TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro hands-on: an impressive GPS smartwatch with a cloudy future
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro specs
Price: $349
Display: 1.43-inch AMOLED
Heart rate monitor: Yes
SpO2 sensor: Yes
GPS: Yes
Battery life: 45 days, 90 hours with GPS
Water resistance: 50 meters
Onboard music storage: Yes
Mobile payments: Yes
Roughly a year after unveiling the TicWatch 5 Pro smartwatch, Mobvoi is back with a slightly improved model. The TicWatch 5 Pro Enduro is still built with outdoor adventurers in mind but is now a touch thinner than its predecessor, with better battery life, a comfier strap, tougher display glass and streamlined health tracking apps.
More importantly, the newer version comes in at $349, the same price as its predecessor, which we love to see, keeping it competitive with many of the other best smartwatches. It also still boasts the same innovative dual-screen design as its predecessors, giving the device some of the longest battery life in its class.
If this all sounds grand, I tend to agree. Now the bad news: The latest TicWatch still runs on Wear OS 3 — though a Wear OS 4 bets program exists — and there's no clear indication when an update to the latest Google smartwatch OS version may occur.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: price and availability
The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is priced at $349 and is available now via Amazon and through Mobvoi directly. Roughly 48mm in diameter, it only comes in jet-black obsidian.
Mobvoi is emphasizing the watch's improved sleep tracking and as such, the device ships with a free 12-month VIP sleep subscription for the Mobvoi Health app.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: design
Even upon close inspection, the new TicWatch looks nearly identical to its predecessor, the TicWatch Pro 5, but there are some small, noteworthy improvements.
The new Enduro version is 0.25mm thinner, making it just under 12mm thick. For a 48mm flagship GPS watch, that's not too shabby — the Polar Grit X2 Pro is 13mm thick while the Garmin Epix Pro is 14mm thick.
Despite the large diameter and somewhat hefty 75g weight, the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro wears fairly comfortably. Like its predecessor, the case is made from aluminum and fiber glass. However, the new version now boasts a tougher sapphire glass protecting the screen compared to the previous version's Gorilla Glass screen.
Sapphire is not only more scratch- and scuff-resistant than the alternative but it also has better clarity and is less likely to smudge.Unfortunately, where the Polar is rated for 100 meters of water resistance, the TicWatch is only rated for a measly 50 meters, which is just enough for surface-level swimming but not snorkeling, diving or long-distance swimming.
Mobvoi also spent time redesigning the rotating crown, which is used to navigate the watch's many options with precision. It's now a bit larger than its predecessor's and a little easier to grip. The Enduro also retains the handy, customizable side button located just above the crown.
Upon first picking up the watch, I thought the textured bezel rotates, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, but sadly, no dice. This seems like a missed opportunity.
Like previous TicWatch Pro models, this one features a lower-power secondary LCD screen that shows the time and date, battery life and heart rate at a glance. Turning the crown brings up other health metrics like body temperature, calories burned, etc.
The Pro 5 Enduro uses the same powerful Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip paired with 2GB of RAM as its predecessor, making it one of the more powerful Android smartwatches on the market. There's also 36GB of storage space, which can be used to save tunes from popular streaming apps for offline listening.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: Wellness and activity tracking
For $349, the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro offers an impressive amount of health monitoring and fitness tech. For tracking outdoor adventures, it sports the same solid multi-band GPS chipset as its predecessor. It also has a barometer to help out with calculating elevation changes; as someone who loves mountain adventures, I really appreciate this.
During workouts, the Enduro keeps tabs on all the basics and then some, including heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, pace, speed, time, calories burned, elevation gain and body temperature.
When using the secondary low-power LCD screen during a workout, the backlight color changes depending on your heart rate zone, which is pretty cool. That said, the secondary display can be tough to see in bright sunlight.
The latest TicWatch tracks an impressive number of workout types/sports profiles. However, for good measure, Mobvoi added a few more, including cross-country skiing, stair-stepper workouts and crunches. Workout data also syncs with a wide variety of popular workout apps like Strava, Nike Run Club and adidasRunning.
There's no subscription attached to the native TicExercise or TicHealth applications, only for Mobvoi's advanced sleep-tracking insights in the Mobvoi Health app. The TicExercise app has also been revamped for better usability with larger graphics and data points while working out.
Mobvoi did away with the numerous wellness monitoring apps, consolidating most functions into just TicHealth. As a result, things feel much more streamlined compared to the previous version.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: sleep, recovery and health monitoring
Thanks to its bevy of holistic sensors tracking everything from heart health to respiratory rate to body temperature, the Tichwatch Pro 5 Enduro is well-suited to keep tabs on sleep quality and even includes a new snore detection function.
The device includes a 12-month free VIP sleep subscription to the Mobvoi Health app where you can dive deep into sleep insights and tips. The Enduro can also be used to monitor stress levels. In fact, you can check on any of the following with a tap of your finger: blood oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, stress level and heart health.
The Pro 5 Enduro also calculates your post-workout VO2 Max and recovery time, to help you take care of your body and avoid injury. You can also opt-in for daily and weekly insights/progress reports into your overall health.
Lastly, the latest TicWatch monitors for a wide range of potentially serious health anomalies, including, tachycardia, bradycardia, premature heartbeats and atrial fibrillation (AFib). if anything suspect is detected, you'll receive a timely alert suggesting you seek further assessment from a healthcare professional.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: smart features
The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro ships running Google's Wear OS 3.5 with access to the Google Play Store where users can download a modest selection of useful apps like Google Maps, Google Wallet and Gmail, as well as non-Google apps.
You can also sync the Enduro with your Android phone to receive notifications, including calls, texts, etc. However, there is no LTE antenna in the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro, so these features will only work for as long as the watch is connected to your phone.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: battery life
The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro boasts up to 45 days of battery in 'Essential mode' and up to 90 hours in 'Smart mode' with GPS tracking. The watch can also be set to switch between modes automatically to conserve battery power.
While the Enduro has the same 628mAh battery as its predecessor, it has ten more hours of juice in Smart Mode because it uses the secondary screen as its always-on display, switching to the brighter, colorful OLED screen only when you interact with the device.
TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro: Outlook
The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is a relatively minor update to the original TicWatch Pro 5 — so much so that current owners should probably skip this one. That said, for $349, the Enduro boasts the features and battery life of much pricier fitness smartwatches, namely the Garmin Epix Pro and Polar Grit X2 Pro, for around half the coinage.
On the flip side, the Enduro's future is somewhat hazy given its reliance on Wear OS. With no timeframe given for an update to Wear OS 4, TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro users will have to make do with the older operating system for the foreseeable future.
Finally, the biggest missed opportunity on the Enduro is bumping the water resistance up to 100 meters. At just 50 meters, I'd hesitate to truly call this an outdoor adventure-appropriate smartwatch.
