What is that in the box?
Investing in quality running gear can often improve your performance as well as
increase your enjoyment out on runs.
But can you buy quality kit without breaking the bank?
And is there a difference
between the running brands that we know and love and their third party
counterparts from online retailers? Well, before we find out,
don't forget to subscribe to The Running Channel and click the bell icon to be
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It's important to mention that we're not paid by the brands to say nice things
and all of the opinions that you're about to hear are my own.
Now, most of us are familiar with Amazon and eBay.
Two of the world's largest e-commerce platforms that are used by millions of
buyers and retailers on a daily basis. However,
there are alternatives to these such as Aliexpress, Wish and DHgate,
that offer similar products at a lower price.
Usually without the same buyer guarantee or reputation as one of the larger
platforms. Put simply, you quite often get what you pay for.
Now, I've got a couple of different items ordered from Wish. Shoes, headphones,
a jackets, heart rate monitor, a running backpack,
and a smartwatch. As well as the equivalent pieces of kit from well-known brands.
So let's put this gear to the test.
Okay, so I guess there's classes as an unboxing. It's not exactly
as glamorous as some of the ones that you see the filtered Instagram influencers
doing, because I've literally got,
a carrier bag. First up,
Shoes. Okay. Um, you know,
normally when you get a pair of running shoes, they're in a pretty fancy box.
Um, they've got some nice packaging.
These are definitely not the
ones that I ordered.
So these were 15 pounds and the ones on the website were basically,
then they looked very much like Nike's. They even had the swoosh on them.
The first impressions they look tiny, actually,
I don't even know if I'm going to be able to fit these on my feet,
this one description of contents earphones.
So these ones on the website looked like the bone conducting, Aftershocks
headphones. So let's see what I've been sent.
Yeah, yeah. Very much so, looking like some
bone conducting headphones, charge time, one and a half hours, working time,
five hours, standby time, 120 hours. So,
Let's get into
this by the way. There is a lot of plastic in this. Um,
lots of the bigger name brands are moving to a much more environmentally
friendly, um, packaging system.
So marks down on these for the
packaging. Here we go, this is what they look like out of the box.
So the next package, it says, description of contents.
Smart watch. Not very fancy.
What have we got here then?
Okay.
So this looks very much like the Garmin
Venu that we're going to be putting it up against.
What is that in the box?
That is the battery, for the watch.
That's amazing.
It is a rechargeable battery. So it's got a little charging port.
Oh, I do like the jingle. There we go.
We're good to go.
Um, interestingly as well, to note, there's no heart rate monitor on the bank,
but that is because we have got a separate one for that.
So let's move on to the next item. There we go.
Bluetooth wireless heart rate, chest strap, battery
cover, electrode area's heart rate, monitor sensor.
This one's been a little bit bashed. So let's take it out of the box.
Here it is. I've got a, an instructions manual.
So it'd be interesting to see how easy that is to pair up.
14 Pounds for heart rate monitor. Is it worth it though?
What's next, description of contents.
Coat. Okay.
Interestingly, that's definitely not the colour that I ordered. Handy
little bag that it comes in though. Here we go.
This is the running jacket.
It's got pockets with no zips in, um,
which isn't great when you're running along.
Cause you don't want you to have to fall out,
but be interesting to put this one to the bin bag test, ie, does it make you feel
like you're wearing a bin bag when it's warm, but you want protecting from the rain.
We shall see.
Last one, description of contents.
Bag 001 bladder sky blue.
Quite pleasantly surprised by this.
Although, I may have spoken too soon.
This could on first impressions having not even put it on,
be a pretty decent commuter running pack though.
And in the inside,
we've got a bladder as well. So a hydration pack.
With, um, oodles of storage. Pleasantly
surprised by that one. Okay. So we've got a bit of a mixed bag here.
And in order to fairly put this stuff to the test,
I'm going to be running the same route,
wearing this gear as I am wearing,
it's more well-known branded counterparts to see whether.
You really do get what you pay for, or whether there
are some savings to be made on this slightly wacky
versions of things. The smartwatch is um,
that's going to be an interesting one for sure.
Menu, Bluetooth
search new device.
Anna's iPhone, pair. Pairing.
There we go.
It is called A1. A1 is paired. Let's click this.
Connected. That's a very posh English voice as well. Okay.
Let's see if my Spotify will play through
my phone.
Yes,
that's very loud.
Okay. Let's see what they're like out on a run,
but first impressions. Little bit tinny. Heart rate
monitor, add device, searching,
No sensors found.
It's still searching and can't find it. So think that's a big fat X
for the heart rate monitor. Because I can't, connect it to anything.
I'm not going to get any readings from it, so, onwards.
Okay.
Oh dear. So,
as expected,
and what was quite obvious when I got these out of the bag is that my
feet are actually bigger than the shoes. Now,
what I think might have happened here is I've ordered a size six and a half.
And I think what I've got is a US size six and a
half, which I think in UK sizes,
Oh, that must be about.
A size four. I mean ow, yeah,
it's going to have to be another one that sits out on the run.
So another X for wish.com.
All right, then that's get this on,
uh, run new
doesn't like the wet. Okay.
Really doesn't like the wet.
Okay. Ready, steady, Go.
Oh.
