Squaring the circle - Kospet Tank M3 Ultra
I've never been able to wear a watch for an extended period of time, but the Kospet Tank M3 Ultra is on my wrist. Why?
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Introductory
This article presents me with a rather tough task, because I have to produce it as a continuation and addition to the Kospet Tank T3 Ultra I wrote weeks earlier. In other words, it really shouldn't be, it would have been enough to present the T3 Ultra and take some pictures of it, but I decided to dedicate an article to it, because it deserves it.
For me, who has never worn a watch for a long time in my life, the M3 Ultra has been on my wrist for weeks. Not sometimes, but all the time. I love this watch, and it means a lot to me, who has seen so many watches, and I hope you feel the weight of it too.
I can't clearly say that this is the perfect watch, because it has very small flaws. I can't say that it will be good for everyone. I can say that it fills the gap between 10k+ and 100k+ sports watches extremely successfully. Both in terms of price and capabilities.
So, this article will essentially be a slightly updated version of the previous Kospet T3 Ultra review, with new images and some additional information. This will be so because the two watches differ in terms of the form and resolution of the bill, but are identical in all other respects. The software in the watch, the application, are all the same.
Okay, let's get into it, if you've already read the T3 Ultra presentation, feel free to scroll to the last two paragraphs of the article!
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES
In my last smartwatch test, I raved about the quality of the packaging, and I'm still doing the same now, because the box of the M3 Ultra turned out to be brutally flashy, but really! At the top, you can see the image of the watch and some more important data, such as Gorilla Glass, IP69K and MIL STD810 certifications, as well as the rugged design inscription, which means that this is a real rugged watch. Not that this isn't obvious from military MIL STD810 compliance.
There are additional abilities listed on the sides of the box, but because I don't want to kill the joke, I'll show them later.
Opening the box, we find the watch in a soft bed, but only the watch without a strap. In the box under the watch, the accessories are waiting for us, such as the silicone strap, the magnetic charger, a glass film for the Gorilla Glass glass, cleaning and wiping stuff for applying the front glass film and a manual. There is no need for anything else.
EXTERNAL
Highlighting the watch, the first surprise is its weight. Recently, even the more serious-looking trackers (smart bracelets/watches) were all very light. On the one hand, of course, this is good, but on the other hand, I didn't have the good feeling that there was substance in this.
Well, in the case of the KOSPET Tank M3 Ultra, this should not even cross our minds. With its 76 grams, it's not crazy, it won't break our wrists, but it's good to feel that it's not full of plastic. Of course, this is also felt in its grip, because the frame of the 56*43*12,8 millimeter watch is made of steel, also in the name of durability.
And the look of the watch is, no exaggeration, brilliant. It looks insanely good, not too big, not too chunky, but still, at first glance, you believe it will handle anything. The large, roughened orange buttons, the orange metal insert running around the crown, the screws holding the crown, the inscriptions, all brilliant. The real premium HŰHA feeling will capture you as soon as you hold it in your hand. It is important to mention that these screws are real screws, not samples pressed into some metal, they can be unscrewed, and they also have a supporting role.
The strap is not hard, not too soft, that's just the right hardness. I wore the watch for days without taking it off at night, it was absolutely comfortable. Putting on the belt is of course not a complicated operation, we get the usual spring holders.
The magnetic charger rests on the entire back panel, that is, it is not a cheap plastic charger that we end up leaving somewhere after two days. The magnet is strong enough, but only so that the watch sits in the right place and does not want to come off immediately if you accidentally push it.
So the appearance is fine, but what will be even better is the knowledge!
SPECIFICATION
Have you dreamed of a sports watch that knows everything? Certainly, but until now you either got it very expensive or you always had to make some sort of compromise. Either it wasn't waterproof, or it didn't have GPS, or it drained quickly, or-or-or. There was always something. The KOSPET Tank M3 Ultra is the first smartwatch/fitness tracker that I simply can't connect to, there isn't a feature that I think is needed that it doesn't have!
As I wrote above, it meets the IP69K certification, which means that in addition to the highest protection against dust and water on the IP scale, it is also protected against high-pressure water jets. To make this not enough there is the military qualification, which means that the following tests have been completed in class:
- High temperature storage test
- Low temperature storage test
- High temperature life test
- Low temperature life test
- Heat shock test
- Chemical contamination test
- Low pressure test
- Rain test
- Impact test
- Direct sunlight test
- Vibration test
- Throw test
- Fungal growth test
- Salt spray test
- Sand and dust test
That's all. So, the watch is essentially resistant to all kinds of environmental influences, you can hit, cut, slap, and of course you can play all kinds of sports and do all kinds of work even if it's on your wrist.
During the durability tests, the buttons were tested up to 100 presses, the screen touch detection was tested up to 000 touches, the magnetic charger was connected and removed 200 times, it was dropped from a height of 000 meter onto all kinds of surfaces, it was subjected to an acid sweat test, it was tortured with paint, and its wear resistance was checked. and of course they were also subjected to a water resistance test.
The latter is very important because this watch is waterproof. But not as we are used to with other watches these days, i.e. ok, it can withstand a pressure of 5 atm, but don't take it in the shower or swim in it.
