The Amazfit T-Rex 3 costs $280. The Garmin Enduro 3 costs $900. Both promise rugged durability, multi-week battery life, and comprehensive GPS tracking for outdoor adventures. The price gap is massive – but does the budget option hold up when the trail gets tough?
The answer is surprisingly nuanced. The T-Rex 3 delivers about 70% of what the Enduro 3 offers at 31% of the price, making it one of the most compelling value propositions in outdoor smartwatches today. But those compromises matter in specific scenarios, and understanding where they surface is critical to making the right choice.
Design & Build
The T-Rex 3 does not hide its outdoor ambitions. The 48.5mm case features a 316L stainless steel bezel that frames a polymer middle section and back – a hybrid approach that keeps weight reasonable at 68.3 grams while maintaining structural integrity. The watch meets 15 MIL-STD-810G military standards, including resistance to extreme temperatures from -30 C to 70 C and shock tolerance that handles actual abuse.
Water resistance reaches 10 ATM (100 meters), with freediving certification down to 45 meters. This is not marketing fluff – the watch handles surfing swells, trail stream crossings, and rain without hesitation. The hexagonal bezel design is distinctive, though polarizing. Some appreciate the aggressive aesthetics; others find it overwrought.
The reality check comes in hand feel. Despite the steel bezel, the watch reads as plasticky when you handle it. The Gorilla Glass crystal protects adequately but scratches more easily than the sapphire found on premium competitors. And there is only one size – 48.5mm wears large on smaller wrists, with no 42mm alternative for those who prefer less bulk.
Comfort is acceptable despite the size. The silicone strap that ships in the box is functional but causes skin irritation for some users – expect to budget for an aftermarket replacement. The watch sits flat against the wrist without excessive wobble during activity.
Display
The 1.5-inch AMOLED screen delivers 480 x 480 resolution at 2,000 nits peak brightness, making it readable in direct sunlight without squinting. The 320 PPI density keeps text sharp, and colors pop with slightly oversaturated vibrancy that makes map data and workout metrics easy to parse mid-run.
This is where the T-Rex 3 actually surpasses the Enduro 3, which uses a memory-in-pixel (MIP) display optimized for battery conservation rather than visual punch. The AMOLED responsiveness and clarity make navigation and data screens noticeably more pleasant to use – a meaningful daily experience advantage.
The always-on display mode does not crater battery life the way it does on lesser watches, maintaining readability without constant wrist raises. Four physical buttons handle all controls, which proves essential when gloves are on or fingers are wet. Touchscreen functionality supplements the buttons but is not required.
Performance & Features
GPS accuracy is genuinely impressive. The dual-band chip accesses six satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, IRNSS, QZSS), locking on within 3-8 seconds and maintaining clean tracks across varied terrain. Road running, trail running, and cycling routes showed minimal drift and accurate distance tracking, staying within 1-2% of reference measurements.
Open water swimming proved wobblier – tracks showed noticeable deviation from buoy references, though still usable for general distance estimation. Not competition-grade precision, but adequate for recreational swim tracking.
The offline maps represent a legitimate differentiator at this price point. Downloads complete in 2-10 minutes and provide turn-by-turn navigation with topographic contour lines. The execution, however, reveals budget constraints. Water bodies do not properly differentiate from land, and cartographic details lag behind Garmin offerings. Routes imported from Komoot and other platforms load correctly but hide several menus deep – the interface assumes you will figure out where things are rather than guiding you logically.
Zepp OS 4 (recently upgraded to OS 5 on newer units) feels like a work in progress. Features appear finished on the surface but lack depth when you dig into settings or try to customize workflows. The watch supports 170+ sport modes, including specialized options like Hyrox racing, freediving, and ultramarathons. But automatic workout detection proves unreliable – the watch frequently fails to recognize activity starts or stops at awkward times.
Contactless payments work through Zepp Pay and NFC, but only via Curve integration in many regions, not standard bank cards. Music playback requires manually uploading MP3 files; there is no Spotify or YouTube Music streaming support. Voice assistant functionality exists but produces inconsistent results.
External sensor pairing works smoothly. Power meters, chest strap heart rate monitors, and cadence sensors connect without drama, which expands training utility significantly.
Health & Fitness
The BioTracker 6.0 PPG sensor tracks heart rate with solid accuracy during steady-state activities. Running and moderate-intensity cycling showed plus or minus 2-4 BPM variance compared to chest strap references – acceptable for general fitness tracking. Resting heart rate and sleep heart rate monitoring aligned closely with dedicated devices.
