Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro Review: Serious Running Watch, Real Price

What it is

The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro is Amazfit's most ambitious running watch to date, arriving roughly three years after the brand last made a serious push in the performance running space. Built with titanium and sapphire glass, it targets competitive runners who want premium materials and serious tracking without paying Garmin Fenix or Apple Watch Ultra money. The price hike over its predecessor is around 50 percent, which shifts this firmly into the mid-to-upper tier of the running watch market. If you have seen the watch on the wrists of elite athletes like Josh Kerr running a 3:42.66 mile at the London Diamond League or Yomif Kejelcha breaking the half marathon world record in Buenos Aires, that is not accidental. Amazfit is using those sponsorships deliberately to signal that this is no longer a budget-curious gadget.

Key specs

• GPS chipset: Multi-band GNSS (exact chipset not disclosed in available sources)
• Battery life: Specific GPS hours not confirmed in available sources
• Sensors: Wrist-based PPG optical sensor for heart rate and HRV, SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation via optical sensor), barometric altimeter for pressure-based altitude tracking
• Display: Not specified in available sources
• Weight: Not confirmed in available sources
• Water resistance: Swim-tested according to review testing across swimming, suggesting meaningful water resistance
• Build: Titanium case, sapphire crystal lens

Performance in the real world

The clearest signal of where Amazfit thinks this watch sits is the company's decision to sponsor two of the most technically demanding performances in recent track and road racing. When Josh Kerr wore a custom Cheetah 2 Pro while running the mile world record at London, Amazfit released lap splits, heart rate, and cadence data from the session. The five-krunner flagged that at least one number in that release does not reconcile cleanly, which is worth keeping in mind when interpreting Amazfit's marketing materials around elite usage. That kind of scrutiny matters because it points to a brand still learning how to communicate performance data credibly, even if the hardware itself has taken a genuine step forward.

The review at the5krunner tested the Cheetah 2 Pro across running, cycling, and swimming with Garmin, Polar, and Stryd as references. That is a serious benchmark setup. GPS accuracy and heart rate during hard efforts are the two areas where running watches either earn trust or lose it permanently, and the fact that the review used Stryd as a reference means the GPS and pace data were held to a high standard. Specific numerical results from those tests are behind a subscriber paywall in the source, but the framing is that this is Amazfit's first watch capable of going up against Garmin and Polar in a direct performance comparison, not just on price.

The wrist optical PPG sensor measures blood volume changes to derive heart rate and HRV. During easy running, modern optical sensors on watches at this price point are generally reliable. The real test is high-intensity efforts, where wrist movement and vasoconstriction can introduce lag and inaccuracy. The Zepp app (Amazfit's companion software) has historically been a weak point for the brand compared to Garmin Connect or Polar Flow, particularly around training load analysis and third-party integrations. Whether the Cheetah 2 Pro's hardware improvements are matched by software maturity is a legitimate open question.

The barometric altimeter uses air pressure to calculate elevation, which is more accurate for climbing data than GPS-derived altitude alone. For trail runners or cyclists with significant elevation gain, this matters. For road runners, it is less critical but still a sign that the spec sheet is complete.

Who it's for / who should skip it

This watch is for the competitive recreational runner who trains seriously, follows splits, and wants a watch that looks and feels like a premium product without defaulting automatically to Garmin. If you run sub-40 10ks, track your HRV daily, and care about lap-by-lap data from races, the Cheetah 2 Pro is worth your attention. The titanium and sapphire build also means it survives daily wear without looking scratched within six months, which matters if you wear your running watch all day.

Skip it if you are deep in the Garmin ecosystem. Garmin Connect, Garmin's training readiness tools, and the breadth of third-party integrations that Garmin supports are things you do not give up lightly. The Forerunner 965 or Forerunner 265 are direct competitors, and both carry years of software refinement behind them. Skip it also if you need confirmed, independent GPS accuracy numbers before committing. The elite sponsorship story is compelling marketing, but it is not the same as a clean independent benchmark showing sub-5-meter GPS accuracy across varied terrain.

Polar Pacer Pro is another comparison point. It costs less, lacks the premium materials, but has Polar's excellent training load and recovery tools. If software depth beats build quality for you, Polar is the better call at a lower price.

Verdict

The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro is the most credible running watch Amazfit has built, and the titanium and sapphire construction at this price tier is genuinely hard to argue with. The elite sponsorships are marketing, but they are not embarrassing the watch in the process. Until independent GPS and heart rate accuracy numbers are fully published and confirmed, buying this over a Garmin Forerunner 965 requires some faith in the brand's trajectory rather than its proven track record.