The Amazfit Balance 2 is shaking up the premium GPS smartwatch market with a spec sheet that rivals much more expensive competitors. Priced at just $249, it packs features like a bright 1.5-inch AMOLED display protected by sapphire glass, multi-band GNSS for precise tracking, offline maps, a speaker and microphone, and an impressive three-week battery life.
In this detailed Amazfit Balance 2 review, weβll explore everything from design and hardware specs to health metrics, GPS accuracy, and the overall user experience. Weβll also compare it to some of the top-tier Garmin watches to see how it stacks up and whether itβs worth your investment.
- Built for Performance and Style: The sleek aluminum body and 1.5" durable sapphire crystal glass screen of the Balance 2 smart watch offer a premium, resilient design, while dual speakers provide clear audio cues during training.
- Train Longer Without Interruptions: With up to 21 days of battery life under typical use, you can power through every workout, adventure, and routine with less time spent charging and more time focused on performance.
- Precision Meets Passion: Train across 170+ sports with advanced multisport tracking, including industry-first official HYROX training and competition modes, downloadable maps for 40,000 golf courses, and professional-grade SCUBA diving support.
- Industry-Leading GPS & Offline Maps: Balance 2 can accurately track your every move with dual-band support from six satellite systems for fast, reliable connection. You can also download free maps and get turn-by-turn directions.
- 24/7 Health Monitoring: Monitor your energy levels throughout the day while the advanced sensor and algorithms ensure precise, real-time monitoring of heart rate, sleep quality, blood-oxygen, and stress, plus recovery metrics like HRV.
Key Takeaways
- Price: $249 β a fraction of comparable Garmin watches
- Battery Life: Up to 21 days in smartwatch mode, 33 hours GPS, extendable to 67 hours with power-saving
- Unique Selling Point: Premium build with sapphire AMOLED display, multi-band GNSS, offline maps, and innovative BioCharge energy metric
Design and Hardware Overview
The Amazfit Balance 2 comes in a 47mm diameter case, measuring about 12.3mm thick, which puts it squarely in the size range of premium multisport watches like the Garmin Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Despite its size, the Balance 2 is surprisingly light, weighing approximately 49 grams without the band and 66 grams with the included silicone strap, according to Amazfitβs official specifications.
The watch case is made from gunmetal gray aluminum with a subtle blue tint around the bezel, lending it a premium, understated look. The sides are a continuous aluminum frame, including the two physical buttons β the lower one launches the activity menu, while the top button doubles as a digital crown for scrolling and opens the app menu. The back case is plastic, housing the new BioTracker 6.0 PPG heart rate sensor, which also measures blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and skin temperature.
The Balance 2 is water resistant to 10 atmospheres (100 meters), doubling the water resistance of its predecessor, the Balance 1, making it suitable for swimming and even outdoor free diving activities.
Band Options
While the watch case is available in just one color, Amazfit offers two band choices: a standard black silicone band and a striking βlavaβ deep orange option. Both add a sporty flair and are comfortable for all-day wear.
Display
The standout hardware feature on the Balance 2 is its 1.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with a high resolution of 480 Γ 480 pixels. It can reach up to 2,000 nits brightness, ensuring excellent readability even under direct sunlight during outdoor activities like running or cycling. The screen is protected by sapphire crystal, a material typically reserved for high-end watches like the Garmin Fenix 8, known for its extreme scratch resistance.
One minor caveat is that the sapphire screen tends to accumulate fingerprints and smudges easily, especially if you have sweaty hands during workouts, requiring occasional wiping to maintain clarity.
Zepp OS 5 and User Interface
The Amazfit Balance 2 runs on Zepp OS 5, the latest iteration of Amazfitβs operating system. The interface is smooth and responsive, with a fully customizable watch face that you can change by holding your finger on the screen and swiping through pre-installed options or downloading more from the Zepp app on your phone.
The Zepp app store offers a variety of watch faces and apps, including unique options like GoPro and phone camera controls, which add versatility beyond fitness tracking.
Navigation Through the Interface
- Swipe down: Quick settings menu
- Swipe up: Notifications from your phone
- Swipe left/right: Cycle through widgets such as BioCharge, daily activity, weather animation, heart rate, and quick activity launchers
- Top right button: Opens app menu with access to workouts, maps, weather, heart rate, and more
New Golf App and Maps
A notable new feature is the golf app, which lets golfers download detailed maps of local courses. These maps are highly detailed, showing yards, par for holes, trees, sand traps, water hazards, and even golf cart paths. You can zoom in and out smoothly and keep score directly on the watch.
While Iβm not a golfer myself, this is an impressive addition for golf enthusiasts looking for a dedicated smartwatch feature.
Music Storage and Playback
The Balance 2 comes with 32GB of internal storage, which you can use to store MP3 music files and offline maps. You can transfer MP3 files via the Zepp app and play them back through the watchβs internal speaker or connect Bluetooth earbuds directly to the watch.
However, the watch does not support streaming services like Spotify or Amazon Music, limiting music playback to locally stored files only.
