Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 The TicWatch Pro 5 is the latest model in the TicWatch series from Mobvoi, and it’s equipped with the latest Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 Wearable Platform from Qualcomm. It also runs the all-new Wear OS 3.5. — so, along with a bunch of new features, you also get powerful processing power and excellent battery life. Pros Excellent battery life Smooth UI with lots of new features Excellent app support Cons Only one size available The large dial could put off some buyers Does not work well with iOS $350 at Amazon
Amazfit T-Rex Ultra If you’re looking for a smartwatch that can weather the harshest conditions and go multiple days without charging, the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra is the answer. Not only can it handle extreme temperatures, it’s built like a tank and looks the part, too. Pros Stellar battery life Excellent build quality and durability Runs equally well on iOS and Android Cons Pretty heavy at 89g No support for third-party apps Basic notifications $400 at Amazon $400 at Amazfit
If you’re shopping for a modern smartwatch, the TicWatch Pro 5 and the T-Rex Ultra from Amazfit are two names that will frequently appear in recommendations. And not without reason — for the price point, these devices offer a lot of value and come with some pretty amazing features. Smartwatch technology is evolving by leaps and bounds, and these two wearables are proof of that.
The TicWatch Pro 5 and the T-Rex Ultra seem pretty similar on paper, and there’s only a $50 difference in price. But there are finer details that we inspect further below — like the differences in the operating systems and how that affects you, the quality of health tracking, battery life, smartwatch features vs sports features, and more.
TicWatch Pro 5 vs. T-Rex Ultra: Price, availability, and specs
Both these watches are 2023 releases, with the T-Rex Ultra making its debut in March and the TicWatch Pro 5 following it three months later.
There is only a single variant of the TicWatch Pro 5 — it comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. You don’t get multiple color options as this watch only comes in “Obsidian black.” And if you’re the type to swap out your watch straps to suit your mood, Mobvoi has you covered because you get 24mm straps in Jungle Green, Bonfire Orange, and Twilight Blue colors. And if you want to class it up, you also get two leather options — Tuxedo Black and Smart Casual Blue.
The T-Rex Ultra can be bought in “Abyss Black” and “Sahara” color options, which work well with the watch’s rugged metal look. The watch uses 22mm straps, which makes it slightly easier to shop for third-party options. Amazfit sells numerous types of 22mm straps on its official website, including silicone and leather ones in a variety of colors.
The TicWatch Pro 5 can be purchased via Amazon or Mobvoi for $350, whereas the T-Rex Ultra is available on Amazfit’s official website, Best Buy, and Amazon for $400.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Amazfit T-Rex Ultra Brand Mobvoi Amazfit Operating System Wear OS 3.5 Zepp OS 2.0 Display 1.43-inch 466×466 326ppi, Always On Display OLED + Ultra-low-power Display 1.39-inch, touchscreen AMOLED, 454×454 (326PPI) Battery 628 mAh, up to 80 hrs of use in full smartwatch mode 500mAh Connectivity Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, NFC Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and Bluetooth 5.0 BLE Dimensions 50.15x48x12.2 mm (1.97×1.88×0.48in) 47.3×47.3×13.45mm Weight 44.35g (1.54 ounces) 89g
TicWatch Pro 5 vs. T-Rex Ultra: Design and build quality
Design-wise, these watches will likely appeal to different demographics. The T-Rex Ultra looks extremely rugged and raw, whereas the TicWatch Pro 5 looks like something… well, I would wear.
The Ultra looks as hardcore as its name suggests and is reminiscent of Casio’s G-Shock range of watches. With a body built out of stainless steel and polymer alloy, Amazfit claims the watch has passed 15 US military tests for durability and can withstand a temperature range of 158 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (70 to -40 degrees Celsius). Sounds pretty hardcore, eh? The watch offers touchscreen controls, but if you prefer physical buttons, you get four textured metal buttons on the sides to navigate the UI.
The TicWatch Pro 5, visually speaking, is more of an everyday watch. The watch is pretty large (50.15x48x12.2mm) and features the familiar knurled bezel seen on previous TicWatch Pro models. The body is a combination of aluminum and high-strength nylon with Gorilla Glass protecting the screen. Mobvoi has dropped the dual pusher buttons from previous models and gone for a single push button and an all-new rotating crown, which lets you scroll through your app drawer.
As for water resistance, the TicWatch Pro 5 comes with a 5ATM rating, whereas the T-Rex Ultra can handle 100m of depth, with a rating of 10ATM. Another difference is that the Pro 5 has a mic and speaker combo for calls and voice-to-text features, something the Amazfit watch does not offer. A key difference between the two is weight, as the T-Rex Ultra weighs 89g (3.13 ounces) while the TicWatch Pro 5 is about half of that, weighing 44.35g (1.54 ounces).
TicWatch Pro 5 vs. T-Rex Ultra: Display and hardware
Both these watches come with displays on par with modern smartphones. The T-Rex Ultra boasts a max brightness of 1000 nits on its 1.39-inch AMOLED display, offering a resolution of 454×454 at 326PPI. In comparison, the TicWatch Pro 5 offers a 466×466 resolution at 326PPI on its 1.43-inch OLED screen. And yes, like its predecessors, the Pro 5 comes with a dual display as well — the secondary ULP (ultra-low power) screen has a few new bells and whistles, which I will tell you about in the software section below.
