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I really liked the color scheme of the advanced transitions in this course. It meant that I could mentally prepare myself for the big climb and anticipate the sections that would be best for my legs. It’s similar to Garmin’s main ClimbPro system, but without the ability to change some of the features you see on the screen.
Then we come to battery life. Amazfit smartwatches often record impressive battery numbers. What Zepp Health wants to focus on is when you’re using it to manage the process. That’s where it lasts up to 33 hours. You’ve got plenty of battery to play with if you want to sacrifice GPS accuracy. By turning off multi-band GPS, switching from GPS sampling every second to once per minute, reducing screen brightness, and turning off the always-on display mode, you can get 228 hours of battery life.
I haven’t run anything close to the UTMB race distance. I managed to get more than three hours before the battery dropped to 13 percent. This would be about 25 hours. Therefore, they will shorten the 33 hours that were stated. This is where the screen brightness or keeping the screen on during tracking can damage battery performance. Garmin Fenix 8 Pro in the same way dropped by 17 percent, pointing to a battery life of 16 hours.
Photo: Michael Sawh
Overall, I’ve been happy with how the Cheetah 2 Ultra has performed when worn for running, swimming, and even the gym. What is missing is the universe that holds everything together. Zepp OS has come on leaps and bounds over the years, but there are some things I don’t like.
If you’re expecting it to work as smartly as an Apple Watch or Garmin when you’re not tracking fitness, it’s not really what it’s like to use an Amazfit watch. The music player doesn’t support streaming services like Spotify, which you can find with Apple and Garmin, and the Zepp Health store doesn’t have any major third-party apps. It also doesn’t have LTE or the newer satellite connections available on competing watches.
My biggest problem is that there is already an Amazfit smartwatch that can do more of what the Cheetah 2 Ultra can do for less money. The T-Rex is a great looking watch but nothing that I think many runners would argue with. It has powerful GPS functionality, offers similar maps and navigation features, and has enough battery life to last you through many races. The Cheetah 2 Ultra has added confusion to the Amazfit lineup. This is not a bad smartwatch. I’m not sure it’s another Amazfit smartwatch that should be there.
