Xiaomi's mày Band 2 is improved in almost every way over its predecessors, and it's still super cheap. With that said, the inconsistent heart rate monitor, wonky mi Fit app & a few other caveats should be kept in mind before buying this $40 fitness tracker.
Xiaomi's mày Band 2 is improved in almost every way over its predecessors, & it's still super cheap. With that said, the inconsistent heart rate monitor, wonky ngươi Fit app và a few other caveats should be kept in mind before buying this $40 fitness tracker.
Xiaomi is all over the place in the công nghệ world. The Chinese company first came lớn the scene with its MIUI firmware back in 2010, and has since moved on to lớn creating its own game android smartphones, televisions, tablets, & so much more.
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One of the most interesting products the company has in its lineup is the mày Band. Announced in August 2014, Xiaomi’s first mi Band wearable aimed to lớn bring basic activity tracking lớn the masses thanks lớn its seriously low $13 price point. Now mi is back with a new, more expensive fitness tracker – the mi Band 2.
With an OLED display & a new design, does the mày Band 2 have what it takes to make its way to lớn your wrist? Let’s find out.
Review notes: I've been using the Xiaomi ngươi Band 2 as my main fitness tracker for 20 days. The smartphone htc 10 has been my smartphone companion of choice for the duration of this review.
Design
Aside from the strap, the ngươi Band 2 doesn’t really look anything like the original mi Band. It still comes in the size of a dongle that fits snugly into a silicone strap, và it’s thin and light enough that you’ll forget you’re wearing it most of the day. One of my biggest problems with the first ngươi Band is that it feels cheap. I mean, I know it is cheap at only $13, but the silicone strap was too plasticky for my liking. The mày Band 2’s strap is much more rubbery & soft this time around, which I really like.
I won’t talk too much about price just yet, but you should know that the ngươi Band 2 is a bit pricier than its predecessor. It retails for around $40-$50 here in the US. Why the bump up in price? mi decided lớn include an OLED display this time around, which I must say is very nice most of the time. Indoor visibility is just great, but it’s pretty tough to read outdoors in the sun. In fact, trying to check the time on a run just isn’t possible at times, but I suppose having a display is better than not having one.
Xiaomi says the .42-inch display is also UV coated, scratch resistant and anti-fingerprint. I haven’t gotten any scratches on mine, but fingerprints vị show up quite a bit. The display can get very smudgy & greasy.
Underneath the display sits a snazzy capacitive button that lets you filter through the current time, steps, distance, calories heart rate and battery. You can also check the time by simply lifting your wrist, though I’ve found this feature lớn be more laggy than what other fitness bands offer. Sometimes the time delays for about 2 seconds before showing up. This definitely won’t make or break your experience with the device, but it’s still something worth noting.
The mày Band 2 also comes with an IP67 rating for water và dust resistance. This means you can wash your hands without taking it off, but you shouldn’t go swimming with it.
Xiaomi also says there will be more colorful band options available at a later date, but as of writing this review we’re not sure when the bands will launch.
Update: Although the colorful band options aren't officially available from xiaomi mi in the U.S. (nor is the fitness tracker itself, for that matter), we've found some third-party bands on eBay for about $6.
Features và performance
The mày Band 2 does everything you’d expect from an entry-level fitness tracker. It tracks your steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned và your sleep. And for the most part, it’s very good at tracking all four of those metrics.
I’ve taken the mi Band 2 out on a few runs with the Fitbit Charge HR and Garmin vívosmart HR, & all three devices have given me similar results. In terms of step tracking, the ngươi Band 2 recorded 7,055 steps taken on a run, while the Charge HR recorded 7,058. During a second workout, the mày Band 2 recorded 5,022 steps, while the vívosmart HR recorded 5,018. Basically, if you care about step tracking and you’re looking for an inexpensive alternative to other fitness bands, the mày Band 2 will definitely vì chưng the trick.
The device will automatically record your workouts in the ngươi Fit app, which is quite convenient. It can sometimes take a minute or two to lớn recognize when you’ve started exercising, but it still should be accurate enough for most people.
There’s much more lớn an activity tracker than step tracking, though. The ngươi Band 2 will also record your light và deep sleep, and it does a pretty good job at both. It will automatically detect when you go to sleep, so there’s no need to xuất hiện the app & press a sleep now button. Once you wake up, you can check all your sleep stats in the Mi Fit app. You’ll be able to see how much light và deep sleep you experienced, how many minutes you were awake, as well as the exact times you fell asleep và woke up.
The mày Band 2 also supports silent alarms, so you can wake up with a subtle vibration if you aren’t a tín đồ of noisy alarm clocks.
One of the mi Band 2’s headlining features is its optical heart rate monitor. This is one of the most problematic features on the device – not only because readings can be far off at times, but also because it often fails to lớn record my heart rate when I’d lượt thích it to.
