Most more expensive devices including Fitbit don’t come with an integrated GPS and this is the feature to look for, as with integrated GPS you can get much more accurate fitness cores including distance and elevation. This is what most people are after and you won’t need to have your phone connected to get the accurate distance.

The package looks rather appealing and apart from the Makibes G03 Plus smartband, the company is shipping a short manual and a USB charging cradle dock.

Makibes G03 Plus uses a proprietary OS and shows the scores on the 0.96-inch slightly curved 128x64 pixel color TFT. It comes with a 230 mAh lithium polymer battery and packs a pedometer, heart rate sensor and GPS.

If you want the list of all features it includes the pedometer, trajectory, speed, pace, heart rate analysis, mileage, calorie, exercise time, laps, swimming feature, cycling, running, climbing, ball games, smart notifications. That sounds about right and lets not forget that it comes with IP67 waterproof rating and should withstand underwater conditions up to two meters.

The battery will allow 120 hours stand by time and many days of non-connected use and if you turn the GPS and use always on heartrate, you will get to 6-7 hours always on GPS performance. With GPS on during fitness activities and with always on Bluetooth connection to your smartphone you can expect up to three days of use.

Use

The first thing you notice is that there are three buttons you can press. In order to activate the display you can turn flip wrist option that works as described or you can press one of the two side buttons. The mains screen comes with a big digital watch, progress bar, current data and battery status.

The second screen will get you distance traveled, number or steps and total amount of calories. This number will always seem a bit steep as it includes the actual calories you burn without activity. An adult male burns between 90 and 100 calories while sleeping or sitting in a chair. The calories you burn with activities will be added.

The third screen has the actual heart rate that can be monitored all the time. This won’t burn that much battery but to our experience it won’t be the most precise measuring tool either. It will jump all over especially during activities, but after 20ish second it will calm and give you rather accurate value.

The forth screen will show your android / iOs phone notifications. You will be able to read a text message, see that someone is calling you, or read some Facebook, Wechat, QQ notification. This is rather basic feature, but it will provide some information and the choice of apps will remind you that this device was created primarily for China market. It will work in Europe, US and elsewhere just fine but you will miss some notification app support.  

GPS chip provided by KBPS will measure logitude, latitude and altitude when enabled. 

Activities

This gets us to the main feature of this fitness tracker. There is a standard walking mode with GPS off, running mode with GPS on, hiking mode with GPS on that tracks the elevation, biking mode with GPS on, swimming mode with GPS on and even a ball sports with GPS on.

GPS will provide much more accurate data compared to the pedometer approach, but it will cost you a battery life. You will be able to read all this data via companion Hrate+.

Easy to access settings include incoming call enable / disable, unit metric or imperial, all day heart rate on or of and turn the wrist light screen on and off.

You will be able to set the smart alarm, to be remaindering to take a walk while sitting in the work set the notification, sync data, set screen saver time, or upgrade firmware. You will be able to set the goals with steps, sleep, hiking, swimming, walking, running or biking individually. The app will ask you for your age and gender.

It definitely tracks the steps and distance, and the GPS will give you more accurate picture how much you walked or run. This works as described but as we mentioned before, GPS will burn through your battery in 6 to 7 hours. It is easy to dock the smartband and charge it and it won’t be a big hustle.

The wrist strap is made of comfortable plastic and it is adjustable, just like in any watch. The display doesn’t have any gorilla glass or similar protection and it won’t be hard to scratch it. It would be good if this gets addressed in the future update.

OS is proprietary just as well as the app, so you will have to get use to the options and should not expect much new features in the future from it.  

Conclusion

If you are shopping for inexpensive fitness tracker with a GPS support, you should consider Makibes G03 Plus. It will do the job just fine and it will get you rather accurate GPS details of your workout. This is the main buying argument for this device.

Most other less expensive devices wont have the GPS and this is a key differentiation. GPS means better accuracy of your activities and if you are in market for that, this is the device for you. This is the key selling argument. Even without GPS on, the device will provide heart rate and pedometer step count for multiple days and it will sit in stand by for more than a week. It looks stylish enough to wear it everyday especially for sports and it wont die from sweaty sports activities or even a swim.

If is available at geekbuying for €38.57 / $44 USD.