A little while ago now (in April 2015 I believe) I got a Xiaomi Mi Band. The smart watch I was trying to use just wasn’t good enough, and this product just hit my magical “that’s so crazy cheap I’ve got to get one” marker.
So, how has it been? Well, I’ve never used a fitness tracker before and only seen my wife’s FitBit, but I’ll describe what I can.
The build quality is strikingly good – perhaps not surprising given the detail they’re happy to demonstrate in their imagery, but surprising nonetheless. The band is nothing special – a typical rubberised thing that I expect to fail any time (though it’s lasted 6 months so far).
The phone app (I’ve got the android one) is nothing special, and indeed slightly quirky to navigate – but perhaps I grabbed a tweaked app for notifications – I can’t remember.
However where the Mi Band really shines is battery life. It needs to be witnessed to be believed. I get 28 to 30 DAYS out of every charge – and that includes it vibrating and flashing different colours for different notifications coming in on the phone! It’s also proven good for wear n tear. The unit is some sort of metal which so far only has a few scratches on it, and I’ve several times dropped it and/or my hand into baths or sinks, as well as leaving it on every shower.
So in short – it rocks. And from memory its only cost around $25-30 Australian dollars (before our exchange rate went down the toilet).