The Amazfit GTS 2 is another budget smartwatch from Huami, but with affordable options from Apple and Fitbit better than ever, is it enough?
Should I Buy The Amazfit GTS 2?
Pros
- Stress & SpO2 monitoring
- Slim design
- 7-day battery
Cons
- Awkward app
- No third-party support
Our Verdict
Price When Reviewed
- $179.99
The Amazfit GTS 2 is yet another affordable, functional, fitness-focussed smartwatch from Chinese wearable giant Huami.
Like most Amazfit watches before it, the GTS 2 offers decent tracking, a durable build, and impressive battery life – though software remains the big weak spot, with a slightly clunky interface and limited compatibility with other apps and tracking options.
The result is a great fitness tracker and a so-so smartwatch. Once upon a time the low price tag would have been enough to make the GTS 2 a no-brainer for fitness freaks on a budget, but with the Apple Watch Series 3 now only £199/$199, the competition is stiffer than it used to be.
Design & Build
Let’s get one thing out the way early: much like the first Amazfit GTS, this looks quite a lot like an Apple Watch. That’s no bad thing of course, but the inspiration is obvious.
One of the few differences between the two models is that while the GTR 2 is a little bulky, the GTS 2 is actually extremely lightweight – the main body is a mere 14.5g. That’s thanks in part to the plastic frame, which doesn’t feel cheap but certainly isn’t as premium as some pricier rivals. Still, the fact that it’s so slim and light means it’s unlikely to bother you to wear all day, unlike some bulkier fitness watches.
The rectangular display is a dinky little 1.65in AMOLED, and it’s plenty bright and colourful. You don’t need pristine colour accuracy on a watch face, but the screen here is good quality, and it shows as you swipe around the vibrant menus.
As you’d expect for a sports watch, the GTS 2 is also 5ATM water-resistant. I haven’t taken it swimming, but it’s survived plenty of showers so I’m not worried about its durability when wet.
I’ve been testing the black model, but it’s also available in gold or grey, and each comes with a match silicone strap – though these use standard 20mm watch strap fittings, so can easily be swapped out.
Unless you’re really insistent on a heavier metal body – or just plain don’t like rectangular watch faces – then there’s really very little to argue with when it comes to design here. Amazfit has nailed it.
Tracking & Features
The GTS 2 can’t match the full suite of tracking provided by the likes of the top-spec Fitbit Sense, but it’s not far off: it tracks your heart rate, SpO2, stress, and sleep, along with the usuals like steps and activity. Not bad for a budget device.
Heart-rate monitoring is passive and 24/7, so you can track your highs and lows across the day. I’ve found results fairly accurate for the most part – I’ve been using it in conjunction with Ring Fit Adventure workouts on the Switch, and get essentially the same heart-rate results from each.
Stress tracking is optional, but if you activate it the device will check every five minutes. It’s actually looking for heart-rate variability, and will give you a stress score between one and 100. Unlike Fitbit’s approach I’ve never noticed the GTS 2 alert me that my stress is high and recommend approaches to calm down, but you can see a daily graph in the accompanying app if you want to get a sense of your average stress, and when it peaks during the day.
Measuring SpO2 is a little more fiddly – it takes a minute or so, and requires you to keep your arm still and horizontal during that time. If it goes wrong, the watch simply gives no result and tells you to start again, so it can take a few attempts to find out what’s going on – not ideal.
Still, this is a useful measure to have to hand (literally) even if, as ever, it has to come with the caveat that you should only use the measurements here as a rough indicator, and go to your doctor if you have concerns.
Beyond the proper health tracking, of course, the GTS 2 will track your steps and other activities, with tracking supported for 90 different sports, and automatic recognition of running, walking, cycling, swimming, treadmills, and elliptical machines. There’s GPS tracking too for outdoor activities.
Software
If there’s a major downside to the GTS 2, it’s probably software. The watch doesn’t run Google’s WearOS, but instead runs its own custom software.
Amazfit has steadily improved this over the last few years, and it has strengths. There’s a huge array of customisable watch faces and always-on display options, and for the most part the operating system is simple and easy to navigate. There are even some simple voice controls to switch apps and start workouts. So far, so good.
There’s no support for third-party fitness, weather, or music apps – no Spotify here – so you’re stuck with Amazfit’s own solutions, whether you like it or not.
When you’re on the phone, you can access your data through the official Amazfit app – confusingly called Zepp, the name of Huami’s other wearable brand. While the home screen is clear enough, laying out the main data you might want, as soon as you try to dig into settings it rapidly gets cluttered and confusing to navigate, with different settings spread across - by my count - four different parts of the app.
Battery & Charging
If software remains Amazfit’s Achilles heel, then battery life is still its secret weapon. The company touts an impressive 7-day battery life for the GTS 2, which can be dragged out to 20 days if you use the low-battery mode that turns off a lot of features.
Price & Availability
At £159/$179 the Amazfit GTS 2 remains affordable, but is still a jump up from the €129 RRP of the original GTS. That might be alright, but the competition in the budget space is growing, and there’s a strong argument to be made that spending a little more to shop elsewhere will be worthwhile.
£199/$199 will now net you a new Apple Watch Series 3. That model – a few years old now – won’t offer sleep, stress, or SpO2 tracking, but the software experience is leaps and bounds ahead of Amazfit’s, and still the best around for iPhone users.
Perhaps more tempting at the same price is the Fitbit Versa 3, which offers similar tracking to the GTS 2 – there's just no stress support – with a cleaner phone app and better third-part support for apps like Spotify.
Check out our full guide to the best smartwatches for more options we recommend.
Verdict
Comprehensive tracking features and a slim design make the Amazfit GTS 2 a fairly attractive proposition, and the value for money is hard to deny.
Still, value offerings from Fitbit and Apple are improving, and anyone who can afford to spend a little more will probably find that rewarded by significant software upgrades from the other brands, at the price of increasingly minor hardware compromises.
Specs
- 42.8 x 35.6 x 9.7mm
- 14.5g
- 5 ATM water-resistant
- 1.65in AMOLED screen, 341 ppi
- Gorilla Glass with anti-fingerprint and oDLC coating
- 20mm silicone strap
- BioTracker 2 PPG biological tracking optical sensor
- 6-axis acceleration sensor
- 3-axis geomagnetic sensor
- Air-pressure sensor
- Acceleration sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- Gyroscope sensor
- WLAN 2.4GH
- Bluetooth 5.0
- 3GB storage
- Speaker and microphone
- Magnetic charging stand
- Approx 2 hours charging time
- 246mAh battery
- Typical usage: 7 days
- Basic watch mode: 20 days
- Supports Android 5.0 and above, iOS 10.0 and above
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