On the TicWatch Pro 5, the health monitoring suite is pretty standard — you get a PPG heart rate sensor, an SPO2 sensor, a barometer, along with a new skin temperature sensor. The T-Rex Ultra comes with the Amazfit BioTracker PPG biometric sensor containing a heart rate (PPG), SPO2, and stress monitoring sensors, though it lacks a barometer. The GPS offerings on both watches are impressive, as the T-Rex Ultra connects to six satellite systems, and the Pro 5 connects to five. Sounds good, but does it work well? Absolutely. Both watches were on par with much more expensive watches like the Apple Watch Ultra and the Garmin Fenix 7, and when I compared the maps on my computer post-run, all of them looked pretty identical.
TicWatch Pro 5 vs. T-Rex Ultra: Software
The TicWatch Pro 5 comes equipped with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset and was the first smartwatch to do so. Besides vastly improved battery life, the processing power available to run Wear OS 3 is immense, translating to a fluid UI experience on the Pro 5.
Wear OS 3 itself is refreshing to use, as it brings a whole new look to Google’s wearable OS. Mobvoi has done a great job of customizing the UI, and it only took a few minutes to get used to the controls. With Wear OS, you get access to multiple Play Store apps and many other third-party apps. But the best part of the software experience on the TicWatch Pro 5 is how well it integrates with your Android phone. The notifications and app support are top-notch, and texting is a breeze on the TicWatch. This is as good as it gets for a wearable paired with an Android; I definitely can’t say the same for iOS, as integration with iPhones is lackluster, to put it kindly.
The digital crown on the TicWatch Pro 5 adds to the premium experience, and not just on the main UI — I thoroughly enjoyed scrolling through the tiles on the secondary ULP display. You can view stats like heart rate, blood oxygen, calories burned, and compass by rotating the crown.
Another feature I loved is the multicolor backlight on the ULP, which indicates the heart rate zone you’re in while exercising. It starts with blue for your resting phase and goes to green, yellow, orange, purple, and finally, red when you max out your HR. This feature is incredibly useful for runners as they don’t have to struggle to read their tiny watch screen while their legs scream from crossing the lactate threshold.
But wait, isn’t the T-Rex Ultra supposed to be the “sporty” one? Yes, it is, and we’ll get to that shortly.
The Amazfit watch runs on Zepp OS (version 2.0), which was created in-house by Huami to run its Amazfit wearables. The OS itself is pretty light and aims to offer maximum performance combined with low power usage. And I think they’ve succeeded because the UI on the T-Rex Ultra runs pretty smoothly. One drawback is that you won’t have access to as many apps as you would with a Wear OS watch, but Zepp OS comes with its own app store with some options that should suffice for the average user.
When it comes to workouts, the T-Rex Ultra spoils you — you get to pick from 160 different workouts, and this includes unexpected ones like hula-hooping and parachuting. Amazfit sure was looking to satisfy every extreme action fan on the planet with these options. Both watches support connecting to external sensors like heart rate sensors (strap-on) or bike computers. The TicWatch Pro 5, in comparison, isn’t exactly a slacker — the TicExercise app includes over 100 different activities that you can track. The exercise screen UI leaves a lot to be desired, but I admit, the color-coded heart rate zones feature I mentioned above more than makes up for it.
TicWatch Pro 5 vs. T-Rex Ultra: Battery life
TicWatch Pro devices are renowned for their battery life, and as expected, the Pro 5 takes it a notch higher. The new Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip promises 50% longer battery life, and it definitely helps that there’s a massive 628mah battery inside the Pro 5. You can expect a whopping 80 hours of general use when the watch is fully juiced.
But the TicWatch gets completely crushed by the battery life on the Amazfit T-Rex Ultra. While the cell inside the Ultra has a capacity of just 500mAh, you can expect to get a cool 20 days out of a fully charged watch with “typical” use (I’m going to confidently assume this means minimal workouts because even a short run with GPS can quickly sap your battery). I’m pretty sure the lightweight OS definitely plays a part here.
Fast charging gives the TicWatch a slight edge here as it goes from 0 to 100% battery in about 1 hour 15 using the bundled magnetic Pogo pin connector. Mobvoi claimed the Pro 5 could charge to 65% in 30 minutes, and our tests confirmed that. Comparatively, the T-Rex Ultra takes about 2 hours to get fully charged.
TicWatch Pro 5 vs. T-Rex Ultra: Which one is better?
It’s finally time to pick a winner, and this was a tough one. As I said at the beginning, differentiating these two into sports and lifestyle watches would be an oversimplification, as both wearables can do it all and do it really well. I found both of these watches to be well-balanced but definitely made for different types of people.
But it was the Wear OS experience and the app support on the TicWatch Pro 5 that finally won me over. Using the TicWatch Pro 5 felt like I was using a smartwatch that could truly do it all and keep my experience premium while doing it. I agree that it cannot handle the extreme environments that the T-Rex Ultra can, but then, it’s not trying to.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Editor’s choice The TicWatch Pro 5 is the latest model in the TicWatch series from Mobvoi, and it’s equipped with the latest Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 Wearable Platform from Qualcomm. It also runs the all-new Wear OS 3.5. — so, along with a bunch of new features, you also get powerful processing power and excellent battery life. $350 at Amazon
If you live an adventurous lifestyle and are looking for a watch that can take a beating, the T-Rex Ultra is ideal for you. It’s focused on being an activity-centric device, and it does a heck of a job. It’s also perfect for users who dislike frequently charging their devices. And hey, it sure helps that the T-Rex Ultra looks like a beast.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 vs Amazfit T-Rex Ultra: Which long-lasting smartwatch is right for you?
