TESTCENTRE
Hanging with the balance
Balance 2
COMPANY: AMAZFIT PRICE: £ 299.00 WEB: WWW. UK. AMAZFIT. COM
Amazfit is a name that’ s new to me … and I imagine that’ d go for the best part of the diving community. This, however, is probably about to change. Founded in 2015, the company is part of Zepp Health, a health technology company which specialises in smart, wearable technology. Their smartwatches have won numerous design accolades including the iF Design and Red Dot Design awards.
The Balance 2 is a sleek, slimline wristwatch-sized device measuring 47.4x 47.4 x 12.3mm. The aluminium alloy frame, fibre-reinforced polymer case and sapphire glass face weigh in at just 43g. Supplied with a choice of two silicone rubber straps, it sits nicely on the wrist.
If you like a big, chunky‘ I’ m a diver’ look to your watch / computer then this is not for you. Its understated look belies an incredible range of applications, including over 170 sports modes, a cornucopia of heath monitoring features, connectivity to a multitude of devices plus GPS maps and positioning. You can use it for voice calls too.
If you engage in any form of sport, from cycling to swimming or golfing to triathlons then you’ ll be well catered for. Believe it or not, there’ s even a workout for board games. Impressive, but this is a diving magazine after all, so how does it rate among the many established dive computers we’ re familiar with? First off, this is a recreational-only computer. While depth-rated to 100 metres, the software is intended for use to a maximum working depth of 45m. The
Balance 2 utilises the good-old Bühlmann ZHL-16c algorithm, so all things being equal it should( and did) provide a comparable readout to a buddy’ s similarly-equipped dive computer.
There’ s a choice of three conservatism levels to suit an individual diver’ s fitness level or for specific dive conditions. Air or Nitrox( up to 40 %) can be selected, along with water type, safety stop depth / duration and auto start / stop depths. If you’ re a Garmin, Suunto or Apple Watch user, then the interface is very similar in layout and simple to use via its touchscreen or a one button( lower right) and wheel / button( top right) combination.
The 1.5-inch AMOLED full-colour screen has a resolution of 480x480 pixels and is very responsive, making the whole touchscreen experience a pleasure. Selecting the relevant‘ workout’( as each activity is called), you just press the flywheel / button once and scroll thereon, in this case to Recreational Diving, either via the wheel or by the screen itself.
Another push and a descending diver graphic with a large‘ GO’ appears. Before continuing, simply scroll down to access the Dive Settings, Alerts and Advanced menus. It’ s fairly familiar territory and opens into a sub-menu whereby your gas, max depth, PO2, conservatism and alert settings can be selected.
A push on the lower button returns the screen to its former display at any time. Hit the magic GO and the first of several dive display screens appears. Once in dive mode, the touchscreen is disabled so any in-water selections are made using the button / flywheel. There are four dive screens in all. If you’ re using the Balance 2 directly against the bare wrist, then your heart rate information will be made available, either full-screen, or
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