Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro review: a solid fitness wearable, although not a big leap on from the standard Gear Fit 2

You’d think that if the Gear Fit 2 Pro was to beat anything, it’d be the Gear Fit 2. Nope! Its predecessor costs less and does much the same thing, and that means it’s hard to recommend this later model. It’s a shame, because it’s pretty. But it’s pretty unnecessary too.

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Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro review: design

We’d love to tell you about the incredible design changes Samsung has made to the already pretty Gear Fit 2, but we can’t, because it hasn’t made any. The screen is the same size and the design is the same as before. That’s not a bad thing – the Gear Fit 2 looks fine, and boasts a fairly spectacular OLED display, showcasing a usefully vertical interface – but there’s nothing new to see here.

The change you can’t see is better durability and water resistance. The previous model’s IP68 dust and water resistance has been boosted to military standard MIL-STD-810G certification, which means it’s a tougher cookie, and capable of withstanding water pressure of up to 4ATM. Not an outdoor swimmer? Chances are you don't need this.

The other big draw is iOS compatibility, which the Gear Fit 2 lacked. As usual with Samsung devices, it is still a somewhat smoother ride if you're an Android guy or gal.

Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro review: features and usability

The big draw here is support for Spotify’s offline mode, although it doesn’t come pre-installed; like the other apps such as Samsung Gear, the Gear Fit applet and Samsung Health, you need to download it. Hardly the best “take it out of the box and you’re good to go” experience. 

That said, more apps are pre-installed than on the previous version, so you do get MapMyRun, Speedo Go, UA Record and Endomondo. Also, the non-offline Spotify app is still in the Galaxy App Store, so you need to make sure you don’t download the renamed Spotify Old app. The 4GB of onboard storage is handy to have, especially for that Spotify soundtrack.

There’s a nice touch in the Speedo On app: it has “water lock”, which turns off the touch sensitivity so the screen isn’t activated by the force of water when you’re swimming.

In terms of your basic step-counting and GPS tracking of more vigorous activity, the Gear Fit Pro 2 does a stand-up job of feeding data into your pick of the aforementioned apps. GPS reception is particularly fast and accurate. 

The way it constantly prompts and praises you for doing practically any exercise at all is something you'll either find ever-so-motivating, or a continual pain in the ass. More seriously, the fact that it stops the clock when you stop running (at traffic lights, for instance) is a feature we'd prefer to be able to switch off.

Auto-detection of various physical jerks is handled pretty well, but as with similar functionality on Fitbit and Garmin devices, we still prefer to use manual activation.

Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro review: performance

Like its predecessor, the Gear Fit 2 Pro runs well without lag or connectivity problems. As before, the battery life is two to three days unless you’re using the GPS, in which case you’ll struggle to get more than a day out of it. 

The charger isn’t a fast charger but a full charge only takes an hour and a half and the device works with standard phone chargers. GPS is smooth and accurate and the various stats are tracked well, too.

Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro review: verdict

In isolation the Gear Fit Pro 2 is a good looking and useful wearable, even if non-swimmers would be just as well off with a non-Pro Gear Fit 2, which is notably cheaper.

Unless you really crave offline Spotify support, most tech-assisted fitness enthusiasts looking in this kind of price bracket would be better off with a Fitbit Versa or Garmin Forerunner 235.

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