Amazfit Stratos Overall Score: 8/10
The Design Score: 8.5/10
Ease of Usability Score: 7.5/10
Use of Information Score: 8.0/10
Motivation Score: 8.0/10
Advantages:
- Affordable cost
- Detailed measures and measurements of performance
- Monitors a variety of sporting events.
- Always shown on the screen.
Disadvantages:
- The app could be developed further.
- Although the overall appearance is one of sophistication, the design is somewhat bulky.
- Poor viewing angles
Huami just recently made an announcement that their new sports watch will be available internationally. It is known as the Amazfit Stratos, and it features integrated GPS, advanced performance metrics, and compatibility for over a dozen different types of sports.
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The Amazfit Pace sport-swatch has been given a facelift to become the company’s second-generation Smartwatches, the second generation Smartwatches. The low-cost tablet, which was released before the end of 2016, was quite amazing in terms of its hardware but left a little more to be desired in terms of its software. Many people were perplexed by the notion that it was made available for purchase without a reliable native application. It meant that you had to look at a lot of the information you got from your workouts by looking at your wristwatch.
Huami is participating in round two of the competition with the Amazfit Stratos. The company has collaborated with Firstbeat to provide sophisticated workout stats and Zepp Labs to provide real-time sports analytics for the next iteration of the product. The claim is that you will get accurate data that is usually only available on high-end equipment, but at a price that won’t completely break your budget.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been keeping track of my activity with an Amazfit Stratos. What I concluded from it is as follows:
The Design and Construction of the Amazfit Stratos
The Amazfit Stratos comes packaged in a package reminiscent of Apple’s, and inside you’ll find not just the device itself but also a 22mm quick-release silicone band. In addition, you’ll get a charging station with four magnetic pins and a short set of instructions.
The Amazfit Pace cannot even be compared to this watch in terms of its appearance or how it feels on the wrist. The watch is still circular, but the case has been updated to a tough design made of carbon fibre. It also features a polished ceramic bezel along with other water-resistant elements that have been blended to produce the lowest weight possible.
Once it comes to the way it looks, there is undeniably a lot to appreciate. The clock is striking to look at and exudes a considerably higher quality than its predecessor did in terms of its overall feel. In point of fact, it is highly reminiscent of the Garmin Forerunner 935, albeit with a slightly increased thickness. This is a wristwatch you can carry with confidence at any time of the day or night, whether you are working up a sweat at the gym or attending an important business event. In terms of its actual proportions, the wearable object has a diameter of 46 millimetres, and its total weight, including the band, comes in at a surprisingly low 70 grams.
The display on the clock measures 1.34 inches and is protected by a layer of 2.5D Gorilla Glass that is resistant to scratches and appears to be able to withstand a significant amount of abuse. The dimensions of the image are 320 by 300 pixels. Because the display’s bezel is made of zirconia ceramic, it reflects incident light, allowing it to remain lit at all times. On the front of the device is a light sensor, and it is this sensor that makes sure the screen has the right amount of light.
Even in bright sunlight, there is not much of a problem reading the display. Nevertheless, viewing quality does suffer from certain angles. In addition, I had some trouble reading the text on several of the panels. However, this was more of a problem with the scale of the fonts than with the quality of the display. You have the option of turning down the backlight in order to conserve battery life. However, doing so will result in decreased readability.
The watch operates on its own custom software platform, despite the fact that it is quite similar to Wear OS. Despite the fact that this means you won’t get a huge selection of apps, there are still a lot of different watch faces and other things to play around with. The three physical buttons made of stainless steel are located on the side of the device, and in order to navigate among the different displays, you can either tap the screen or swipe it with your finger.
To begin, you will need to start by pressing the button that is located in the upper right corner of the screen. Even while this can be a little bit frustrating at times, it does prevent inadvertently activating a feature. Clicking the physical buttons to navigate down or up through to the different functionalities, or sliding the screens left and right is all that is required after that. Additional taps will lead you to secondary screens that contain additional information and options, and swiping left on the screen will return you to the main screen. You also have the option of programming the centre button to start a pre-defined workout routine automatically, which will save you some time. When all is said and done, you will discover that navigating with the touchscreen is most likely the simplest way to move around.
At first, it may be difficult to gain a feel for how you are intended to traverse the environment. It takes a few days, but after that, it feels completely normal.
The Amazfit Stratos is similar to its predecessor in that it has built-in GPS and GLONASS, continuous heart rate monitoring, onboard space for songs, triaxial acceleration sensor, gyro, geomagnetic sensor, and barometric pressure sensor; however, it also adds some innovative features. You now have access to a more accurate heart-rate monitor, along with a faster 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage (of which 2 GB is usable), and 4 GB of total storage space. The connection is made using either Bluetooth 4.0 with minimal power consumption or Wi-Fi.
