Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro Review: HR, Sleep, GPS – Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:02] Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro, the first Huawei watch with a totally new sleep stage model with the new True Sleep 5.0. And Huawei claims vastly improved sleep

[00:14] stage tracking. But of course, in this video, we'll put all of that to the test and also test the heart rate and GPS tracking performance. Very importantly, I will also receive the normal Huawei Watch Fit 5, but it's too late for the

[00:28] testing now. So, that video is coming out a few days after this one. So, if you're deciding between the Pro version and the non-pro, definitely watch both. Both should have the new sleep stage tracking though. Now, as always, I'll

[00:41] evaluate everything objectively purely based on data and data science to help you decide on the best watch to get. Now, just based on the build quality of this watch, the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is definitely a really good watch. It

[00:56] looks more or less like an Apple Watch, but with a more premium look and feel than the sort of baseline Apple models, at least in my opinion. The screen of the new Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is also bigger than the previous models, and it

[01:09] honestly looks a lot like an Apple Watch's screen. I think both look pretty great, but it's your personal decision which one you like better. To me, this it's very subjective again. But honestly, you are probably here for the

[01:23] data. So, let's quickly summarize some of the new features of the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro and then get to all the data analysis. And as I said, for me, the main major improvement is the new sleep tracking on the watch. Now, here Huawei

[01:38] made a somewhat understandable but also controversial decision. Basically, all previously released devices will keep the old algorithm for now, whereas newly released devices will mostly get the new True Sleep 5.0. The reason they gave to

[01:54] me is that you you can no longer compare your new values with all your old values if you update the algorithm and people might get upset if all of a sudden they have less deep sleep in their app. Maybe this might be

[02:06] more accurate, but it will not be comparable to previous data. Now, I think for instance, Aura with their Aura ring right here learned quite a hard lesson when they updated their sleep stage tracking at some point where

[02:18] people got less deep sleep on average. This was a more accurate algorithm, but less deep sleep. So, somewhat understandable for Huawei to make the decision, but I would still prefer for it to be up to the user to decide

[02:31] algorithm or not. I will actually do a dedicated deep dive into the new sleep tracking of Huawei not just on the Pro model right here, but also on the normal model and I want to make a separate video since Huawei tried to make a

[02:45] meaningful change to their sleep stage tracking approach that will affect all devices going forward, so not just these models. In short, I would say in the previous versions of Huawei sleep tracking they leaned more towards sleep

[02:57] stability than the normal classic sleep staging, but now with the new True Sleep 5.0 algorithm, they specifically tried to improve the sleep stage tracking, so deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep. Now, I'll explain what that means and

[03:10] show full validation results in the dedicated sleep video, but that deserves its own deep dive. Now, quickly before showing you the results of my testing, what is the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro and how is it different from previous

[03:23] models? Huawei's Fit series used to sit somewhere in between smart bands and smart watches, but now with the newer models, they're basically full on quite premium looking and feeling smart watches. The price point of the Fit Pro

[03:38] right here is also not that low. Honestly, I don't have the official price yet, but I suspect it will be around 280 euros or 300 dollars and once I get that info from Huawei, I'll put that on screen right here. It's actually

[03:52] not that much cheaper than for instance an Apple Watch Series 11, so really in that similar price point. This year's Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro has a bigger screen, as I said. It's also brighter, I think up to 3,000 nits, and the screen

[04:06] think up to 3,000 nits, and the screen is 1.92 inches. The one thing I mostly appreciate is that now on both sides of the watch right here, the bezel is the same size. Before that wasn't the case, but now all sides have the same bezels,

[04:19] so it looks much more symmetric. The premium version has sapphire glass, titanium alloy bezels, and also an adaptive refresh rate. I have the black impression is very positive in terms of looks and feel. As I said, I think it

[04:33] looks a bit better than an Apple Watch, but also not by a mile. So, it really depends on your preference. Of course, Apple Watches will have better integration into the Apple ecosystem, but the Watch Fit 5 Pro works on both

[04:46] Android and Apple. But, let's now get to the testing, and let me outline what I'm going to do in this video. We'll do a systematic and scientific test of the heart rate tracking during exercise, sleep stage tracking performance, and