Gonna need to take my headphones on because the sloshing,
wow, that is, um, that's quite annoying.
A little rainy run, although the sun's coming out.
So we'll be able to put the bin bag test,
this sloshing is so distracting. Oh my God.
Okay. So to overcome the sloshing noise, I've got my headphones on.
And they're actually alright.
I can still hear the sloshing though. So,
so far, it's a big fat no to the shoes,
a big fat note to the heart rate monitor.
Still no water coming out of here. Oh, hang on, there's a twist to open.
There's still no water. Okay.
This sloshing is so loud that people are actually looking at me when I run past.
The screen isn't showing anything on my watch.
That worries me slightly. Okay.
Is there anything worse than getting back from a run and realising that it
hasn't recorded on your watch? I think not.
So here is the moment of truth.
What does my watch say?
Okay.
Interesting. That is interesting. Um,
not only has it underestimated the amount of time I've been out,
it also just adds some random step number in,
and can you see, what are those?
heat?
I don't think that's actually as hot as it is, because I am sweating
in this bin bag.
So let me just run you through what
I am going to be comparing it to.
So I've got the inov-8 Stormshell jacket on, I've got a Camelbak pack,
the Aftershocks Aeropex, a Garmin Venue Square.
And then on my feet,
I've got the Nike Tempo Next%. And then underneath all of this,
I have the Garmin HRM Pro heart rate monitor,
which I need to connect up to the watch.
Before I go and run, let's go test this.
So the moment of truth,
my verdict on the knockoff products from Wish.com.
Versus the products that we know and love from well-known
brands. So let's start with the shoes. Well,
there's not really a lot that I can do to compare the two because the Wish ones
were too small for my feet. I couldn't run in them.
One thing I would say is just even from feeling them and putting them on my feet
although they were too small.
I know that there are better shoes out there
for a lower price than the fancy branded ones.
For example,
we looked at the 10 pound shoes from decathlon and they do a much better job
than I envisaged these could.
They're just so hard and just really not supportive.
So that's my view on the shoes. Um,
another one that gets a big fat cross is the heart rate monitor. Um,
so the one that we ordered,
who knows how you can connect that up,
but I had no luck and versus the Garmin HRM Pro I mean,
there's just no comparison, really. Headphones,
pleasantly surprised by the headphones.
So the Wish.com ones versus the Aftershocks Aeropex.
So again, you definitely get what you pay for, but as I mentioned,
the sound quality, isn't that bad in these ones.
Now the Aeropex do last longer in the charge.
The quality of the music and the audio that's coming through is much better
than these. However, when you look at the price,
if you don't have the cash available for the aftershocks ones,
then these are a good alternative.
Next up we have the jackets. There's
no zips in the pockets. We
have a big thing about there being no zips in the pockets. Um, it's just,
I mean, common sense when you're going out running, you need something,
that's going to be able to keep your stuff in the pockets, not fall out.
So again, I mean,
it was fine as a pack a mac, kind of thing that you might wear like at a
festival or something, but as a performance piece of kit, I'm afraid,
that's a no from me, uh, you know,
when you compare it to the likes of the inov-8 Stormshell jacket,
you've got the adjustable head bit round the hood.
You've got the peak on the,
on the hood as well to keep the rain out of your face.
And although I was quite warm in it on the actual run that I did,
this jacket definitely performs at a much higher level than the
Wish one. Running packs, the Wish one,
now word of warning,
you might not be able to get the water out of the actual tube,
but it does come out of the actual bladder. So yeah,
this is actually wet everywhere, and I'm not really too sure what I've done. Um,
the pack as a whole, it was,
it was comfortable to wear, the sloshing on the other hand.
Wow. That was another level. But as a commuter backpack,
if you haven't got very much stuff to take in with you, you know,
has got a fair bit of room in it. And some zip pockets that are really useful,
um, it doesn't fit, you know, big stuff in,
so you wouldn't be able to take a laptop or anything, but on the whole,
as an actual pack to carry stuff in while you're running,
I really rated it. The bladder side of things, absolute disaster,
it's soaking wet and I didn't get any water out of it. And finally,
the big one,
can you buy a smartwatch for running for 12 pounds?
Well, yes, you can buy a smartwatch for running for 12 pounds. We did,
does it perform to the same level as a brand that
we know and love, Garmin in this instance?
Nowhere near. Doesn't even come close.
So I've paired it to my phone. I'm not really too sure.
I'm not convinced that it actually does anything paired to my phone. Um,
when you go running and measure, an activity on this,
it tells you the number of steps that you did. It also gives you random, um,
measurements of fat, heat, speed and mileage.
Um, but there is no GPS.
And I also have concerns that the battery is just there,
and removable.
I didn't actually even know if it was recording for half of the time. Um,
and on return from my run, it would appear it wasn't. So, um,
yeah, I, yes, you can buy a smartwatch for running for 12 pounds,
but you can't get one that will perform to a level
of it's more pricey counterpart. So.
Hopefully that's given you a bit of an insight into some of the stuff that's
out there, where can make a bit of a saving.
And where you're just wasting your money, even if it is cheap.
Have you ever got yourself a running bargain that paid off or
maybe you've also bought something that was too good to be true.
And you've been bitten in the backside by it.
Let us know in the comments below and
we'll see you next time on The Running Channel.