My new sports smartwatch
I guess there are many different reasons to buy a smartwatch but, in hobby athlete we try to assess the features towards health and sports.
I have to say that this watch has very useful functions and sports and training options. I have personally bought, tested and used (or immediately sent back) smartwatches of the following brands:
- Amazfit.
- Huawei.
- Suunto.
- Garmin.
- Polar.
- Samsung.
- Lemfo.
- Mobvoi.
I know that we are all different and your needs, preferences and opinions are unique and important. This post reflects only my opinion based on my needs and expectations. If you want to know the criteria I use you may want to read the post: “do I need a smartwatch?” or “my next smartwatch“.
As a hobby athlete, I love this watch.
Should you buy this watch?
If you are looking for smartwatch functions like reminders, messages from phone, sleep tracking, music, calculator (yes! it has new and useful stuff), you will enjoy this watch.
If you are a hobby athlete who needs besides the normal gps tracking, heart rate monitor, activity and calories tracking, a little more like:
- a wide variety of sports tracking from ski through badminton or pool swimming or strength training to yoga.
- an option to create your own training plans like interval or hiit sessions.
- GPS navigation. You can save gpx courses in your watch and follow the way with audio prompts.
- Training plans like 5K, 10K, half marathon or marathon.
- an affordable price for all this.
You definitely will love this watch!
Is it better than garmin or polar?
Well, it depends…. to be fair, we need to compare apples to apples. Polar or garmin sports watches are normally far more expensive and probably better for certain purposes. Therefore many professional athletes would tend to prefer them for their particular sport (i.e. golf) and due to some unique features (i.e. connection to external sensors).
However, for the price you pay for the GT Runner, you get a great watch.
I have two garmin watches (Fenix 5 plus and Venue sq) and the Polar Vantage M. If I compare the Fenix and Vantage to the GT Runner, I can tell you the pros and cons. Let’s see.
Vs. garmin:
Pros:
- Battery life can last up to 2 weeks.
- Far cheaper.
- Touch screen.
- Better sleep tracking.
- Apps menu as list or grid for easy access.
- Navigation with audio prompts.
- Workout creation (Interval or HIIT) as easy as on garmin.
- GPS precision as good as garmin.
- SpO2 measurement (if you need it).
Cons:
- Line Navigation. You see only you position a the line to follow but there are no installed maps.
- Music only as MP3 player saved on watch memory. You can transfer music from your phone but there is no option like spotify or amazon music.
- There is no web-based app for healthapp. Garmin connect makes life easier with the web-app.
- Watch memory is only 2 Gb
- Training plan option limited. It covers only running 3K, 5K, 10K, 20K and 40K but does not give options to choose trainer, cannot modify or adjust plan, goal is only HR, etc.
- Data screens do not provide so many options as garmin.
- Less connectivity with partner apps (limited to Strava, Adidas Running, Google Fit, Komoot and a couple more).
Vs. polar:
Pros:
- Battery life.
- Cheaper.
- Better sleep tracking.
- Apps menu.
- Better screen and quality, more colors.
- Easier to use.
- Music on watch and bluetooth listening.
- Navigation with audio prompts.
- Workout (i.e. Interval training) easier to set on app.
- GPS precision as good as polar.
- Sync with phone (on health app) easier and faster.
- SpO2 measurement.
- Far more options for watch faces and multi function options (touch for app start).
Cons:
- Limited options for training plans.
- No web-based app for health app.
- Data screens cannot be so easily changed as in polar watches.
- Less connectivity with partner apps.
Huawei GT Runner
Why do I like it?
The first thing I love is the price!!! Honestly, if you compare the options, features, battery life, etc. you can easily see that the price-value proportion is great. Besides, with a screen of 46mm, touch screen and its good resolution, I am more than happy.
Sport Features
In general, I like Huawei wearables. I have several models from Huawei and Honor and all of them have a good gps, sleep tracking, etc. However, I wished they had some more extras for sports. This watch offers many of what I was looking for, like:
- Improved gps. As per the official technical description this watch can use simultaneously two of the main satellite systems (GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BaiDou, QZSS). I have always compared Huawei devices to Amazfit, Garmin and polar and to me, they are good. I believe this option was already available for the Honor watches but the antenna and software were improved. GPS detection is faster.
