Amazfit T-Rex 3 in testing

A robust outdoor smartwatch and sports watch at half the price of the Garmin Fenix ​​8, Amazfit’s T-Rex 3 offers a lot for 300 euros. We tested the watch.

With the T-Rex 3, Amazfit is now offering an excellent sports watch and outdoor smartwatch in its third generation that wants to compete with companies like Garmin. The rugged smartwatch has everything you need for an outdoor and sports watch, but at a significantly lower price. We tested the T-Rex 3 with excellent value for money. This test report shows whether it is a good alternative to expensive watches.

At first glance, the T-Rex 3 is very reminiscent of its predecessor. If you look closely, you can see the difference: the metal housing now has an octagonal shape. This reflects the strong character of the sports watch, it is not without reason that the carnivorous dinosaur is named after it.

Compared to its predecessor, the OLED display has grown to 1.5 inches. The resolution is 480 × 480 pixels and therefore looks very sharp. The watch is also easy to read outdoors in sunlight, thanks to a maximum brightness of up to 2000 nits according to the manufacturer. The display is protected by tough Gorilla Glass – although it may not be as strong as sapphire glass.

The case is quite roomy and thick with dimensions of 48.5 × 48.5 × 13.8 mm. The weight of 68 grams is almost the same as its predecessor and slightly less than the Fenix ​​8 with 47 mm. The workmanship of the case is excellent and looks sturdy. Only the plastic bracelet looks a bit cheap and reminiscent of digital watches from the 1990s. It is available in attractive red or dark black color.

The T-Rex 3 is once again very robust and meets some of the tests of the US military standard MIL-STD-810H (Report: H202406062670-01EN), although not as much as its predecessor. The watch can withstand water pressure up to 10 atm (100 m water column) and is EN13319 and ISO 6425 compliant. The T-Rex 3 didn’t accumulate any scratches in testing, but we didn’t find the case completely perfect. Resistant to scratches. But falling from a height of 1.5 meters would hardly cause any harm to it. The sports watch is also designed for extreme temperatures. There is a cold mode that you need to activate. It operates at -10°C and is designed down to -30°C. The clock should run up to 70°C.

In addition to the touchscreen, there are also four buttons for status – the same ones known from its predecessor or the Garmin Fenix. The two left buttons function as up or down arrow keys. The top right button is used to select a function and you can also assign a specific function when you are on the home screen of the watch. We decided to use the button to access the training menu. At the bottom right is the Back button, which can also be programmed for home screen mode.

There are also swipe gestures for touchscreens, and swiping left opens an app overview. If you swipe up, you get an overview with widgets that are displayed as cards. These can be configured independently in the app or watch settings. A gesture to the right takes you to notifications, which can also be customized for each desired app. You can access Settings by swiping down.

Anyone who has already used Amazfit watches will find their way around immediately. To set it up, users need to install the Zepp app and then pair the watch with their smartphone using a QR code. T-Rex 3 runs Zepp on both Android and iOS.

In the Zepp app, users can find all the data that their smartwatch collects, processes. The app has undergone a major redesign with Zepp OS 4 and it’s very noticeable. There is now a general “overview” of the most important data under the “Start” main menu. There’s also a “Readiness” tab, which uses activity and sleep data to show how efficient the watch wearer is. But you will always have to wear the watch, even while sleeping. Under Sleep you’ll find information about your sleep quality, while under “Effort” you’ll find all the activities and training you’ve done, as well as how close you are to your predetermined daily goal.

At the bottom you’ll find other menu items next to “Start”, such as “Training”, “Aura” and “Devices”. Under Training you will find all the workouts, training plans and paid Zepp coaches. Here you can get suggestions from AI via chat and access additional assessments. To do this, you need to subscribe to Zepp Fitness for 4 euros per month (much cheaper with an annual subscription of 20 euros).

The “aura,” so to speak, is the T-Rex 3’s ambient zone and offers detailed sleep analysis as well as guided mediations, an AI chatbot, and a sleep trainer. However, the service is also paid with a separate package. For Zepp Aura Premium you will have to pay about 10 euros per month (or only 70 euros per year). Our tip: A one-year gift card of Zepp Aura Premium is available for only 30 euros.

