Author: Sally Hudson

You’ve already seen the press leaks (and the subsequent smart ring details). Now it’s official, and Stuff has had a first hands-on look at the Garmin CIRQA smart band. The newest addition to the Garmin family focuses on health, activity, and recovery using tech for holistic health without the distraction of a screen on your wrist. In celebration of Women’s Month, the one and only female on the Stuff team was invited to join other women at The One Flow Yoga and Wellness Social Club in Cape Town for the Garmin CIRQA smart band women’s wellness launch. The plan? Try…

The average South African winter often feels like an ongoing conspiracy to strip the human body of every drop of moisture. Between the cold, dry winds of the Highveld and the relentless use of different heaters to survive chilly Randburg evenings, the indoor air becomes incredibly dry. The human body is roughly 60% water. Even so, it’s easy to realise that this environment leaves skin feeling dry and flaky. That’s to say nothing of throbbing sinuses and waking up with such a thick tongue you could be forgiven for thinking you had spent the night hitting the bottle or in…

Short-notice travel with only carry-on luggage (max 7 kg) made the new Puma Deviate Pure Nitro, Puma’s latest, the no-brainer shoe of choice. In addition to its weight, it also had the glowing approval of a hard-to-please teenage daughter with serious fashion sense (clearly very important). That meant we’d have to keep these gems hidden in case there were any unauthorised outings. But, more to the point… Puma’s Deviate Pure Nitro are light and nimble training shoes with clean lines and a fresh white colour. The feel as you step in matches the design. They are remarkably soft and cushioned,…

There are fast shoes, and then there are shoes that make you feel fast before you’ve even left your driveway. The Puma Deviate Elite 4 falls firmly into the latter category. A featherweight race-day weapon that doesn’t just tick boxes, it sprints past them. Straight out of the box, the first thing that hits you is the weight. Or rather, the lack of it. At an incredibly light 147g, this shoe feels like Puma forgot to include half of it. Thankfully, it didn’t forget the important bits. Surprisingly friendly Puma’s Ultraweave upper is doing some serious heavy lifting by doing…

It’s been a good few years since Huawei’s Mate series saw any action outside of China (not counting its foldables). That changed today with the global launch of the Mate 80 Pro. It’s been even longer since Huawei launched a smartwatch dedicated to runners — enter the new Watch GT Runner 2. Huawei also had three other wrist-based devices on show at its global launch event in Madrid — the Band 11, Band 11 Pro, and the Watch Ultimate 2 in a new green colourway. The new MatePad Mini and Freebuds Pro 5 round out the Chinese company’s new offerings.…

The timing of Puma’s Deviate Nitro 4 at Stuff HQ couldn’t have been better. Our Deviate 3s had just started showing their age. Puma reckons its latest carbon-plated trainers “blend everyday comfort with real speed in a lighter, more refined package”. Naturally, we had to find out whether the evolution is more than incremental, so we put them through a few tests. Specs The shoe features a dual-foam setup. Puma’s updated Nitrofoam midsole uses a dual-layer, nitrogen-infused material with a softer PEBA-based top layer for bounce. It has a firmer PEBA/EVA blend underneath for added stability. This, combined with the…

There’s a new trio of devices from Huawei on the market. We’ve been testing the lavender-hued 41mm Huawei Watch GT 6, the smaller, fashion-friendly sibling to the Pro, but you’ll find performance similar to its 46mm sibling. Our review watch is more fashionably lifestyle-based, but don’t be fooled. It still delivers serious fitness tools. A bright AMOLED display and battery life that make Apple and other smart watches look like they run on borrowed time are the key highlights, and the Chinese company doesn’t disappoint here. As ever, it’s packed with software smarts with some new cycling skills thrown into…

Paris, city of romance, croissants, couture, and, of course, the finish line of the Tour de France, just played host to another kind of race. Huawei’s ‘Ride the Wind’ event just unveiled not just a new flagship smartwatch, but an entire wave of devices. Plus, a new brand philosophy called “Now is Yours.” Leading the pack was the Huawei Watch GT 6 Series. This is no token fitness band. It comes with a full engineering revamp, a great 21-day battery life, and the brand’s new TruSense System for faster, more accurate health tracking. Whatever your sport, Huawei clearly wants your…

We’ve had the Puma Nitro Velocity 4 on our feet for over a month now, and we’ve got a confession: despite having a whole line-up of stunning running shoes at our disposal, we keep taking these out of the cupboard. Every. Single. Day. Why, you ask? Because they work. Whether it’s a gentle recovery jog, a threshold session, or a “clear your head before another meeting” run, the Velocity 4 is up for it. It’s the Swiss Army knife of running shoes: sharp, extremely versatile, comfy, and surprisingly quick when you need them to be. Ooh, bouncy The fourth-gen Velocity…

With smartwatches strapped to millions of wrists and a global market now worth over $33 billion, wearable tech has gone far beyond simply monitoring your steps. After visiting the Huawei Health Lab in Dongguan, China, I now have a completely different appreciation for the serious science and sports testing powering the tiny computers we wear every day. The Huawei Watch Fit 4 recently hit shelves in South Africa, and it’s worth understanding the tech, testing, and science behind wearable devices and how the “sports” watch delivers insights once solely reserved for professional athletes and sports scientists. Spanning over 4,600 square…