Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Fitness Tracker - Black

I decided not to fork out $300 every 2-3 years just to have a smartwatch, decided to pick this up due to influencer reviews.
I wouldn't call it terrible, but it isn't great either.
Battery life is closer to 2 days, 4 if you dont use it at all. Which is worse when you consider it does far less than an actual smart watch and still lasts shorter than those.
The durability seems good, I'm by no means gentle and I have been going into the ocean more regularly now that it is summer and the watch has survived swimmingly (ha).
The interface is...serviceable. It does the job but not very intuitively and without much haste. I decided not to fork out $300 every 2-3 years just to have a smartwatch, decided to pick this up due to influencer reviews.
I wouldn't call it terrible, but it isn't great either.
Battery life is closer to 2 days, 4 if you dont use it at all. Which is worse when you consider it does far less than an actual smart watch and still lasts shorter than those.
The durability seems good, I'm by no means gentle and I have been going into the ocean more regularly now that it is summer and the watch has survived swimmingly (ha).
The interface is...serviceable. It does the job but not very intuitively and without much haste.

I've bought it to my daughter and she's happy. Light and fancy. Bright display. Always-on display. Shows time. Counts steps. Has music controls on the phone. Good battery life (depends on your usage). Very fast charging. I've bought it to my daughter and she's happy. Light and fancy. Bright display. Always-on display. Shows time. Counts steps. Has music controls on the phone. Good battery life (depends on your usage). Very fast charging.

A year or so ago I switched my Xiaomi band for a FitBit Charge 5 which cost about $300. Big mistake. It was a real piece of junk. Slow response time, died all the time for no reason and needed a reset, just generally annoying. I went for a swim with it while overseas and it just died (meant to be water proof). i was sent a replacement, but the new one was just as bad and had all the same problems. After a year, I was biking and it too just died for no reason. After getting this Xiaomi Smart Band, I am super impressed. Fast, great price, and excellent features. Love the flashlight app for getting up in the middle of the night. Highly...view more A year or so ago I switched my Xiaomi band for a FitBit Charge 5 which cost about $300. Big mistake. It was a real piece of junk. Slow response time, died all the time for no reason and needed a reset, just generally annoying. I went for a swim with it while overseas and it just died (meant to be water proof). i was sent a replacement, but the new one was just as bad and had all the same problems. After a year, I was biking and it too just died for no reason. After getting this Xiaomi Smart Band, I am super impressed. Fast, great price, and excellent features. Love the flashlight app for getting up in the middle of the night. Highly recommended so far!

I have worn this watch for a month now. It's comfortable and the screen is easy to read and responsive. It has detailed sleep tracking and I appreciate the ability to have always on pulse and blood oxygen tracking. There are different styles of watch faces to choose from that will appeal to a wide range of tastes. I like how it vibrates when I get a phone call which means I never miss a call even in a noisy environment or if i have to have my phone on silent. And I also like how I can read emails on it so I only need to get my phone out if it's something urgent. I also like the media controls so I can change the track I am listening to...view more I have worn this watch for a month now. It's comfortable and the screen is easy to read and responsive. It has detailed sleep tracking and I appreciate the ability to have always on pulse and blood oxygen tracking. There are different styles of watch faces to choose from that will appeal to a wide range of tastes. I like how it vibrates when I get a phone call which means I never miss a call even in a noisy environment or if i have to have my phone on silent. And I also like how I can read emails on it so I only need to get my phone out if it's something urgent. I also like the media controls so I can change the track I am listening to and adjust the volume without having to use my phone. It has a handy find my phone feature that will play a loud tune on your phone (as long as you have blutooth turned on). And the flashlight feature is good. And I really appreciate that it's waterproof.
One issue I have found is that it does not automatically detect when I go cycling. I found in the settings that you can ask to display a prompt if it detects an activity. And now when i go for a bike ride it asks me if i want to start this activity and I then have to select to stop the activity at the end of the ride. I cycle daily and its annoying to have to rememer to do this so I have reduced my rating by one star.
Overall I am very happy with this watch and definitely recommend it, especially for the price.

All the features of more expensive fitness tracers at a fraction of the cost. Battery life is as advertised and perhaps the best feature is the 'torch' function. Would recommend. All the features of more expensive fitness tracers at a fraction of the cost. Battery life is as advertised and perhaps the best feature is the 'torch' function. Would recommend.

Purchased for my wife after she lost her Band 7, and she loves this one even more.
Makes me question why I paid the extra for my Apple watch! Purchased for my wife after she lost her Band 7, and she loves this one even more.
Makes me question why I paid the extra for my Apple watch!

This is my third Xiaomi Smart Band, first a Mi band 4, then Mi band 6, and now the Smart band 8, and they just get bigger and better. I've had other brands and types of smart watches in between, but I keep coming back to these Bands. They stay connected, have good vibration alerts, plenty of features and great battery life. They are small, but easily readable, comfortable on the wrist, light weight, and a good fit. This is my third Xiaomi Smart Band, first a Mi band 4, then Mi band 6, and now the Smart band 8, and they just get bigger and better. I've had other brands and types of smart watches in between, but I keep coming back to these Bands. They stay connected, have good vibration alerts, plenty of features and great battery life. They are small, but easily readable, comfortable on the wrist, light weight, and a good fit.

It's really worth it. It's really worth it.

A very good and cheap smart band. Easy to use and provides valuable information. A very good and cheap smart band. Easy to use and provides valuable information.

It works pretty well for counting steps. If that's what you get it for, it's fine.
However, the pulse monitoring it non continuous for sone reason. Instead of counting in a sliding window and showing continuous reading, it will measure your pulse every x time (default is high, can't remember how much). It's useless for pulse based training.
Another problem is the app. It's intrusive and not well designed and you can't install a third party unless you have it installed. It works pretty well for counting steps. If that's what you get it for, it's fine.
However, the pulse monitoring it non continuous for sone reason. Instead of counting in a sliding window and showing continuous reading, it will measure your pulse every x time (default is high, can't remember how much). It's useless for pulse based training.
Another problem is the app. It's intrusive and not well designed and you can't install a third party unless you have it installed.

While the hardware seems fine, although you need to wear it quiet tightly for it to be accurate, it's let down by the terrible software. This seems to be common amongst all Xiaomi products TBH.

It doesn't support a local only account, requiring you to create/use a xiamoi account. It also doesn't support syncing the data with other services, such as google fit.
I've got a third party app that solves most of this (Notify for xiaomi), but it's not supported at all, and is extremely fiddly to setup. While the hardware seems fine, although you need to wear it quiet tightly for it to be accurate, it's let down by the terrible software. This seems to be common amongst all Xiaomi products TBH.

It doesn't support a local only account, requiring you to create/use a xiamoi account. It also doesn't support syncing the data with other services, such as google fit.
I've got a third party app that solves most of this (Notify for xiaomi), but it's not supported at all, and is extremely fiddly to setup.

Great fitness watch. Comfortable, long lasting battery, good value for money. Great fitness watch. Comfortable, long lasting battery, good value for money.