The watch is configured under “Devices”. Here you can set the order of the app list, which cards are shown in the widget area, which apps trigger notifications and whether you want to connect the watch to the cell phone’s calendar. The latter did not always work perfectly, so with Android smartphones we often received notifications for entries on Google Calendar that we had deleted a long time ago in the browser or on our smartphone. There is at least an image preview with WhatsApp, even if there are only predefined reply options.

The tracking and training options for the T-Rex 3 are extensive. The watch records sleep and divides it into stages such as light sleep, deep sleep or REM. Based on these findings, the watch outputs a readiness level – an index intended to assess the wearer’s performance. Like many other watches, sleep tracking doesn’t always accurately detect wakefulness stages, so we found it appreciated for longer sleep periods after a sleepless night. The more often you wear the watch, the more reliable the assessment becomes.

There’s a lot for athletes too. The T-Rex 3 offers an impressive 177 sports modes, including new trend sports like Hyperox, of which Amazfit is a sponsor. The spectrum ranges from cardio to strength training and diving. Even interval training is possible. Almost everything is available here as a sports watch. It also has automatic training detection, the sensitivity of which can be adjusted. It works for running, cycling, and many other bodyweight exercises.

Like all Amazfit watches, the T-Rex 3 uses PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) to evaluate activity data using an algorithm. The PAI value is based on age, sex, resting heart rate, and heart rate over the past seven days. Value increases with intensive training.

The T-Rex 3 also records steps, distance covered, calories burned, stress levels, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. The watch also reminds you to exercise regularly. For special workouts such as outdoor running, trail running or track running, VO2max is calculated and displayed in real time. The pulse measurements we found were very accurate and had only minimal deviations from other reference devices.

A GPS is integrated into the watch and provides very accurate location. If you go hiking, you can also check out a map of the area, which you can download in advance in the app. However, this only allows return route navigation, not free orientation using maps. A barometer is built in to help record altitude data on routes.

The internal memory is about 32 GB and, in addition to the card and applications, allows you to save music files – but not playlists from Spotify & Co. At least you can control music playback through Spotify, but it doesn’t work right away. However, the apps offered on the Amazfit are generally manageable and limited to a few tools. There are no extensive apps like those found in Wear OS or Watch OS.

Alex or Google Assistant integration is not possible. However, the T-Rex 3 has its own voice assistant integrated, which also works offline. It allows executing some predefined commands. By default, you activate the Assistant with a quick twist of your wrist.

We miss some other features of the smartwatch. The watch emits annoying noises (called buzzers) through the loudspeaker during training, but playback of calls – and thus making calls – is not possible with the T-Rex 3. There is also a microphone integrated here – which remains a mystery to us. It is possible to pay with Zepp Pay, even though only a few banks work with this service in this country.

One of the biggest features of the T-Rex 3 is its battery life. In testing, the watch lasted an average of 19 days. We wore the watch all day and even at bedtime, and completed four workouts and long walks a week. According to Amazfit, up to 27 days should be possible. If you use GPS or the always-on display a lot, the running time is significantly reduced. But even with a permanently active display and lots of activities, the watch can easily last for more than a week.

For charging, Amazfit includes a magnetic charging plate along with a USB-C port. You will have to provide the charger yourself. This requires some patience, as the entire charging process takes about three hours. It’s nice that the watch rarely needs charging.

rrp is close 300 eurosThe red bracelet version is already available 279 euros To keep. This is a reasonable price for the device.

The Amazfit T-Rex 3 impresses as an affordable and robust sports watch and outdoor smartwatch. Like previous models, the third generation also offers an excellent price-performance ratio that is only a fraction of the price of the current top sports watches from Garmin or Polar.

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The battery life is amazing, the OLED display is very sharp and brilliantly bright. The three-digit number of training profiles ensures there’s something for every sport. Thanks to the sturdy housing, the sports watch is ready for even an outdoor adventure. It’s a shame that only a limited range of apps are available. We also miss a telephony function. Charging also takes a long time.