Amazfit Stratos GPS sportswatch is now available internationally

Huami has announced international availability of its new sports-watch. Dubbed Amazfit Stratos, the second generation timepiece comes with built-in GPS, advanced performance metrics and support for 12+ different sports including swimming, cycling, running, tennis, soccer, mountaineering, trail running, triathlon and skiing.

Essential reading: Top GPS watches for running and training

Stratos is an updated version of the company’s Amazfit Pace sport-swatch. Launched in late-2016, the inexpensive device was very impressive on the hardware front, but left a bit to be desired on the software side. The fact that it was released without a good native app was baffling to many. It meant that you were reliant on the watch itself to review much of the fitness data.

Huami is back for round two with Stratos. The device has been available in China for a while, but its only now that it is receiving an international launch. This time around the company has teamed up with Firstbeat to bring advanced workout metrics to its sports-watch and Zepp Labs for real-time sports analytics.

“Following the international success of our first GPS smartwatch, Amazfit Pace, it was clear there is true need for an athlete-focused smartwatch with the most advanced biomedical technology available,” said Frederik Hermann, Head of Sales and Marketing for Huami.

“Both Zepp and Firstbeat have been exceptional partners and our collaboration on Amazfit Stratos means amateur athletes can train like pros to reach their peak performance.”

The next generation timepiece takes the built-in GPS + GLONASS, continuous heart rate tracking and on board storage for music from the previous device and upgrades it with some new features. Now you get a 1.2 GHz dual core processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage (of which 2 GB is usable), 5 ATM water resistance (bumped up from IP67) and improved heart-rate tracking.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

In addition to keeping tabs on your activity 24/7, Amazfit Stratos comes with some advanced performance analytics including Vo2Max, Training Effect, Recovery Time, Training Load and more. These training tools will be of particular interest to avid runners and athletes aspiring to improve performance.

As you would expect the sports-watch offers some non-fitness functions as well. This includes notifications for calls, messages, calendar alerts, emails and other apps. For a true phone-free exercise experience, there is on-board storage for music. You’ll also get direct access to live weather forecasts, stop watch functionality, compass, alarm and find my phone functionality.

Version 2 has some changes on the design front, too. The watch is still round, but it now comes with a 316L stainless steel finish combined with other water-resistant materials such as carbon fiber to provide the lightest weight possible.

Battery life is pretty much unchanged. The 280 mAh Li-Po battery has enough juice to keep going for 5 days on a single charge, and 35 hours with GPS switched on. This is pretty good considering the device has an 1.34 inch always-on transflective color LCD touch screen (320 x 300 pixels resolution).

Amazfit Stratos is available for purchase internationally for $199.99 on Amazfit’s official online store at us.amazfit.com. It can also be picked up on Amazon (check price). We are currently testing the watch, so keep on eye out for our detailed review in the coming days.

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