Google is one of the only major smartwatch brands not to have a rugged outdoors adventure watch. Apple has the Watch Ultra 2 and Samsung has the Galaxy Watch Ultra. All of the best Garmin watches are designed for outdoor workouts, and the same is true for Coros, with devices like the Vertix 2S.
And now, smartwatch manufacturer Mobvoi is entering the fray with the launch of the TicWatch Atlas, a stainless steel watch with up to 45 days of battery life running Google's Wear OS software. And, because its 2024, it comes with plenty of AI features built in, too.
But it's also significantly cheaper than the outdoor watches from the big tech brands, retailing for $349 / £329 at Amazon, less than half the price of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($799). The Atlas holds a flame to the Apple Watch too, with Fall Detection and new Heat Maps to show the locations you're most active.
These are an interesting addition for sports players and athletes, as you can generate heat maps while training outdoors playing American football, soccer, tennis, basketball and a handful of other sports. Although Mobvoi says that if you're wearing the Atlas during contact sports, you need to wrap the watch securely to avoid injuring other players.
And, as you'd expect of a fitness watch, the Atlas can track your heart rate, monitor your blood oxygen levels, analyze your sleep, and assess your Vo2 max. Plus, it'll offer stress management tools, like those you'd find on the best Fitbits or the Oura Ring 4.
Although the distinction between one of the best sports watches and an outdoor watch is a little blurry, generally, these rugged adventure watches are optimized for long stretches outdoors, with extended battery life even while using GPS location tracking.
In that sense, the new TicWatch Atlas is similar to the Amazfit T-Rex 3 which launched in September 2024 for $279. But the most significant difference between these two adventure watches is that the Atlas runs Google's software, while the T-Rex 3 runs Amazfit's Zepp OS.
Both of these devices also come bundled with AI-backed features. While testing the T-Rex 3, I didn't find the AI-generated insights especially helpful, but the TicWatch Atlas uses the tech to inform its Fall Detection feature instead.
If the watch detects that its wearer has fallen, it'll trigger an alert to an emergency contact or a call to 911. It's a potentially life-saving feature, but it seems a little out of place on a watch so geared to fitness enthusiasts and athletes.
Still, the TicWatch Atlas is packed with features for the price, and could be a more affordable way to pick up a rugged, durable and long-lasting smartwatch for outdoor adventures. It's just a shame it ships with Wear OS 4, when Wear OS 5 has been available since July.
Then again, this might be a blessing in disguise, as Google began rolling out the Wear OS 5 update to Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 owners late in September, only to abruptly pause the release when it began bricking people's smartwatches.
According to a post on the Google Pixel Watch Help forum, the latest software updates won't begin again until the company has resolved these issues. So Mobvoi launching the TicWatch Atlas with older software might have been the right call.
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