I’ve been an avid gym goer, focusing on CrossFit, for over five years now. I never used any fitness routine before and really found myself enjoying it. During this time, I’ve used several options to journal my health and fitness progress, but predominantly stick with Garmin. New entries like AmazFit our actively seeking to offer gym enthusiasts more options like the new AmazFit Helio Strap.
The AmazFit Helio Strap has a lot to like for someone looking for a more understated option for fitness tracking. Will it lure me away from my Garmin loyalties?
Design
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Any CrossFit fan knows that the Whoop Band is the official tracker of the sport, and is shoved down your throat in ads and marketing around the company’s events. The new AmazFit Helio Strap is unabashedly borrowing heavily from the Whoop in design. Any average consumer would easily mistake the Helio and Whoop in images.
That’s not a bad thing, but rather the simple industrial elements that make up the Helio Strap. It consists of a plastic casing that houses the biometric sensors wrapped in a nylon Velcro band. That’s pretty much it. The overall design, much like Whoop’s, takes a fitness chest or bicep tracker we’d traditional seen from the likes of Garmin and Polar, and shrinks it down for more casual day-to-day wear on the wrist.
AmazFit does all this and I think makes it better in two major factors. One, no subscription required. $99 out the door gets you this great tracker, versus anywhere from $200 to $350 per year to own a Whoop. Second, the Helio Strap allows you to use any 22mm watch band if you don’t like the included nylon setup.
While I’m on the physical strap of the Helio Strap. It’s far too small. It either needs a ton more stretch or there should be a small and large variant in the box. I have to fully unhook the Strap to get it on my average size hands to the wrist. I was really surprised at the lack of length out of the box.
Rounding out the spec sheet is the optical Biotracker 6.0 sensor arrays, Bluetooth 5.2 with BLE, accelerometer, gyroscope, and temperature readings. You can count on full waterproofing up to 5ATM/50 meters for up to 10 minutes, and can be used in both swimming and shower environments.
Software and Fitness Tracking
I won’t spend a ton of time here on the main portions of the Zepp app experience. I just covered this in detail if you want to check it out in my AmazFit Balance 2 review. However, I’ll focus this entire section on where the AmazFit Helio Strap sets itself apart from its own siblings, and the greater competition. There are two big features that really showcase the screen-less Helio Strap.
First, is the autodetection of workouts. With the omission of a screen and buttons, you can’t actively start a manual workout activity directly from the Helio. While, you can open a workout and start it from the smartphone companion Zepp app, it relies on the internal sensors to autodetect them instead.
At just $99 with no subscription, the AmazFit Helio Strap delivers impressive Biocharge recovery tracking, long battery life, and a sleek, screen-free design. It’s a smart choice for CrossFitters and fitness enthusiasts looking for a simpler, more affordable alternative to Whoop or Garmin.
I found this option to be hit or miss in my testing. Zepp actually pushed an update while I’ve been using it to help fine-tune the autodetection, being far too sensitive at launch. Myself, and others, were logging workouts simply by walking around the house, and I am happy to report that this has gotten better with the software update.
I might argue it’s been a little too subdued since, with you really having to push yourself in a workout to activate the tracking. I’d also like to point out that it often takes over 30 minutes after the activity is completed to finally write to the app. There’s definitely room for AmazFit to tweak this somehow and lessen the time from your workout to showing the results.
I also find that it consistently logs two different activities and both are longer than what I would manually log with the Balance 2 or something from Suunto. I usually get the actual workout of around an hour, and then it adds another 20-30 minutes of another less intense session.
My guess is, while coming off the high heart rate of the workout, the Helio Strap sees any spike in HR during the few minutes following as a continuation. It’s another small tweak that needs to be address for me along with actual workout sessions still see a much more generous swing in calories burned versus any competition I’ve tested. This was evident in the Balance 2 review, and here as well with the Helio.
The other glowing option for the Helio Strap via the Zepp app is the BioCharge feature. This calculation takes in the majority of your previous, and current, metrics to basically tell you how recovered you are. Think of it as how you should actually feel based on recovery and previous training.
This is heavily inspired by the Garmin Body Battery that essentially does the same thing. While it’s still not as good as Garmin’s offering, I do find it better than any other option in the space. I consistently found it was well in range of how I felt that day based off sleep and training the previous 24 hours. Once you have a dashboard like this, you’ll be surprised how much you take from seeing it every morning.
Battery Life and Charging
AmazFit estimates the battery life at around ten days of mixed usage. I’ve found this to be relatively accurate. I was able to get 11 days in my first week with shorter workout sessions being logged. When I pushed it the next two weeks with additional session lengths, it dropped to just over nine days way from an outlet.
I’m impressed with battery life, and I’m also glad to see that the Balance 2 and Helio Strap share the same USB-C charging puck. The two-pin POGO charger is simple and effective. It’s nice to see this available across its lineup. Not only is it nice to maybe use both in tandem, or if you upgrade, you basically inherit a spare. Small things like this grow brand loyalty.
Final Thoughts
Awarded to products with an average rating of 3.75 stars or higher, the AndroidGuys Smart Pick recognizes a balance of quality, performance, and value.
Products with this distinction deserve to be on your short list of purchase candidates.
I personally prefer a full watch for tracking my physical fitness, but the Helio Strap feels a void for those that want a more understated option without a subscription and the superb BioCharge features. There is a market for a good fitness tracker with no screen, or even buttons. It looks great and is comfortable for both workouts and sleeping with little notice of it being there. Tag on that it’s only $100, and you have something that can pique the interest of Whoop and Garmin users alike.
You can snag your brand new AmazFit Helio Strap from either AmazFit directly or from Amazon at our links below.
Purchase the AmazFit Helio Strap from AmazFit
Purchase the AmazFit Helio Strap from Amazon
