Amazfit Cheetah Pro Review | Trusted Reviews

Verdict

The Amazfit Cheetah Professional is a stable first try at a devoted operating watch that crams in plenty of options into a lovely and comfy design. If Amazfit can get that software program wanting pretty much as good because the {hardware} then it might need a little bit of a winner right here. Proper now, it wants a little bit of finessing to compete with the operating watch elite.

Introduction

The Amazfit Cheetah Professional is Amazfit’s first try at making a look ahead to runners. Becoming a member of the Cheetah Spherical and Sq., the Professional sits on the prime of that trio, providing a much bigger display screen and nicer design supplies.

The options accessible for runners are mainly the identical because the cheaper Cheetah, together with a dual-band GPS antenna for improved outside monitoring accuracy, the flexibility to add routes, entry to the AI-powered operating coach and all of the metrics you’d look forward to finding.

At £299.90/$300, it’s competing with operating watches just like the Garmin Forerunner 255 and the Polar Pacer Professional. I may also think about watches just like the Huawei Watch GT Runner. So it’s obtained some competitors to be topped the most effective midrange operating watch. Does it ship the products? Right here’s my take.

Design and display screen

• AMOLED with as much as 1000 nits brightness
• Titanium alloy bezel
• Waterproof as much as 50 metres 

The primary benefit of the Cheetah Professional is that it doesn’t really feel like a carbon copy of different operating watches. Sure, there are components which might be related, like supplies used, nevertheless it does really feel like a lovely operating watch in a largely distinctive method.

You’re getting a 47mm polymer case with a fairly showy titanium alloy bezel on prime, surrounding a nice-sized and good high quality 1.45-inch, 480 x 480 AMOLED touchscreen show.

It guarantees as much as 1000 nits of brightness so is just not as vivid as the newest Apple Watch Extremely 2, however nonetheless ensures visibility general in most situations is superb. That’s protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and as a package deal is waterproof as much as 50 metres.

It’s a pleasant weight too, coming in at simply 34g with out the strap and 43g with it. The strap is a superbly comfy nylon one which, whereas isn’t the most effective at school nylon strap I’ve used, hasn’t precipitated any type of irritation throughout runs and may also be simply eliminated.

To assist that touchscreen navigation the Professional contains simply the 2 bodily buttons. The one up prime is a twisting crown kind, which has been the go-to strategy for lots of smartwatch makers entering into the sports activities watch house. Beneath that may be a flatter bodily one and that’s reserved for leaping shortly into the exercise monitoring mode.

Amazfit has definitely obtained plenty of issues proper right here with the appear and feel. You do solely have the one look to choose from, however the case and strap mixture works properly, providing a lovely watch that crucially has a properly seen display screen and doesn’t really feel heavy or cumbersome to put on.

Software program and smartwatch options

• Runs on Zepp OS
• Affords some third occasion apps
• Affords music participant and Bluetooth calls

Amazfit depends by itself Zepp OS to run the software program present on the Cheetah Professional and we’re as much as model 2.0 now.

The overall look of Zepp OS doesn’t scream sophistication and whereas Zepp doesn’t disclose the chipset powering efficiency, it does at the least run fairly slick. There’s no horrible indicators of lag and it doesn’t take lengthy to work out the place the whole lot lives on the watch.

Off the watch you’ve obtained to take care of Zepp’s companion app, which I might describe as busy, particularly now with a number of the new software program options which were added to it.

By way of smartwatch options, the Professional does provide so much, it’s only a case of how properly these options are executed. You possibly can view notifications, although I discovered notification assist a bit spotty when it comes to showing on the watch. There’s a riff on Garmin’s Morning Report characteristic right here too, which provides you a abstract of issues like battery life, climate and sleep stats.

There’s a built-in music participant however you need to add music by way of the telephone app after which use the built-in speaker or pair up Bluetooth headphones to take heed to audio. That speaker is joined by a microphone to allow you to deal with calls over Bluetooth and document voice memos.

Amazon Alexa makes the minimize alongside Amazfit’s personal offline voice assistant, which provides you hands-free management of key watch options and does work properly general. 

You possibly can add membership playing cards, however there’s no signal of contactless funds. You even have an app retailer right here too, however I wouldn’t fairly name it an app retailer in the identical vein as Apple or Google’s storefronts and has extra in frequent with Huawei’s AppGallery. There’s extra native than third occasion apps. I downloaded just a few together with Remotify, a music management playback app for Spotify, solely to search out it was an Android-only app, so there’s some inconsistency when it comes to that app assist.

General, Amazfit affords so much, however as a package deal doesn’t really feel as slick as watchOS, Put on OS and I’d add Huawei’s HarmonyOS in right here too, although there are undoubtedly similarities with the latter when it comes to not fairly nailing that supply of a collection of well-connected smartwatch options.