[04:59] GPS tracking. Of course, there are limitations here. It's only tested on me for a limited amount of days, but I think it's still very informative. And I'll summarize everything with a brand new 1 to 100 scoring system, and tell

[05:12] you who this device is for. And this is all purely based on the data. So, throughout this video, I'll keep a running scoreboard right here on screen with the three categories. So, heart rate, sleep, and GPS. Also, quick

[05:24] disclosure, Huawei did provide me with this loaner watch for review, but they didn't have any influence on my testing, and they don't see my conclusions before publication. My aim is to test objectively. Now, let's start actually

[05:37] performance, because for most people, that's where watches can either win test heart rate is by comparing the watch's heart rate tracking against an ECG reference device. I record multiple

[05:51] workouts and compare the watch's heart rate tracking against the reference. Now, for the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro, I tested four workout types: running, indoor cycling, outdoor cycling, and weightlifting. And we have the results

[06:03] right here. And these results right here are for indoor cycling. Now, indoor cycling is generally one of the easier exercises for a device to track. And we can indeed see that the

[06:17] Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro did a really great job here. So, we have the reference along the horizontal axis and the 5 Fit Pro along the vertical axis. And if the two would perfectly agree, all dots should be along this blue line

[06:30] right here. And they are super close, so that's very good. The correlation is 1.00. The correlation cannot be higher than one, so a rounded value of 1.00 is that result. Basically, a more or less perfect

[06:45] individual spinning sessions, we can indeed see that this is the case. So, Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is in red, and the two lines over time basically overlap perfectly. And this second spinning session looks also almost

[07:00] perfect. A tiny bit of deviation here in the beginning, but this is basically as good as it gets. And we can actually compare to the competition as well. So, looking at before, which you want to be as high as possible. So, the further two

[07:14] drop right to the devices, the better is its performance. And the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is right here. So, it's really one of the top performers compared to all the devices I tested from 2025 onwards. We can actually zoom in a bit

[07:29] these are just the better performing devices. And indeed, the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is right here doing a really good job. >> Very close to the Huawei Watch GT Runner, to the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro,

[07:44] and also the Huawei Watch Fit 4. So, I think all these Huawei devices are performing about the same and doing a really good job for indoor cycling. more difficult and look at the results for running outside. So, this is

[07:59] Also right here, we have a really good correlation. It's a little bit lower now at 0.99, but still really good. Only here in the lower heart rate range, you here in the lower heart rate range, you have a bit of deviation. But, mostly all

[08:12] So, for running, doing a really good job. We can actually take a look at the two runs that I did. So, we can see a little bit of deviation, but very minor for this run. And this run where I tried to have a bit of variation in my heart

[08:25] rate, also a very good job. A tiny bit of deviation right here. Again, we can compare this to the competition, where we want the devices to be as far to the top right as possible. And the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro

[08:39] is right here. So, doing a really amazing job again. Again, if we zoom in watches, so just those with a correlation of 0.95 or higher, we can indeed see that the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is doing really an amazing job.

[08:54] Pro is doing really an amazing job. About the same as the Huawei Watch GT 6, but also the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro right here, and the Huawei Watch Fit 4. meaningfully better. They're all just doing a great job. Maybe not quite as

[09:09] here. They might still be a tiny bit better. It's hard to say. Also, the Pixel Watch is doing a really good job. But, for me, the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro But, as you can see right here, it's getting a little bit worse for cycling

[09:25] outside. Now, these were mostly my commutes, so shorter bike rides. But, here we can see it sometimes detects it to low heart rate. We also see these to low heart rate. We also see these typical sort of horizontal lines. This

[09:39] is something we've had before for Huawei where for some reason it keeps detecting a stable heart rate for a while. Now, I don't know if this is an export error or what is going on here. Correlation is now also quite a bit lower at 0.92,

[09:52] which is still okay, but not great. If though, we can actually see it's mostly doing a good job, but sometimes having these horizontal lines where it just stops detecting my heart rate maybe for

[10:04] a bit. Not sure what's going on there. Also right here for instance, we can see that horizontal line. Overall though, it's still keeping very good track of my heart rate. It only struggled a little bit here and also here in the beginning.

