Verdict
Xiaomi has polish the design to meliorate both the look and functionality of the Smart Band 8 , and it ’s a move that pays dividend . It still has plenty of imperfection as a tracker , but it ’s very hard to argue with the value for money here .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Xiaomi may be closing in on a tenner of potency in the budget fitness tracker landscape with its Smart Band line , but the eighth attempt is by no substance a minor do - over from the previous generation .
With a renewed stress on design – resulting in a duet of novel attachments and additional insights – and an improved showing , the creative person formerly known as ‘ Mi Band ’ is still evolve .
But with a more sophisticated Pro variation now cramping its style , and plenty of extraneous competition from the like of Huawei and Fitbit , does it go on to prevail onto its crest as the dependable affordable tracker ? I ’ve been testing the Smart Band 8 so as to chance out .
Design and screen
Xiaomi has always kept things childlike with its Smart Band conception , but it ’s actually undergone a pretty radical change for the eighth multiplication . The unibody figure of the tracker itself has now been ditch , with it now including the more traditional individual set connectors on each end .
It may fathom like a simple change – and it is , really – but it ’s also one that really facilitate elevate the look here . you may now actually see that premium - looking metal eccentric , rather than it being hidden behind a cheap , formative all - in - one strap , and the pendent and running clip accessories mean that it ’s now much substantially at handling life away from your articulatio radiocarpea
There ’s been no tangible compromise in gild to achieve it , either . The dimension of the shell stay on almost identical to the former generation , with the Smart Band 8 just being a piece longer and wider , while also shrinking from front to back .
The display also disguises some major rise , despite being the same 1.62 - inch sizing and pumping out the same 192 x 490 pixel solvent .
Not only is it now brighter – able to reach 600 nit of luminousness , up from 500 nits – but the refresh rate has also been bumped from 30Hz to 60Hz .
This have a earth of conflict when viewing notifications , sneak through glances , and navigate computer menu ; it feels more consanguineal to the responsive feedback you would carry from a modern AMOLED smartwatch , not a budget fitness tracker .
Features
Traditionally , those craving wise features have n’t been well catered for with the Smart Band – and not much has changed on this front for the eighth edition .
The basic principle are all still here , though , and they are at least presented about as well as you’re able to expect on a 1.62 - in display .
weather condition forecasts , calendar event , and music control condition are all easily customisable through the Mi Fitness app – uncommitted on iOS and Android – and these widgets make interacting with the tracker very unsubdivided and intuitive .
It ’s something that ’s also massively aided by that improved refresh rate . Xiaomi ’s proprietary OS feel very smooth here , and there ’s very little on - screen text that bog down it down . Given that notification can look pretty cramped even after you expand them , this is certainly for the best .
Those into their watch faces will also recover a few neat option pre - loaded onto the machine , but a paltry amount of storage means that you ’ll very chop-chop fill up the machine if you download any more .
The equation is still the same here , then . And it mean anybody require support for a smart assistant , contactless payment , or third - political party apps will have to front elsewhere , and almost emphatically up their budget .
As ever , it ’s still thwarting that the Chinese variant of the machine possess reinforcement for thing like contactless payments while the global edition miss out , but this shows no signs of being rectified any prison term shortly .
Sports tracking
The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 may be an entry - grade equipment , but Xiaomi by no means shortchanges exploiter with the amount of seaworthiness trailing features . The only issue with this aspiration , however , is that the datum can often miss the mark .
My testing against insurance premium devices like theGarmin Epix Pro ( Gen 2),Whoop 4.0 , andOuraRing ( Gen 3)found that step count are ofttimes drastically underreported , while calorie burn estimate are undependable , too .
It ’s a theme that go forward into the more advanced area of fitness tracking data , such as the preparation load , recovery clock time , and VO2 Max estimation – one that take a fair bit of inspiration from Apple and Garmin in their display .
My grooming load for the week never managed to get above Xiaomi ’s ‘ Low ’ rating , despite admit around 30 miles of run , three hours in the gymnasium , and five hours of tracked walk .
Meanwhile , one of my five - mile run perform at a 154BPM average yielded a banging retrieval time of 63 hours , which , of course , would be taking recuperation to the extreme point .
Thankfully , the action tracking experience is propped up massively by the plus of Pebble Mode . With the simple addition of an bond , sell on an individual basis by Xiaomi , and a switch over to the mode within Mi Fitness , you’re able to turn the Smart Band 8 into a echt bleed pod .
And unlike much of what ’s get across from the wrist , the data here is mostly solid – at least when compare to something like Garmin ’s articulatio radiocarpea - based Running Dynamics .
The footstrike pattern is particularly useful , I found , showing you a breakdown of your landing place distributor point throughout the session .
I ’d like to see this in a bit more detail , perhaps showing you when you deviated to a unlike strike , but it ’s still ready to hand for those who want a canonic perceptivity into their shape .
