Cult Shock X Review: An Average Budget Fitness Tracker That Gets the Job Done

Cult Shock X was launched earlier this year by Cult.sport, the​​ fitness product brand from the company Cure.fit that operates Cult.fit gyms across various cities in the country. It is equipped with an AMOLED screen and is claimed to offer up to 10 days of use on a single charge. Like other fitness trackers in the same price segment, it also features a built-in speaker and microphone that allow you to receive calls via a connected smartphone. I've spent nearly a month wearing and testing the Shock X, and here's what I think about this fitness tracker.

Cult Shock X price in India

The Cult Shock X's price in India was Rs. 2,999 when it launched earlier this year, but the fitness tracker is currently listed at Rs. 1,999 on Flipkart. It is sold in Black, Camo, Green, and Red colour options. The company sent me the wearable in a Black colourway for review. It arrived with a charging cable inside the box, along with a user manual and a QR code to download the companion app for iOS and Android phones.

Cult Shock X Review: Design

As far as fitness trackers go, the Shock X is a pretty large wearable, even on my wrist. The body is made of plastic, the straps are made of silicone, and the device didn't feel too heavy when I put it on. You can also choose to swap out the straps easily, using ‘universal' watch straps that feature the same connector.

On the right side, there are two buttons: one to wake up the screen and the other to pull up the sport/ fitness tracking menu. You can also rotate the crown, located between these two buttons, to quickly scroll through menu options and fitness modes.

Cult Shock X sports a 1.43-inch AMOLED screen

While it's not the brightest screen on a wearable fitness tracker, the 1.43-inch AMOLED screen on the Shock X offers decent visibility in nearly all lighting conditions. I had no issues looking at the watch's screen while I was outdoors in bright sunlight in the middle of the day. The edges of the watch form a 3mm bezel around the screen, while there's a very thin black border around the display.

The Shock X has an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, which means it's more than capable of handling perspiration while working out or if you get caught in the rain. I couldn't find a water resistance rating, but the watch does include surfing and snorkelling, among several other fitness tracking modes. After a few weeks of use, I also noticed a bit of discolouration at the bottom of the watch near the sensors.

Cult Shock X Review: Specifications and performance

According to Cult.sport, the Shock X has a 1.43-inch (466 x 466 pixels) AMOLED screen with a peak brightness of 850 nits. You'll have to set the brightness level of the fitness tracker manually, and setting it to a higher level will reduce the battery life of the device.

The Watch X offers several health-tracking features, including blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), step counting, blood pressure, heart rate, and sleep tracking. It also offers features like a digital calculator and a BMI calculator. The Fitness tab inside the companion app also contains innumerable videos across several categories that can help you learn and try new workouts.

I wore the Shock X fitness tracker so that it would count all my steps over the course of a regular day, and I also used it to track workouts for a few weeks. I also took 100 steps (counted manually) with the Shock X and the Apple Watch SE 2 — the former counted 94 steps while the latter reported 98 steps. The fitness tracker also tracked calories burned on the elliptical machine, treadmill, and exercise cycle at my gym — I compared the readings from the equipment with the ones displayed on my wrist. 

The Cult Watch app works on iOS and Android smartphones

I compared the SpO2 and blood pressure measurements with a basic BPL pulse oximeter and an Omron automatic BP monitor and found that the readings were mostly consistent. That said, budget wearable fitness trackers aren't meant to replace medical-grade devices, especially if you need to monitor specific parameters for your health. You can also set reminders to drink water and stand up (if you sit down for too long).

In addition to these health monitoring features, the Shock X fitness tracker can also receive incoming calls and dial phone numbers when connected to your smartphone over Bluetooth. It works just like a microphone-enabled Bluetooth speaker, and I could hear the other person clearly when I wasn't in very noisy environments.

Other Bluetooth-enabled features were hit and miss, such as the remote camera feature and the “find phone” — the latter didn't work unless the app was actively running on the phone, effectively rendering the device's ability to remotely make my phone ring pointless.

The Cult Watch companion app for the Shock X is available for Android and iOS. I downloaded the app on a phone running on Android 13 and I was able to use all the features that the watch supported, with the exception of the one that helps you locate your phone.

The device packs a 420mAh battery that is claimed to deliver up to 10 days of battery life. This was mostly accurate during the period I spent testing the Shock X, and I only ended up charging it thrice over the last four weeks, using the included USB cable with a magnetic pogo pin connector. I was quite surprised when I didn't wear the watch for two days and found the battery didn't drop by even one percent.

The Cult Shock X delivered 10 days of battery life with moderate use

The Shock X runs on a basic, unspecified operating system, which sometimes displays choppy animations. Due to the lack of an advanced operating system like Wear OS, you can't use third-party apps on the fitness tracker. The companion app lets you pick from several digital faces that you can download and sync to the wearable over Bluetooth. Turning the crown switches between these faces, and I ended up trying different ones on a regular basis.

Cult Shock X Review: Verdict

This fitness tracker competes against several wearables priced under Rs. 3,000. It's no secret that the market is currently flooded with fitness trackers from companies like Noise, Fire-Boltt, Boat, Fastrack, and several other brands. These trackers offer very similar features across several models, with the external design being the only factor that sets them apart.

The Cult Shock X is one such device that does exactly what it says on the box. It tracks your fitness parameters, shows you your notifications, and lets you make and receive calls over a Bluetooth connection. Besides these features, the smartwatch itself does nothing to make it a compelling option compared to other models from competing firms. Access to the several workout training videos on the app is definitely a plus, in my opinion.

That said, the Shock X is currently listed at Rs. 1,999 on Flipkart, which is just over 33 percent lower than its original launch price and puts it on par with other devices from competing brands mentioned above. If you're looking to purchase a fitness tracker that covers most of the basics and doesn't want to splurge a lot of money on a smartwatch that offers support for Android apps, then it's worth considering the Shock X alongside other competing devices that are priced similarly.

Ratings

Design and comfort: 7/10

Tracking accuracy: 8/10

Companion app: 8/10

Software and ecosystem: 7/10

Battery life: 9/10

Overall rating: 7/10

Pros: Comfortable, not too heavy on the wrist
Bright AMOLED screen
Mostly reliable fitness tracking
Long battery life
Companion app offers access to fitness content

Cons: Slightly bulky for users with small wrists
Built-in OS could have been more optimised
Doesn't offer any standout features