Jet Lag Manager
A new health feature called Jet Lag Manager helps you manage fatigue from time zone changes. You can add upcoming trips in the Zepp app, and the watch provides guidance to help your body adjust. I havenβt fully tested this feature yet, but it appears similar to functionality offered by other brands.
Zepp Flow AI Voice Assistant
The Balance 2 features Zepp Flow, an AI voice assistant powered by ChatGPT technology. You can activate it by holding the top right button or selecting it from the app menu. Zepp Flow allows you to:
- Adjust volume and brightness
- Launch workouts and apps
- Start activities like running
- Ask general questions (e.g., βWho directed Jurassic Park?β)
- Control watch features such as the flashlight
From my experience, Zepp Flow is one of the more capable voice assistants on smartwatches, responding quickly and accurately to commands.
Health and Wellness Tracking with BioCharge and Exertion
The Balance 2 integrates tightly with Amazfitβs ecosystem of devices, including the new Helio Ring and Helio Strap, allowing you to consolidate health data in a single app. This flexibility means you can choose the device that suits your lifestyle without losing data continuity.
Sleep Tracking
The watch offers detailed sleep tracking with a sleep score and AI-generated insights. It tracks sleep duration, regularity, deep sleep, REM, and awake times. However, the sleep score tends to be generous, often rating sleep quality higher than I felt subjectively or than other metrics suggested.
BioCharge: Your Daily Energy Meter
BioCharge is perhaps the most exciting new feature. It gives you a zero-to-100 score estimating how much energy you have left throughout the day. Ideally, you wake up close to 100, and the score decreases as you expend energy via activity and lifestyle factors.
This metric replaces the older readiness score, which I found static and overly generous in previous Amazfit watches. BioCharge is dynamic and sensitive to your behaviors, such as exercise intensity and alcohol consumption, giving a more accurate picture of your energy reserves.
Exertion Score
The exertion tab suggests how active you should be based on AI-generated workout recommendations. It tracks your current exertion and fatigue levels, helping you balance training and recovery. The fitness level and training load metrics provide useful insights, though some algorithms like estimated VOβ max still tend to underestimate actual fitness levels compared to lab tests.
Activity Profiles and External Sensor Support
The Amazfit Balance 2 supports over 170 activity profiles, ranging from standard sports like running and cycling to niche activities like chess and checkers. It also supports advanced modes such as triathlon and multi-sport.
Standout features include outdoor free diving, where the watch can measure depth, highlighting its serious water resistance and versatility.
The watch supports pairing with external Bluetooth sensors, including power meters, cadence sensors, speed sensors, and heart rate straps, broadening its utility for serious athletes.
Navigation and Mapping
The Balance 2 supports offline navigation and mapping, allowing you to download maps to the watchβs internal storage and use them without a phone or internet connection. This is ideal for trail runners, hikers, and cyclists venturing into remote areas.
Maps include detailed labels, contour lines, and elevation marks, making them highly functional. The map interface is very responsive, with smooth scrolling and zooming controlled by the digital crown.
However, there are some limitations:
- The maps are not routable on the watchβyou cannot create or modify routes directly on the device.
- You must predesign courses on third-party platforms like Strava or AllTrails and import GPX files into the Zepp app to use on the watch.
- The Zepp app does not currently offer an integrated course or map builder, unlike Garmin, Coros, and Suunto apps.
Would offline routing make you switch? Tell me in the comments.
Battery Life and GPS Accuracy
The Balance 2 excels in battery life. In typical smartwatch use with automatic brightness, it lasts about 21 daysβa substantial improvement over the original Balance 1βs 14 days. For GPS activities, it delivers up to 33 hours of tracking time using multi-band GNSS, which is impressive for this price point. If you need longer sessions, a low-energy GPS mode extends battery life up to 67 hours.
| Mode | Battery Life |
|---|---|
| Smartwatch (default settings) | β 21 days |
| GPS Activity (accurate mode) | β 33 hours |
| GPS Activity (low energy mode) | β 67 hours |
The watch offers four GPS accuracy modes: Accurate, Automatic (auto-selects satellite systems), Power Saving, and Custom (allows detailed satellite and band selection). In my testing, Accurate mode balanced precision and battery life well.
GPS accuracy was strong, comparable to the Garmin Forerunner 970 in accurate mode. Out-and-back runs showed minimal drift, and route tracking aligned well with more expensive devices.
Heart Rate Sensor Accuracy
The built-in BioTracker 6.0 optical heart rate sensor delivers reliable data, closely matching the Garmin HRM 600 chest strap (ECG-grade). Throughout multiple runs, the Balance 2 showed consistent heart rate tracking without major outliers. Keep in mind, this is based on running activities; other sports may yield different results.
