Fitness trackers are devices which measure things like walked distance and heartbeats. They are usually writstbands.
I recently got excited by them and gave them a try. I tried the Mi Band 4. It is one of the cheapest fitness bands which still had very good reviews.
I was not happy with it. There were two things I hoped it could do:
- Sleep Tracking: Log when I sleep. Enough sleep is important to be healthy, so I want to keep track of it.
- Activity Tracking: How do I spend my day? When do I do which sport?
Both of them were not good enough:
- The sleep tracking basically tracked when I went to bed / when I stood up. Which can be very different from sleep. It especially did not notice when I woke up in the middle of the night.
- When I started the workout tracking (cycling) via the band, it seemingly did not track the GPS trace (although I had my phone with me). When I stopped, it did not notice it at all.
Additionally, the wristband is not super comfortable and the display got activated when I showered.
Sensors
- Heart rate
- Pedometer
- Accelerometer
- GNSS: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS
Functionalities
- Count how many steps you made with the Pedometer
- Sleep
Non-Functional Qualities
- Battery duration: How often do you have to charge the device?
- Material, size and weight: How well does it feel?
- Clock
- Google Fit synchronization
- Samsung Health synchronization
- Which activities can it detect?
- Walk
- Run
- Cycle
- Swimming
- Yoga
- ...
- IPX: How much can it stand sweat, water and dust? IP67, IP68
- Bluetooth: Which version is supported?
- Wireless charging
Comparison
| Xiaomi Mi Band 4 2019 | Honor Band 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 34 EUR | 44 EUR |
| Step Counter | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Bluetooth | 5 | 4.2 |
| Weigth | 22 g | 23 g |
| Size | 32 x 17.9 x 12 mm | 43 × 17.2 × 11.5 mm |
| Water Resistance | 50 m | 50 m |
| Clock | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Battery | 135 mAh | 100 mAh |
| Sensors | Acceleration, Gyroscope, heart rate | Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Blood oxygen |
| GPS | ✗ | ✗ |
| Sleep Tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Battery Life (continuous use) | 13 days | 6 days |
| Samsung Health | ✗ | ✗ |
| Google Fit | ✔️ | ✗ |
- Huawei Band 3 Pro
- Fitbit Charge 3
Mi Band 4
Menu
├── Clock, Date, Steps, Battery
├── Status
│ ├── Steps, Distance Calories
│ └── Idle alerts
├── Heart Rate
├── Workout
│ ├── Outdoor Running
│ ├── Treadmill
│ ├── Cycling
│ ├── Walking
│ ├── Exercise
│ └── Pool Swimming
├── Weather
│ ├── Current Temperature, Clouds/Sun, Min/Max
│ └── Tomorrow, Next day
├── Notifications
└── More
├── DND (Do not Disturb)
├── Alarm
├── Music
├── Stopwatch
├── Timer
├── Find device
├── Silent
├── Band display
└── Settings
├── Brightness
├── Lockscreen
└── Reboot
Missing:
- GPS tracking / visualization
Bad:
- Uncomfortable
- When showering, random stuff gets "touched"
Not worth it
- Samsung Galaxy Fit e: Small battery
Fitness Apps
A core part of a fitness tracker is the fitness app. Sadly so. It should be possible to use any fitness tracker with any fitness app, but at the moment (November 2019), this is definitely not the case.
Mi Fit
There is another app - Notify & Fitness for Mi Band. It is ok, but you have to pay for every single feature:
Samsung Health
Google Fit
Other Fitness Apps
- Runtastic
- Nike Training Club
- Strava
- Runkeeper
- Map My Fitness
- JeFit Workout Tracker
- Sworkit Workouts
- Calorie Counter: MyFitnessPal
- Home Workout: No Equipment
- Mi Fit
See also
- notebookcheck.com: Xiaomi Mi Band 4
- notebookcheck.com: Honor Band 5