cheap fitness tracker is another improvement

Xiaomi released some time ago the Xiaomi Mi Band 5, the successor to the fitness tracker that bore the name Mi Band 4. Again very competitively priced and expanded with several improvements. DroidApp is testing the Mi Band 5 in this review.

Xiaomi Mi Band 5 review

Our Xiaomi Mi Band 4 review was published last year and the successor is now here. In recent months, we have extensively tested the fitness tracker, so it is time to give our opinion on this watch. Because apart from the fact that this is a fitness tracker, the time and date are of course also displayed on the screen. For a few bucks you have the Mi Band 5 at home.

The design and operation is almost the same as the predecessor. This means that you have a silicone band from which you can express the device yourself if desired. That is no longer necessary for charging, fortunately! We will come back to that later in the Mi Band 5 review.

First some details in a row. There is a 1.1 inch screen with a resolution of 294 x 126 pixels. The watch has a weight of 23 grams, a heart rate monitor, a 125 mAh battery and can track eleven different activities. We also see stress monitoring, breathing exercises and more. There is also a useful function for the female user. With the Xiaomi Mi Band 5, you can use the menstrual calendar to track and help you remember the menstrual cycle and ovulation phases.

Screen and design

We see a lot of similarities with the Mi Band 4, the predecessor of this model. Xiaomi has improved the dials. There is more choice of different watch faces and in some cases you can also personalize the details shown. For example, you prefer to see how many calories have already been burned, or rather the distance you have traveled, or the heart rate, the weather, the graphs or the next wake-up time. You can also set that you immediately see on the screen when your next calendar appointment is scheduled.

My idea is that the screen is slightly less sensitive to scratches than that of the Mi Band 4. That model already had a series of scratches on the display in the first week and a half. With the Mi Band 5 I can still not see a scratch after a few months of use.

Due to its lightweight, the watch fits well on the wrist. In addition, the silicone strap gives you many options to wear the watch tighter or looser, because there are many holes in the strap.

Service

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is pleasant to operate. Below the screen is a touch key that you can use to go back one step. By moving your wrist or by tapping the screen, the display lights up. By swiping the screen, you go through the different options. You can also adjust the order of these settings in the settings. You can view the notifications that have arrived on your smartphone, or of course start a workout.

Talk about the ministry. You need to pair the Mi Band 5 with your smartphone. For this you use a Bluetooth connection and download the Mi Fit app from the Google Play Store (or Apple App Store, which is also possible). It is useful that if you do not also want to receive all notifications on your watch, you choose which apps the notifications appear on the Mi Band. If you delete a notification from your smartwatch, it will not be immediately deleted from your smartphone. I personally like that very much. Due to the small screen, for example, a long WhatsApp message is quite a bit of scrolling. There is no way to respond to notifications and new messages. It is a pity that emojis are not shown in text messages.

Workouts

Activity tracking, of course, is an important feature of the fitness tracker. Xiaomi has certainly taken steps here compared to the Mi Band 4. Where you could choose from six activities with the predecessor, that is with the Mi Band 5, eleven pieces. In addition to walking, running, cycling the treadmill and swimming, some valuable activities have now been added. Think of indoor cycling on the exercise bike, yoga, rowing machine and skipping rope.

For example, when walking and cycling, a vibration is given every kilometer, so that you know how things are going without having to look at the watch. Furthermore, during a workout you can see exactly how much time you have already spent on it, and what the distance traveled is. With the Mi Band 5, we note that when you have started a cycling workout, and you stop at a traffic light, the workout is automatically paused. If you continue cycling, he will automatically resume training. This almost always goes well, sometimes we only feel after a while that it resumes, so that you sometimes miss a part of your route.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 does not have built-in location tracking. For this, the watch uses the GPS of your phone that is connected. I have to say that the Mi Band 5 keeps up just fine as it seems. The amount of calories does, however, differ with the values ​​indicated by devices in the gym. Whether the calorie counter is very accurate, I dare not confirm, it gives an indication in any case.

I still regret that, as with the Mi Band 4, you have to manually start a workout. The Mi Band 5 does not automatically start recognizing a movement. This means that when you start your cycling tour, and a little later you realize that you have forgotten to switch on the tracking, you have actually traveled all that distance ‘for nothing’.

Sleep

Sleep can be automatically monitored, although I’ve only used this a few times. I simply don’t like to sleep with a watch on. In the application of the Mi Band you will find an indication of how you slept the next morning. Was it light sleep? When were you fast asleep? How long have you slept. You can find that kind of information in an overview with various graphs and details.

Mi Fit app

Talking about the route; after your workout, the performance is nicely tracked in the Mi Fit app. The operation does not differ from that of the Mi Band 4. The coupling is fast and self-explanatory. You get extensive statistics, details and graphs from your workout. You can also start a workout from the application, although this is less extensive than from your watch. Through the application you can also invite friends and see their activities.

Other options

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has been given a number of options and possibilities with which you can keep track of your health. First of all, there is the heart rate monitor that you can always leave active if you wish. You can also choose that it only starts measuring if you indicate this yourself.

Stress guard

In addition, there is a stress monitor, which measures the stress level in your body. This measurement may take a while, but the times I started it, it matched my gut. Have to say, if you are already stressed, you may not even think about doing a stress measurement on the Mi Band :). Still, I think it’s an interesting, useful addition. There is also a function called ‘Breathing’ with which you can do breathing exercises by means of a light vibration and indications on the screen. This can provide just a little more peace of mind and can be done with a minute (or your own chosen time).

PAI

PAI is also a new feature. This abbreviation stands for ‘Personal Activity Indicator’. This position is used to check how you are doing at that moment. You will see a score on the screen, based on various components. Think of your activity, heart rate and active exertion you make. In addition, a number of other components are taken into account, and you can see your PAI score. Via the Mi Band 5 you can also see the scores of the past days.

Other functions that the Mi Band 5 has on board are setting an alarm clock, calendar reminders, a timer, an option to find your phone and a do not disturb function. You can also easily operate the music player from the watch and you can set that you receive a notification if you sit too long.

Battery life

With a battery capacity of 125 mAh, the battery is 10 mAh smaller than that of the Mi Band 4. According to Xiaomi, the Mi Band 5 has to last 14 days on one battery charge, which is 6 days less than the promise with the Mi Band 4. Myself I don’t have continuous heart rate monitoring on, but with a workout every now and then you get pretty close to 14 days. With normal use, I get about 10 to 12 days of battery life, depending on how many times you start a workout, for example.

Charging is a huge improvement over the previous model. You no longer have to take the watch out of the strap yourself to charge it. From now on you can simply ‘click’ the magnetic charger on the device after which you can charge it. You must use a charging block yourself, it is not included. The charging cable is also very short, and because this is one whole, you cannot use a longer cable yourself.

Rating

It is clear that Xiaomi has maintained the powerful features of its predecessor with the Mi Band 5. In concrete terms, this means that you get an extensive fitness tracker for a very friendly, decent price. You will receive notifications from your smartphone, also with incoming calls and you also have extensive options for tracking your health and your activities.

I still think it is a real shame that it is still the case that an activity can be recognized automatically. For example, now you have to manually start the workout before each bike ride. In addition, we miss the display of emojis for incoming WhatsApp messages, for example. They are minor drawbacks. The benefits are in the majority.

You can buy the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 at Bol.com, MediaMarkt, AliExpress and Amazon.