[10:16] this is still very good and we can actually see that right here. So, we have the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro right here and we saw that the 5 Pro had a correlation of 0.92. So, it should be around here somewhere. And indeed, we

[10:31] can see the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is somewhere right here. So, somewhere in the upper middle class of devices, I would say. We can actually zoom in a bit. So, just the devices with the correlation of 0.9 or higher. And we

[10:45] have the Huawei Watch Fit 5, 4 Pro, GT 6 Pro, GT Runner 2, and the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is not that far away. Again, I cannot say there's a meaningful difference between these models. I just need more test data for that. Now, here

[10:59] we do see some devices are doing significantly better like for instance, Pixel watches, but also Apple watches for instance, and also the Amazfit Helios strap worn on the biceps. For me, the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is definitely

[11:12] still good enough, though it has these weird horizontal line artifacts. We've don't know if it's because I'm using a beta version of the actual app on the phone, but this is just what it is. You have to judge if this is good enough.

[11:27] the results for weight lifting. Now, I only did this single session. Correlation isn't that great, but weightlifting is a hard thing to test. If we look at the session itself, we indeed see that not all peaks in my

[11:39] heart rate were fully detected, but I generally wouldn't recommend any watch for tracking your heart rate during weightlifting. It's just too hard. Even the best devices struggle. So, it only focus more on cardio exercises, and

[11:52] there I think the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro did a really good job. Now, as I testing, I'm going to introduce something new for the first time on this channel, a simple 1 to 100 scoring system for the three things most of you

[12:07] during exercise, I'm going to give you that score in a second, sleep stage tracking performance, and GPS tracking performance. The goal is not to oversimplify things, but to make it easier to compare devices across videos

[12:20] showing you all the raw graphs and explaining the details. In the end, I'll also map these 1 to 100 scores to five simple categories: great, good, okay,

[12:32] meh, and bad. I'll show you the exact thresholds in a future video to keep things consistent, but let's start with the score of the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro. The overall correlation over the three cardio exercises on average is 0.97, and

[12:48] scoring system. So, that's a score of 97, which I would classify as great. It struggled a little bit during bike rides, so it might be an early testing artifact, but not enough not to classify the heart rate tracking as great, so the

[13:03] highest category. But now we come to the most exciting But now we come to the most exciting part, the sleep stage tracking. Huawei describes their updated sleep stage monitoring as True Sleep 5.0. Basically,

[13:15] they say that the classic sleep stages, so deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep should be tracked better now. Now, two important notes here. First of all, Huawei told me that the sleep tracking algorithm runs directly on the watch

[13:28] itself, so it works even without a Bluetooth connection to the phone. The needed to sync it to your app, but you will see your sleep scoring even without connecting to your phone. And second, I'm not going to fully unpack the sleep

[13:42] much more data and multiple devices for that. So that will be in a dedicated video. Today we'll focus on the initial results for the Fit 5 Pro based on 4 to 5 nights. So this is initial and my

[13:55] testing setup is to compare the sleep stages as tracked by the watch to an EEG headband which can actually measure my brain waves and was specifically scientific sleep studies. And then over all nights I compare the sensitivity for

[14:09] deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep. Now let's get to the results, but before doing that, running this channel next to my full-time job as a scientist is neither easy or cheap, so I quickly want to ask for your support. You can do that

[14:22] in multiple ways. The easiest way is by using my general Amazon affiliate link before making any purchase on Amazon. You can bookmark it even with command or control D and then if you make it your default way of going to Amazon, you

[14:35] support the channel each time you shop and it doesn't cost you any extra. So if amazing. I also have a bunch of other affiliate links in the description below possible and support the channel. So for instance to the Whoop Strap, my favorite

[14:49] overall tracking device, the Oura Ring, one of the best health trackers, and the Eight Sleep Pod, my favorite sleep device. I also have YouTube memberships my videos. Thanks so much for considering, but let's get back to the

[15:04] sleep tracking results which are displayed right here. So on top right here we have the sleep stages as tracked by the reference and on the left right here we have the results as tracked by the Fit 5 Pro. And

[15:19] if the two would perfectly agree, all values on the diagonal right here should and they're not 100%. We're actually going to ignore awake time because my moments that aren't really awake moments, but I do have a lot of trust in

[15:34] the deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep. Now, first of all, deep sleep agreement is very good at about 75%, quite happy with that. Same for light sleep agreement, also at around 75%. However, REM sleep right here has an

[15:48] agreement of about 30% at least in my initial testing of the new 5 Fit Pro, and I'm really not that happy with that. Actually, looking at some of the individual nights, we can see that usually I have multiple sleep cycles.

