KALENJI ONMOVE 500

£ 79.99 HR, GPS and analysis for £80? Is the 500 too good to be true?

Recently we’ve tested tech masterpieces from Polar and Garmin that, while loaded with features, leave a sizeable dent in your wallet. That’s why it’s amazing that the OnMove 500 comes in at £80 but has an equally-lengthy checklist. Wrist-based heart rate, GPS, smartphone analysis… it’s all here. Sadly, corners have been cut. Regular readers will know we’re unconvinced by many optical HR systems and the same is true here. Yes, it’s from Philips, but it’s inaccurate, especially when sprinting.

GPS pick-up and retention is moderate for both cycling and running, though suffers against a busy urban backdrop, and it’s not swim friendly. Impressively for the price it syncs with your smartphone to transfer data via Bluetooth for post-session dissection on the company’s Geonaute app. That value’s diluted somewhat by two key

flaws: the app’s not the most intuitive and connection’s erratic. On the positive, once all the data’s transferred, the app is Strava compatible, ensuring your sessions are presented in a far more useful manner. Then again, several users have reported discrepancies between distance run between the two apps.

The nutrition alarm to remind you to drink and the interval-training setting are both solid additions and, ironically, highlights this watch’s main flaws. While its feature list and price are perfect for marketing, in use it’s bitten off more than it can chew. For £80, it might be worth a punt but we’d recommend seeking out a more reliable watch with fewer features.