apex codoon watch—conquer the future with strength and looks
In this fast-paced and restless era, we often regard poetry and distant places as our aspirations. But ever since I fell in love with sports, everything has changed. It makes me feel the joy and beauty of living in the moment.
"To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools." I gradually realized that a hobby requires suitable equipment. It doesn't have to be luxurious, but it must be appropriate.
So, starting from the first pair of shoes, then a piece of clothing, a pair of pants, headphones, and finally a watch. Initially, these were unnecessary, but as you progress in sports, you will find that you need various scientific data to guide you. This ensures that whether you are running casually, engaging in professional sports, or participating in a marathon, you can receive scientific guidance and continue running safely and healthily.
After all, being able to run healthily for a long time is what we need the most. And the watch became the first choice. The watch is lightweight, easy to carry, and can provide scientific guidance anytime and anywhere without a phone. So, after using the Huawei band and wearing the Codoon watch, I was fortunate to become a reviewer for COROS's APEX. I spent half a month seriously experiencing and testing it.
1. Unboxing Experience: Simple, Stylish, Elegant
The appearance is high-end, with a cool black color exuding a strong sense of futuristic mystery and technology (I heard there are other colors, but I reviewed the black one). This aligns with COROS's CEO's definition of APEX as "the future sports watch." Hence, it uses the Chinese name "Gao Chi," meaning "to have high aspirations and run freely." Let's experience the unboxing visual experience together:
The appearance of the watch box
The watch that comes into view after opening the box
The watch and accessory manual
The detailed LOGO mark on the strap
The LOGO on the dial
From the unboxing, APEX has a high aesthetic value, fine craftsmanship, and an overall simple, stylish, and elegant design.
Next, we will start the experience journey of the watch. I divided the review into two parts: one part focuses on the parameters, and the other part on the sports performance experience.
2. Watch Appearance and Parameter Feelings
(1) Wearing Effect
APEX comes in two versions, 42mm and 46mm. The difference lies in size and battery life. The one I tested is 42mm, which fits well, is lightweight, and looks beautiful.
The effect of wearing the watch
The difference between 46MM and 42mm is only in battery life and resolution. The official price of the 42mm version is 1999 yuan.
(2) Various Parameter Evaluations
The effect of wearing it on the left hand and the screen, with options for left or right hand wear
Strap length
Comparison with Codoon S1
(3) System and Operation Evaluation
1. The operation of APEX is quite simple, almost foolproof. The unique digital knob allows you to control the entire watch interface during exercise, and the most impressive part is its waterproof function. Initially, I was hesitant to wash it with water, but later found it completely fine. No worries at all. Rotate to the desired mode, then press once to perfectly enter the exercise mode.
The unique digital knob can control the whole interface
2. There is a button below the knob that can be pressed to return.
3. The interactive experience is very perfect, smooth and fast. Compared to Codoon's S1, which has a touch screen but occasionally lags, APEX has no touch screen, and one knob solves everything. The downside is that it's too easy to operate, occasionally leading to accidental operations, which APEX records without reservation. The accidental operation records on both the app and the watch cannot be deleted.
Accidental operations cannot be deleted
4. It has its own app system and can also connect perfectly with the Codoon sports platform. However, I found that when I uploaded data from the COROS app to Codoon, there was a 0.01 km discrepancy.
There is a 0.01 km discrepancy when uploading data to Codoon
6. It can connect to WeChat and other functions, but you need to enable the APEX phone app connection to achieve this.
(4) Sports Real-World Experience
1. The watch has seven sports modes: running, treadmill, cycling, indoor cycling, pool swimming, open water swimming, and triathlon. The triathlon mode is not visible on the app, but on the watch face, it includes: open water swimming - cycling - running.
Modes on the app
Modes on the watch
2. Entering the exercise mode. The speed of entering the exercise mode on the watch is quite good. Compared to Huawei bands and Codoon watches, it enters faster. However, after entering the exercise mode, it needs to enter the GPS mode for positioning. Remember to click again to enter the exercise mode; otherwise, it will stay in the original position. I made this mistake once or twice, running for a while only to find it hadn't recorded anything.
3. The total distance tested on the watch was 112 kilometers. Running accounted for 90%, and cycling for 10%. This test mainly focused on running distance, heart rate accuracy, and the reliability of guidance data. Multiple comparisons were made with Huawei bands and Codoon watches. A set of comparisons was selected.
Test 1:ComparisonRoad running test
Comparison of data with Codoon: (APEX on the left, Codoon S1 on the right)
Comparison of time and distance
Comparison of kilometers and time
Comparison of heart rate, stride length, and cadence
Comparison of data with Huawei: (APEX on the left, Huawei on the right)
Comparison of time and distance
Comparison per kilometer
Comparison of heart rate, stride length, and cadence
Comparison of data from three watches
From the above comparisons, it can be seen that
1. The three watches have slight discrepancies due to startup times.
2. The distance is 13.14, but because APEX's operation was slightly slower, it added 0.01, which is negligible. APEX and Codoon S1 measured the same distance with almost identical times.
3. The heart rate data varies because Codoon and Huawei can broadcast automatically, with highs and lows. APEX does not broadcast and can only be seen on the watch face or after running. Without a heart rate belt, it's hard to determine which is the most accurate. The heart rate recorded by APEX on my left hand felt more accurate.
4. The stride length and cadence of APEX differ from the other two watches. However, I am most concerned about heart rate data, so this is not a big issue.
Test 2: Running Mode Guidance
1. Interval running, aerobic training, anaerobic training
2. Regardless of the mode, it provides the target time for physical fitness and training, warm-up, aerobic running, and anaerobic running. The heart rate needs to reach the specified range, which better guides scientific running and improves running quality. During running, you can see the relevant guidance data through the digital knob.
Various guidance data
3. APEX also provides guidance data showing aerobic and anaerobic effects, which helps in the scientific nature of training and the quality of running.
Test 3: Cycling Test
Only the exercise mode is different, but it still feels scientifically guided. Since it was a leisurely ride around the lake that day, the data wasn't impressive, but I experienced APEX's scientific guidance.
APP cycling data
APP guidance data analysis
Watch data analysis
Other modes, such as swimming, were not tested.
Summary
After this test, I feel that APEX has a significant advantage compared to watches of the same price range.
1. Compared to sports watches of the same price range on major platforms, this watch's parameters and real-world performance stand out.
2. The appearance is simple, high-end, and the sapphire mirror surface is not easily scratched and looks beautiful.
3. Simple and convenient operation, unique and innovative digital knob
4. AI data guidance, scientific and reasonable, with a beautiful app interface
5. Reasonable GPS algorithm accuracy
6. Excellent battery life
Areas for Improvement:
1. No fitness, walking, or trail running functions, which could be considered in the future.
2. Due to the sensitivity of the operation, it is easy to misunderstand, and neither the watch nor the app can delete it.
3. After disconnecting from the app, the watch's Bluetooth keeps prompting for a connection. You must restart the phone app to reconnect. Without restarting the app, it won't connect automatically.
4. The watch is good, but too low-key. The promotion and influence are not enough. More promotion could make it a true model of future sports watches.
I hope that in terms of sports mileage, APEX will conquer the future with its strength and appearance, allowing us to run happily in sports together!