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Scotsman
28-07-2025
- Scotsman
Mibro GS Explorer S: rugged AMOLED smartwatch with diving mode for £186
The Mibro GS Explorer S is a premium sports watch without the premium price | Mibro This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. With a 1500-nit AMOLED display, 10ATM water resistance and 60-day battery claims, this rugged watch is built for anything. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... If you're shopping around for a smartwatch that's ready for some tough times in the great outdoors, you might naturally migrate to the bigger brands like Garmin or Suunto. And if you wanted one with an AMOLED screen, Bluetooth calling, military strength testing and a battery that can last for weeks, you know it's going to cost a pretty penny. But is it? A new watch has just been launched by Mibro, a Chinese tech firm, which packs in some seriously impressive features and you can currently buy it for £186. It's the Mibro GS Explorer S, and its features start with the impressive 1500-nit HBD AMOLED display. It's really bright, which is exactly what you need on an outdoor adventure. It's also seriously tough. Mibro put its new flagship watch through 17 military standard tests, which means it can cope with extremes of weather, bashings from rock faces and, obviously, submersion. There's also dual-frequency five-satellite GNSS for location tracking and a 10-axis motion sensing system, which means it's always tracking your precise movements. It feels great on the wrist, with a chunky bezel, but not too much weight | Mibro And then there's the water resistance. Another of the GS Explorer's stand-out features is its free-diving mode. And its water resistance rating is 10ATM, which can withstand depths of up to 100 metres. And, you have to remember, this is a phone with chunky buttons you can operate with gloves on, and Bluetooth calling. Yes, the Bluetooth calling system actually works underwater. The free-diving mode is one of several customisable setups you can flick over to, and it gives you depth and time warnings, current depth indication, and other tailored data. But there are plenty of other modes for other extreme sports, all wrapped up in an intuitive interface called Galaxy OS 2.0. It's eerily similar to Huawei's operating system, as is the companion app. And that's no bad thing. It feels light on the wrist, but incredibly robust. There are absolutely no build-quality qualms here. There's even a premium titanium version, which takes this to the next level. Battery life is also a strength, with claims of up to 60 days in a restrictive mode, 20 days in a daily mode, and around 15 hours with all the sensors on. I found that's all pretty realistic while using the watch out and about. The Bluetooth calling function even works underwater | Mibro The body trackers, which include heart rate and blood-oxygen monitoring, do take their toll when you use the most accurate settings, but it's possible, with a little careful management, to keep the watch going for over a week in normal use, and that's superb. I did experience a few glitches with the tracking and, comparing it with other watches I have at my disposal, some of the data was a little off. But I've always found they need time to settle in. That said, the overall feel was that the Mibro interface needed some finessing, which can doubtless be done through firmware updates, because it occasionally missed the fact I'd gone out on a bike ride, for example, and I missed a few notifications from time to time. Overall though, it's a seriously impressive piece of kit, especially considering it costs less than £200 at the moment. I'd also go as far as to say it's more attractive than the rivals from Garmin and Suunto, and it feels more robust than most of them. I've always been a fan of Chinese smartwatches and, while there are a lot of rubbish examples out there to sift through, every now and again you'll find a gold nugget. And the Mibro GS Explorer S is one of them.
Scotsman
28-07-2025
- Scotsman
Mibro GS Explorer S: rugged AMOLED smartwatch with diving mode for £186
The Mibro GS Explorer S is a premium sports watch without the premium price | Mibro This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. With a 1500-nit AMOLED display, 10ATM water resistance and 60-day battery claims, this rugged watch is built for anything. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... If you're shopping around for a smartwatch that's ready for some tough times in the great outdoors, you might naturally migrate to the bigger brands like Garmin or Suunto. And if you wanted one with an AMOLED screen, Bluetooth calling, military strength testing and a battery that can last for weeks, you know it's going to cost a pretty penny. But is it? A new watch has just been launched by Mibro, a Chinese tech firm, which packs in some seriously impressive features and you can currently buy it for £186. It's the Mibro GS Explorer S, and its features start with the impressive 1500-nit HBD AMOLED display. It's really bright, which is exactly what you need on an outdoor adventure. It's also seriously tough. Mibro put its new flagship watch through 17 military standard tests, which means it can cope with extremes of weather, bashings from rock faces and, obviously, submersion. There's also dual-frequency five-satellite GNSS for location tracking and a 10-axis motion sensing system, which means it's always tracking your precise movements. It feels great on the wrist, with a chunky bezel, but not too much weight | Mibro And then there's the water resistance. Another of the GS Explorer's stand-out features is its free-diving mode. And its water resistance rating is 10ATM, which can withstand depths of up to 100 metres. And, you have to remember, this is a phone with chunky buttons you can operate with gloves on, and Bluetooth calling. Yes, the Bluetooth calling system actually works underwater. The free-diving mode is one of several customisable setups you can flick over to, and it gives you depth and time warnings, current depth indication, and other tailored data. But there are plenty of other modes for other extreme sports, all wrapped up in an intuitive interface called Galaxy OS 2.0. It's eerily similar to Huawei's operating system, as is the companion app. And that's no bad thing. It feels light on the wrist, but incredibly robust. There are absolutely no build-quality qualms here. There's even a premium titanium version, which takes this to the next level. Battery life is also a strength, with claims of up to 60 days in a restrictive mode, 20 days in a daily mode, and around 15 hours with all the sensors on. I found that's all pretty realistic while using the watch out and about. The Bluetooth calling function even works underwater | Mibro The body trackers, which include heart rate and blood-oxygen monitoring, do take their toll when you use the most accurate settings, but it's possible, with a little careful management, to keep the watch going for over a week in normal use, and that's superb. I did experience a few glitches with the tracking and, comparing it with other watches I have at my disposal, some of the data was a little off. But I've always found they need time to settle in. That said, the overall feel was that the Mibro interface needed some finessing, which can doubtless be done through firmware updates, because it occasionally missed the fact I'd gone out on a bike ride, for example, and I missed a few notifications from time to time. Overall though, it's a seriously impressive piece of kit, especially considering it costs less than £200 at the moment. I'd also go as far as to say it's more attractive than the rivals from Garmin and Suunto, and it feels more robust than most of them.
