Titanium, sapphire, and a month without a power outlet: a review of the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 smartwatch

Most smartwatches look similar—and I'm not just talking about design, but about their intended purpose. Many models are designed exclusively as everyday companions, tracking basic vital signs and delivering notifications from your smartphone. But many are more than that. Amazfit has a T-Rex series of smartwatches that's anything but. In fact, their capabilities extend far beyond simple everyday use, especially if you consider the Ultra models.

This time, I received the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 smartwatch for review—it's currently the most advanced member of the series. Let me start with the main point: this model is designed for adventure, meaning for people who regularly find themselves in extreme conditions and need a wearable companion that can not only withstand such challenges, but also be useful in them.

Technical specifications

• Display : 1.5", AMOLED, 480×480 pixels, up to 3000 nits, sapphire glass, Always-On.
• Battery : 870 mAh, up to 30 days of battery life with standard use, up to 15 days with intensive use, up to 10 days with Always-On enabled.
• Body materials : fiber-reinforced polymer and grade 5 titanium.
• Water protection : 10 ATM.
• Dimensions (excluding biometric sensor) : 51×51×14.3 mm.
• Weight (excluding strap) : 89.2 grams.
• Memory : 64 GB (26.7 GB available to the user).
• Wireless communication : Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 5.2/LE.
• Motion sensors : accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer, ambient light sensor, temperature sensor.
• Positioning : single-band and dual-band, support for six satellite systems, GPS antenna with circular polarization.
• Biometric sensor : BioTracker 6.0 (5× PD + 2× LED).
• Health tracking : heart rate, blood oxygen, stress level, skin temperature, sleep quality.

Design

The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 has a rugged look, thanks largely to its octagonal bezel, large round display, and overall visual bulk. To me, this smartwatch exudes a sense of being built for extreme sports. Most importantly, it's not just a sham of ruggedness and protection—it's truly that kind of watch.

The case is made of fiber-reinforced polymer, while the bezel, buttons, and back panel are crafted from grade 5 titanium. In other words, the titanium color found on various elements of the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 isn't just a color. Fortunately, the titanium is matte, as it eliminates excessive shine and is virtually fingerprint-resistant. While we're on the topic of controls, let's take a quick look at them: unlike many other models, this one features four physical buttons (all labeled on the ring around the screen)—these allow for full control of the watch in adverse conditions and while wearing gloves, without even touching the touchscreen. Incidentally, you don't have to worry about the touchscreen even under extreme conditions, as the display is protected by sapphire crystal, which is also slightly recessed into the case.

I admit, I rarely wear large watches on my wrist, so due to being unaccustomed to them, I kept hitting this one on the corner of the table, catching it on doors, and catching it on cabinet handles (it's a narrow hallway, what can you do), but there wasn't the slightest hint of a scratch on the watch, and this applies to both the case and the screen.

Take a closer look at the top edge of the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2—see that flat notch there? It hides a flashlight. Yes, a real, dedicated flashlight, not a white screen imitation like most other watches. What's especially nice is how well-thought-out it is: it supports brightness adjustment (using the buttons on the left) and even a green light.

Among other things, the body has a speaker and microphone—these are used for Bluetooth calls and replying to messages via Zepp Flow (you need to register an Amazfit account in a different region), as well as for scenarios like listening to training notifications.

As you've probably guessed, the case itself is extremely rugged (it's even MIL-STD-810H-2019 certified). It feels that way in person (I haven't cracked any nuts with it, but the weight and build feel incredibly robust). It's not just protected from mechanical damage, but also from water. The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 has dual diving certification—with a 10 ATM water resistance rating, it can be used to depths of up to 45 meters, making it suitable for both freediving (breath-hold diving) and recreational scuba diving. Looking ahead, the watch has separate profiles for each of these types of diving.

This smartwatch is available in a single color, and it comes with a black silicone strap with red holes. There are many of them, and they're closely spaced, which is good for two reasons. First, you can always find a comfortable position to tighten the strap. Second, the open holes provide ventilation. The strap has a metal clasp.

Display

The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 features a large, round 1.5-inch AMOLED display with a 480x480 pixel resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 322 PPI. I've always liked larger displays because they simply fit more text and make all elements larger. Notifications, for example, are easy to read, with a relatively large font. Incidentally, emojis appear in notifications.

I've had no issues with it during my entire time using it—the screen is perfectly legible both indoors and outdoors, even in bright sunlight (and it should be, with a peak brightness of 3000 nits), and the auto-brightness function works well. Of course, a watch of this caliber features an Always-On Display mode, which displays a dimmed watch face even in standby mode.

As with other T-Rex models, there's a dedicated night screen mode—the standard watch face and menu interface turns black and green and dimmer.

Firmware and companion app

The firmware logic here will look familiar and familiar if you've used modern smartwatches before, so I won't go into too much detail. Let's just say that everything works smoothly, and I had no complaints.

I'd also like to highlight the app store, which allows you to download additional games and apps from third-party developers to your watch. This is definitely a plus for the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2, as many competitors don't support this feature. Of course, there's also a watch face store, where I think everyone will find their favorite option.

The review subject connects to Android and iOS smartphones and tablets via the Zepp app via Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) and Bluetooth 5.2/LE. This app allows for more detailed smartwatch customization, such as enabling/disabling automatic health monitoring settings and setting alert thresholds (for example, if your heart rate rises above or below a certain number of beats per minute).