[16:03] They always end in REM sleep, and I probably had four to five sleep cycles reference device right here, and on the bottom the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro. And as you can see, the REM sleep as tracked by the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is

[16:19] very different. So, the REM sleep is in red, is very different from the REM sleep as tracked by the reference device. Now, typically in my first sleep cycle, I actually have almost no REM sleep at the end. Now, the Watch Fit 5

[16:31] Pro probably expected some, so detected quite a bit right here, but then later on it's missing a lot of my REM sleep. So, that's likely why the REM sleep tracking wasn't very good. This is just one example night, but overall the night

[16:43] there was only a 30% agreement. Now, if we actually look at some of the classic sleep stage tracking metrics, the new Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro right here is performing better than all the other Huawei devices I tested in the past with

[16:56] the old algorithm, so a significant improvement. So, we have the average sensitivity along the horizontal axis right here, and Cohen's kappa along the understand what it means, but basically the further to the top right the device

[17:09] is, the better is its deep stage tracking performance. And on average, indeed, the Watch Fit 5 Pro does seem to have improved. However, REM sleep just isn't very good yet. And if you look at the way I like to visualize the

[17:22] sensitivity along the horizontal axis and the sensitivity of the worst stage along the vertical axis, we actually have the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro down here. So, on average, it's definitely doing better than the older model, so

[17:36] because the REM sleep is so bad, at least on me, it's lower along the vertical axis. So, it's not amongst the top devices right here. So, Huawei seems to be on the right track, but some improvements might still be needed. Of

[17:50] course, this is a limited initial test, so stay tuned for that full review. Now, if you're interested in what the best devices are at the moment, I would say performing the best in terms of sleep stage tracking.

[18:02] Apple Watch is on iOS, that's a good choice. Also, the Pixel Watch on Android same is true for Fitbit devices, which Then we have the Oura Ring, so my favorite overall health tracking device.

[18:15] The Whoop Strap, my favorite overall sports and health tracker. And then finally, the Eight Sleep Pod, which is on the top right here, which is my favorite sleep improvement device. Now, the Eight Sleep Pod is a bit of a

[18:27] expensive. It's not a tracker that you wear on your body, but it goes around your mattress and it's also a blanket that can actively cool and heat each improving my sleep is because in summer, I really suffer in the heat and I just

[18:41] cannot sleep well. But with the Eight Sleep Pod, I completely control the And if I have a partner, she can set her temperature higher because I like to out for a few weeks and also get the best discount possible if you decide to

[18:55] keep it, use my affiliate link up here or down here to try it out. Again, only buy things you can afford. If you want to go a bit cheaper, not get the sleep tracking, a Pixel Watch, an Apple Watch, or even Fitbit device are pretty good

[19:09] choices. They're not crazy expensive and still give you good tracking. The Whoop Strap it is a subscription service so a bit more expensive the same for the Aura recommendations at the moment for sleep. Huawei does seem to be improving and if

[19:23] they manage to get themselves maybe to this area or even to the best performing it would give you good sleep stage tracking on both iOS or Android. But based on this initial test it just don't appear to be there yet. Now let's

[19:37] also give the total score for the sleep stage tracking of Huawei. I use the sensitivity for each sleep stage so deep sleep, light sleep and REM sleep and average those out. Then we get to a score of 60.1 out of 100. Which I would

[19:51] score of 60.1 out of 100. Which I would classify right in the middle as okay. And this is almost entirely because of the bad REM sleep tracking. So if they manage to improve that, we're going to get good sleep stage tracking from

[20:03] test, it seems like they're not fully there yet. So that's the sleep stage another important thing for those of you who like running or cycling and that's the GPS tracking because that will give you your pace, your speed and also your