Then there ’s the harder data – things like background contact clip , escape fourth dimension , flight ratio , and impact military unit – that you ’ll have to scan up on in purchase order to really get the benefit from .
My only real trouble with Pebble Mode is the fact that you ’ll need to be connected to your phone throughout a workout , give that the twist ca n’t operate topically and also does n’t feature its own built - in GPS .
And , of path , you also do n’t get any heart rate readings , which do gratefully bear witness to be within a decent margin of truth when track on the wrist .
Generally , I find that the Smart Band 8 ’s maximum BPM reading from a session were almost always in short letter with Whoop and Garmin , though it did consistently over - cover the average meter reading from a session .
It ’s certainly not data point that you should trust on if you ’re a serious or medium - story exerciser , but it ’s emphatically enough for those who just require a basic insight into their effort .
Health tracking
While the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is by no means a health - trailing phenomenon , it does have a duo of features up its sleeve for those content with the proportional basics .
The core wellness features let in thing like rake oxygen saturation readings , rest heart - rate data , and high / depleted essence - rate notifications , though frustratingly , many of them are in reality disabled by default .
Like me , once you realise that this information is n’t being synced through to the Mi Fitness app , you could go through the options and flick all these things on ( at the monetary value of some battery life ) , but it is a little odd to depart with .
gratefully , the data is at least in line with what you would await . SpO2 readings remained within my await range of 95 - 99 % – as also tracked by our Oura and Garmin – while remain centre rate ( take from your lowest hour during an awake , still state ) figures were also precise .
There are manifestly omissions here , such as ventilation rate , cutis temperature , heart - rate unevenness , and more , but I suspect it might be another couple of years before they arrive on a Smart Band gadget . For now , you ’ll have to depend at more premium trackers for richer health perceptiveness .
Sleep tracking
As with some of the health feature film discussed above , you ’ll have to dive into the Mi Fitness app ’s configurations and enable ‘ advanced monitoring ’ if you want anything more than very basic sopor trailing on the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 .
This does have an impact on battery life , but otherwise you ’ll be left with your nighttime ’s sleep being separate into only ‘ light ’ or ‘ deep ’ slumber , with no room for REM or continuous spunk - pace monitoring .
The unspoiled news here is that the Smart Band 8 is able to very reliably register devolve asleep and waking up time , even with the more advance stage setting turned off .
I found it was able to consistently match up with the likes of Oura and Garmin – two of the very best at tracking nap – and sleep stage approximation were never concerningly out of sync with these other test devices .
The only thing that admit the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 from being an elect rest tracker , really , is the level of brainwave it ’s able to harvest from this tracking .
There ’s no effort to highlight your sleeping SpO2 average , and potentially worthful metrics like heart - charge per unit variance are nowhere to be see .
Added extras like sopor stacks are also leave out unless you become on the more ripe monitoring , though Xiaomi does at least grade your rest quality with marks like ‘ bazaar ’ or ‘ Good ’ if you do n’t .
Battery life
With so many features incapacitate by nonremittal , the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 ’s battery life will vacillate greatly depending on which of these you turn on .
In my initial examination , with default setting intact , the battery drainage per daylight was around 5 - 7 % , which does actually line up with Xiaomi ’s 16 - day appraisal .
However , this does naturally set out to tumble if you turn on the likes of the always - on video display , SpO2 monitoring , or sophisticated quietus trailing .
When I turned all of these on , the battery drain was closer to 20 % per day , which equates to around five day of assault and battery life . It ’s not bad by any stretching , but it ’s worth keep in idea if you are project on having the full parcel running most of the metre .
gratefully , natural action trailing is n’t too much of a burden in this department . A Pebble Mode footrace will only see the battery drain around 5 % per hr , with this stretch to around 5 - 10 % if you track from the wrist .
And for those in pauperism of instant juice , thing are much improved over the previous generation . I was capable to go from 10 % to a full electric battery in just 45 second , which means you ’re easily able to assuage any anxiousness about running categoric .
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Should you buy it?
Among the very best cheap fitness tracker on the mart , the Smart Band 8 ’s design is superb and it does n’t skimp on features .
You ca n’t have it all at this price , and the accuracy of some fitness tracking feature wo n’t be enough for more serious users . chink ourBest Fitness Trackerguide for more choice .
Final Thoughts
Despite typically being a lineup that only go steady incremental changes , I think what Xiaomi has done with the Smart Band 8 offers genuine reasons to get excited .
Especially if you ’re not cracking on the look of older models – or you ’re a runner who wants advance perceptivity without the price rag of a dedicated sentry – this is a superb option to consider .
Trusted Score
How we test
We thoroughly screen every fittingness tracker we survey . We use industry received testing to liken features by rights and we use the watch as our main machine over the review article geological period . We ’ll always severalize you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to survey a intersection .
FAQs
No , the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 does not have build up - in GPS .
The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is price at £ 39.99 on the official website .
