G-SHOCK MOVE DWH5600: in review

Fitness tracking + solar charging

We’ve looked a the G-SHOCK MOVE lineup before, and they’ve been in classic G-SHOCK styling and formats. When you wanted HR and Oxygen sensors, it was the GBD-H2000, but if you wanted something a bit more compact, that’s the GBD200, which omitted the optical sensors. Now, you have an option if you want the full suite of health tracking in a classic (and compact) G-SHOCK silhouette, with the DWH5600

G-SHOCK DWH5600: what it is

It couldn’t be simpler to describe this watch. Basically, you take the basic 5600 series watch, and then you give the internals a serious upgrade, which brings along all of the modern smartwatch functionality you might want. Sleep tracking, step tracking, and then of course the heart rate and oxygen tracking courtesy of the optical sensors on the caseback.

To keep all of that powered, you’ll also see the charging port on the back of the watch, which is done via a robust clamp that you put in place to top the watch off. However, that’s not the only way to keep it going. You see, it also has solar charging, which we think is an excellent feature to have built into a power-hungry smartwatch.

For all of the additional capability, of course, that means that the CASIO Watches app is an essential companion on your phone. That’s pretty standard for any smartwatch platform, and you can of course share the data over to your phone-based health tracking (Apple or Google). However, G-SHOCK also has a partnership with Strava, so that means all of your runs, walks, and hikes can be sent over to that platform, which has it’s own ecosystem of challenges and such (including a handy tracker to keep an eye on how many miles your shoes have logged).

We should note here that the one sensor the G-SHOCK DWH5600 does not have on-board is GPS. However, when it’s connected to your phone via Bluetooth, it can leverage your phone’s GPS to get accurate mileage and route tracking.

Wearing and using the watch

When I was testing the G-SHOCK DWH5600, I was of course putting it up against my trusty Garmin, in terms of seeing just how accurate the various sensors were, and how it did in things like tracking sleep stages. And, to no one’s surprise, it held it’s own. Sensors were reporting fairly close to each other, and that’s the secret in any platform.

None of these are going to be exactly identical (across brands) due to any number of reasons. However, they are all going to be fairly close to one another. And unless you’re tracking a specific medical condition, absolute accuracy (as compared to however your doctor would measure things) is not important. Instead, this is giving you the complete picture across your day, day-to-day, and you can see how things are trending.

If you are coming to the G-SHOCK DWH5600 from a full-screen smartwatch, it’s going to take some getting used to. This is because you navigate and interact with the watch via the pushers on the sides of the case - just like any G-SHOCK. No touch screen here, so that can take some getting used to. You’ll figure out what you need to get into most often, and that will feel second nature fast enough. And fortunately, configuring things (like how often to kick a sensor off to measure things) is controlled via the app on your phone.

In terms of wear comfort, this watch is going to wear like any other G-SHOCK you’ve tried on. The bio-based resin in the strap is a bit more flexible than some others I’ve seen from the brand, but it’s not so soft that it feels like flimsy silicone. In other words, it’s comfortable but robust.

In terms of an every day sort of G-SHOCK, I think this squared-off profile is the one I like about the best. It gives you a decent amount of screen real estate, while still not feeling like it overwhelms the wrist. The case is not overly thick either (even with the shock protections), which makes it more of a watch you’d want to wear each day.

Wrapping things up

Smart watches can be a very personal sort of decision. You need to consider what you’re using it for, for starters. Are you training for a marathon? Do you need to be able to interact with your phone via the watch? Or are you just wanting to get a better quantification of your health? Once you’ve got that buttoned up, then you can figure out if you need a full touch screen, if something more of an ana-digi gets the job done, or if you’d prefer a full digital watch look (without the touch screen).

The G-SHOCK DWH5600 falls into the category of giving you all sorts of smart watch functionality without looking - or even feeling - like most other smart watches. It helps that the base of the watch is an original hard-wearing digital watch, and that the G-SHOCK DWH5600 follows that design. Which means, if a digital watch fits your daily use, then this is a perfect way to get some smartwatch functionality on your wrist.