One such enhancement is the increased resistance to water. The splash-proof classification of IP68 that its predecessor had was significantly outclassed by the water resistance offered by Stratos, which can tolerate water up to a depth of fifty meters. It can also keep track of the number of times you go swimming, in addition to almost a dozen other athletic activities.
The battery life has remained essentially the same, which is a surprising feat considering the increase in specifications. The 280 mAh Li-Po battery has sufficient power to last for five days on a single charge, or for thirty-five hours with the GPS feature turned on. During my tests, I unequivocally determined that this was the case, therefore I decided to settle for providing myself with supplemental doses just sometimes. The battery capacity is quite respectable, taking into account that the screen is always active on the device.
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The Features and Functionalities of the Amazfit Stratos
It would take far too much time to go through all of the features that this watch has to offer, considering how feature-rich the device is. Therefore, I will give you a general idea of what you should anticipate happening.
It should come as no surprise that you won’t have any trouble pulling the fundamentals of activity tracking from Stratos. All through the day, the wristwatch will monitor your heart rate as well as your steps, distance travelled, calories burned, and workout sessions. At nighttime, it will split your sleep cycle into light sleep, deep sleep, and awake time. Aside from that, your pulse rate at rest will be measured first thing in the morning. Most of this information can be seen on the face of the watch, and more details can be found in the mobile app.
My most recent experience with the Amazfit Bip revealed that it is compatible with the MiFit app. It’s interesting to note that Stratos comes with its very own app for iOS and Android. I am unable to fathom why Huami would choose to do this. It’s possible that the creation of a new app was simpler than adapting the previous one because the company’s sports watch offers far more capability than the company’s other gadgets. You always have the choice to connect Stratos with your existing Strava account, should that be your preference.
You are ready to go once you have completed the first setup procedure, which needs you to install the most recent firmware update, register your fundamental information, and scan the QR code that is displayed on the watch face. My experience with associating devices over Bluetooth was quick and painless; I had no issues in this regard. You will notice, at some point, that the synchronization process is relatively sluggish and can take anywhere from thirty seconds to one minute to complete.
The default display of the application provides a summary of the activities that have occurred throughout the day. If you tap on just about any measure, you’ll be taken to a more complete summary, but it won’t be cluttered up with any statistics. On other screens, your information is organized by the day, the week, and the month.
You may switch between movement statistics, sports, and your profile using the tabs that run along the bottom of the screen. You will be able to check your daily summary, go further into the statistics of your training sessions, adjust the watch faces, and play around with various settings depending on which one of the options you select.
The navigation is straightforward, but I couldn’t get the feeling that more effort was put into developing the hardware of the device while the software was an afterthought in the design process. Despite this, the software does a good job of supplying you with all the information you need, even if it is on the more simplistic end of the spectrum.
Even while the equipment does not provide complete automatic detection for sports, it does track for extended periods of motion. So, in addition to reminding you not to sit for long periods of time, it will also mark your daily movements as “move,” “rapid walk,” etc.
Once it comes to the reliability of the data, the Amazfit Stratos will not let the user down. During the entirety of my testing, I had the Stratos on my right wrist and the Garmin Forerunner 935 on my left wrist. Aside from the data regarding the amount of time spent sleeping and the number of floors climbed, the majority of all the other statistics were fairly much more in synchronization. In terms of my resting heart rate, the Amazfit’s gadget showed that it was consistently roughly 4-5 beats higher than the Forerunner’s, although this may be because of the variation in how the two devices estimate it.
When it comes to monitoring athletic performance, though, the watch shines brightest. Running, walking, cycling, swimming, using an elliptical trainer, hiking, trail running, triathlon, tennis, soccer, and skiing are all supported activities by it.
This is a very remarkable list that should give companies like Garmin and Polar some food for thought. Huami has told me that future software updates will support more sports, and I don’t see any reason not to believe them.
The monitoring of each sport requires a unique approach that is tailored to the game. Consider the game of tennis, for instance. When you begin a workout on your watch, the device will keep tabs on your forehands, backhands, and serves, as well as your pulse rate and the number of calories you expend.
The incorporation of technologies from third-party partners like Zepp is a shrewd decision. Stratos uses Zepp’s algorithms to provide the basics, even though Zepp makes its own detectors for sports that give much more accurate measurements.
