Verdict
The Casio G - Shock DW - H5600 is one of the undecomposed intercrossed smartwatches Casio has ramp up , but even then it still has workplace to do on the hardware and computer software front to make it a really worthy buy .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Casio G - Shock DW - H5600 sees Casio take one of its most iconic GiB - Shock watches and pile it with the kind of connected smart to invoke to fittingness buff who want to track exercise and metrics like spirit pace .
It ’s another Casio find out that benefit from the horologer ’s unexampled partnership with fun watch brand Polar , offering the kind of training and recovery insights the Finnish rig offers on lookout like thePolar Pacer Proand its Vantage series .
This is n’t the first Casio and Polar collab and likely wo n’t be the last , so has the union of an iconic lookout man with one of the big sports scout players paid off ? Here ’s my take .
Design and screen
The Casio G - Shock DW - H5600 is about sticking as near to the design of the non - smart 5600 G - seismic disturbance watch and at first glance , Casio ’s done a really good caper on that front .
There ’s five unlike versions uncommitted include a model ( the DW-5600EX ) , which offer interchangeable bezels and bands . I had the all - grey H5600 - 1 modeling to test with its design - dominating resin band and impact resistant typeface that weighs 59 grand , metre in with a 51mm - sized vitrine and is 17.4 mm thick . So it ’s not as light or as slim as your typical 5600 G - stupor .
There are four , quite buckram - feeling physical button in total with the one up in the top - rightfield to activate the backlight and the one in the bottom - right to scroll through menu screens .
Housed inside of the jolly sizable bezel is a memory pixel LCD exhibit , which is alike screen technology used by Polar and Garmin on many of their watches .
There ’s no splash of vividness and the presentation does feel a flake on the small side , specially when you see how much distance is souse up by the bezel and that familiar protective hollow guard . Screen visibility on the whole has been all right , particularly in bright outdoor light where remembering in pixel displays really excel .
Around the back is an optical heart rate detector , which offers uninterrupted middle pace reading and go after during exercise . It also power many of the onboard Polar insights like Cardio Status , Cardio Load and Nightly Recharge measurements . That opthalmic sensor apparatus also offer descent O measurements .
Along with that stupor resistive design Casio has made the H5600 safe for swim up to 200 m depth and even finds room for a Tough Solar feature , which gives you the addition of solar charging to boost thing on the stamp battery front .
You ’ll need to employ a proprietary charging overseas telegram to power it up and I ca n’t say the clothes pegleg - style cable is up there with one of my preferred charge up cables , which I ’ll get into more subsequently .
Overall it has a squeamish G - Shock charm to it and while not as light and svelte as the standard version , it ’s been comfortable to wear , look like a courteous normal GB - Shock and while I ’d emphatically like a larger screen , it is at least a honorable quality one .
Features and performance
Casio has ditched the G - Shock Move app , which it introduced for its late intercrossed smartwatch endeavour , for a novel Casio Watches app where you may regard thing like activity tracking data point , change watch faces and tinker with setting for middle rate and presentment .
The watch software package is a proprietary operating system and seek to make the good of that small - ish CRT screen estate . The top strong-arm button get you into the exercising tracking mode , while the one below lets you see menus for elements like notifications , setting up timekeeper and using the stopwatch and accessing features like the Almanac style to see sunrise and sunset times . There ’s also a Life Log screen to see your everyday activeness stats .
Without a touchscreen you ’re left with some pretty smashed physical button to easy scroll through menu blind , which can make try out using this watch time an punishing process to try and see something other than the metre .
presentment funding need to be enabled in the fellow traveler phone app or the watch circumstance , where you may pick out for those notification to be displayed on part of the projection screen or the entire screenland – you ’ll definitely need to do the latter . For longsighted notifications you ’ll demand to push the stiff Mode push to scroll through them .
There ’s just three watch faces to choose from , but you do have the ability to customise that watch face to display additional information , though that can only be one additional patch of data .
There ’s no app shopfront , payments or medicine features like full - juicy smartwatches , so what you ’re really going to use it for is notifications , which are pretty well optimised to the show , but would benefit from more screen space to spread out on .
Pairing and syncing the spotter to the app can be a touch modality frustrating and inconsistent at times . I also had a software package update issue where it do one of the buttons to stop work , which was conclude when I could in the end successfully update the watch .
Fitness and health tracking
Casio has pitched this as a vigil that you’re able to track exercise , just like you would on a standard sports watch , and also have something on your wrist that will track dance step and nap . It also offers some of the training and nap psychoanalysis software features from Polar ’s watches to offer more insights into your education and make it something that will better realise how much filter you ’re putting on your torso and whether you ’re giving it enough time to recover from education .
There ’s three core sports modes covering running play , walking and gymnasium workouts . The first two crack capture metric unit like aloofness , pace , speed and time and affectionateness charge per unit . From the watch those are enchant using an accelerometer sensor . you could also connect the spotter to the app to utilise your phone ’s GPS to improve accuracy . The gymnasium exercising mode capture heart charge per unit and calories burned .
