Kospet Tank M1 Rugged Smartwatch Review: Tough and Inexpensive

The Display

The Kospet Tank M1 has a 1.72-inch TFT IPS display which is more than the 1.69-inch display of the Kospet Rock and the resolution has also seen a slight increase, going from 240x280p to 280x320p. And it does make a difference even if the screen is that small since the text was a bit more crisp and clear. The colors are alright, as good as they can get on a TFT panel (it’s not OLED), so the black is not as deep as on other smartwatches, nor is the contrast. It’s still fine for the money and the brightness level is quite impressive, as I was able to measure a bit below 500lux. So, the display is definitely going to be clearly visible outdoors in a very sunny day. Which is great.

The viewing angles are good as well, although the panel is slightly reflective, but then again, most will directly watch the display and not at an angle. What I didn’t like is that the display can’t be awaken with double-taps, only with the button or using the ‘Tilt-to-Wake’ function. This function is a bit of a mixed bag. That’s because if you learn the correct movement, the display will turn on every time.
So, if you rotate the wrist a few inches backwards and the rotate the watch towards your face, the display will light up. Otherwise it won’t. And that’s very annoying especially when you have to do ridiculous ample movement to check the time. Kospet should make this feature better.

The Software

As many other smartwatches, including Umidigi UWatch 3S and Amazfit T-Rex Pro, the Kospet Tank M1 relies on the Da Fit app to communicate with your smartphone and the installation process is incredibly easy. After turning on the rugged smartwatch, there was a small QR code on the screen which, once scanned with a smartphone (Android or iOS), it will download the Da Fit app. Afterwards, it’s going to need a new account, to set some data about you (height weight, age and so on) and then it will attempt to discover the smartwatch. Of course, it will need various types of permissions from the smartphone (because why not) and the annoying aspect of smartwatches is that you need to have the app always running (even in the background) to get some data feed.

It’s kind of sensible if you want to see the weather, while most other aspects will remain usable. I am mentioning this because the TicWatch is even more aggressive and, if I ever closed the WearOS app, it would immediately disconnect from the phone. Not sure whether to blame Mobvoi or Google, but I tend to think the latter is the culprit.
In any case, the software on the Kospet Tank M1 is simple since it will display the watchface first and, by swiping left, you will go through Steps, Sleep, Heart Rate, Exercise, Blood Pressure, Weather, Shutter, SP02 and the Player. There is a large variety of watch faces available from the app, but a few can also be found on the OS itself.

If you swipe Down from the top, you can adjust the Brightness, enable the Theater mode (to not disturb while you watch a movie), access some basic Settings, enable the Countdown, enable the Vibrations, the Power Saving mode, capture a photo (on the phone) and check the weather. If you swipe right from the watchface, there are a few of the aforementioned options, but also some quick access icons for the sensors’ data feed. Swiping up will access the message section (again, taken from the smartphone). If you click the Back button while on the watchface, it will bring the menu on the screen. And here, there are lots of utilities available, from checking the HR, the BP, the Sp02 to setting up an Alarm, use the Breathe feature, run various Fitness utilities or change the Settings.

Are the sensors accurate?

As with almost all smartwatches, especially the inexpensive ones, the short answer is no. The better question is how close to accurate they really are. The Heart Rate monitor is fairly accurate as long as you don’t perform some fitness activities, because then it tends to not be able to a properly detect sudden changes in your heart rate. So, for usual activities, it’s actually good.

The Sp02 sensor, I assume it’s good as well because I had no way of checking it’s accuracy. The blood pressure is what intrigued me from the beginning and I was very curious if it was at least close to the real values. Unfortunately, the deviations are quite big and I would get different results (more than 10% changes) every time I checked the BP. This means that it’s a fun tool that approximates the values, but please use a proper device in case you think you have high (or low) blood pressure.

The Battery Life

The Kospet Tank M1 is equipped with a 380mAh non-removable battery and, while it may not seem that much, the software is very lightweight, the hardware is very energy efficient, so the manufacturer proudly claims that the user could easily get 2 week of normal use. And it’s true since I have been using the smartwatch for 2 weeks and the battery simply dropped from 95% (as it was in the box) to 42%. And this was with 60% brightness and normal use, so the 2 weeks is a severe understatement, because I think I can get close to a month with this smartwatch. UPDATE: Three weeks later, the smartwatch finally reached zero percent and in a bit of a weird way. Because at about 10%, the smartwatch simply died. So, the battery indicator is not that accurate and slightly inflated, so be careful when reaching close to 10% since it may simply turn off waiting to be charged.

I am only curious if this range will last over the months and years. As for the connector, it seems to be the same as on the Haylou GST smartwatch and don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. It’s actually really good that at least a few smartwatches can use the same charging cable because this proprietary trend for the smartwatches is not only annoying, but also anti-consumer.

Conclusion

The Kospet Tank M1 is the perfect example on why you don’t have to spend too much to get a rugged smartwatch that will survive a harsher environment. It’s not too big, nor too heavy and will be suitable for industrial workers, as well as people that practice sports outdoors. The display is alright, the software does its thing properly, the brightness can go very high, it can detect the HR (and other) and the battery life is phenomenal very good. Are there better alternatives? Of course there are, but at this price point, it’s currently pretty much unbeatable.

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