The KOSPET Tank M3 Ultra is truly waterproof. In other words, you can swim and dive in it, and these activities can also be found among the measurable sports activities. They drew attention to one thing, that if possible, we should not wear it in the sauna. I would like to note that it wouldn't even occur to me, the silicone strap is a very unpleasant experience in the sauna, I tried it a long time ago, I shouldn't have.
If I have already mentioned swimming, let's stick to sports. I hope you will forgive me if I do not list the sports that the watch can measure. I won't list them, because the watch supports 170 types of sports, indoor training, outdoor training, water sports, but we can even choose to measure extreme activities such as gardening or using a wheelchair. By definition, the latter can be an important option for people with reduced mobility when choosing the right sports watch.
Returning to swimming, it also shows that the manufacturer did not put together a joke watch that we can also measure our SWOLF score while swimming.
The SWOLF score is an indicator that helps measure a swimmer's efficiency. The name comes from the combination of the words "Swim" and "Golf", since here, as in golf, a lower score means a better performance.
Calculating the SWOLF score is simple: add the number of arm strokes required to swim a length of the pool (or a specified distance) and the time required to swim (in seconds). For example, if someone swims 50 meters with 30 arm strokes and 40 seconds, the SWOLF score is 70 (30 arm strokes + 40 seconds).
The goal here is to achieve a SWOLF score as low as possible, which means that with fewer arm strokes and in a shorter time, the swimmer uses his energy more efficiently and makes better use of the thrust generated by each arm stroke.
In fitness trackers, the SWOLF score helps swimmers track their progress and fine-tune their technique by providing feedback on how efficient they are at swimming. Analyzing this type of data allows swimmers to better understand which strokes are effective and which ones still have room for improvement.
In the case of running, we also get additional information, which is not available from a cheaper watch, but which is important, with which we can optimize our technique. So, in addition to the distance traveled, we also see the number of steps, the length of the steps and the rhythm, that is, how many steps we take per minute. The measurement of burned calories is basic, but it is no longer the case that our heart rate can be seen in real time.
Of course, take all of this as capabilities compared to cheap watches, because these are basic capabilities for expensive sports watches.
The bottom line is that the KOSPET Tank M3 Ultra is not a game watch, especially since the capabilities so far have not yet covered all knowledge!
The watch has a magnetic compass, but it also has an air pressure measurement, which helps us to get an estimate of the height above sea level where we are at the moment. But that's still not enough, the manufacturer has built-in support for exact positioning.
To be precise, the KOSPET Tank M3 Ultra picks up L1 and L5 satellite signals for accurate dual-band GPS tracking, complementing this by supporting no less than 6 satellite positioning systems. If the measurement is not accurate with this, then with nothing, you will have accurate location determination everywhere from the forest to narrow city streets.
Of course, these functions are also essential for the accurate measurement of calories burned, and the accuracy is also increased by the fact that the barometer also works in addition to the GPS, which means that we can also measure the difference in level we made during the training.
Perhaps it is surprising, but I was convinced of the seriousness of the watch not only by the abilities that can be found in it, but also by those that are not.
What is meant by this? The fact that only measurements were included for which serious sensors are available, so the watch measures heart rate and blood oxygen level, but does not measure, for example, blood pressure or blood sugar. The existence of these latter measurements means to me more of frivolity.
I have to note that the blood pressure measurement is still included in the specification I received before the test, but there is no trace of it in the watch. Neither automatic nor manual measurement is available, although according to the specification there should be both.
In terms of measurements and alerts, we get the following: 24-hour heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen level measurement, stress level measurement, sleep stage measurement (including REM), daytime naps, sleep schedule, breathing exercise, abnormally high and low heart rate alert, low blood oxygen alert , tracking the menstrual cycle, setting daily plans for each sport, reminding you to get up and move around when you are sedentary, etc. I'm pretty sure I didn't list everything, but that's all I can think of right now.
Well, if you think I've reached the end of Frank's abilities, you're wrong, because there are still some cool things. Let's start by saying that there is a great display on the watch, which, perhaps not surprisingly, is based on an AMOLED panel. What is surprising or above average is the size, resolution and brightness, since the 1,96-inch display has 410 x 502 pixels (331 PPI), and its brightness reaches 1000 nits.
The clock's central chip is a dual-core ATS3085L MCU, with 256 MB of memory. The battery and operating time are also important. The battery capacity is 480 mAh, with a single charge we can expect more than 50 days of standby time, but even with average use we get approx. 2 weeks that we can get through without charging.
Of course, the continuous measurement of sports, the switched-on AOD mode on the display or the continuously switched-on GPS have greatly reduced the operating time. In connection with the latter, it is worth mentioning that the manufacturer promises 30-35 hours of operating time even with continuous positioning, which will be more than enough for most sports.
Well, this will really be the end of the capabilities, the last thing I have to mention is the call and talk function. In other words, the watch has access to our phone's contact list, and there is also a call option, so we can call anyone without having to take our phone out of our pocket. Of course, receiving calls is also very smooth, that is, if we have an incoming call, we can also answer it with the watch, we can hear the other party through the built-in speaker, and we can answer through the built-in microphone.
OK, THE EXPERIENCES ARE COMING!
Let's start with the bad things, don't leave them to the end. GPS could be a bit stronger. If it has found the satellites, it is surprisingly accurate, so much so that it was when I was riding a bike on a dirt road, going there in the right-hand lane, back in the other lane, and even this is visible on the fixed route. However, if I started the tracking under trees, it sometimes had a bit of difficulty finding a satellite.
Several people asked what other functions the GPS has. Well, the bad news is that nothing. In other words, positioning in this watch serves two purposes. One is to be able to log the route taken, the other is to make the calorie measurement and performance measurement more accurate. This is also helped by the barometer, which shows height above sea level, but inaccurately, because it is based on air pressure, which changes depending on the weather.
So GPS cannot be used for example for navigation, you cannot set checkpoints, and there is nothing like that. The air pressure measurement is also only good for seeing the rise or fall in level during training, which is quite accurate anyway.
To my great delight, it is possible to turn off the wrist motion wake-up call with the press of a button. Maybe I don't need to say what it's like when I wake up at night to find that the small 1000 nit display is burning my eyes. Another pleasure is that I did not encounter the independent activation experienced with the Kospet M3 Ultra, so if I turned off the detection of the wrist movement, I did not wake up at night to find that the clock display was lit.
A small feeling of absence is not a fault, that a light sensor could have been installed, and we could have had an automatic brightness control for the dial. Well, it doesn't exist, so I used the clock to the max.
It's interesting that for a while I thought there was a light sensor, because there is a setting that turns it off if we cover the dial with our palm. I didn't even understand why, once the light sensor was there, it wasn't possible to put in an automatic brightness control, but over time I realized that when covering it, the watch detects the proximity of my palm, not the absence of light. So there is no light sensor, unfortunately.
I feel that it is a mistake, or rather a wasted opportunity, that you can move up and down in the menus with the buttons on the left, but not one at a time, and there is no selected menu item while scrolling. If there were individual steps and the given menu item could be selected with, say, the bottom right button, then the capabilities could be used even underwater, but due to the technology of the touch-sensitive display, not even if the dial is wet.
It's a crazy good thing that not only the phone application but also the watch can speak Hungarian, perfectly. Please understand that everything is translated correctly, even the last help is written in correct Hungarian, without errors. Everything is understandable, everything is clear, everything is easy to set.
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The application is also completely fine, as I wrote, it can also speak Hungarian. The dials are very good, they almost jump off the display due to the high brightness and excellent graphics and resolution.
As I wrote, I bathed and showered during the class, not being careful, but it didn't hurt. Let's just say it would have been weird if something went wrong with a watch that can also be used for diving in a bathroom, but I had to try this too.
I have never had a watch that monitored sleep so accurately. It's actually a bit scary for me, because now I can see that I actually wake up at night, I don't just think that I woke up in the morning. You can also see that I don't sleep very well, that is, I don't sleep deeply, but I can attribute this to being a child, as soon as one of the children in the next room coughs, my eyes are already open.
Along with that, the quality of my sleep really needs to be improved somehow, and this became obvious to me because of Kospet's watch.
In recent weeks, I have felt some anomaly with the heart rate measurement, that is, that it measures above the actual value. There were times when I checked with an arm gauge, the watch really showed more. But not always, so I have a suspicion that perhaps sweat or a little water under the watch, or perhaps the belt that is not always tightened to the same degree, is the cause of these measurement inaccuracies. Anyway, you can actually live with this.
I also tried calling him. Its speaker sounds clear, but not too loud. In other words, standing on the boulevard during rush hour during the day may not be enough. During an evening run, maybe driving a car, etc., it is completely usable. The microphone is also good, that is, the person I called for a test said that he could hear my voice as if I were talking on my phone.
SUMMARY
The KOSPET Tank M3 Ultra turned out to be a great watch. In other words, it became an activity meter in the shape of a great watch. It looks so much like a watch, and it looks so good, that it shouldn't really be called an activity tracker. It's a watch at its best, even if it doesn't have Android on it.
The exterior, materials, construction and design are also perfect. The 1000 nits AMOLED display greatly enhances the user experience, it all feels really premium. It's not fair, not kitsch, rather it has the look of a real masculine, sporty, cool smart watch.
I like the shape of the Kospet T3 Ultra much better, I'm a fan of the round, traditional shape, but I have to admit that the square shape is preferable in terms of usability. Scrolling through menus and using various sports functions are all better on the square display. According to my partner, the M3 suits me better than the T3. Let's say it's not typical for me to deal with fashion, but in addition to the ease of use, this was also an argument in favor of using it.
The circular KOSPET Tank T3 Ultra you can read my article about the watch here, it will be largely identical to this one, but the pictures are also worth looking at. The watch looks great!
THE TOP OF CHEAP SPORTS WATCHES – KOSPET TANK T3 ULTRA
The price is left at the end, but that's also quite important! The presentation was on March 21, in an introductory sale from the official store of the manufacturer KOLNPUT and FIRST5 (use both!) we can buy it for HUF 49 with a coupon code.
Purchase at the following links:
