Taking advantage of an unseasonably warm and delightfully sunny winter afternoon here in Seattle, Washington I walked 10,000 steps wearing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Amazfit T-Rex 3 to find out which one is the more accurate fitness tracker.
In terms of price, these two devices represent opposite ends of the ultra-rugged, adventure-ready smartwatch category. On the wallet-friendly side, we’ve got the $279 Amazfit T-Rex 3. It may be less than half the cost of the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 2, but it too boasts high-end features like multi-band GPS, a bright and sizable touchscreen, lots of physical buttons (many customizable), 100 meters of water resistance and a tough-as-nails construction.
The T-Rex 3 even beats the Ultra 2 in several areas, most notably is battery life. While Apple’s burliest smartwatch lasts for roughly 36 hours in smartwatch mode (72 hours in low-power mode) and about 12 hours when using GPS tracking, Amazfit’s monster watch has 27 days of battery in smartwatch mode and 42 hours with GPS.
Of course, Amazfit devices don’t come close to offering the number of third-party apps and smart features found on the best Apple Watch models. There’s also no optional cellular connectivity for the T-Rex 3 and fewer safety features, like fall or crash detection.
However, when it comes to basic workout tracking for walks, hikes and runs, both models provide comparable post-excercise reports with details on your total distance covered, elevation gained, pace, heart rate, calories burned, and, of course, step count. But which is the more precise and reliable device? Read on.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs Google Pixel Watch 3: Walk test
For this walk test challenge, I wore the Apple Watch Ultra 2 on my right wrist and the Amazfit T-Rex 3 on my left. Why? Apple lets users set their wrist preference, but Amazfit doesn’t. And with most folks preferring to rock their watch on the non-dominant side (left), I felt it was only right to give the wallet-friendly underdog home-field advantage.
As always, I manually counted each and every step during my walk. However, the process isn’t nearly as tedious as it may sound. With the help of an old-school tally counter, I simply count from one to 100 before clicking that bad boy and beginning the count over again. Rinse and repeat 100 times, and that’s it!
Another trick I use to keep a precise manual count is my left foot only takes odd-numbered steps and my right foot only takes even-numbered ones. Also, as a control for distance, elevation gain and pace data, I ran old reliable, Strava, on my battle-worn iPhone 12 Mini in mint green.
For this head-to-head challenge, I made my way through Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum where I was treated to a buffet of invigorating natural sights, sounds and smells. While not quite a full-on forest bathing experience — I was wearing a pair of the best noise-canceling headphones after all — the peaceful solitude and unobstructed solar rays warmed my soul and buoyed my spirit.
Toward the end of my walk, just for good measure, I made sure to climb the steepest hill in Seattle, something that really got my heart pounding and the sweat dripping.
Read on for the results!
Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs Amazfit T-Rex 3: Walk test results
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 | Amazfit T-Rex 3 | Control |
|---|---|---|---|
Step count | 10,059 steps | 10,079 steps | 10,000 steps (manual count) |
Distance | 5.39 miles | 5.33 miles | 5.57 miles (Strava) |
Elevation gain | 533 feet | 640 feet | 534 feet (Strava) |
Average pace | 17 mins 53 secs per mile | 17 mins 51 secs per mile | 16 mins 35 secs per mile (Strava) |
Average heart rate | 119 bpm | 118 bpm | n/a |
Max heart rate | 168 bpm | 170 bpm | n/a |
Calories burned | 708 calories | 761 calories | n/a |
Battery depleted | 10% | 4% | n/a |
Impressively, both the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Amazfit T-Rex 3 turned in step count totals that were within 100 paces of my actual count. This is well within a reasonable margin of error and about as accurate as you can expect a modern wearable to perform. However, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 was 20 steps closer to the 10K mark. Strava, for what it’s worth, captured my step count as 10,106.
Distance data is pretty similar across the board, though Strava felt I covered a tad more ground than the wearables. Elevation gain data is a near match between the Ultra 2 and Strava, while the T-Rex 3 appears to have overcounted by roughly 100 feet, which is notable.
This isn’t the first Amazfit wearable to spit out a comparably higher elevation gain metric during a walk test. I noted similar results recently when assessing the Amazfit Active 2 vs. the Fitbit Sense 2, the Active 2 vs. the Apple Watch SE and the Active 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Fit3.
So, is inflated elevation data just par for the course from this current generation of Amazfit devices? I’m inclined to say yes but will hold my judgment until I’ve had the chance to spend more time with the T-Rex 3. After all, it’s a decidedly higher-end smartwatch than the $99 Active 2.
Thankfully, the rest of the T-Rex 3’s metrics line up almost perfectly with the Ultra 2’s, which is seriously encouraging considering how much more affordable the Amazfit is. The T-Rex 3 also used less than half the battery power of the Ultra 2 during my roughly 1.5-hour excursion.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs Amazfit T-Rex 3: Winner
Ultimately, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 wins this walk test battle by one of the thinnest margins I’ve encountered, and with the exception of one oddly inflated elevation data point, the Amazfit T-Rex 3 proved just as reliable as the Ultra 2, despite costing $520 less.
Still, the weird climb data is worth taking note of, particularly if you’re someone like me who spends a lot of time recreating in the mountains. However, more testing on the T-Rex 3 is needed to say for sure whether this was a one-off or something more persistent, as seems to be the case with the cheaper Amazfit Active 2.
I’m in the process of writing a complete review of the Amazfit T-Rex 3, so, stay tuned for more coverage of all its marquee features, including offline maps with turn-by-turn directions, advanced workout training tools and a nifty voice-activated AI assistant.
