This cheap smartwatch from Mobvoi can tell you how old your arteries are

The fact that smartwatches are getting more sophisticated as time goes is not groundbreaking news. Wrist wearables are more precise, feature-rich and accurate in 2022 than ever before. Some fitness trackers go the extra mile, though, even in this highly saturated market, by offering never before seen features. The new Mobvoi TicWatch GTH Pro is such a device.

The GHT Pro is Mobvoi's first heart health monitoring smartwatch created in collaboration with CardieX, a global health tech company. The watch utilises ATCOR’s (a CardieX subsidiary) sensor technology that "measures central arterial waveforms", which are pressure waves based on the strength of the pulse as blood flows through the body, as Mobvoi explains.

Meaning that in theory, the GTH Pro can tell you in what state your arteries are without sticking a needle in your arm.

The watch has dual PPG sensors; these sensing points can collect data from your wrist and fingertips (one sensor is located on the side of the case). Based on sensor readings, the Mobvoi GTH Pro provides you with five metrics:

• Arty Score – A general score of overall heart and arterial health 
• eCAP (Exercise Capacity) – A measure of blood flow to the heart;
• ArtyAge – An estimated “age” of the arteries based on arterial stiffness;
• HSX (Heart Stress Index) – A measure of stress on the heart; and
• TruHR – a "highly accurate" heart rate measurement similar to that of an electrocardiogram (a.k.a. ECG)

Mobvoi TicWatch GTH Pro: Price and release date

The TicWatch GTH Pro comes in meteorite black with interchangeable 20mm watch straps. It is to purchase now at Mobvoi US and Amazon US for a recommended retail price of $99.99.

UK/AU price and availability TBC.

Mobvoi TicWatch GTH Pro: Monitor your ticker on your wrist

From a physical design point of view, the Mobvoi GTH Pro looks quite like a cheap Fitbit Versa 3 clone, which, to be fair, is completely understandable. You can't have your cake and eat it, after all. Mobvoi possibly put a lot of time and effort into designing the sensors, and if it wants to sell the GTH Pro for cheap, using less expensive materials for the case etc is a good way to keep production costs under control.

Thankfully, the GTH Pro didn't compromise on one very important thing: the battery life on the TicWatch GTH Pro is 7-10 days, which is significantly more than the battery life of the Apple Watch (approx. 18 hours) and on par with other fitness trackers and multisport watches on the market today. Charging time is around two hours from 1-100%.

As well as the special features mentioned above, the Mobvoi TicWatch GTH Pro also measures skin temperature (just like the Fitbit Charge 5), tracks sleep, stress, blood oxygen (SpO2), has 14 sport modes onboard and is water-rated to 5 ATM. There is no GPS chip on board and we haven't got any information on whether the GTH Pro can use your smartphone's GPS either.

The Mobvoi GTH Pro has a decent-sized screen (1.55-inch) with a resolution of 360 x 320 px.