Amazfit Stratos review – in pictures
It’s big, bold and one helluva bargain - but you get what you pay for
Amazfit Stratos review – in pictures
This is the Amazfit Stratos – the latest in a line of wearables from Huami. It might not have the high-end performance or refined design details you’d expect from pricier brands, but if you don’t have cash to burn it’s a capable fitness-tracking device that looks the part. For £170 you get built-in GPS, a heart rate monitor and the ability to track a range of sports and activities, including running, swimming and cycling. When you’re not at the gym it’ll serve up notifications as well. All for more than £100 less than most of its competitors. But is it any good?
Design: The incredible bulk
At 46mm, the Stratos is chunkier than a lot of the best smartwatches around at the moment, but at 70g at least it’s on the light side, plus it comes with a very comfy silicone strap. The optical heart rate monitor on the underside It’s not going to turn heads, but it’s relatively minimalistic and won’t look out of place in the office or at the gym.
Build: Tough enough
There are three rather big buttons on the right-hand side of the Stratos, which, compared to some watches, stick out far too much. That’s not ideal considering its size, although they do make navigating through the OS a little easier when you’re working out. That lovely-looking display is made from 2.5D Gorilla Glass with a bezel round the edge that feels tough enough to take a few knocks, plus its water resistance rating has you covered for up to 50m of water should you fancy a spot of freediving.
Screen: Nice but dim
Unfortunately, the 1.34in 300×300 screen is disappointing in everything but bright daylight. There’ll be occasions when you won’t even realise it’s on, especially when looking at it from an angle. Luckily, you can adjust the brightness, but you’re never going to get a screen up to the standards of its competitors for half the price. Colours also looked a bit washed out sometimes, and not being able to read text when you’re working out can be irritating.
Software: Finger not quite on the button
The Stratos comes with Huami’s proprietary OS, which just isn’t as intuitive as it should be. For example, both the top and middle button are used for scrolling depending on what you’re doing. Sometimes the middle button confirms things and sometimes it takes you back to the home screen. It’s majorly frustrating. The navigation is made more awkward by the fact the touchscreen can sometimes lack responsiveness. There were times when it took a good 3 or 4 taps and swipes to get it to do what I wanted it to do.
Apps: Less is more
There isn’t an app store as such, but there are a few widgets available through Amazfit that you can activate and add to the watch, like a compass, alarm or weather forecast. For most people, that’s likely to be more than enough for what they need. There are some nice watch faces to try out and choice is limited, but the ones available really cover off the most popular styles. Does anyone really need tens of thousands to choose from anyway?
Features: Back to basics
The Stratos also comes with 4GB of storage for music. The way you upload music to the watch is easier if you’re on a PC, but you can get Android File Transfer if you’re on a Mac. You can also dig into its widgets, set alarms, and keep tabs on the weather. It also sends notifications to your wrists, including messages, app alerts and calls. What kind of smartwatch would it be otherwise? You can’t reply to them or create new ones, but it’s great to have.
Fitness tracking: A superhero
The Stratos really is a good all-rounder when it comes to sports, although it won’t automatically start and stop tracking, you have to do it manually – the hard bit is remembering which button does it. You can track the basics, including running, walking, cycling and swimming, but there are also modes for trail running, football, skiing and a range of indoor activities. GPS takes about 20 seconds to connect and doesn’t drop out once its locked on.
Data: More if you want it
The app offers a fairly decent display of stats from your workouts but if you’re disappointed with the data the watch covers, you can sync it up to Strava to give you some more granular results. Continuous heart rate tracking is off by default but when switched on it compares well to other wearables. You can add a Bluetooth chest strap or similar if you want more accurate results. The Stratos can also track V02max via Firstbeat, which gives you a better gauge of overall fitness and recovery time, meaning it can actually compete with some of the best fitness wearables on the market.
Battery: Five alive
Like all smartwatch battery promises, the amount of time you get out of the Stratos will depend on how you’re using it. According to Huami you should expect about five days and it lived up to that promise during the test. That’s an impressive performance for a smartwatch that serves up notifications, tracks fitness and covers heart rate tracking, meaning you should be able to eke even more out if you kept widget use to a minimum.
Amazbit Stratos Verdict
The Stratos is a decent fitness tracker that looks nice and is (fairly) cheap and cheerful. Its battery life is great, as is the range of activities it can keep tabs on, but the OS definitely needs work and the display is not as refined as its competitors, though. This adds unnecessary friction to the UI, which isn’t ideal for a device that’s meant to be worn 24/7. But then, you do get what you pay for. And if you want to track your fitness with a stylish device and don’t have a big budget, this is probably your best value option right now.
