A little over a year ago I decided to ditch the smart watch that I was joined at the hip with. Believe it not, there have been many moments since that I have regretted parting ways with my favourite gadget. Thankfully an opportunity to review a smart watch came up, so I of course jumped at the chance to review the Reflex Active Series 15 smart watch, with the Reflex Active Pro True Wireless Stereo Earbuds arriving too.
The first noticeable benefit? The Series 15 is just £59.95 and the Pro earbuds are just £39.99. We’re living in a cost-of-living crisis, so anything we can do to have great gadgets without breaking the bank is a massive plus right now!
But what did I think of them? That’s what you’re all here for, so let’s dive right in…
Reflex Active Series 15
My personal rating for this smart watch is 6/10.
It has a lot of benefits. Like many other smart watches on the market, you can read your texts, answer calls, listen to music, track your steps, track your workouts, use it as a torch and even use it to control the camera on your phone. It does a few other things too, like tracking your heart rate, but those are the most important bits (for me, anyway).
There’s also an app you need to download, Reflex ActiveRed, to sync your watch with your phone. This is pretty standard, so came as no surprise to me.
For less than £60 you even have a few choices: Black Series 15, Blush Series 15 and Black Mesh Series 15.
But there were a few surprises. And there are a few niggles yet to be ironed out.
The font, for example. This is obviously highly personal, but I am not so keen on the font of choice. It’s rather dated and reminds me of playing an old school video game. I’m a 90s child, for reference.
But the biggest issue for me is around syncing with my smartphone. I find I have to reconnect the two devices every time I take the watch off. Even if they stay within close proximity to each other. This means logging into the app and and waiting a few seconds to reconnect, which isn’t the end of the world, but when tracking your steps and your watch is synced with your ‘Health’ app and reconnecting means it adds your daily steps from the watch on top of your daily steps tracked via your phone, it can be incredibly misleading.
I recently went the whole day without realising my watch was not connected to my phone. I managed give or take 16,000 steps. However, when I tapped into the app I quickly realised it had added the steps calculated by my watch to the steps total calculated by my phone, instead of realising they were one in the same – so it appears I did almost 30,000 steps. I could’ve tried to claim it, but my PT would’ve never believed me!
Lastly, I can track workouts in the sense that the watch will let me select if I’m going for a run, walk or cycle. Great. Unfortunately, once the workout is complete that information is lost into the ether. So you have to make a note as soon as the workout is complete or it’s like it never happened.
As I said though, the Series 15 has a number of benefits…
I really like that it vibrates three times when I hit my steps target for the day.
It comes with an IP68 water resistant rating. It’s a fancy way of saying it can survive being 1.5m deep in fresh water or half an hour.
The music volume is impressive!!
Oh, and the battery life is incredible! Far superior to other smart watches I’ve had in the past.
Is it worth the money? Absolutely!
It’s an affordable smartwatch that does the basics. I did expect a little more though, based on the assumption there were 14 different versions of the watch prior to this one.
Reflex Active Pro True Wireless Stereo Earbuds
Again, totally based on my own experience, I rate these headphones 9/10.
I’ve had the pleasure of testing a lot of headphones over the years for jogger.co.uk. The Reflex Active Pro earbuds actually remind me a lot of the Jabra Elite Sport true wireless earbuds. Considering the price difference, these two sets of headphones actually aren’t too far apart in terms of quality and output.
For years now, expensive wireless headphones and earbuds have dominated the market. You probably own a set or two. The Pro True Wireless Stereo Earbuds are less than £40 and you can choose to get them in either Black or White.
I can attest to the statement that they have Active Noise Cancellation – there is very little outside noise that gets in when in this mode. They also feature Audio Safe which I use daily when walking to work; when triggered they allow a little outside noise in while the music is on to ensure you remain safe and aware of your surroundings.
And trust me when I say these headphones can get LOUD! Impressively loud. Although don’t turn them all the way if you’re in the gym and don’t want others to hear you’re music. Because they’ll be able to hear.
Other key highlights; they feature 6 hours continuous play time, maxing out at 25 hours of total play time when docked back in the case to charge between uses. They also come with three sets of ear pieces so you can pick the best size for your own ears.
There’s more to come. They’re both Siri and Google Assistant compatible. I’ve actually enjoyed using these headphones more than others when making calls while on the treadmill or walking to and from the office.
Are these worth the money?
If my review didn’t make it clear already, they’re worth the money and a little more. The case is a little bulkier than all my other sets of wireless earbuds, but they’re not too far behind when it comes to quality and performance. I’d recommend these to people all day long.