For tennis, this means that you will not receive comprehensive numbers in the same way that you would have if you purchased Zepp’s tennis sensor. The information you will receive is intended to preserve a record of your movements and ensure that you receive credit for your exercises rather than to delve deeper into your stats in an attempt to optimize your performance.
The thoroughness with which the running stats were compiled truly struck me. Obtaining the GPS signal is a simple and quick process, and both the watch and the app on the smartphone offer a variety of information. This contains the pace, the number of calories burnt, the speed, the frequency of steps taken, the average heart rate, the heart rate zones, the total number of steps taken, stride, and elevation. You will find that the app does an excellent job of monitoring most of these, and that going through the statistics post-run is very enjoyable. Additionally, the watch will make it possible for you to export the data it stores.
After monitoring my heart rate during three separate runs with both the Amazfit Stratos and the Forerunner, I discovered that their readings were very similar to one another.
As can be seen, the two are highly congruent with one another. There is a tiny error in the GPS distance tracking, with Stratos indicating approximately a 30-50 meter shortfall for every kilometre travelled. Still, because I live in the middle of London, the signal is sometimes messed up.
The decision that Huami took to collaborate with Firstbeat was unquestionably the best course of action. The maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), Recovery Time Advisor, and Training Load are some of the comprehensive performance indicators that this partnership adds to the wristwatch. You will also get your Real-Time Performance Condition, which is a very helpful sign that lets you keep track of when you start to feel tired and how this affects your overall function as it gets worse.
Then there are other stats unique to Firstbeat that you won’t find on too many other devices. Real-Time Coaching is one of these, and it guarantees that any form of training is completed in a manner that is safe, effective, and keeps you fit. Real-Time Coaching may be found here. Most of the information you receive will be in the form of reminders, such as “speed up,” “keep this pace,” and “slow down,” to help you reach your goal as quickly as possible.
The other one is Personalized Training Plans for Cardiovascular Exercises. This provides you with a customized exercise prescription based on whether you are concerned with preserving your present level of fitness or enhancing it. The prescription is based on how much time you have available to exercise each week. You also have the ability to choose the type of physical exercise as well as the level of passion with which you can approach your objective.
Dedicated runners and athletes who are interested in making improvements to their performance will find these training tools to be of particular interest.
The watch will function normally when it is being worn in the pool. The statistics are not as extensive as those for running, but you will still receive information on your pace, strokes, laps, kind of stroke, number of strokes, SWOLF, and even more. In the water, navigating the watch display may be challenging. Nevertheless, you will find that the tactile buttons on the side of the watch are far more helpful than the touchscreen.
You probably already guessed that the sports watch has features that are unrelated to physical activity. This includes alerts for incoming calls, messages, calendar events, emails, and notifications from other applications. You’ll also have direct access to real-time weather forecasts, a stopwatch, a compass, an alarm, and a feature that lets you find your phone.
There is a memory for music on board so that users may work out without having to worry about their phones. In order to start the playback, you would require a pair of headphones that are wireless and compatible with Bluetooth.
The watch must first be charged and then placed in its charging cradle for the music to be transferred from the watch to the computer. When you have the appropriate software installed, the watch will show up on your computer as a disk. Then all you need to do is drag and drop MP3 files into the watch’s music folder. The procedure as a whole is not very complicated, and I had no trouble transferring songs to the device in a short amount of time.
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Conclusions and Recommendations Regarding the Amazfit Stratos
The Amazfit Stratos is one of the few sports watches that can compete with its extensive list of features. This aesthetically pleasing GPS watch keeps a close eye on a number of different sports, each of which has its own performance indicators, in addition to monitoring your activities all around the day. It protects against water and lets you play the music that has been remotely saved, among other features.
The business has unquestionably raised the bar for itself, and it now has a robust portfolio that has the potential to win over clients who previously shopped at Garmin and Polar. Its most recent Smartwatches includes most of the capabilities that are available on more expensive products produced by its competitors, in addition to certain brand new capabilities. Even more importantly, the Amazfit Stratos is able to perform well in all aspects and deliver reliable statistics. Clearly, there is a lot to appreciate about this.
If I were to search for drawbacks, I would point out that the navigation on the wristwatch requires some practice before becoming second nature. Even though the monitor is always on, the viewing quality can be compromised from certain angles. In conclusion, the mobile app does a respectable job, but there is clearly potential for development.
When everything is taken into account, the Amazfit Stratos is an innovative smartwatch that provides outstanding value for the money. You’ll have a hard time finding a sports watch that offers as much for the money as this one does. To put it more succinctly, the tool is powerful without being prohibitively expensive.