The fact that the G-SHOCK DWH5600 offers solar charging - and Strava integration - are just icing on the cake that bumps it past other similar offerings (even from Casio) in our book. Now, for the mixed news. The version we reviewed here, in grey with the steel bezel, is currently sold out. However, you can get a black resin version for $290 with all of the same functionality. You can check that one out over at casio.com

Tech Specs

• Case size (L× W× H): 51.1 × 44.5 × 16.6 mm

• Weight: 65 g

• Case and bezel material: Bio-based resin / Stainless steel

• Band: Bio-based resin band

• Construction

  • Shock Resistant

  • Carbon Core Guard structure

• Water resistance: 200-meter water resistance

• Time adjustment: Bluetooth: Connects to a smartphone and automatically adjusts the time

• Power supply and battery life

  • Charging system compatible with dedicated cable (requires device with Type-A USB terminal)

  • Solar powered

• Sensor feature

  • Activities: Multi-sport (running, walking, others); Calculate and display distance, speed, pace, and other information using accelerometer; auto/manual lap function; auto pause function

  • Training Analysis: Cardio load status

  • Activity Log Data: Up to 100 runs with up to 200 laps each, measurement time, distance, pace, running index, calories burned, energy source used, heart rate, maximum heart rate, cardio load, pitch, maximum pitch, stride

  • Wrist Heart Rate Measurement (30～220 bpm): Heart rate, target heart rate setting, graphic heart rate zone indication, heart rate graph, maximum heart rate, minimum heart rate

  • Sleep Measurement: Sleep recovery status (6 stages), sleep recovery stage display, sleep status (5 stages), sleep score display range (1 to 100, measurement unit: 1), autonomic nerve status (5 stages), ANS score range (-10 to +10, measurement unit: 0.1)

  • Blood Oxygen Level Measurement*

  • Breathing Exercise: Setting range (2 to 20 minutes in 1-minute increments), biofeedback, zone-specific time summary

  • Step Count Measurement: 3-axis acceleration sensor, step count display range (0 to 99999 steps), step count reset: automatic reset at midnight every day

  • Active Time Measurement: Special algorithm measures movement time using status analysis (walking, running, biking, undefined)

  • Life Log: Step count, step count graph (week, month, 6 months), calories burned measurement, active time measurement

  • Step reminder

• Smartphone Link feature

  • Mobile link (Automatic connection, wireless linking using Bluetooth®)

  • Apps: CASIO WATCHES

  • App connectivity feature

    • Auto time adjustment

    • Easy watch setting

    • Approximately 300 world time cities

    • Notification function (incoming calls, incoming e-mails, new social media posts, calendar notifications, reminders)

    • Training analysis data

    • Activity history

    • Life log data

    • Distance correction by smartphone GPS

    • Sleep analysis data

    • Phone finder

• Features

  • World time: World time 38 time zones* (38 cities + coordinated universal time), daylight saving on/off, auto summer time (DST) switching *May be updated when connected to a smartphone.

  • Moon data: Moon data (moon age of the specific data, moon phase)

  • Sunrise/sunset display: Sunrise, sunset time display Sunrise time and sunset time for specific date

  • Stopwatch: 1-second stopwatch Measuring capacity: 99:59’59’‘ Measuring modes: Elapsed time, split time

  • Timer: Measuring unit: 1 second Countdown range: 60 minutes Countdown start time setting range: 1 second to 60 minutes (1-second increments)

  • Alarm/hourly time signal

    • 4 daily alarms with snooze

    • Smart alarm (with snooze)

  • Light:

    • LED backlight (Super Illuminator) Full auto LED light, selectable illumination duration (1.5 seconds or 5 seconds), afterglow

    • Light color: LED:White

  • Calendar: Full auto-calendar (to year 2099)

  • Mute feature: Button operation tone on/off

  • Energy saving feature: Power Saving (display goes blank to save power when the watch is left in the dark)

  • Battery display/alert: Battery level indicator

  • Run time

    • Using activity functions (heart rate): Approx. 35 hours max.

    • Using in watch mode with heart rate measurement OFF: Approx. 1 month

    • Using with power-saving function ON: Approx. 11 months

    • * Varies depending on usage environment; from full charge, without solar power.

  • Accuracy: ±15 seconds per month (with no mobile link function)

  • Other features

    • Airplane mode

    • Vibrator

    • 12/24-hour format

    • Regular timekeeping: Hour, minute, second, am/pm, month, date, day

    • Vibration on/off

    • Memory in Pixel (MIP) LCD