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RELATED: The Best Triathlon Smartwatches of 2023, Reviewed Section divider Amazfit Cheetah Pro Review: The Basics
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!We also found both the touchscreen and the buttons (which include a rotating bevel, oddly similar to much of the Coros line) to be slightly inconsistent—functioning most of the time, but not always. And after only a few ocean swims (with the recommended fresh water flushing), we had some rough play in the rotating bevel, though it still worked.
As mentioned above, there is an absolute embarrassment of riches when it comes to functions, and while we’ll get into a few that are missing below, it’s tough to find something on your smartwatch wishlist that isn’t already built into the Cheetah Pro. Tri-important functions like open-water swim, triathlon mode, and multisport mode all work well enough for 95% of triathlete’s needs, and we found each customizable (enough) to present the data fields you’d want for most training or racing applications. VO2 Max on the Cheetah Pro was 53 compared to 56 on our Garmin watch, so there are some good training insights available here. Heart rate accuracy There are some additional battery-saver modes to boost things from anywhere to 24-45 days, but that does mean living a more primitive smartwatch life.The Zepp Coach is a lot like we’ve seen from Garmin and Huawei where you can build a plan for a particular distance or race you want to train for and after a few questions to shape that training will build you a plan you can sync and follow on the watch. So we decided to build a plan for a half marathon race and the first issue was that the app didn’t believe the time from when we wanted to start and finish training wasn’t enough time. Typically, most half-marathon training plans suggest around 8 weeks of training and we had over two months to train. When those maps are on, they’re certainly not the richly detailed maps you’ll find on watches like the Garmin Epix or even third-party Apple Watch apps, but it does offer you a little more detail to survey surroundings and get a better sensor of what’s around you. Ultimately, there’s something very likable about the Cheetah Pro. It’s good to see Amazfit hasn’t entirely tried to copy what the competition is doing and the result is a watch that looks good, feels comfortable to wear for long periods and doesn’t feel like you’re getting short-changed overall in the design department. Battery life There’s also a run prediction feature and these features collectively felt more useful. Predictions felt nicely in line with other predictions on a Garmin watch that has a much longer history of data to fuel those predictions.
Unlike the Cheetah, the Cheetah Pro only comes in a round-case option. That’s a 47mm-sized case, so you can expect something similar in stature to a watch like the Garmin Forerunner 965. It’s a polymer case with a titanium alloy bezel surrounding a 1.45-inch, 480x480 resolution AMOLED and that is a screen you can keep on 24/7.It was a similar story during a 5K race where average and maximum heart rate readings were well off the readings of a chest strap. Things did get better for steady-paced runs, so you can get some good data here and there. We used it alongside the impressive multi-band mode on Garmin’s latest Forerunner watches and found the GPS performed well, but wasn't immaculate. There's significant wandering in the example above, but the distance came out correct in the end – so it's workable for those less fussy about their data. Now, not everything is executed perfectly (or even well), but there are literally so many sports and everyday “lifestyle” features on this watch—with limited documentation and iffy on-watch navigation—it’s actually difficult to find or use them all. Read on for what actually works and what doesn’t. Section divider Amazfit Cheetah Pro Review: The Good So while the feature list is impressive, and on paper the hardware totally outperforms at this pricepoint, there are a few lingering issues that still make the Cheetah Pro a little more “beta” than a finished product that you might see from the brands in the last paragraph. Starting at the top, the multi-band GPS is somehow pretty inconsistent, when compared with other multi-band GPS smartwatches. On-land distance consistency wasn’t too bad, except in deep canyons, but in the open water we found variances of 10-20% both relative to the Cheetah Pro (same route, multiple laps, below) and in the absolute when compared to traditionally excellent open-water smartwatches like the Garmin Enduro 2/Fenix 7-series, for instance. While these variances might not seem like a lot, if you’re doing 500-meter intervals in the open water, for instance, with your laps set to go off every 500, you could be doing a 400, you could be doing a 600 from lap to lap. That’s quite a bit. Same buoyed open-water course, two laps, one watch on each wrist. Cheetah Pro (L) and Garmin Enduro 2 (R). Something we did experience with the Cheetah Pro echoes our experiences with the Cheetah Square where it would regularly display on the watch that the A-GPS file was out of date.
The good news is that there is a solution to improve that accuracy thanks to the support to pair external heart rate monitors. Amazfit doesn’t entirely get away without grabbing a feature from a rival with its morning report, a clear rip-off of Garmin’s Morning Report feature. You can view notifications from native and third-party apps with little issue. There are two smart assistants on board here with an offline one that gives you hands-free control of key watch settings.
On paper, the Cheetah Pro is Amazfit’s most complete offering, but does the AMOLED-screened, multi-band GPS watch deliver on its promises?
Finally, smaller things like no running with power (though it does have somewhat advanced running metrics like stride length and cadence), a very limited on-watch post-workout data screen (typically forcing you to use the Zepp app, which is actually very good), and intermittent issues with smartphone connectivity might not be make-or-break for the Cheetah Pro, but it does show that Amazfit isn’t 100% there when it comes to their sport-focused devices. Section divider Conclusions But rewinding even further, some history first: Amazfit is a Chinese brand established in 2015 with very very limited presence in North America. Most of their smartwatches are a little more “lifestyle” focused. Think: cheaper Fitbit. We’d say that with regular use of features like GPS and all of the advanced health monitoring features on offer, the Pro is good for a week with the capacity to go longer. It’s reminiscent of the level of battery performance you get from something like the Huawei Watch GT Runner. It’s got a good-sized screen, a comfortable (and removable) nylon strap, and physical buttons, and it’s waterproof up to 50 meters, so you can take it for a swim and jump in the shower with it. As such, their limited traction in the U.S., coupled with limited interest in endurance sports—especially triathlon, with open-water swim/tri/multisport/etc. features—means it probably isn’t on a lot of triathletes’ radars. But with the release of the mostly capable Cheetah Pro, Amazfit is worth another look (with a few caveats, below).
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