To kiểm tra heart rate accuracy, I’ve been comparing the mi Band 2 with the Wahoo TICKR X heart rate monitor. Most of the time the mày Band 2’s heart rate readings are spot on with the TICKR X, though I have noticed the mi device will sometimes be off by 15bpm or so.
You should stay away from this device if you need lớn keep tabs on your heart rate during a workout. The heart rate monitor isn’t continuous, and you have to lớn stay really still in order for the device to take its readings. You can always stop running to kiểm tra your heart rate, but that’s not the most convenient method for many athletes out there.
I need khổng lồ emphasize something here. The mi Band 2 needs lớn be very still if you want to kiểm tra your heart rate. Like, the device struggles to take readings even when I’m sitting still at my desk. I’ve never experienced a fitness tracker that fails so often at this. On the plus side, though, its display allows you khổng lồ fire up the heart rate monitor much quicker than you could with the mày Band Pulse.
One of my favorite things about the mi Band 2 is the Idle Alert feature. The device will give you a short vibration if you’re inactive for one hour, và you can customize what times of day this feature is turned on. I sit at a desk all day, so anything that reminds me lớn get up và move every once in awhile is definitely a plus.
One other neat trick it offers is notification support. Well, you won’t get full notification tư vấn here, but the device will buzz your wrist when you have an incoming text or phone call. It works most of the time, but not always. I’m not sure if this is due to lớn a spotty bluetooth connection or if it’s just a bug that needs fixing, but either way you shouldn’t rely on the ngươi Band 2 to alert you of notifications every time.
Xiaomi says the mi Band 2 can last up to trăng tròn days on a single charge, & that’s exactly what I’ve been able lớn achieve. Throughout the review period, I’ve gone on walks & runs about 4 times per week, checking my heart rate và scrolling through my daily stats multiple times per day.
It’s pretty easy to charge the mày Band 2, as well. Just remove the dongle from the band, plug it into the proprietary charger, then hook it up to lớn a computer.
Software
Xiaomi’s ngươi Fit companion tiện ích is sort of a mixed bag. I like some parts of it, while I can’t stand others.
Let’s start with the positives. Mi Fit is a beautiful tiện ích that displays your daily activity, sleep, weight loss, heart rate và goals on the main screen. Tapping on any one of these sections gives you more detailed information about that particular metric.
From here you’ll be able lớn access daily, weekly và monthly graphs showing your progress overtime. You can vày this with your daily activity and sleep metrics, but for some reason the heart rate section only shows a các mục of readings in reverse chronological order. It doesn’t really make sense to lớn look at your heart rate readings this way. Most people measure their heart rate to lớn see how they’ve improved over time, but you just can’t vị that with the ngươi Fit app.
One other positive: mi Fit can connect with Google Fit, WeChat and even Sina Weibo, so you’ll be able to access your results in your favorite apps if need be.
Unfortunately the danh sách of negatives outweighs the positives here. This might not be a huge concern khổng lồ most people, but I found the layout of the tiện ích just horrible. The interface is separated into three main sections: Status, Play & Profile. Status is basically your home screen, where you’ll find your daily activity. The oddly-named Play screen is where you’ll change notification options, phối alarms and Idle Alerts, & also connect khổng lồ third-party apps. In the profile section, you can change your activity and weight goal, connect with friends, và also access a settings menu (which pretty much only lets you change units and submit feedback).
I don’t know if it’s the Play section’s name that throws me off, or if it’s the lack of settings in the settings menu, but I still find myself, after đôi mươi days of using this dang app, getting lost và scouring through to try and find what I’m looking for.
One of the things I lượt thích most about Fitbit’s companion app is that it makes it really easy lớn connect with friends and kiểm tra out their progress. This isn’t the case with ngươi Fit. You actually have to scan a QR code khổng lồ become someone’s friend on mày Fit. I really don’t think people are going to use this feature.
Oh, one last thing – the ngươi Fit tiện ích force closes just about every other time I use it. I’ve used it on both my htc 10 và Nexus 6P, and I couldn’t get it to lớn stay mở cửa on either device.
The Xiaomi mi Band 2 is one of the better entry-level fitness trackers in the sub-$50 price range. It’s only $40, and it can track your daily activity and sleep without a hitch. It also looks really nice and has great battery life.
The problem is, most of the other features mi included in this tracker just don’t work very well. The heart rate monitor only works when you’re completely still, the display is hard lớn read outside, and the mày Fit tiện ích needs a lot of work.
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You shouldn’t buy the mày Band 2 if you’re a serious athlete or if you need something with an accurate heart rate monitor. But if you only have $40 or $50 lớn spend & want something that can keep tabs on your daily activity, this device might be the perfect thing for you.