Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro Review: Titanium Running Watch Tested Against Garmin

The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro is the most serious watch Amazfit has shipped in years. Titanium case, sapphire crystal, and a price tag that has jumped roughly 50% over its predecessor. That puts it in direct competition with the Garmin Forerunner 965 and Polar Vantage V3, not the budget tier where Amazfit usually lives.

On the wrist, the optical PPG sensor tracks heart rate via blood volume changes through light, and early testing against Polar H10 chest strap references shows it holds up well at steady aerobic paces. Hard intervals are the usual weak spot for wrist optical sensors, and the Cheetah 2 Pro is no exception. When cadence spikes above 180 steps per minute, expect occasional dropout or lag versus a chest ECG strap.

GPS accuracy was tested against Stryd footpod data across road and trail running, plus cycling. The multi-band GNSS locks fast and distance figures are competitive with Garmin's dual-frequency implementation. Swimming data is clean. The Coros Pace 3 still edges it on battery-to-price ratio, but the Cheetah 2 Pro offers more polish in hardware and software than any previous Amazfit.

The Tymewear VitalPro chest strap also surfaced this week at £299, claiming ventilation metrics without a metabolic cart. Chest straps measure electrical cardiac impulses, not blood flow. Ventilation estimation on top of that ECG signal is genuinely ambitious. Separately, EU Garmin users running iOS 26.5 are getting Live Activities and wrist replies, features Apple Watch owners have held for years.

Verdict: the Cheetah 2 Pro is a real contender at its price point. Not flawless on optical HR during hard efforts. But the build quality and GPS put it ahead of where Amazfit has been, and that matters.