Amazfit Vs Garmin Review: I Tested Both For Over A Month
Amazfit is a fantastic fitness tracker brand if you’re on a tight budget – think under $200 – but testing it side-by-side with a high-end Garmin watch reveals its flaws. Often you don’t know what you’re missing until you try the best of the best, and testing the $100 Amazfit Active 2 (Sport) against the $1,100 Garmin Fenix 8 proved it.
I wore both watches at the same time for over a month to see if a budget purchase could compete with a high-end one, and the answer might have less to do with the watches and more to do with what you’re looking to get out of them.
Amazfit vs Garmin: My experience
Round 1: Material
You’d think there would be a big difference in the look and feel of a fitness tracker that costs $100 and one that costs over $1,000, but Amazfit surprised me here. This is its (and the brand’s) greatest strength: the watches look and feel much more expensive than they actually are. The Active 2’s screen actually gets brighter than the Fenix 8’s and has a few more pixels, so stats and notifications are crystal clear.
The Garmin Fenix 8, by comparison, is a bit thick and bulky. It’s much more durable and functional, though, with a titanium body and sapphire crystal display, built-in flashlight, and five-button controls. But all this makes the watch much heavier and thicker than the Active 2.
I like using the Fenix 8 more, the five buttons and built-in flashlight are infinitely useful, but most people I spoke with thought the Active 2 was more sleek and stylish, and I can see why. This one is a matter of personal preference.
Winner: tie
Round 2: Software
The main reason you buy a fitness tracker is to learn more about your health, exercise, recovery, and sleep through the app. Amazfit and Garmin offer numerous statistics, graphs, percentages and proper names in their respective applications. And both are overwhelming for anyone new to fitness trackers.
Garmin’s, although not surprising, is a little clearer than Amazfit’s. While it’s overwhelming at first, it’s infinitely customizable, and after a few weeks of testing, I set my app’s home page to display exactly what I find useful at a glance, including things like workout preparation, workout status, previous workouts, and sleep score.
In comparison, I’ve never felt more comfortable using the Zepp Health app (for Amazfit trackers). There are simply too many tables, graphs and terminology. It shamelessly uses acronyms like ATL (Acute Training Load), CTL (Chronic Training Load), and TSB (Training Stress Balance), which Garmin would spell them out or avoid altogether.
Winner: Garmin
Round 3: Cartography and navigation
The Amazfit Active 2 starts to show its biggest weakness when you start getting into the fitness and outdoor features.
The Amazfit Active 2’s GPS is less accurate than Garmin’s, period. Looking at GPS map data from my outdoor runs, the Amazfit often placed me close the roads I was running on, but not actually on them. Running in NYC parks often took me on trails that were close to the main path, but not actually on the main path. It only got worse when I was training in the mountains: the Garmin kept my GPS line on the path up the hill as I ran back and forth, while the Amazfit made it seem like I was going off the path every time.
I’m not surprised by these results since the Fenix 8 is a multi-band GPS watch, while the Active 2 is single-band. Still, other single-band GPS watches like the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3 perform much better than Amazfit. (Single-band GPS devices listen to one frequency of one satellite, multi-band devices listen to two or more, allowing for more direct location tracking)
Add to that the fact that the Garmin Fenix 8 is much better at navigation than the Amazfit Active 2. The Fenix 8 has full offline topographical maps, with navigation and automatic rerouting if you veer off course. The Active 2 offers offline maps and navigation, but they are very basic in comparison.
Winner: Garmin
Amazfit vs Garmin: Which Features Do You Really Need?
Comparing the Amazfit Active 2 and Garmin Fenix 8 is less about the individual watches and more about what you need from your fitness tracker. The Amazfit Active 2 is the smart choice for many people. It looks and feels great, especially for its $100. The same goes for the Apple Watch SE 3 or the $250 Garmin Forerunner 165, to be honest. Most people don’t need all the advanced features and tracking that the nearly $1,100 Fenix 8 has to offer.
But Garmin is the clear winner for anyone dedicated to outdoor fitness. The brand is, at its core, a mapping and navigation company, with over 30 years of history in this field. It is THE flag bearer for precise outdoor navigation – almost everyone I see running or cycling long distances uses a Garmin. Remember: The brand makes aircraft navigation equipment: Accurate GPS data and reliable software are serious business when you’re 10,000 feet in the air. You don’t need the $1,100 Fenix 8 to take advantage of this expertise: the brand has plenty of great options under $500.
Amazfit, by comparison, just turned 10 years old and only makes wearables. Its products look and feel great and are vastly inferior to Garmin across the board in terms of price. But it lacks the refinement and confidence of Garmin, and that’s something that only comes with time.
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How I tested Amazfit and Garmin
I wore the Amazfit Active 2 and Garmin Fenix 8 for over a month, one on each wrist. Here’s how I tested them against each other:
- Fit and Feel: I noted how each watch felt against my wrist, how each fit different clothing and sleeves, and how easy it was to use them.
- Fitness and health: I did more than a dozen outdoor walks, runs, and bike rides, as well as indoor strength training sessions. I tracked and monitored stats like heart rate, pace, and time, as well as post-workout recovery metrics.
- GPS tracking: I compared the GPS data of the watches and used each of them to travel short distances.
- Applications and user experience: I spent hours in each watch’s menus and apps, exploring what each immediately offers and what could be adjusted to my preferences.
- Battery life: I noted how many times I had to charge each device over a period of a month.
I requested watches from each brand – both brands sent me devices to test for this review.
Why trust NBC Select?
I’m a reporter at NBC Select covering technology, fitness and the outdoors, including stories on wireless headphones, fitness trackers and camping for beginners. I’ve been testing fitness trackers for years. I constantly try new models, comparing them with previous versions and similar competitors. I used my experience testing fitness trackers, smartwatches, and smart rings to compare the Amazfit Active 2 and the Garmin Fenix 8, wearing them both for over a month.
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