- Sports tracking. You can select out of many sport options (100+). Some of them will be tracked with GPS and some other only with time and HR but you will get for all, data and statistics of heart rate, training time, effort made, calories burnt, etc. The sport list is long and goes from jogging, hiking, swimming and triathlon to rope skipping, typical gym cardio machines, badminton, dancing, yoga, functional training, etc. In my previous devices I had there were between 15 and 30 sport-modii.
- Training plans: for beginners, 3K, 5K, 10K, 20K and 42K. You need to select a plan in the Huawei App but it will be sent and sync’ed with your watch. For previous models, there were only a few running courses pre-installed. Now you can follow schedule and progress. They are not yet as good as those from Garmin but for hobby athletes should be good enough.
- Workout creation. You can now create a custom workout to be used as HIIT, Interval or even speed training. You can define warm-up, work/ rest and cool-down exercises and/or repeat-sequences. Intensity can be set in pace or pace zone, HR (zone or range), calories and distance. Exercise time can be adjusted.
- GPS Navigation. You may or may not need it but it is available. In my case, I travel often to different cities and use this feature. I create routes for running or cycling in Plotaroute or Komoot which can be downloaded in GPX files and used in the watch. This is “only” line navigation meaning that you only see your position and the path to follow but, since there are no maps installed or obtained internet, you don’t see streets or any other areas on the screen. This differs from the premium Garmin Navigation (maps pre-installed) that feels like google maps in your wrist (for example on the Garmin Fenix models). However, you do see the way and get directions shown and spoken as voice prompts. For the price you pay this is a wonderful feature.
- Music. I personally hate carrying my phone when I go jogging. Therefore I look for smartwatches with music player and bluetooth. Even when this watch does not have Spotify or similar apps, i can transfer my favorite songs to the watch memory and enjoy them when jogging.
- Data sharing. You can connect the Health App with Google Fit, Strava, Adidas Running and Komoot.
I like these functions!
Smartwatch functions and battery
I know that many people like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 because of its looks and the available apps but I could never used it as a sports watch… I need to charge it every five hours with normal use or after an hour of sports+music.
The Huawei wearables have a very good battery life that even with intensive use (sport tracking + music several times a week), last at least 7 days. If you have a moderate use, you may just need to charge the watch every other week.
The normal smartwatch functions are also there. Message push-up (with short answering from watch), alarm, stopwatch, timer, compass, breath exercise, bluetooth calling from the watch (connected to the phone). So, you won’t miss anything you already have in other smartwatches.
Health App
The Health App is available in Google Play but you may want to install it from the Huawei’s Appgallery instead. Otherwise you may not get the latest version and whole functionality.
The Health App is the administrator of everything on your watch and sync’s health and sport data. It is not perfect but works fine and I like its simple design and sync capability. Sync works easier and faster compared to Garmin and Polar apps.
I only miss the web-based option like Garmin Connect or Polar Flow which normally makes easier to see the training calendar, to create courses and workouts but still, the Health App is ok. I had some problems to create the custom workout and to send it to the watch but after a reset, it worked. In general is ok.
Recently, additional apps were made available for the watch that can be installed from the Health app like a calculator, reminder-app, sport apps, etc. Be aware that some of the apps connect to the phone app and both, the watch and phone need to be used simultaneously. Other apps are independent, the calculator and calendar reminder can be used any time.
Anyway, here below you can see some screenshot of the App or you can click the button and read the official Huawei page.
You can open the link to read more at the huawei page.
What I don't like is:
Yes, unfortunately there are also a couple of things that could be better:
- The Navigation has a problem with “round-trips”. If the start point is the same as the end point (or they are too close), Navigation may stop right after the start and the audio says that you have finished your workout. The activity tracker still runs as well as the gps but for the watch, the destination has been reached. I now select two different points as start and end. If needed, I can use the go-back function as “return”.
- Music stops if navigation stops. Of course you can press “play” on your Bluetooth earphones (if available) or open the music app in the watch and press play but…. it could be improved.
- Many of the training options in the Health App can be used only with the phone. If you don’t have a Huawei GT3 or GT Runner you cannot have your training plan nor the workout in your watch.
- Adidas App interface is not perfect. You can see the activity records in the Adidas Running app but no calories-burnt are shown.
Conclusion:
The Huawei GT Runner is a sport smartwatch with good features, good battery and great GPS. You get a great value for the money you pay!