Review: Amazfit GTS 4 Mini Smart Watch

After a long break with fitness trackers after the Great FitBit Debacle, I decided to take wearables for a spin again. I just couldn’t bring myself to all in and justify a “smart” watch. Instead, I opted for what I’m going to call a “clever” watch. I ended up landing on a device called the AmazFit GTS 4 Mini.

Stuff that mattered to me:

• Basic fitness tracking (steps, heart rate, O2, etc)
• Activity monitor/reminder (get up from desk)
• Track work out modes (excels at this with automatic detection for 100+ types of workouts)
• Connectivity to a smartphone
• Message/notification alerts from phone/desk
• Long battery life
• Lots of options for bands/straps
• Decent dust/sweat/water resistance
• Not so large it hangs off the sides of my wrist  🙂

Bonus stuff (nice to have):

• Control phone calls, music, podcasts, etc from watch
• Alert/reminder timers
• Custom low/high/recovery heart rate alerts (for training)
• GPS
• Free workout analysis and optional health coach
• Rectangular format rather and circular
• Physical accessories options (reasonably priced)
• Very nice AMOLED screen with reasonable sensitivity
• Rock solid Bluetooth connection, no interference with other devices
• Surprisingly waterproof (5ATM)
• Alexa integration (not for me, but some folks are in that ecosystem)
• Camera remote (for the selfie folks)
• Compass!
• App/Widgets market
• Charges fast

Cons

• Few free watch faces
• Proprietary charger/cable
• Very little in the way of support
• Adding, Removing, and Navigating apps could be more intuitive

I was a bit concerned about original reviews that complained about inaccurate step count, but this current version is several firmware versions ahead and I’m not seeing this issue. I do wish there were more free watch faces, but honestly, I really like the information dense but highly readable default one. I might buy some fancy/dress ones for occasions.

I love that the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini uses standard, non-proprietary 20mm band which gives me thousands of options. The manufacturer claims 15 day battery life, but I cranked up the monitoring and use it a lot, so I’m seeing about 10ish day between charges, which frankly still puts it ahead of most in its price/feature range.

Very easy on the wallet too, regularly hovering at $80-90 USD, with occasional sales.

I bought this with my own funds. I did not receive any compensation or consideration for this review. I am not reviewing this for a referral link, so I will not provide a link to any particular store (but you can find it at some of the large online ones).