Amazfit’s five-star fitness tracker just got a new way to take on Garmin’s best smartwatches, and it just got even better value
Welcome updates for your workouts
- Amazfit has brought a slate of new features to its fitness watches
- That includes improvements to swimming and indoor rowing workouts
- The update is coming to almost the entire Amazfit watch range
Amazfit currently makes some of the best fitness trackers available, but the company’s devices have had a few blind spots in the past. Now, though, Amazfit users have received a new software update that brings serious improvements to some of the best cheap smartwatches on the market.
Specifically, Amazfit’s blog details how you’ll now get a better experience when swimming and using indoor rowing machines, plus there’s info on a few new quality-of-life touches that will help when working out. Combined, the new features could help close the gap with some of the best Garmin watches.
One of the headline changes comes to pool workouts. There, you’ll be able to add manual rests so you can see how your session was divided between activity and recovery. Your swimming and rest segments are counted separately, with the former organized by stroke, giving you a clearer picture of your workout structure.
If you prefer to use indoor rowing machines, Amazfit’s software update means the firm’s devices can connect to FTMS-compatible machines such as the Concept2 RowErg. That lets you see your workout metrics in real time as you exercise.
Finally, Amazfit has added a handful of new features that improve the workout experience, including a touchscreen lock that prevents accidental interference. Amazfit has also launched Athlete Defaults, which automatically apply a set of recommended workout settings when you begin training, saving you the hassle of setting everything up each time. Athlete Defaults turn on Do Not Disturb, disable workout alerts, and set GPS to maximum precision, too.
More competition for Garmin
The update is coming to a wide array of Amazfit watches, including the Balance Ultra, Balance 3, T-Rex Ultra 2, T-Rex 3 Pro, T-Rex 3, Cheetah 2 Ultra, Cheetah 2 Pro, and the Active 3 Premium. The latter device blew us away in its five-star review, making it an even better option if you want a new smartwatch.
That means you’ll be able to take advantage of it whether you own one of Amazfit’s most affordable smartwatches or one of its most premium, with almost the entire current range affected by the update.
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It also means that Amazfit’s watches now offer some of the same features seen in the best watches that Garmin has to offer, making choosing between the two brands a tougher prospect than it used to be. And if it fosters a little healthy competition, that can only be good news for fitness fans.
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Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.
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