Mi first wearable
Since the outbreak of the smartwatch I wanted to try a wearable. I’m not a watch person, never worn any and now, having my phone with me all day, I just don’t see the need.
So, what happened to me that now I’m wearing a plastic wrist band all day (and night)?
The weapon of choice? The Mi Band.
The Mi Band is cheap
One of the off-putting points I had with, for instance, the Moto 360 was the price. I just didn’t see any need of paying 300€ for a small screen when I’m already carrying my phone.
The Mi Band’s official price is 15€ but in Spain through Amazon it cost me 25€.
The battery lasts for weeks
After 10 days since my first charge I’m at 79%.
Do the math, it will take me weeks for me to run out of battery. Of course this thing does not have a screen but it’s recording steps all day.
I heard the most smartwatches need to be charged daily, at night.

Sleep monitoring
Now this is the thing I was most interested in. The step count, well I had it with Google Fit app, but knowing how much I sleep. Not only that but how much light vs deep sleep I have. Do I wake up during the night? It will track it.

It doesn’t have to be accurate but constant
Some reviews say the step count if off by the thousands. For 15$ you can’t expect to be the most precise device out there. The important thing, however, is constancy. As long as it always tracks your steps the same way you’ll be able to set goals and track your progress. You want to know if this week you’ve worked out more or less, not if you’ve done 9000 or 10000 steps.

Google Fit integration
Another key selling point for me was the integration with Google services. I wanted my fitness tracking to be centralized with my Google account. I was already tracking my trainings there so now everything’s there. Night tracking, training and steps (even weight, if you track that manually).

Final thoughts
I’m very happy with it, I’m always wearing it. I just take it off to shower and when I do martial arts. For that I’ll just input the training time manually in Google Fit.
Do you have a fitness band? Interested in trying one?
Ricard
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