High-intensity intervals expose limitations. Sustained climbs on outdoor cycling routes produced unreliable readings, sometimes 10+ BPM off during hard efforts. Interval runs showed better consistency, with only occasional small errors during 90-minute workouts. The sensor struggles when wrist movement increases and effort spikes simultaneously – a common weakness in optical HR, but more pronounced here than on premium alternatives.
SpO2 monitoring runs about 1 percentage point high compared to reference measurements – close enough for trend tracking, not clinical precision. Stress monitoring and recovery insights appear in the Zepp app but occasionally contradict themselves, suggesting the algorithms need refinement.
Sleep tracking works well once it initializes. Some users report the watch fails to track sleep for the first week or two after purchase, requiring a factory reset to activate properly. Once functional, it differentiates between light, deep, and REM sleep with reasonable accuracy and logs breathing rate throughout the night.
Strength training remains a weak point. The watch promises automatic rep and set counting but delivers wildly inaccurate estimations. Every resistance workout produces inconsistent results, making this feature effectively unusable for serious lifters.
Battery Life
The 700mAh battery delivers on its promises. Typical smartwatch use with notifications, heart rate monitoring, and sleep tracking stretches to 27 days between charges. Real-world heavy use – including daily GPS workouts averaging 1-2 hours, always-on display, and frequent map checks – still yields 7-10 days of runtime.
GPS-only tracking runs up to 42 hours in Accurate Mode and up to 72 hours in Power Saving Mode, with dual-band and highest accuracy settings draining faster. Even at the lower end, this beats most competitors at this price point and matches watches costing twice as much.
A software update in late 2024 triggered battery drain issues for some users, doubling daily consumption from 2-7% to 5-10%. The culprit appears to be continuous heart rate monitoring introduced in the update. Disabling that feature restores normal battery performance, but the bug highlights ongoing software maturation challenges.
Charging takes roughly 3 hours from empty – slower than some rivals but not unreasonably so given the large battery capacity. The watch lacks solar charging, which gives the Enduro 3 an advantage for multi-day expeditions where recharging is not practical.
Who It Is For
The T-Rex 3 makes sense for outdoor enthusiasts who prioritize core functionality over refinement. Hikers, trail runners, and cyclists who need reliable GPS, offline maps, and multi-day battery life without spending four figures will find this watch delivers the essentials competently.
It is ideal for those entering outdoor sports who are not ready to commit to premium pricing before confirming their commitment. The watch handles serious use but forgives beginners learning what features they actually need.
Budget-conscious athletes who can accept software quirks in exchange for hardware capabilities get tremendous value here. If you are willing to use external sensors for serious training and can work around interface oddities, the T-Rex 3 punches well above its price class.
Who Should Skip It
Serious cyclists who need reliable heart rate data during hard efforts should look elsewhere. The optical sensor high-intensity limitations matter when training zones drive workouts.
Anyone who values refined software and seamless user experience will find Zepp OS frustrating. The interface feels unfinished, and buried navigation elements waste time that Garmin polished ecosystem eliminates.
Strength training enthusiasts gain nothing from the rep counting feature – it simply does not work reliably enough to inform training decisions.
Those with smaller wrists may struggle with the single 48.5mm size. The watch wears large, and there is no compact alternative.
If you need premium materials and a watch that feels as expensive as it performs, the plastic-heavy construction disappoints. The T-Rex 3 is built to endure abuse, not to feel luxurious.
The Verdict
The Amazfit T-Rex 3 does not beat the Garmin Enduro 3. It was not designed to. Instead, it delivers a carefully calibrated subset of premium features at a price that makes outdoor GPS tracking accessible to far more people.
GPS accuracy rivals watches costing three times as much. Battery life exceeds most competitors regardless of price. The AMOLED display provides better daily usability than Garmin MIP alternatives. Offline maps work despite cartographic compromises. The watch survives genuine outdoor abuse through MIL-STD certification and 100-meter water resistance.
The software needs work. Zepp OS improves with each update but still trails Garmin mature ecosystem in polish and logical feature organization. Heart rate accuracy drops during high-intensity efforts. Build quality reads as functional rather than premium. And strength training features remain unusable.
But at $280 versus $900, those compromises become acceptable for many users. The T-Rex 3 proves you do not need flagship pricing to get legitimate outdoor sports watch capabilities. It is not the best in class – it is the best value in class, which matters more for most buyers.
Score: 80/100 – Excellent GPS accuracy, exceptional battery life, and unbeatable value in a rugged package, held back by unpolished software and heart rate limitations at high intensity.