5ATM FC20 Ultra Rugged Smart Watch

Tracks your training. Not your blood sugar.

You are four days into a trip, the phone is buried at the bottom of the pack, and you have no idea whether that buzz was the depot or your wife. You stop, you dig, you find out it was neither. Do that eight times a day and the phone stops being worth carrying.

Most rugged-looking smart watches are sold on a list of health readings they cannot actually deliver. This one is sold on what it does: it puts the time, the alerts and your step count on your wrist, it survives a swim and a washdown, and it runs a long way between charges. That is the whole pitch.

What It Does

• Shows you the alert: incoming call, message and app notifications land on the screen so you can decide whether the phone is worth digging out.
• Counts the work: steps, distance, calories and 24 sports modes, with the session data read back through the phone app.
• Estimates, not measures: heart rate, blood oxygen and a blood pressure estimate from an optical sensor on the back of the case. Rough trend figures for a fit person, nothing more.
• Watches the clock for you: alarm, stopwatch, timer, sedentary reminder, sleep tracking and weather pulled from the phone.
• Handles the small jobs: remote camera shutter, music control and a screen you can set to your own photo.

Where It Earns Its Keep

• Gloves on, phone buried: you are up a ladder or under a machine and the phone is in a zipped pocket you cannot reach. Glance at the wrist instead of climbing down for a marketing text.
• Days away from a power point: the supplier quotes 15 to 20 days of use from the 380mAh battery. Even if you halve that with the heart rate sensor running, a long weekend or a week out bush is not a problem.
• Rain, washdown and a swim: rated 5ATM, so hosing out the ute, getting caught in weather and swimming laps are all within what it is built for.
• Big enough to read fast: a 1.71 inch screen at 280 x 320 is a glance, not a squint, with safety glasses or sunnies on.
• Knocked about and still going: zinc alloy outer frame down each side and a hardened cover glass, which is what you want on a watch that lives on a tool belt.

Key Features

• 1.71 inch colour touchscreen: 280 x 320 resolution, G+F capacitive touch panel.
• Zinc alloy outer frame: metal side frames left and right, moulded case body.
• Hardened cover glass: the supplier states Corning Gorilla Glass. No certificate has been sighted, so treat the brand name as the supplier's claim.
• 380mAh battery: lithium polymer, charged by a 2-pin magnetic cable that clips to the back of the case.
• 5ATM water resistance: swimming and rain, not diving and not hot water. The detail is in the Limits tab and it matters.
• 24 sports modes: running, cycling, walking, swimming, rowing, football, basketball and the rest.
• Optical sensor block: HRS3690 heart rate and blood oxygen sensor, Silan SC7A20 pedometer.
• Bluetooth 5.0: pairs to Android 6.0 or later and iOS 9.0 or later.
• 56.2 g on the wrist: watch only, without packaging.
• Four colourways: General Green, Camouflage Green, General Black and Camouflage Black. The case and strap change together.

Watch Me

Limits

We have removed the health claims that were on this page. The previous description said this watch could check your "sugar and glucose levels". It cannot. No wrist-worn watch can measure blood glucose without breaking the skin, and anyone managing diabetes must keep using their prescribed meter. We would rather lose the sale than have someone rely on a number this watch invents.

The rest of the honest list, so you know what you are buying before it turns up.

• It is not a medical device: the heart rate, blood oxygen and blood pressure modes are consumer fitness sensors reading light through your skin. They produce estimates, not measurements. Treat every number as a rough indication.
• Never manage a condition with it: do not use a reading off this watch to decide on medication or to judge whether something is wrong. If a number worries you, see a doctor and use proper equipment.
• It cannot read blood glucose: the hardware has no way to do it. Any watch claiming otherwise is claiming something the sensor cannot deliver.
• The blood pressure mode is a guess: it is an optical estimate, not a cuff measurement. Some of the product photos show it reading in mmHg. Do not read that as a clinical figure.
• 5ATM is swimming, not diving: the title carries both IP68 and 5ATM. Where both are quoted, the ATM figure is the one that governs going underwater. 5ATM covers surface swimming, rain and washing down. It is not a dive watch, and one of the supplier photos shows a bloke in a dive mask wearing it, which is the supplier overselling it.
• No showers, no saunas, no dishwater: heat and steam get past seals that cold water will not touch. This is normal for any watch at this rating and it is the single most common way people drown one.
• You cannot take a call on it: no speaker or microphone is specified by the supplier. It alerts you that a call is coming in. The talking still happens on the phone.
• There is no carbon fibre in it: the product title says Carbon, and the supplier's own specification sheet does not list carbon or carbon fibre anywhere. What is specified is a zinc alloy outer frame. Buy it for the metal frame, not for a material nobody has evidenced.
• Battery life is the supplier's figure: 15 to 20 days of use and 50 days standby are quoted on the supplier's own images. Real-world runtime with the heart rate sensor on all day and notifications firing will be shorter. We have not bench-tested it.
• Ignore the guarantee certificates in the box: the packing list mentions manufacturer guarantee certificates. Those sit between the factory and us, not between the factory and you. What covers you is BushLine's returns policy for faulty or not-as-described goods.

Q & A

Can it really check my blood sugar?
No. That claim was on this page and it was wrong, so we removed it. Non-invasive glucose measurement from the wrist is not something any consumer watch can do. Keep using your prescribed meter.

Then why does it have a blood pressure mode?
Because the manufacturer includes one. It is an estimate from an optical sensor, not a cuff measurement. It is fine as a rough trend for a fit person. It is not something to manage high blood pressure with.

Can I dive with it?
No. It is 5ATM, which is a swimming rating. Snorkelling on the surface is the sensible ceiling. Anything with depth, or anything where you are punching it through water at speed, is asking more of the seals than the rating covers.

Can I wear it in the shower?
No. It handles swimming and rain but not hot water or steam. This is normal for watches at this rating and it is not a fault if you cook the seals.

Will it work with my phone?
It needs Android 6.0 or later, or iOS 9.0 or later, and Bluetooth 5.0. It pairs through a companion app, but the supplier does not name the app on any of its material we have seen. The app name should be printed in the instruction manual in the box, and it is usually a QR code you scan to install.

How long does the battery actually last?
The supplier quotes 15 to 20 days of use and 50 days on standby from a 380mAh battery. We have not tested it ourselves. Assume less if you leave continuous heart rate monitoring switched on. It charges from a 2-pin magnetic cable, and the supplier does not state how long a full charge takes.

Will it fit a big wrist?
The supplier does not publish a strap length or an adjustment range, so we cannot promise it. The watch itself is 56.2 g.

How long does delivery take?
Allow 10 to 14 days from the day you place the order, and up to 3 weeks to be safe. Regional and remote addresses take longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

What happens if it turns up faulty?
Returns are covered for faulty or not-as-described goods under our published returns policy. There is no change-of-mind or money-back guarantee on this product, so buy it because the specification suits you, not because you can send it back.

Specs

This product is not a medical device. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition.