In this review, we’ll compare the key features, design, sports functionality, and battery life of Amazfit T-rex 2 vs. Garmin Instinct Crossover smartwatches. These two smartwatches provide tons of awesome features but differ in many terms. Ultimately, the comparison will help you choose which watch to buy. So, check out below how these smartwatches compare.
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Garmin Instinct Crossover
Recently, Garmin announced an addition of a new rugged smartwatch to its Instinct family. As the name suggests, Garmin Instinct Crossover combines a hybrid analog and multisport smartwatch with GPS.
Launched on 8th Nov 2022, it houses luminescent analog hands and a digital display. This smartwatch is an upgrade over the Garmin Instinct 2 with its new RevoDrive technology. It can calibrate the analog hands to provide accurate timekeeping even after harsh impacts.
Amazfit T-rex 2
Released on 24th May 2022, Amazfit T-rex 2 is a chunky but cost-effective smartwatch that rivals Garmin Instinct Crossover in features. Its durability, rugged build, and dual-band GPS make it an outdoor watch through and through.
Amazfit T-rex 2 is brimming with top-notch sports functionality, making it a great watch for people who love adventure. If you are on a budget and need a high-performing smartwatch, this one is for you.
Amazfit T-rex 2 vs. Garmin Instinct Crossover: Design and Display
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Garmin Instinct Crossover features a MIL-STD-810 rugged build making it an excellent choice to wear while performing extreme sports. It boasts a dual-layered bezel housing a sunlight-visible transflective display with a 176 x 176 resolution.
The MIP display consumes less battery power than an AMOLED one. A new Super-LumiNova coating covers its analog hands and hours marks to make them glow in the dark and offer easy readability. Five buttons allow easy access through a menu, and the hands will swing out of the way when you navigate the menu.
Plus, this smartwatch also has a 10ATM water-resistant rating that allows you to wear it while swimming up to 100 meters of water. Garmin Instinct Crossover is shock and thermal-resistant.
Amazfit T-rex 2
Amazfit T-rex 2 features a touchscreen AMOLED display with a 454 x 454 resolution. The screen stands out due to its large size and clear view in direct sunlight. A military-grade build allows it to be shock, humidity, cold, heat, and salt-spray resistant.
Moreover, it passed 15 military-grade tests, which is enough evidence of its ruggedness and durability. This smartwatch comes with four buttons for navigation if you have wet fingers and the exposed screws on the bezel that complete its rugged look.
However, there are no other options in the design to make it less bulky. Amazfit T-rex 2 has the same 10ATM water resistance rating as Garmin Instinct Crossover.
Amazfit T-rex 2 vs. Garmin Instinct Crossover: Smart Features
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Garmin Instinct Crossover comes with a multitude of smart features to meet your wellness and fitness goals. It boasts RevoDrive technology to auto-calibrate time after harsh impact and a built-in Airoha GPS chipset that offers unparalleled location accuracy.
In addition, multi-GNSS support also allows tracking while hiking, biking, or skiing. A TrackBack feature provides breadcrumb navigation support if you plan on retaking the same route.
More features include smartphone notifications and an incident detection sensor to send your live location to your contacts automatically. This smartwatch helps navigate elevation, weather, and trails with an altimeter, barometer, and a 3-axis compass.
The Tactical Edition of this device encompasses night vision compatibility and a stealth mode to disable GPS and wireless connectivity. A kill switch will wipe user memory if a security issue arises.
It also boasts a VO2 Max, a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, stress, energy reserves, and blood oxygen sensors to track your health and fitness. Although this smartwatch has no music app, it offers the Garmin Connect app and IQ support, and contactless payments via Garmin Pay.
Amazfit T-rex 2
Amazfit T-rex 2 features a GPS with multiband support, accurate positioning, Wi-Fi, and 5.0 Bluetooth connectivity. It boasts full-colored maps and a BackTrack functionality to trace your path back to the starting position. You can also import routes from the Zepp app.