Pros and Cons of the Amazfit Balance 2
Pros
- Premium build with sapphire crystal AMOLED display
- Lightweight at 49 g (without strap) and 66 g (with strap)
- Up to 21 days battery life and 33 hours GPS with multi-band GNSS
- Offline maps and detailed golf course navigation
- Advanced health metrics including BioCharge energy meter and exertion tracking
- Zepp Flow AI voice assistant powered by ChatGPT
- Extensive activity profiles (170+) including niche sports and outdoor free diving
- Supports external Bluetooth sensors for power, cadence, speed, and heart rate
- Part of Amazfitβs integrated ecosystem with Helio Ring and Helio Strap
Cons
- No NFC payments or ECG sensor
- Maps are not routable on-device; no built-in route creation in Zepp app
- Music playback limited to MP3 files; no streaming services like Spotify
- Sleep score algorithm tends to be overly generous
- Estimated VOβ max tends to underestimate actual fitness levels
How Does the Amazfit Balance 2 Compare?
| Feature | Amazfit Balance 2 | Garmin Fenix 8 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price (USD) | $249 | $699 β $899 | $799 |
| Weight (g) | 49 (without strap) | 79 | 61 |
| Display | 1.5β³ AMOLED, 480Γ480, Sapphire | 1.3β³ AMOLED, Sapphire | 1.92β³ OLED, Sapphire |
| Battery Life (Smartwatch) | 21 days | 18 days | 36 hours |
| Battery Life (GPS) | 33 hours (67 hrs low power) | 57 hours (AMOLED), 73 hours (Solar) | 36 hours |
| GNSS | Multi-band, multi-system | Multi-band, multi-system | Multi-band, multi-system |
| Offline Maps | Yes (non-routable) | Yes (routable) | Yes (routable) |
| Music | MP3 only, local storage | Spotify, Amazon Music, local | Apple Music, local |
| ECG | No | No | Yes |
| NFC Payments | No | Yes | Yes |
Final Thoughts on the Amazfit Balance 2
The Amazfit Balance 2 is a compelling option for anyone looking for a premium multisport GPS smartwatch without the premium price tag. At $249, it delivers a bright sapphire AMOLED display, multi-band GNSS, offline maps, and a host of health and fitness features that rival watches costing three times as much.
Its BioCharge metric offers a fresh, dynamic way to gauge your daily energy, and the expansive activity profiles and sensor support make it versatile for a wide range of athletes. The integrated Zepp Flow AI assistant adds modern convenience, while the solid battery life ensures you wonβt be charging frequently.
That said, there are a few trade-offs. The lack of NFC payments and ECG may deter some users, and the absence of on-device route creation and streaming music services limit its appeal for advanced outdoor enthusiasts and music lovers. The sleep score algorithm and VOβ max estimates also have room for improvement.
Overall, if youβre shopping for a high-end sport watch but are sticker-shocked by Garmin or Apple prices, the Amazfit Balance 2 deserves a hard look. Itβs not quite a Garmin Fenix 8 or Forerunner 970 killer yet, but itβs a fantastic value proposition thatβs pushing the boundaries of what an affordable multisport watch can offer.
Would offline routing or music streaming sway your decision? Let me know in the comments below!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is the Amazfit Balance 2 suitable for triathletes?
Yes, the Balance 2 supports triathlon and multi-sport modes, along with external sensor pairing for power meters and heart rate straps, making it a solid choice for triathletes.
Can I make phone calls directly from the Amazfit Balance 2?
Yes, it has a built-in speaker and microphone for calls, but it is not a cellular device, so your phone must be nearby and connected.
Does the watch support NFC payments?
No, the Balance 2 does not have NFC functionality for contactless payments.
How accurate is the GPS on the Balance 2?
The watch features multi-band GNSS and has demonstrated accuracy comparable to Garminβs high-end Forerunner 970 in tests, with minimal drift during runs.
What music formats does the Balance 2 support?
It supports MP3 files only. There is no integration with streaming services like Spotify or Amazon Music.
How long does the battery last?
Up to 21 days in smartwatch mode, 33 hours of GPS tracking in accurate mode, and up to 67 hours in low-energy GPS mode.
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References:
-
Reddit β Amazfit Balance 2 First Impression
https://www.reddit.com/r/amazfit/comments/1krkofw/amazfit_balance_2_first_impression/Β -
ZDNET β Golf-Focused Review
https://www.zdnet.com/article/as-a-golfer-this-is-the-smartwatch-i-recommend-most-on-the-course/Β -
YouTube β Long-Term Review by Dave Does Fitness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq9wYs__AwcΒ -
YouTube β First Review: Amazfit Balance 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kPVGeGipmAΒ -
91mobiles β Specifications & Release Date
https://www.91mobiles.com/amazfit-balance-2-smart-watch-price-in-indiaΒ -
YouTube β First Look: Premium Build, Faster OS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzqa25Eb3GsΒ -
The Gamer With Kids β In-Depth Review
https://thegamerwithkids.com/2025/06/30/amazfit-balance-2-review/Β -
Amazfit Official (for updates and product info)
https://www.amazfit.com/en/ -
Zepp App (companion app for Amazfit devices)
https://www.zepp.com/
As a veteran fitness technology innovator and the founder of GearUpToFit.com, Alex Papaioannou stands at the intersection of health science and artificial intelligence. With over a decade of specialized experience in digital wellness solutions, heβs transforming how people approach their fitness journey through data-driven methodologies.
Last update on 2025-06-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API