Xiaomi Smart Band 9 review: Still the budget tracker champ

The Xiaomi Good Band 9 sees the return of Xiaomi’s price range health tracker that, because the authentic Band, has continued to push the boundaries of what to anticipate from an inexpensive health band.

Together with providing a design that permits you to put on it away from the wrist, Xiaomi now guarantees a brighter show, improved coronary heart price monitoring accuracy and even larger battery life for a similar worth because the Good Band 8.

At a time when exercise trackers is perhaps comfortably outnumbered by smartwatches, Xiaomi is right here for the individuals who actually don’t need a smartwatch.

So, is that this the very best price range health tracker and top-of-the-line general you should purchase? I’ve been carrying it for a number of weeks to seek out out.

Design & Construct

• 5 strap colors
• Optionally available pendant and operating clip
• Smaller case measurement

The most important criticism of early Xiaomi Good Band iterations was that whereas they got here packing options you’d sometimes need to pay much more for, what these smarts had been housed within wasn’t all that fairly.

Mike Sawh

Xiaomi sought to enhance issues on the aesthetics entrance and issues stepped up with the Band 8 with some metallic and extra strap choices.

It’s extra of the identical with the Band 9, which is now out there with 5 completely different strap colors. That’s your decide of blue, glacier silver (pictured), midnight black, mystic rose and titan gray.

The case nonetheless has the identical gently curved to it and is created from a metallic that Xiaomi doesn’t specify, however actually seems to be and appears like aluminium to me. The case measurement has dropped from 48- to 46mm to offer it a barely smaller stature. It’s additionally barely slimmer too, although not by an enormous deal.

The button-less design helps to offer it a fairly pleasing streamlined look, whereas the TPU straps have remained securely in place with the straightforward button-style clasp.

On the subject of straps, there are many choices right here outdoors of the extra exercise-friendly TPU ones that come as commonplace. I had one of many nylon straps to try to the button mechanism to launch and exchange straps is fortunately good and simple to do.

These further straps vary from £9.99-£24.99, so it’s not an enormous further spend and together with that transfer to a metallic case actually provides Xiaomi a price range band that doesn’t really feel price range in any respect to put on.

Mike Sawh

Along with the straps, there’s additionally a pendant choices to put on round your neck and a operating clip like there was for the Good Band 8 to clip onto your trainers to get a further hit of operating information.

Xiaomi continues to supply a 5ATM waterproof ranking as per the Mi Band 8, which isn’t any big shock given its price range nature. It means that is nonetheless a band you’ll be able to take within the water to trace pool swims with profiles additionally out there for water sports activities like kayaking and rowing nonetheless lined.

Display screen & Audio 

• Brighter AMOLED show
• Helps always-on show mode
• No microphone or speaker included

Xiaomi has at all times supplied punchy screens that you just’d affiliate with pricier health trackers and that doesn’t change with the Band 9.

It sticks to the identical 1.62-inch, 192 x 480 decision AMOLED as its predecessor, however Xiaomi has doubled the utmost brightness to 1,200 nits. It’s additionally made the display screen higher suited to make use of within the rain or below sweaty fingers to forestall by accident activating the display screen.

Mike Sawh

Now the Mi Band 8 didn’t precisely have a boring display screen, so this simply cranks issues up a notch on the brightness entrance. I’ve had no issues seeing glancing at it even utilizing it with lower than its most brightness setting.

The display screen high quality general continues to be excellent, although a contact over-saturated on the colors, however whether or not interacting with it or just taking a look at it, it’s a fairly slick operator.

Like earlier world editions of the Good Band, Xiaomi opts to not embrace a microphone or speaker, which is out there within the NFC version solely launched in China. That NFC model has the power to faucet into Xiaomi’s Xiao assistant, in order that’s what you’re primarily lacking out on bar the cell fee and transit card assist.

Software program & Options 

• Works with Android and iOS
• Most smartwatch options out there on Android and iPhone
• Good mixture of faces to choose from

The Good Band 9 nonetheless works with iPhones and Android telephones and makes use of Xiaomi’s Mi Health companion app to care for setup, syncing and checking in your health and wellbeing stats.