Other features include 24-hour stress level, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate monitoring. A PAI health assessment system obtains data from daily tasks and workouts and assesses health, while a SomnusCare technology tracks sleep cycles.
It features a temperature sensor for acute measurements and allows tracking of breathing and menstrual cycles. A PeakBeat algorithm calculates maximum oxygen uptake, recovery time, training load, and effect. This device also comes equipped with a barometer, compass, and altimeter, like Garmin Instinct Crossover.
However, its Zepp app is not advanced like the Garmin Connect app and does not show deep fitness and wellness tracking metrics. Also, it doesn’t provide contactless payment and smartphone notification options.
Amazfit T-rex 2 vs. Garmin Instinct Crossover: Key Sports Specifications
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Garmin Instinct Crossover houses triathlon modes, including HIIT, AMRAP, EMOM, Tabata, and mountain biking. A Jumpstarter mode allows you to calculate high-release points, while preloaded sports modes offer virtual running, golf, yoga, indoor climbing, swimming, and strength training.
Furthermore, this smartwatch suggests daily workouts by taking into account your fitness level and load training. You can also add custom sports and track trail difficulty, running power, and recovery rate.
Amazfit T-rex 2
Amazfit T-rex 2 delivers 15o+ professional sports modes for adventurers that you can customize. It houses a built-in ExerSensor for eight sports modes, including outdoor running, cycling, walking, indoor walking, treadmill, swimming, rowing, and elliptical. The sensor will recognize your movement as soon as you open one of the eight sports modes.
You can also create your own training templates like warm-ups and cool down for 11 different sports in the Zepp app. Additionally, you can set your watch to automatically change training stages based on your health and fitness metrics.
Amazfit T-rex 2 vs. Garmin Instinct Crossover: Battery Performance
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Garmin Instinct Crossover has 28 days of battery life and 70 days in solar with daily use. However, it offers several modes for longer battery life. In battery saver mode, it can last up to 71 days, and unlimited days in solar with daily use. In GPS mode, it provides up to 111 hours of battery life and 533 hours in solar with daily use.
Amazfit T-rex 2
Amazfit T-rex 2 provides 24 days of battery life with daily use and ten days with heavy usage. In GPS accuracy mode, this smartwatch can last for 26 hours, in power-saving GPS mode, up to 58 hours, and in battery-saving mode, for 45 days.
Amazfit T-rex 2 vs. Garmin Instinct Crossover: Pricing
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Garmin Instinct Crossover is available in two editions. The Standard Edition with solar battery is available at $549.99, and without solar, the same edition is available at $499.99. Whereas the Tactical Edition is available only with a solar battery at $599.99.
Amazfit T-rex 2
Amazfit T-rex 2 comes in only one Edition with a regular price of $229.99. Currently, you can buy it for $189.99 from Amazfit official site. This smartwatch is available in four colors Khaki, Astro Black & Gold, Ember Black, and Wild Green.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs. Amazfit T-rex 2: Which one to buy?
By now, you must know which watch to choose if you’ve read our above comparison of Garmin Instinct Crossover and Amazfit T-rex 2. Both devices have their own strengths. However, if you are still confused, we suggest purchasing Garmin Instinct Crossover.
Although it’s almost double the price of the Amazfit T-rex 2, it won’t disappoint you in terms of health, fitness, and GPS metrics accuracy. You can also share your live location automatically with your contacts in case of an incident.
The analog hands of this device won’t give you trouble while navigating the menu. They also have the ability to provide night visibility and auto-calibrate when met with an incident.
Other unique specifications of Garmin Instinct Crossover include tactical activity tracking, triathlon sports modes, SMS, and contactless payments. It is also compatible with both Android and iOS phones.
Moreover, this device has a longer battery life of 28 days. With solar charging, you can expect the battery to provide unlimited hours of juice during workouts. Also, its transflective MIP screen ensures it consumes less power than an AMOLED screen.
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