I've tested the Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro for six weeks, and it's a powerful, premium Garmin alternative — albeit a lumpy and uncomfortable one

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: One minute review

Three years after the release of the Cheetah Pro smartwatch, Amazfit has finally released its successor, the aptly named Cheetah 2 Pro. Designed for serious road runners who rely on structured training plans, the smartwatch is a solid offering that competes admirably with the best running watches on the market right now. It doesn't hit the dizzying heights of Garmin's top-range alternatives, but Amazfit has definitely closed the gap. The Cheetah 2 Pro has a bigger sibling, the Cheetah 2 Ultra, which is slightly larger, more expensive and comes with trail running profiles with gradient and terrain features not present here.

The high price tag for a watch without trail features will put a lot of people off, especially considering Amazfit is still an unknown brand to many and a budget brand to those in the know. On closer inspection, the cost is mostly justified. The bright 1.32-inch AMOLED display is super-sharp and covered with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass.

The display is housed in a high-end grade 5 titanium alloy case, which looks and feels premium, but the 15.6 mm thickness and large sensor bump make the watch uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.

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The Cheetah 2 Pro includes an impressive set of features, including structured training plans and AI-driven adaptive workouts. It also tracks comprehensive health data, including 24/7 heart rate, blood oxygen, and skin temperature, all making it possible to generate a daily "Readiness Score" for monitoring fatigue. The watch reaches a high level of accuracy across most tested metrics.

As you’d expect for a watch at this price, the Cheetah 2 Pro boasts offline color maps and navigation tools such as automatic rerouting and point-to-point route planning. It’s an extensive set of features, but the implementation is lacking finesse. Due to limited hardware, panning and zooming maps is laggy.

When it comes to running smartwatches, Amazfit is closing the gap on Garmin, but they’ve still got a long way to go, especially when it comes to dedicated running tools.

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Specifications

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Price and availability

• $499.99 USD / £449.90 UK / $729 AUS
• More affordable than the Garmin Forerunner 970
• Impressive set of features for the price

The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro costs $499.99 USD / £449.90 UK, which represents a significant 50% increase over the price of the original Cheetah Pro. Amazfit justifies this huge jump by offering high-end hardware, including a titanium bezel, sapphire crystal lens, and up to 20 days of battery life.

Its position in the market is as a budget-friendly alternative to Garmin's flagship elite tier, specifically the Garmin Forerunner 970. While both watches boast premium titanium bezels and crisp AMOLED screens, the more expensive Garmin boasts superior features, especially when it comes to offline maps and ECG functionality.

• Value score 4/5

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Design

• Premium materials and a bright AMOLED display
• Touchscreen interface and physical buttons
• Overly chunky design

The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro boasts a gorgeous premium grade-5 titanium alloy case finished off with a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass. The 1.32-inch AMOLED display is brilliantly sharp, with an impressive 3,000 nits of peak brightness which guarantees clarity even on sunny days.

If you were wondering why the watch costs so much, the material make-up and AMOLED display are two of the reasons. Compared to the cheap, plastic feel of a lot of sports trackers, the Cheetah 2 Pro is a high-end piece of hardware, only let down by the bundled silicone strap, which feels like an ill-considered afterthought.

Alongside the touchscreen interface, the watch features a four-button layout with tactile aluminum buttons. The presence of physical buttons proved valuable, in my experience, especially when using the watch with sweaty hands or in the rain.

As much as I love the design of the Cheetah 2 Pro, it's let down by its over-large 15.6mm thickness. It absolutely dwarfed my wife's smaller wrist, and due to the size and weight I found it uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. If Amazfit could work out a way to reduce the thickness of the underside sensor bump, then a lot of these problems would go away.

• Design Score: 4/5

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Features

• Excellent structured training, especially with Zepp Flow AI
• Offline maps and turn-by-turn navigation
• An extensive set of sensors

At the heart of the Cheetah 2 Pro are the structured training plans and purpose-driven workouts. It's like having your own personal running coach or using a platform such as Runna, but without the ongoing cost. There are workouts and plans for half marathons, full marathons, and Fartlek runs, and every session helps extend endurance, build strength, and ensure appropriate recovery, all done via Zepp Coach AI.

In addition to dedicated training plans, the Cheetah 2 Pro boasts an extensive set of navigation features which help keep you on track, however hard you're pushing. I was pleased to see the presence of offline maps and turn guidance, and it's even possible to import courses so you can confidently navigate through routes you're not familiar with. Beyond this, the watch includes automatic rerouting, points of interest search, and point-to-point route planning.

The upgraded optical sensors comprise 5 photodiodes and 2 LEDs, providing continuous 24/7 monitoring for heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and stress levels. All of these sensors, and more, feed the data so the watch can provide a daily Readiness Score for evaluating training fatigue and overall status. Additional environmental sensors include a skin temperature sensor, barometric altimeter, gyroscope, accelerometer, and geomagnetic compass.

In comparison to the Forerunner 970, the Cheetah comes up short in most areas. The Garmin features a more comprehensive set of tools, including its localized crowd-sourced popularity routing database, granular analytics, and ECG functionality. If you want the very best, Garmin is still the brand to turn to.

• Features Score: 4/5

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Performance

• Spot on GPS and heart rate performance
• Excellent map functionality but a little laggy
• Top-level activity tracking and health monitoring

Serious runners require accurate on-board GPS, and the Cheetah 2 Pro provides exactly that. Courtesy of its advanced positioning systems, the watch is able to deliver accurate tracking and pacing even when the signal appears to weaken. I compared it with the same route run with my accuracy benchmark, the Garmin Tactix 8, and the Huawei Watch Ultimate 2. It tracked these runs to within one or two per cent accuracy and was able to cope with varying surroundings, including high-rise buildings and forests.

Map functionality is extensive enough for most runners, although the subjective experience wasn’t perfect. Any amount of panning and zooming resulted in a stutter, and if I were cycling, the map wouldn’t update particularly smoothly. These problems are not game-changers, but if you’re after the smoothest map interactions, then the Cheetah 2 Pro doesn’t have the hardware to deliver that.

The Cheetah 2 Pro is a solid running coach on the wrist. It is able to provide specific metrics such as ground contact time, stride length, and cadence. The ability to track in real-time my VO2 Max level and running power is super-helpful to know if I am doing well (or not, as the case may be).

An extensive set of health metrics is available, including heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate, lactate threshold, VO2, and more. The heart rate was an exact match to a dedicated heart rate monitor band. The heart rate zone feature is a nice addition for knowing when you’re building endurance, improving speed, or pushing too hard.

Amazfit positions the watch as a long-distance runner's dream, and that requires outstanding battery performance with every feature and setting turned on. They claim up to 31 hours with accurate GPS mode enabled, which is more than enough to perform a long-distance run, assuming it doesn't span multiple days. When you're using the watch in between trainings, you can expect up to 20 days of battery life with typical use.

The Cheetah 2 Pro is much more than a running watch, though. Its general smartwatch features are comparable with the very best from Apple, Google, and Samsung. You can make and receive Bluetooth calls, read and reply to texts, and utilize Zepp Pay for NFC contactless payments. All in, it’s a very useful watch for day-to-day living.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Scorecard

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Should I buy?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

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How I tested

I’ve been wearing the Cheetah 2 Pro for the better part of six weeks. In this time I have used it while running, cycling, walking, relaxing, and more. I tested it against a Coros heart rate monitor as well as competitor devices for accuracy. It has also acted as a companion device to my smartphone, keeping me up-to-date with everything going on in my world.

First reviewed: June 2026