28
Reviews
VERDICT These sound great and have
a battery life you can rely on, even if
you’re spending long periods away
from a charger★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Bose QuietComfort
Earbuds £199 Spend a little more on
these excellent
earbuds if
you’re looking
for better noise
cancellationThis is a lightweight watch with smart
tools and a focus on fitness, which has
been designed to take on rival Fitbit. It’s
not as attractive as the Fitbit Charge 5 or
Fitbit Luxe, due to its rather pragmatic
design and monochrome screen, but it’s
fairly comprehensive and puts a huge
amount of health data at your fingertips.
It has a 0.84in OLED screen with a
resolution of 88x154 pixels. This provides
enough room for graphs and charts that
display your health trends, rather than
just your current statistics, which is
something you don’t get with manyBuying a new pair of earbuds that
connect wirelessly to your smartphone is
a tricky business, because there’s a huge
choice. Look beyond the ultra-cheap
options and – for a reasonable price –
there are plenty of good-quality options.
The headline benefit of Japanese
company Audio-Technica’s ATH-CKS50TW
earbuds is their battery life. The buds
themselves can play for 20 hours between
charges. You charge them within the
case, which itself holds enough power for
another 30 hours of playback. Once both
are drained, the case and buds can be
recharged quickly, with 90 minutes ofSPECIFICATIONS
0.84in 88x154-pixel resolution greyscale OLED
screen •• 7-day battery life •• Waterproof for swimming- • Small: 217x20x11mm; large: 255x20x11mm
(HxDxW) •• Small wrist size 122-188mm; large wrist
size 148-228mm •• Small: 24.5g; large: 26.5 ••
Two-year warranty http://www.snipca.com/41864
SPECIFICATIONS
9mm dynamic drivers •• IPX4 waterproof (earbuds
only) •• Bluetooth 5.2 •• Three-hour charge time (case
and earbuds) •• 8g per earbud •• Two-year warranty
http://www.snipca.com/41686EARBUDS ❘ £150 from Amazon http://www.snipca.com/41870
Audio-Technica ATH-CKS50TW
Listen for longer
FITNESS WATCH ❘ £129 from Amazon http://www.snipca.com/41864
Garmin Vivosmart 5
Healthy choice
VERDICT A rival watch that beats
Fitbit at its own game, particularly if you
want access to all your data without a
subscription★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Fitbit Charge 5 £114
The latest version of the
classic Fitbit has built-in
GPS for tracking exercise
more accurately, but
is best paired with an
additional25 May – 7 June 2022 • Issue 632fitness trackers of this size. Despite a lack
of colour to help differentiate data, it’s
very clear and easy to interpret at a glance.
Unlike the Fitbit Charge 5, this lacks
on-board GPS, leaving it dependent on a
Bluetooth connection to your phone for
monitoring your route and speed during
outdoor activities. It can use its built-in
accelerometer to estimate these, but it’s
only a rough guide.
While some of Fitbit’s best features
(including advanced sleep and stress
insights) are only available if you have a
Fitbit Premium subscription (£7.99 a
month or £79.99 a year), all of Garmin’s
data and stats are free in the excellent
Garmin Connect app.
You’ll also find a selection of workouts,
along with training plans for cycling and
running, though it lacks the large library
of videos you get with Fitbit’s premiumplayback available from a 10-minute
charge.
Sound quality is wonderful across
all types of music. Where they don’t
quite make the grade is in noise
cancelling, with some background
sounds leaking through in noisy
situations, such as travelling on public
transport. They’re fine for the price in
this respect, but you could do better by
spending more.
You control the devices either with
physical buttons on the earbuds, or
through Audio-Technica’s comprehensive
Connect app, which has four EQ presets,
along with the ability to define your own
using the five-band adjuster. It also lets
you switch noise cancelling on, which
reduces the battery life of the buds to
about 15 hours from a full charge.service. It isn’t quite as user-friendly
as a basic Fitbit, putting its statistics front
and centre, but if you like to know how
your fitness regime is progressing, it
will appeal.