Amazfit Active Max: Design and build quality
Visually, the Amazfit Active Max leans towards an outdoor and sports watch. While the round case is quite large at 48,5 x 48,5 millimeters, it is pleasantly lightweight at only 39,5 grams (without the strap).
The casing is made of polymer, the frame of an aluminum alloy. While this doesn't give it quite the same premium look as a smartwatch made entirely of metal, the aluminum frame prevents it from looking cheap. According to Amazfit, it's water-resistant up to 5 ATM, meaning it can be worn while swimming.
The Active Max is operated via the touchscreen and two side buttons, which are particularly advantageous during sports when swiping is less practical. The included silicone strap is 22 millimeters wide and uses a classic buckle clasp. If you don't like the strap, it can easily be replaced.
Amazfit Active Max: Display
One of the strongest selling points of the Amazfit Active Max is its display. Amazfit has installed a 1,5-inch AMOLED panel with 480 x 480 pixels. The pixel density is 323 ppi, resulting in sharply displayed content. Text, training data, maps, and widgets are very easy to read.
The advertised peak brightness is up to 3.000 nits. While this maximum brightness isn't always available under all conditions, automatic mode allows for up to 2.000 nits, depending on the environment. This is sufficient to see even in direct sunlight. An always-on display is also included, but this does reduce battery life.
The display is protected by reinforced glass (not sapphire crystal!) with an anti-fingerprint coating. This solution is sufficient for normal sports and everyday use, as long as the watch isn't constantly being scraped against stones, tools, or metal edges.
Amazfit Active Max: Operation and System
The Amazfit Active Max is part of the Zepp ecosystem just like all other Amazfit watches and therefore uses the Zepp app, in which settings, health data, training evaluations, maps and synchronizations come together.
The watch itself offers classic smartwatch functions such as notifications, weather, alarm clock, world clock, stopwatch, to-do lists, calendar and event reminders, Pomodoro timer, voice memos, morning updates, and a phone finder. It also includes quick access cards, a password-protected screen lock, and a do-not-disturb mode.
Voice control is available via Zepp Flow. This works for simple commands, but anyone expecting a full-fledged voice assistant like on a smartphone should temper their expectations.
Amazfit Active Max: Features
Telephony, NFC and smart features
The Amazfit Active Max has a microphone and speaker, enabling Bluetooth phone calls. You can answer calls directly on the watch as long as your smartphone is connected. This is usually sufficient for short calls, but for longer conversations or noisy environments, your phone remains the better choice.
NFC is also included, but Zepp Pay is used for mobile payments, which currently only works in Germany via Curve and a few supported banks. This is not comparable to a comprehensive payment system like Google Wallet. In addition, membership cards (e.g., gym membership cards) can be stored on the watch, with up to 20 cards able to be saved.
Sports features
The Amazfit Active Max excels in sports, supporting over 170 sports modes. These include classic activities such as running, walking, cycling, swimming, strength training, indoor fitness, outdoor workouts, water sports, winter sports, ball sports, martial arts, dancing, rope skipping, horse riding, triathlon, and multisport.
The watch also offers dedicated modes for HYROX races, HYROX training, and HYROX PFT. For fans of functional training and competition formats, this is a useful extra that is not a given in this price range.
Automatic activity detection is also available. It can recognize eight different sports movements. This is helpful if you start a workout and forget to manually activate recording. However, in our tests, this feature only worked moderately well, so it's better to start the mode manually.
Runners also benefit from features such as a virtual pacer, track run mode, and intelligent route correction. The latter is particularly effective on the track, reducing typical GPS deviations and thus providing more precise training data.
GPS, offline maps and navigation
The Amazfit Active Max supports five satellite systems. Positioning is quite fast outdoors. Minor deviations occurred during testing, for example on tight curves or in challenging environments, but no serious errors were observed.
The Active Max doesn't quite reach the accuracy of professional sports and fitness watches in significantly higher price ranges. However, its 4 GB of internal storage allows you to save offline maps on the watch. These are useful for navigation while hiking, cycling, or running without an active data connection.
Health tracking
Amazfit uses a BioTracker PPG biometric sensor with 5PD + 2 LEDs. This allows the watch to measure, among other things, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, stress, and sleep data. Skin temperature measurement, HRV during sleep, sleep breathing quality, nap detection, and menstrual cycle tracking are also included.
The watch can continuously monitor heart rate, SpO2, and stress levels. It offers manual measurements and a one-click measurement function that collects multiple values without having to cycle through all the functions. For sleep tracking, the Active Max records sleep stages including REM, HRV during sleep, sleep rhythm, naps, and sleep breathing quality, providing a clear sleep analysis the following day.
With BioCharge, Amazfit also offers a kind of energy or stress indicator. These values are intended to help assess whether the body is currently recovering or under stress. Bluetooth peripherals such as heart rate monitors, power meters, cadence sensors, bike computers, and thermometers can be paired with the watch via Bluetooth.
Amazfit Active Max: Battery and runtime
Amazfit itself states up to 25 days with typical use, up to 13 days with intensive use, up to 10 days with always-on display and up to 64 hours with continuous GPS use.
In our tests, with health monitoring enabled, regular notifications, several GPS workouts per week, and automatic display brightness, we achieved a realistic battery life of around 10 to 14 days. With the always-on display enabled, approximately 7 to 10 days are possible, depending on usage.
Alex
Some reply functions are only available on Android.
What can Amazfit do about it? Nothing.