[Review] Zeblaze Vibe 5 – Your Outdoor Smartwatch

[Review] Zeblaze Vibe 5 Smartwatch – Rugged and Sporty

Zeblaze has been rolling in several smartwatches in the market, one of the popular series is the Vibe Model. Popular list includes Vibe 3 HR, Vibe 3 ECG and the Vibe 4 hybrid smartwatch.

One of the latest is the sporty rugged design, Zeblaze Vibe 5 smartwatch, it is one of the latest models with the Vibe feel and make to it. We got one in our collection and here is our take on this rugged smartwatch.

Before we dive in to the specs and features, here are the contents of the Zeblaze Vibe 5

Package Contents:

• Zeblaze Vibe 5 Smartwatch
• User Manual
• Charging Cable

Design and Display

Of course, when we say Zeblaze Vibe, a rugged sporty design comes to our mind. The Zeblaze Vibe 5 bears that features having a futuristic look, rugged, sporty and classy at the same time. It has a zinc alloy frame with DLC (drilling carbon coating) material making it durable. According to Zeblaze, the device is corrosion resistant, shock, drop resistant and can withstand in water to a depth of 50 meters.

We have been using the device for several weeks now and deliberately sometimes drop or submerged just to test it out. And so far, it seems like it is what it says, durable and waterproof.

The smartwatch body is in different colors, black, gray and blue along with its strap which is also durable and with anti-allergic, anti-corrosive, stretch proof feature. The body has 4 physical buttons for operation, up-down, power and back. The physical PC buttons are your way to operate and navigate to its menus and functions. Please take note that the Vibe 5 don’t have a support for touch screen method of operation.

Regarding the display, the wearable has a 1.3” inch has an IPS LCD full round screen, it has a crisp display, sharp and viewable, readable even outdoors. It has 240 x 240 pixels resolution providing decent graphic resolution. According to its specs page, the glass protection screen is a sapphire crystal known to be one of the strongest glass screens for wearables. Again, take note that the smartwatch doesn’t support touch screen or touch button key operation but instead it relies on the physical button to navigate on the menus and select the option.

Hardware and Features

The smartwatch is preloaded with heart rate sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer and with Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, compatible with Android 4.4 and above or iOS 8.0 and above. It uses the support app WearHealth available in both platforms.

So far, based on our test, the smartwatch performs good as expected. With heart rate monitoring, it automatically detects once it has been chosen as an option, it takes several seconds to detect your HR, while you are waiting, an animation display and a slight vibration will notify you when the detection is finished.

The step counter is automatic and accompanied by the distance (in KM) and calorie burn counter. Take note that the distance and calorie is in a different menu, just press the up button to cycle through the options.

If you are into sports activities, the Vibe 5 has several built-in sports functions such as running, cycling, walking, climbing, pingpong, basketball, badminton, football. All of the sports are accompanied by default, a heart rate monitor or calorie counter. Other functions that we find it handy are alarm, timer. Please take note that the smartwatch only provides a basic information via a simple graphics. If you want more details you need to access the support app.

One of the cool features I think, is how the Zeblaze Vibe 5 handle the watch face option. Instead of going to the settings of the smartwatch, you can use the power button of the wearable to pick from preloaded watch faces, at least 5 watch faces are available to choose from.

When navigating on the smartwatch, there are only few main menus, there is a step counter, calorie counter, distance counter, heart rate monitor, sleep monitoring, message section. Multi-mode sport, timer and anti-lost. As usual more details will be available in the support app.

Additional function that you might get interested in are, sleep monitoring, which automatically detects the time you sleep and the time you wake-up. For its accuracy, I can’t provide details on it as we don’t have any professional equipment to compare it with. But you will get the usual data such as sleep stages and hours of deep, light and other status on your nap time.

Battery

The wearable is loaded with 180 mAh lithium polymer battery, rechargeable with a magnetic cable via micro USB port for charging. It takes from 1 and half hour to 2 hours for the wearable to fully charge. Unlike other Blaze version, the wearable has a week of standby time and with 4-5 days of normal usage.

It is not that impressive but not bad either, it was able to give us a week and provide stats on our activities with its one week of battery life. See full specifications here

The Verdict

I love the design and its functionality it’s a sport rugged smartwatch with simple UI and ease of access. It is also very affordable, having a low price but packed with features. Despite its unimpressive battery life, still it is a good smartwatch from Zeblaze, in terms of looks and functionality. I love where the Zeblaze is going with the Vibe series, it is the only smartwatch series with in the market with that classy premium look but still in the affordable price range.

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Below are the pros and cons and summary for the wearable and our rating for the Zeblaze Vibe 5.