[20:19] total distance traveled. Huawei says the watch has the sunflower positioning we're already familiar with and might have a slightly upgraded antenna. But as always I don't judge GPS or anything else by the claims a brand makes. We're

[20:31] actually going to judge it by the actual track. So let's take a look. Now let's start by taking a look at the results for cycling outside. Unfortunately not cycling I only have two tracks to show you right here. Now the way I test the

[20:44] GPS tracking is by cycling the same route several times. And what we're hoping to see is that the tracks overlap very well because if they're very close together, it's much more likely that the GPS tracking is very good. Or at least

[20:56] what we can say is if the tracks are not very close together but they're very spread out, then it's more likely that the GPS tracking is not very good. Now here we have two tracks only but let's go along. They're actually quite

[21:09] close together. This looks quite good. Not unhappy with this performance. Again, very limited because I could only export two tracks from Strava, but also here they're very close together. So, for cycling, looking pretty good. A

[21:21] little bit of deviation right here. And here there's a little bit more deviation than I'd like to see. So, right here I was still on the same road and the two deviate quite a bit. So, pretty okay, but not great. But let's

[21:35] also take a look at the results for running and I do also have several runs. So, again, the way I tested is by running the same route several times. So, in this case, I'm running in a circle and we want the GPS tracks to

[21:47] overlap. Now, on the left of this image, there's no real obstructions, so there should be easy GPS tracking. And on the right, there's this big wall where many watches struggle and we want to see good GPS tracking performance on both sides.

[22:01] the tracks are pretty close together on this side. And actually on the right side is potentially even better. So, GPS tracking for running, pretty good I would say. But let's also take a look at a second run right here and that's this

[22:15] one where on the left again, we have amazing GPS tracking, very close here, but nothing to complain about. In this case, it is a bit worse on the right side. So, indeed, we see some more deviation there. So, not quite perfect,

[22:31] but pretty good. I'm not disappointed with this performance. It's not quite up like Garmin for instance, but now I formula to score these tracks. But based on these routes that were tracked, my

[22:45] subjective GPS score for the Fit 5 Pro is 75 to 80. And that corresponds to category of good. So, okay, let's now summarize based on the scoreboard how

[22:57] the watch Fit 5 Pro performed. The heart rate tracking was great. The sleep stage tracking was unfortunately just somewhere in the middle, so okay. And the GPS tracking was actually pretty good. So, what's my overall conclusion

[23:10] for the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro right here? Well, based on all those scores we just gave, I would say that for sports tracking it's a really good option, at least based on my initial testing today. It does a great job at tracking my heart

[23:24] rate, a pretty good job at tracking GPS. Sleep staging appears to be improved compared to the previous versions of the Huawei True Sleep algorithm, but at quite there yet for me. If you want really good sleep stage tracking, you

[23:38] might still have to look at some different brands. The Huawei is on the right track. So, overall, if you also care about a more premium build and a tougher screen, it might be a good option to choose over the Apple Watch.

[23:51] The Apple Watch is more likely to have a scratch screen. The screen is also a tiny bit smaller, and of course limited to iOS. But it will provide you with better integration into the Apple ecosystem. So, it's really up to you in

[24:03] data. Finally, remember that a non-Pro Huawei Watch Fit 5 video is coming out in a few days. In that video, I'll test the normal model with the exact same approach, and I'll keep an on-screen

[24:16] indicator to compare the performance to the Pro model. Now, if you find this video useful, please consider subscribing. That way you'll also be version comes out, and you'll also be able to see my deep dive into the new

[24:29] able to see my deep dive into the new True Sleep 5.0 algorithm. Now, if you do decide to get yourself a Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro, maybe an Apple Watch, or you want a Whoop strap, an Oura Ring, you want to improve your sleep with the

[24:43] Eight Sleep Pod, and you want to get the best discount possible, use one of my affiliate links in the description below. You'll be supporting your wallet you can support the channel even by buying anything at all on Amazon for

[24:56] that matter, even something as small as toilet paper or coffee beans. Now, given that you watched this whole video on the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro, I think you will like this video on the Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 or this video

[25:09] Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 or this video on the 8 Sleep Pod.