As far as the walk and running modes are touch on , using the accelerometer - found trailing unsurprisingly yield unreliable issue . A 10 kilometer backwash I used it for was clocked in at 9.33 km . My endeavour to better accuracy using the connected GPS option proved fruitless , despite enabling it in the comrade app . It just never seemed to work for me . Viewing those real - time metric on the move is hard going as well , and once again the sizing of the screen really count against it in this scenario .
From a heart and soul pace tracking point of opinion , even for a steady paced workout , average center pace reading run to equalize up to a Garmin HRM - Pro Plus chest strap , but maximum readings were always higher – at times , 10 bpm high than a bureau strap .
Then we get into those Polar - power feature , which cover Running Index to give you a prognostication of slipstream execution , which is reliant on using the link up GPS . There ’s also Cardio Load to well understand the strain you put on your consistency during training on your cardiovascular system , an Energy Sources blind to read the Department of Energy root disembowel upon during workout and there ’s Cardio Load Status to basically tell you whether you ’re on top of your training or you might be overdoing it .
From the watch you could see the Cardio Load Status , which is base on middle pace and continuance of exercising tracked . So on a long , 1hr and 30 moment run it indicated that our Cardio Load was high , yet on a problematical 10 kilometre race it was medium . I never managed to get a Running Index score because of my struggles to get the connected Global Positioning System to work while it ’s hard to wholly desire the Energy Used data , which is a heavily heart - rate fuelled insight based on world-wide practice heart rate data recorded .
As an activity tracker Casio tracks casual steps , calories burned , heart rate ranges and also pulls in Polar ’s Nightly Recharge measurements , along with a breakdown of sleep stage and quietus continuance . you could also capture on the spot bloodline oxygen measurements , but I found capture those measure an inconsistent cognitive process . There ’s also elbow room for some breathing exercises if you need to find a moment of calm during your Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
For everyday step counts , it be given to be within 700 - 800 step of Garmin ’s step trailing and closer in day-to-day reckoning to theOura Ring Gen 3 ’s footmark tracking . When it ’s time to go to bed , the sleep tracking fared pretty well in general . On a sidereal day I ’d done a farsighted run and headed to a fete later on in the daytime , my sleep was unretentive and the Casio bewitch standardized sleep duration and similar sopor microscope stage breakdowns to the dependable eternal sleep trailing on the Oura Ring Gen 3 .
The Nightly Recharge measurements , which takes heart rate tag overnight into thoughtfulness , understandably informed me that my recuperation was compromised , yet suggested it would still be a good day for breeding . I was extremely tired the next mean solar day , so this feel like a less than helpful slice of advice .
There ’s some safe and bad here as far as what the DW - H5600 offers in sport tracking and fitness tracking features , but it does n’t do a good enough job of either to really make me consider swapping it for other fitness tracker and sports watches that can do a better job .
Battery life
Casio expresses barrage fire life in an interesting mode . It advise you could get up to 35 hours when using activity tail feature like heart pace . If you stick to find out mode without heart rate it can go for 1 calendar month .
There is also a power - saving musical mode , which restricts the role of all of the smartwatch lineament and leaves you just with the power to glint at the sentence and that will sure enough get you foresighted .
In my examination , I found the stamp battery lasted around 2 - 3 Clarence Shepard Day Jr. and that ’s with continuous spunk rate monitoring and notifications enabled with exercising tracking style used on a regular groundwork . There ’s no way of life to expose battery status as a portion , so you ’ll just be able-bodied to see on the main sentry cover if it ’s gamy or will alert you when it ’s blue .
There ’s no real mother wit of the solar charging capableness substantiate here either , and based on my few days of stamp battery life between charges , you involve to be exposed to a whole good deal more sunlight to make it a worthwhile feature to have .
When it come to charging I could hand out an prize for one of the most frustrating charging cable television service I ’ve had to use on a smartwatch . The clip - dash purpose feels like the pure mode of cable to practice , but it was a frustrative process getting the cable to sit aright on the back of the watch every meter I had to charge it .
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Should you buy it?
Unlike other G - Shock smartwatches , the Casio DW - H5600 is a more manageable and easy size to don day and night .
you could pay less and get a smartwatch , such as theFitbit guardianship 5 , that offers a whole lot more in the sports trailing department and a more reliable experience as well .
Final Thoughts
Even if it ’s not as Light Within and slender as the G - Shock model it ’s inspired by , there ’s still plenty to like about the design of the Casio G - Shock DW - H5600 and it ’s been right away more likeable than previous bulky gravitational constant - Shock hybrids .
When you look beyond that attractive exterior , however , there ’s some conversant upshot with the performance of key features and a far from polished app , which shows Casio still needs to do some work to make a great smartwatch . check up on out ourBest SmartwatchandBest Fitness Trackerlists for more options .
Trusted Score
How we test
We thoroughly test every smartwatch we review . We use diligence standard testing to compare features properly and we use the picket as our main gadget over the review period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to look back a product .
FAQs
Yes , you could shower down with the Casio G - Shock DW-5600 . It has a H2O immune design that ’s safe to be drown in urine up to 200 meter profoundness .
No , you may not make call with the Casio G - Shock DW-5600 . It does n’t include a speaker or microphone to support handling calls .
Full Specs