Health monitoring 

• Twin-band GNSS chipset
• Offline maps and breadcrumb navigation
• Zepp AI Coach

Whereas the Amazfit Cheetah Professional is pitched as a operating watch, it’s able to monitoring the whole lot from swims to power coaching, together with rep counting and has over 150 sports activities modes accessible.

Operating could be very a lot on the core of what makes this watch tick and that’s the place the most important options lie. That features the inclusion of a dual-band GPS antenna to ship 99.5% positioning accuracy in response to Zepp, in areas that may trigger sign interference like operating close to tall buildings and tall timber.

There may be additionally assist to add routes by way of the Zepp app after which sync over to the watch to make use of breadcrumb-style navigation that will help you discover new operating terrain. There’s additionally the flexibility to obtain full maps from completely different areas over Wi-Fi so as to add some further context and element to that navigation time.

A brand new Zepp Coach helps you to construct a operating plan the place classes deliberate are added to the watch with an AI-powered Zepp Chat characteristic to supply recommendation and purpose to operate as your personal personalised operating coach. This characteristic nevertheless prices £29.99 a yr or £3.99 a month to entry.

I’ll begin with that core run monitoring efficiency, which has been barely skewed on account of the truth that Amazfit issued an replace midway by way of my testing to deal with some GPS points.

Pre-update I ran a one-lap, 5k race in opposition to the Garmin Forerunner 965 and usually knowledge and mapped routes matched up, although the Amazfit steered I’d paused the look ahead to over a minute and this emphasised a number of the odd software program quirks I skilled general with the Cheetah Professional.

Particulars like common tempo and splits have been shut sufficient compared. Issues weren’t so good on the guts charge entrance the place common and max coronary heart charge readings have been round 20 bpm off from a coronary heart charge monitor chest strap. Fortunately you’ll be able to pair up exterior coronary heart charge sensors right here and coronary heart charge efficiency was higher on steadier paced runs. Usually although, I discovered the dual-band efficiency to be superb with some wavering moments that doesn’t fairly put it up there with the most effective dual-band setups.

On prime of the core operating stats there’s additionally insights accessible like coaching load, VO2 Max estimates and a restoration advisor, which gave the impression to be properly in tune with the Garmin I used to be sporting, which affords good steering however shouldn’t all the time be taken as definitive recommendation.

With these mapping and navigation options, syncing maps over to the watch is fairly easy. You possibly can view mapping knowledge from one of many knowledge screens throughout runs the place you’ll have the ability to pick greener areas and provide you with some added element. Importing routes to comply with is finished by way of the My Route menu on the telephone app, which is tucked away and allows you to sync over GPX information and former runs. It’s easy, lacks turn-by-turn navigation, however will let while you’ve strayed off target.

Zepp’s coach is an effective addition in precept, although once more I discovered some points with it. It wouldn’t let me construct a plan for a race just a few months away because it didn’t deem it sufficient time to coach for it. It presents coaching classes in a digestible method on the watch, however the AI-powered Zepp Chat characteristic didn’t really feel massively helpful and at occasions did issues like reply in several languages to some fundamental questions. Once more, extra quirks and bugs.

Outdoors of sports activities monitoring, it does carry out like a health tracker and also will document coronary heart charge constantly, blood oxygen ranges, day by day step counts and sleep respiratory high quality. Sleep monitoring has its personal devoted web page on the Zepp app presenting knowledge like sleep scores, time you fell asleep, sleep regularity and sleep phases. I used it alongside the Oura Ring Gen 3 and located it recorded related sleep period, sleep scores and truly delivered extra dependable sleep coronary heart charge knowledge as properly.

Battery life 

• As much as 14 days in smartwatch mode
• As much as 7 days in heavy utilization
• 28 hours in prime GPS accuracy mode

With Amazfit’s watches typically, battery life has been a constructive and that doesn’t change with the Cheetah Professional.

There’s a 440mAh capability battery packed in that may ship as much as 14 days in typical utilization, which drops to 7 days in heavy utilization. That might be when utilizing options like all the steady well being monitoring smarts and the highest GPS accuracy mode.

It does embody further modes like a battery saver mode that provides you as much as 24 days and a fundamental watch mode that provides you 45 days.

If you think about GPS monitoring within the prime accuracy mode you’ll get 26 hours, which jumps to 44 hours in the usual GPS mode and as much as 54 hours within the energy saving GPS mode.

I’d say these numbers largely replicate my time with the Cheetah Professional. An hour’s operating on a treadmill noticed battery drop by lower than 5%, a 20-minute observe session noticed battery drop by 5% within the prime accuracy mode and day by day battery drop off with some exercise monitoring and steady well being monitoring in use noticed it final on common every week. 

Backside line, this can be a watch that may final for every week and go longer, relying on what options are in common use.

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