That app fortunately isn’t a clunky affair as can typically be the case with another price range tracker companion apps and provides you the power to sync information to Apple Well being, Google Well being, Strava and Suunto.

Mike Sawh

On the band, attending to grips with the software program is fairly easy. With no bodily buttons, it’s all about faucets and swipes from the principle watch display screen.

You’ll be able to swipe all the way down to see your notification feed, which might completely profit from a wider display screen, however works tremendous sufficient. Swiping proper will get you to the short settings, swiping up will get you to all the menus and modes and swiping left will get you to widgets like music controls and checking the climate.

When it comes to smartwatch options, just about the whole lot is out there throughout utilizing it with an iPhone or an Android cellphone.

There’s some combined assist for Android customers for music controls and utilizing it as a cellphone digital camera distant, however for issues like utilizing the discover my cellphone mode, setting alarms and timers and utilizing the flashlight, these are supported throughout platforms.

You’re not getting funds (on this model no less than) or apps, however you do get a really good assortment of watch faces to choose from that actually make good use of the Good Band 9’s display screen design and punchy show.

Mike Sawh

What it lacks in these large smartwatch options it makes up for in dealing with the fundamentals fairly properly on a slender display screen and making these options principally out there throughout suitable cellphone platforms.

Health & Monitoring 

• Promised coronary heart price monitoring accuracy enhancements
• Over 150 sports activities modes 
• No built-in GPS

Xiaomi provides a fairly spectacular array of options from the identical sensor array because the Good Band 8, with the promise that the optical sensor caring for coronary heart price and SpO2 monitoring is 16% extra correct for all-day coronary heart price monitoring.

You continue to need to make do with out built-in GPS, which appears to be reserved for Xiaomi’s Professional model of its health tracker, with linked GPS your method of creating greatest use of among the running-focused options included.

Mike Sawh

Together with core options like step, sleep, stress, coronary heart price and SpO2 monitoring, you’ve bought your decide of over 150 completely different sports activities modes, the power to observe structured operating periods, get perception into your coaching load and VO2 Max.

As talked about earlier, if you are going to buy the operating clip accent you’ll be able to file superior operating metrics we’ve seen crop on up on Apple and Samsung’s smartwatches, like stride size and floor contact ratio. You too can accumulate Vitality factors, that are associated to the quantity of average depth train you handle every week.

I in contrast every day step counts to 2 different health trackers over my interval of testing and located that every day totals tended to be inside a number of hundred steps of the Good Band 9. You’ll be able to arrange inactivity alerts to nudge you to maintain shifting, whereas the stats display screen on the band provides a pleasant, glanceable option to view progress.

When it was time to go to mattress, I wore the Good Band 9 alongside one other wrist-based sleep tracker and a really dependable sleep monitoring good ring within the Oura Ring Gen 3 and located that it instructed comparable tales in regards to the time I fell asleep and awakened within the morning.

The information in between that’s combined. Mild and deep sleep levels gave the impression to be, on common, an hour longer than the opposite trackers I wore. Metrics like respiration price had been comparable, although resting coronary heart price was sometimes greater as compared. 

Xiaomi provides another sleep insights that you just’ll discover on smartwatches, like letting you see your sleep animal after seven days of sleep information and in addition achieve additional insights into your sleep. These are very basic issues like what going to mattress late means to your well being or issues that may enable you to really feel extra drained.

For a brand new consumer, these may completely be helpful pointers if not precisely groundbreaking issues to tackle board.

Mike Sawh

When it comes to that promised improved coronary heart price accuracy, I’d say I’m unconvinced.

Resting coronary heart price readings had been sometimes about 5bpm greater than two different health trackers I examined it in opposition to, which isn’t horrible, but additionally isn’t nice both. Common and most every day readings had been greater by the identical quantity on common.

When it was time to train, my first exercise was a fairly simple treadmill run and it matched up properly to a coronary heart price chest strap for common and most readings. It was the same story for an indoor rowing session.

For one outside run, the common coronary heart price readings had been nearly 10bpm out from a chest strap and 5bpm decrease than the utmost coronary heart price recorded. It makes fitness-focused options like VO2 Max somewhat unreliable.

