I said this before but I have to say it again: running watches ruined fitness trackers for me. Running watches do everything more accurately than fitness bands and since I have access to the former, I don't see a point why I should use the latter. But every now and then, a fitness tracker comes along that reignites my curiosity for fitness bands and the Huawei Watch Fit Elegant is such a wearable.
Being a fitness writer working for a predominantly tech publication such as T3, I get to test a lot of fitness wearables and I'm at that point where I have to force myself to put fitness bands through their paces. Don't get me wrong, the best fitness trackers are great tools to track everyday health metrics but not so much for measuring athletic performance.
And since I'm in the business of improving and maintaining my athletic performance all the time, I use one of the best running watches, such as the Garmin Forerunner 945 or the COROS Pace 2, for tracking workouts. And if I want to keep log of all my workouts in the apps that I use every day, I have to wear at least two wearables when I test fitness trackers. It's also required so I can compare sensor accuracy.
- New wafer-thin Casio G-SHOCK running watch is turning me into a retro watch enthusiast
- I tried the three most popular cheap fitness trackers on Amazon: here is my honest opinion
- I (also) tried the Alistair Brownlee-backed Incus Nova Run tracker to see if it can improve my running form
Anyhow, what I was trying to say with all this is that testing fitness trackers is a bit of a chore for me. But once every few months a tracker comes along that helps me reignite the passion for these type of wearables. Well, maybe 'passion' is a bit of a push but decent fitness tracker certainly help me appreciate the little siblings of running watches more.
I've only been testing the Huawei Watch Fit Elegant for a week so this is not a review, more of a 'hands on' experience. When I was offered it, I instantly thought, "I already reviewed the Huawei Band 6 and the Watch Fit Elegant looks kind of similar so maybe not yet." Eventually I gave in and I'm quite happy I did.
My first impression of the tracker was that it felt posh. The combination of the polished stainless steel case and the fluoroelastomer strap lends an aura of quality to the Watch Fit Elegant. The AMOLED display is not only huge for a fitness tracker but just like in the case of the Band 6, it's also bright and responsive.
I particularly liked the bazillion different watch faces you can choose in the Huawei Health app, the latter which is not all that terrible either. Companion apps are almost as important as the wearables themselves and the Health app does a good job in summarising daily activities and giving you a lot of charts etc for your workouts.
In terms of workout tracking, the Watch Fit Elegant does a good a very decent job in tracking runs: I compare the results against the PAce 2 and the average heart rate cadence wasn't far off. It was off, mind, but not miles away. The Watch Fit Elegant also has built-in GPS, albeit it takes forever to pick up signal.
The band doesn't do quite as well tracking strength workouts. I use the Polar Verity Sense for tracking resistance training workouts and there were some discrepancies between the two readings. As expected, the Watch Fit Elegant struggles to cope with quick spikes of the heart rate and tries to average them out.
What the Huawei Watch Fit Elegant does well is sleep tracking: I tried a few sleep tracker already and knew what data I expect to show up (e.g. poor deep sleep continuity) and it did. It also tracked my awake time accurately and generally managed to pinpoint the start and the end of the sleep accurately too. More accurately than the Withings Scanwatch, bless it, that mistook me sitting on the sofa for sleeping. I'm sure that watch has been updated since I reviewed it.
Long story short, my first impressions of the Huawei Watch Fit Elegant are really good. It's more expensive than the Band 6 but it has a bigger screen (plus higher resolution and pixel density), built in GPS and can even track elevation. Better still, it's way cheaper than the Fitbit Versa 3 and on par with the Amazfit GTS 2e and the Fitbit Charge 4, but feels way more luxe than best Fitbit tracker. Review coming soon!
