested in the Pixel Watch 4. Some of the features I'm not interested in, but also interested in the health features of the PW4. I'm frustrated with Samsung for some features not being available unless you have a Samsung phone (which I don't). And it sounds that the restrictions on a PW if you don't have a Pixel phone is not health features, which makes it more appealing to me.

If you really care about your metrics, personally and if it's possible i'll choose an Amazfit Active / Active 2, or a second handed Balance

Could be fake reviews. Amazfit (by Xiaomi) are legit and very cheap as well.