T-Rex

Thanks for pointing out that Wired Article, I hadn’t seen it before and I think that review is incredibly unfair. 3/10 rating? Really? That’s not accurate to my experience (using the non-pro trex). With that said, the author has some legitimate gripes. > For starters, virtually everything takes more button clicks than it should, and menu items are rarely where you expect them to be. Sometimes you have to fully end an activity (not simply pause it) in order to get to the main menu and fix whatever needs fixing. If you try to circumvent that by long-pressing the top right button to get to Zepp Flow, you are in for a ton of lag. Sometimes it takes Zepp Flow eight seconds to respond. Or maybe never at all! It’s very frustrating. This is a common complaint on reddit - the UI could do with simplification and a redesign (more options is good, but a logical flow for where they are and how they are accessed is important). For example - why are GPS settings under workouts, as opposed to a dedicated connectivity settings menu (which would include Bluetooth, GPS and wifi together)? Why can’t I add a Bluetooth accessory under the BLUETOOTH menu?!? Those are legitimate UI complaints. > The watch has 26GB of storage (for music and maps), so you can install MP3s if you have some saved on your computer, but the watch has none of your favorite music apps, which means no offline streaming. You can use it to control the music playing from your phone, but then you must have your earbuds connected to your phone, rather than your watch. And so on, and on, and on. This is Fitness Tracker 101 stuff. Playing music should be easy. This is a very good gripe. The problem with connecting your ear buds to your phone rather than your watch is the prompts and inputs from your watch do not go to your earbuds. So notifications about how many KMs you’ve ran will not come through your earbuds. Ideally Amazfit could figure out a way to have those notifications sent to the phone and going through your earbuds as well (I’d prefer the music be handled by the phone to save the watch’s battery life). >The T-Rex 3 Pro gives you a morning report that tells you about your sleep, how well you recovered from yesterday’s activities, and more. BioCharge is what Amazfit calls its version of Whoop Score or Garmin’s Body Battery, but you can't click through to see details. It gives you the headlines, without access to the articles. This is a very legitimate gripe. Another problem I have is, once the morning report is gone, i can’t see a way to revisit it. Which isn’t really a problem since you can just view the metrics individually, but still, frustrating. > Using offline maps on the T-Rex 3 Pro is much more like using an Apple Watch or Pixel Watch—you have to install maps through Amazfit's app, which is … also not great. It took five minutes just to download one-third of Los Angeles, which is very annoying if you're traveling and just want to get out the door for a quick run. Honestly, I don’t know what this guy is talking about. The map download and loading is much better than other watches where you need to, for example, download an entire continent at a time. And transfer over WIFI is quick and painless. > Then you choose between Outdoor Running, Walking, or Outdoor Cycling. Why isn’t hiking included? Who knows, but it doesn’t really matter because 90 percent of the time I tried it, the watch would just say, “Route Creation Failed. Try Again.” I only managed to get it to work a couple of times, and only for extremely short distances, and one of those times it advised me to run on Interstate 405, which is one of the largest, busiest highways in the country. I would not rely on this feature. I’ve heard others say this too.

I love Amazfit. I have the T-Rex and T-Rex 3, the 3 gets about 14-18 days of battery even with GPS on.

I have in the past but now I use a dedicated bike computer. There are some well within your budget that have maps and would be way better than trying to navigate using a small watch screen. There are a couple of Magene computers you can get on AliExpress that are highly rated for the $$. If you are really committed to having a watch, there are a lot of Garmin competitors that would work. I'm thinking Amazfit Trex (or one of the many other watches in the range), Huawei GT etc. off the top of my head.

Depending on what features we are talking about, Garmin Venu 3 and Amazfit (Balance, TRex) both are delivering strong battery.

Best device for hr measurement is a chest strap. Polar h10 is better than any watch out there and costs pennies and you can pair it with your mobile. Watch is still a good thing to have. Garmins are top notch (I have one myself), but a friend of mine bought an amazfit and I have to admit that it's close while costs 50% of the garmin price. Apple is more of a phone. Good for streaming the music etc, but it's not the best sportwatch out there.

I use fenix 8 solar, previously had fenix 6 pro and fenix 5 before that. My wife has venue 3. All are excellent. I use HR strap for when I care about HR. Fenix 8 has probably the best sensor from all the farmins, but still a 50$ strap is more accurate. I have no experience with forerunner series. Heard some good stuff, but I dont know what models are better than the others. I would really look at the amazfit rather than an entry level garmin now. $500 amazfit trex is very close to my $1000 fenix.

Just got an amazfit trex and so far like it. Love that it has a hyrox race and workout setting

Don't rule out Amazfit. I've been running a trex for 3 years now. They compare favorably to Garmin.