It was the same story for the SpO2 monitoring, which it is advisable to allow initially within the app to start out monitoring and appeared to drop under the everyday 95-100% it usually sits in, which might point out a possible downside and didn’t match up with different blood oxygen monitoring wearables I examined it in opposition to.

Whenever you put the linked GPS assist to make use of for outside exercises, you’ll be prompted to verify the Mi Health app is open and site monitoring is enabled always to make sure it’ll work accurately. When it did it did nonetheless are inclined to overreport on distance. 

In the end, in the event you’re searching for sports activities watch-grade monitoring, you gained’t get it right here, however that’s unsurprising given the value. Maybe Xiaomi may have ditched these sports-focused options for extra exercise tracking-centric ones and constructed on its core options.

I’d wish to see Vitality factors really feel extra part of the monitoring journey and for Xiaomi to suppose extra methods to encourage wearers to maneuver extra frequently.

Battery Life & Charging

• Bigger battery
• As much as 21 days battery life
• Absolutely fees in a single hour

Xiaomi has at all times talked large numbers for its trackers and whereas its Bands actually can go fairly far earlier than you’re grabbing for that proprietary charger, it is advisable to be dwelling a extra restrictive monitoring expertise to do this.

The Good Band 9 has a 233mAh capability battery, which is up from 190mAh within the Band 8 and that sees a promise of as much as 21 days battery life (up from 16 days on the Band 8).

These numbers are sometimes based mostly on lab testing situations, so aren’t at all times very consultant of how the common Band 9 consumer would possibly use it.

Mike Sawh

Quite a lot of various things have a noticeable impression on battery life. Like having the display screen set to always-on or utilizing it at most brightness. Enabling essentially the most superior sleep monitoring or monitoring SpO2 all through the day. Should you use the linked GPS and exercise monitoring frequently that may impression the battery too.

I used the Good Band 9 with a mix of the display screen set to always-on and with the raise-to-wake. I enabled notifications, tracked exercises each indoors and outside exercises utilizing the linked GPS. I additionally had options like every day SpO2 monitoring and essentially the most correct steady coronary heart price monitoring enabled.

I bought an excellent week out of it with a every day drop of anyplace between 15-20%. It might be round 10% with fewer of these options talked about.

I’d be comfy saying this can be a health tracker that may final per week, which is an effective displaying. In order for you it to go so long as 21 days, you actually have to be ready to sacrifice a whole lot of options.

Worth & Availability

The Xiaomi Good Band 9 is now on sale for a similar £34.99 worth because the Good Band 8. 

You should buy it from Xiaomi in addition to Amazon. It’s not formally out there within the US however you’ll be able to buy a ‘global version’ from Amazon for round $60.

Meaning it’s nonetheless one of many most cost-effective price range exercise trackers out there and is available in lower than the Huawei Band 9 (£49), the Amazfit Band 7 (£60) and is available in considerably lower than the most cost effective Fitbit health tracker, the Fitbit Encourage 3, which stays at £85/$99.95.

Take a look at our record of the very best health trackers for extra choices.

Must you purchase the Xiaomi Good Band 9?

In order for you a health tracker that’s low-cost however doesn’t look or really feel low-cost, has an important display screen and has software program that largely runs very slick, then the Xiaomi Good Band 9 is price choosing up.

Should you personal a Good Band 8, then it’s the battery positive factors and the enhance in display screen brightness that appears like the large wins right here and fewer so the promised coronary heart price enhancements.

The worth the Good Band 9 sits in places it in an fascinating place. You’re going to be taking a look at a lot less-known trackers competing with it, and I’d not be choosing these up over the Good Band 9.

I believe if you need higher, extra dependable day-to-day coronary heart price monitoring, you’re going to need to pay extra for one thing just like the Fitbit Encourage 3 to get it. Should you can stay with a tracker that does these fundamentals properly outdoors of that and provides a very likeable design, then this could serve you properly.

Specs

• 1.62-inch, AMOLED show
• 5 ATM water resistance ranking
• As much as 21 days battery life
• Linked GPS
• Optical coronary heart price sensor
• Sleep and exercise monitoring 
• 150+ sports activities modes