An extremely useful feature, still not universally available, is the ability to create (via Zepp) custom vibration patterns for different apps. This is incredibly convenient because you can immediately identify which game or app a notification is coming from without looking at the screen (which is sometimes hidden behind a sleeve, or even more than one). The watch memorizes vibration patterns, storing the information in its built-in memory. It has 64 GB of storage, but about 26 GB is available to the user. This can be filled with third-party apps, music, and offline maps, and the free storage is more than enough for everything, as they say.

Functions

The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 offers a lot more functionality than your average smartwatch, so let's start with the basics, but pay special attention to its features.

The product in this review tracks heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, stress level, and skin temperature—both on demand and automatically throughout the day. The maximum frequency of automatic measurements depends on the metric being measured. For example, heart rate can be measured every 1 minute, while stress level can be recorded every 5 minutes. Such frequent measurements can be useful for people who want to analyze the rise and fall of their vital signs (for example, at the end of the day) without needing to see the gaps between measurements.

The watch is also useful at night, as it can track heart rate variability during sleep, sleep phases (including REM sleep), and a sleep schedule. It can also assess breathing quality during sleep and calculate a sleep quality score. The model also recognizes bedtime, which is beneficial.

The training features are also top-notch—187 workout types are supported, including 25 strength training and 8 additional ones (outdoor and treadmill running, indoor and outdoor walking, cycling, pool swimming, rowing and elliptical training). The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 can automatically recognize these workouts, automatically activating training mode and tracking your fitness metrics. Many will find the Zepp Coach AI coach helpful, as it can create a personalized training plan. Simply specify the desired number of training days per week, their duration, and desired intensity—and as the AI ​​coach learns your habits, it will customize the training program, making it increasingly personalized. This can be configured in the Zepp companion app, but you'll need to change your account region.

The key feature of this watch is its ability to assist with various types of travel. This particular watch features an advanced GPS module with support for six satellite systems, providing precise positioning for reliable turn-by-turn navigation. Preinstalled topographic maps also help: they're color, allowing you to quickly visually assess elevation changes to plan routes across challenging terrain. By route planning, I don't mean theoretically plotting a route in your head, but rather practically plotting a route—the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 allows you to plot point-to-point routes and automatically reroute them, emitting audio and vibration alerts. All of this is extremely useful for simple hikes, wilderness expeditions, and mountaineering. Most importantly, the watch handles all of these tasks completely autonomously, meaning it doesn't need to be paired with a smartphone or connected to a network.

Autonomy

I'm always wary of smartwatches with extensive functionality when it comes to their battery life—usually, the more metrics a wearable tracks and the more functions it performs, the faster its battery drains. The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 is a pleasant exception.

Despite the large (by watch standards) 1.5-inch display, the built-in 870 mAh battery is capacious enough to ensure good battery life (apparently thanks in part to optimized firmware). The manufacturer claims the watch will last up to 30 days in normal use, up to 15 days in intensive use, and up to 10 days with Always-On activation in addition to intensive use.

As always, I tested the watch as ruthlessly as possible: with Always-On enabled, heart rate and stress monitoring enabled at full capacity, regular workouts and GPS enabled, and I often played with the flashlight during the first few days. With this setup, by the end of the day, I typically lost 8-11% of my battery, which confirms Amazfit's official claims. Given this, I have no reason to distrust the others, so let's take a look.

The manufacturer claims the watch will last up to 50 hours with continuous GPS use at maximum accuracy, and up to 90 hours with power-saving GPS mode (when positioning accuracy is reduced). The developers also mention low-temperature mode: if you enable this option, when the watch's temperature drops below -10°C, it will automatically enter a special mode with limited capabilities (due to the properties of lithium batteries) to operate down to -30°C. In this mode, with GPS enabled, the watch will last up to 40 hours, and with GPS disabled, up to 32 days. In my opinion, all these figures are more than impressive, especially in the current market conditions, where many smartwatches last only a week, and with GPS training and Always-On enabled, only two or three days.

The Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 charges via a magnetic "washer" with two contacts—a familiar solution from other smartwatches. The good news is that the cable is detachable and connects via USB-C. The bad news is that there's no cable included, but that's unlikely to be a big deal for some.

As for charging speed, it takes just over an hour for the watch to fully charge—I connected it to a 67W smartphone charger and used a USB-C cable at both ends.

Review

I liked the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2. In my opinion, it's a versatile model that works well in everyday life, easily handling all basic tasks, serves as an excellent companion for sports, and is also suitable for extreme conditions.

Most importantly, the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2 is reasonably priced—it's naturally more expensive than standard models designed solely for health metrics and notifications, but significantly cheaper than ultra-premium competitors, while offering essentially the same features or even more. A distinct advantage is its battery life, which can easily last up to a month without recharging.

I think this smartwatch is an excellent choice for those who regularly find themselves in harsh conditions and go hiking or planning to go on hikes, or who are or are planning to do activities like mountaineering or diving. If you're simply looking for an everyday smartwatch for basic tasks, you should consider simpler and less expensive models; Amazfit, for example, has plenty of such options.

Pros

• Durable body made of high-quality materials.
• A separate physical flashlight with two-color support.
• Built-in speaker and microphone.
• Excellent autonomy.
• Works in extreme conditions and is completely autonomous from your smartphone.

Cons

• Available in only one size, it looks massive even on a man's hand.
• There are no other colors or strap options.
• No cable included.

Overall rating: 9 out of 10.