Amazfit is a fantastic fitness tracker brand if you are on a tight budget — think under $200 — but testing it side by side against a premium Garmin watch reveals its flaws. You often 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 exactly this.
I wore both watches at the same time for more than a month to see if a budget buy could compete against a premium one, and the answer might have less to do with the watches and more with what you’re looking to get from them.
Amazfit vs Garmin: My experience
Round 1: Hardware
You would think there would be a big difference in the look and feel of a fitness tracker that costs $100 and one that costs more than $1,000, but Amazfit surprised me here. This is its (and the brand’s) biggest 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 slightly more pixels, so stats and notifications look 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 case and sapphire crystal screen, built-in flashlight and five button controls. But all of that makes the watch much heavier and thicker than the Active 2.
I enjoy using the Fenix 8 more, the five buttons and built-in flashlight are endlessly useful, but most people I spoke with thought the Active 2 was more sleek and stylish, and I can see why. This one is all about 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. Both Amazfit and Garmin throw a lot of stats, charts, percentages and proper nouns around in their respective apps. And both are overwhelming for anyone brand new to fitness trackers.
Garmin’s, while not amazing, is a bit clearer than Amazfit’s. While it’s overwhelming at first, it’s endlessly customizable, and after a few weeks of testing, I set up my app home page to show exactly what I find valuable at a glance, including things like training readiness, training status, previous workouts and sleep score.
I never felt as comfortable using the Zepp Health app (for Amazfit trackers), by comparison. There are just a little too many charts, graphs and terminology. It unabashedly uses acronyms like ATL (Acute Training Load), CTL (Chronic Training Load) and TSB (Training Stress Balance) where Garmin would either spell them out or avoid them entirely.
Winner: Garmin
Round 3: Mapping and navigation
The Amazfit Active 2 starts to show its biggest weakness when you start getting in the weeds with fitness and outdoor features.
The Amazfit Active 2’s GPS is less accurate than Garmin’s, full stop. Looking at GPS map data from my outdoor runs, the Amazfit would often place me near roads I was running on, but not actually on them. Running in NYC parks, it would often put me on trails near the main path, but not actually on the main path. This only got worse when I did hill training: the Garmin kept my GPS line on the hill path as I ran back and forth, while Amazfit’s made it seem like I was running off the path every time.
I’m not surprised by these results as 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 from a satellite, multi-band devices listen to two or more, leading to more direct location tracking)
Add onto that the fact that the Garmin Fenix 8 is much better for navigation than the Amazfit Active 2. The Fenix 8 has full offline topographical maps, with navigation and automatic rerouting if you go off course. The Active 2 has offline maps and navigation, but it’s very basic by comparison.
Winner: Garmin
Amazfit vs Garmin: What features do you really need?
Comparing the Amazfit Active 2 and the Garmin Fenix 8 is less about the individual watches and more about what you need your fitness tracker to do. The Amazfit Active 2 is the sensible choice for a lot of people. It looks and feels great, especially for its $100. So do the $250 Apple Watch SE 3 or Garmin Forerunner 165, to be fair. Most people don’t need all the advanced features and tracking the almost $1,100 Fenix 8 has to offer.
But Garmin is the clear winner for anyone devoted to outdoor fitness. The brand is, at its core, a mapping and navigation company, with more than 30 years of history in that field. It is the standard bearer for accurate outdoor navigation — nearly everyone I see doing any long distance running or cycling is using a Garmin. Remember: the brand makes navigation equipment for airplanes — 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 leverage that expertise: the brand has plenty of great options under $500.
Amazfit, by comparison, just turned 10, and solely makes wearables. Its products look and feel great, and largely undercut Garmin across the board on price. But it lacks the polish and confidence Garmin does, and that is 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 with different clothes and sleeves, and how easy it was to use each one.
- Fitness and health: I did more than a dozen outdoor walks, runs and bike rides, plus indoor strength training workouts. I tracked and monitored stats like heart rate, pace and time, as well as recovery metrics post-workout.
- GPS Tracking: I compared GPS data between the watches, and used each to navigate short distances.
- Apps and user-experience: I spent hours in each watch’s menus and apps, exploring what each offers out of the box and what could be fine-tuned to my preferences.
- Battery life: I made note of how many times I had to charge each device over a one month period.
I requested the watches from each brand — both brands sent me devices to test out for this review.
Why trust NBC Select?
I’m a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology, fitness and outdoors, including stories on wireless earbuds, fitness trackers and camping for beginners. I’ve been testing fitness trackers for years — I try new models constantly, comparing them against previous versions and similar competitors. I leveraged my experience testing fitness trackers, smartwatches and smart rings to compare the Amazfit Active 2 and Garmin Fenix 8, wearing both for more than a month in the process.
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