Irish Examiner
24-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Mibro GS Explorer S review: A rugged adventure smartwatch that goes where you go
The Mibro GS Explorer S is a rugged outdoor smartwatch with premium features, including dual-frequency GNSS, 10 ATM water resistance, and a free-diving mode, all at a budget-friendly price. After a month of real-world use, here's how it holds up. Design and build The GS Explorer S is manufactured to meet military-grade durability standards. Picture: Mibro. The GS Explorer S looks and feels purpose-built for the outdoors. It's chunky, rugged, and unapologetically bold. I've been using the standard ceramic edition, which has a dual-material strap that combines the flexibility of silicone with the durability of metal links. It not only looks premium but also feels secure whether I'm on a hike or in the water. Mibro includes both orange and black straps in the box, using standard 22mm quick-release links for easy swapping. Mibro says the watch has passed 17 military-grade durability tests, which sounds great on paper, but it's the kind of reassurance you start to appreciate when you're out in the rain, or roughing it doing DIY projects. I've put it through a few cold swims, and it has had plenty of knocks, and it hasn't picked up a scratch. Despite its rugged build, the GS Explorer S is surprisingly comfortable. It doesn't dig into your wrist or feel overly heavy, which is something I usually notice in rugged watches. The three-button layout (including a large action button) is glove-friendly and responsive. Display The GS Explorer S features a 1.43-inch AMOLED display, boasting a peak brightness of 1,500 nits. Visibility in direct sunlight is excellent. The colours are vivid, animations are fluid, and the UI feels refined thanks to the upgraded Galaxy OS 2.0. While I wouldn't call the bezels invisible, they're tastefully done, and the display feels modern and crisp. There's an always-on mode, too, which I enabled for most of my testing period. Even in low light or underwater, the screen remains easy to read. Features and battery life Over the last month, I've been impressed by how much tech Mibro has crammed into the GS Explorer S. Bluetooth calling works well, and the microphone quality has been more than acceptable for casual conversations. It connects reliably to both Android and iOS, and I didn't experience any random disconnects during my time with it. Battery life has been another high point. With standard use (notifications on, Bluetooth calling enabled, occasional GPS), I easily got 10–12 days per charge. With heavy GPS and activity tracking, the battery life dropped to about 5–6 days, which is still excellent for a feature-rich watch at this price point. Charging is done via a magnetic pogo-pin style cable and typically takes under two hours to go from empty to full. The GS Explorer S also supports voice assistant functionality, basic weather info, alarms, timers, and music control. There's no app store, but the built-in suite is enough for most needs. Syncing with Google Fit, Strava, and Apple Health was quick and painless through the Mibro app. However, there's no NFC for contactless payments, which could be a deal-breaker for some. Activity and smart features For runners, hikers, climbers, swimmers, even free divers, this watch is packed with features. Based on my limited testing, I found the dual-frequency GNSS tracking impressively accurate. I've tested it on various cycling and walking trips, and the mapping data was spot on, even in dense wooded areas where GPS signals are usually unreliable. The Outdoor Exploration Mode is a central hub that consolidates your GPS route, weather, air pressure, heart rate, and waypoint marking into a single screen. You can use it to drop virtual breadcrumbs on a route and monitor elevation changes in real-time. The Track Back feature is great for peace of mind, as it allows you to retrace your steps if needed. The GS Explorer S features dual-frequency GPS (L1+L5) for wider coverage, better battery, and pinpoint tracking. Picture: Mibro. Free-Diving Mode logs descent/ascent speed, dive time, depth, and gives you customisable depth/time alerts. There are over 150 sports modes, many of which offer sport-specific metrics. Health tracking includes heart rate, SpO2, stress, sleep, and breathing rate. There's no ECG or HRV like you'd find on flagship wearables, but for the price, it offers a strong range of wellness metrics. Sleep tracking was fairly accurate and provided a decent breakdown of my sleep cycles, along with recommendations. Verdict The Mibro GS Explorer S is a rugged, feature-rich smartwatch that punches well above its weight. It's ideal for adventurers and outdoor sports enthusiasts seeking GPS accuracy, waterproofing, and real-world durability without the premium price tag. €160 Mibro
