Mi Smart Band 5 – India’s No. 1 Fitness Band, 1.1-inch AMOLED Color Display, Magnetic Charging, 2 Weeks Battery Life, Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI), Women’s Health Tracking
Positive Reviews
Positive Review 1
Complete detailed review and comparison with Mi Band 4
This is going to be a long review, scroll to the end for summery. I’ve already been using Mi band 4 for over a year so I’ll compare with it wherever required.
SCREEN:
The screen is just gorgeous! It’s full touch AMOLED 1.1inch, which is almost 20% bigger than my Mi band 4’s 0.95inch. You’ll instantly appreciate the extra real estate. Everything is crisp and bright. There’s is an anti-fingerprint coating (which works) but sadly no gorilla glass. And it’s very hard to find and put screen guard due to its curved glass. My MB4 has many scratches after a year of use and I expect the same in MB5. The display is clearly visible under direct sunlight.
STRAP and COMFORT:
The strap is rubbery plastic, same as Mi Band 4 but the size is different, so the MB4 strap will not fit here. It doesn’t produce much sweat and overall, it’s light and comfortable. You’ll forget it’s on your wrist after a while. The band is also non-intrusive while sleeping. I’ve also worn My band in the drizzle, while washing hands and in full-blown rain, it’s totally waterproof.
BATTERY:
The battery has always been a big plus on the Mi Band series. I used to get around 12-13 days battery on Mi Band 4 with continuous heart rate monitor enables and 17+ days without it. In Mi band 5, my battery is 58% after 5 days of use, so seems like battery life is almost the same as before. BUT the charging mechanism has changed! I think it is one of the most significant upgrades since Mi Band 1. It was very inefficient and cluttery but now it’s simply a breeze! You don’t have to remove the tracker now so strap life may also improve, who knows.
EXTRA FEATURES:
Mi band 4 and Mi band 5 both have a lift to wake, timer, stopwatch, the weather up to 5 days, vibration alarm, ideal sitting alert, music and volume change, find my phone feature. You can silent the phone from the band. Receive notifications from the phone, dismiss notifications, Reject and silent calls and change the brightness of the band from the band itself. All the features are very refined and work without any problem or bug whatever. Mi band 5 also has remote shutter control to capture images from the phone.
HEALTH TRACKING and FEATURES:
Now the most important part. All other features are useless if the band can’t track properly. Mi band 4 had 2 big flaws in sleep tracking – it couldn’t track REM sleep and couldn’t track mid-day naps! Fortunately, both the features are included in the Mi Band 5. It is a significant change and my favourite upgrade after the charger. Other sleep tracking features are as accurate as ever. Xiaomi claims that they’ve improved the heart rate sensor but I’m getting almost the same reading on both Mi Band 4 and 5 (with a 2-3- point difference). Mi band 5 now has some new indoor sports mode that gym lovers will love! It has indoor cycling, rowing machine, and Elliptical, although the data you get in this is very limited. It also has Yoga mode now (which is not very accurate). The step counter is ok-ish (with 80-90% accuracy roughly) but the running mode is wonderful with connected GPS (your phone’s) it provides so much data like pace, stride rate, average heart rate, real-time heart rate, map, average speed, personal best and so on! You’ll love running after wearing Mi band. Mi band 5 includes a new stress meter (which is fun to use, just take its data with a pinch of salt), and PAI (personal activity index) about which I’ll update the review after some use. The tracking features of the Mi band 5 are best for any fitness tracker under Rs 10k IMO. Moreover, all the features are very refined and well-designed. You’ll not encounter any bugs or hiccups while using them, they just work as expected.
CONS:
– Design is very outdated. Although it’s comfortable It looks very small if you have big hands.
– The stripping mechanism is also not very good. I was expecting that Xiaomi will improve it at least a bit in this upgrade but seems like I’ll have to wait another year.
– The weather feature doesn’t work most of the time. It says ‘connect the band to show weather’, even though I’m connected. The same problem was there in MB 4. Seems like Xiaomi ignored it.
– Xiaomi should introduce some metallic straps. There are 3rd party straps available but their quality is just bad.
– Ads in android app. Ruins the whole experience.
– No SpO2 meter. Although not as useful, still good to have.
– No scratch-resistant glass. or at least provide good first-party curved tempered glass.
CONCLUSION:
Mi Band 5 is not as significant an upgrade as MB 3 to 4. But the magnetic charger, improved sleep tracking, and indoor sports mode are all excellent upgrades. Not to mention the extra screen estate. As for the first-time buyers, the Mi band is the most accurate band you’ll get under Rs 10k. No other band or watch in this range has such polished UI, reliable tracking, and fine hardware quality.
Positive Review 2
Get Fit
What I liked
1. Amoled Display With more nits than Band 4
2. PAI
3. Stress Monitor
4.1000s of Watch faces(from 3rd Party apps, developers)
5. Can take it to shower/swim
6. Magnetic Charging Cable
7. Enhanced REM sleep tracking, this band Can Track your afternoon Naps too.
8. Music Control.(play/pause,Next,previous,Volume Up and down)
9. Pricing for this One is so apt.
Cons
1. Should have Given Spo2 sensor(not a deal-breaker for me as I Own a pulse oximeter)and people really don’t care about Sp02 after this pandemic is Over.
2. Battery Capacity should have been Increased Instead of decreasing by 10mah>Mi band 4
3. Need to have tempered Glass over Without which it could seriously take some damage/scratches.
4. Step Count is Slightly Inaccurate, shows more steps than the Actual, in Treadmill workout mode it shows less distance than the actual distance covered. Mi needs to fix this ASAP through the OTA update.
Verdict-
It’s a MUST HAVE perfect Little One for a fitness enthusiast.
“Nothing Tastes as Good As Being FIT feels”
Mi fit App is Really Good, UI is smooth, Syncs and gets data from the Band Real Fast, Stats are nicely shown.
Positive Review 3
The best mi band yet
Pros:
1. This is the best at this price segment with great features
2. Camera feature inbuilt
3. Nnew big screen makes a difference
4. Wallpapers are customisable
5. Auto workout detection
Cons:
1. It still scratches really easily
2. The screen should have been glass
That’s all I just got it 3 days back will make an update in a month I really have no complaints except that the screen scratches so easily infact today I just touched a wall and it made 3 scratches and that’s really annoying other than that this band is value for money just be careful when you use it
Positive Review 4
Probably the best in the price segment
I have always been skeptical about fitness bands n I still am as I think fitness bands are not that important but the pricing of this fitness band makes it a quite lucrative choice.
What I have liked so far:
1. Fairly accurate step counting. I did counting in my mind while walking n then checked on the band n the steps the band counted was most of the time accurate which is very impressive considering its price.
2. A lot of workout modes;
3. Menstrual cycle calculator, hence this band can be a very good choice for women as well.
4. Battery life appears to be quite good too but will update after exhausting the current battery life.
What I have not to like:
1. The app sometimes doesn’t sync especially the heart rate which only syncs when it is calculated manually.
2. The home page of the app is not customizable.
3. Band sometimes doesn’t count steps. Although it again starts working if you move the band a little while you are wearing it.
4. PAI is useful but at the cost of a battery.
Update – with mild usage, one can easily get a battery life of more than 15 days.
And even with moderate usage, a 10-14 days battery is on the table.
Sleep tracking appears to be good too. It is not accurate but quite close and can help people to understand their sleep structure.
No risk of water damage yet. I have taken a shower while wearing the band and it still works perfectly.
Positive Review 5
Best in Class in the budget fitness band
So this is my first impression review
**I had ordered this MI band 5 in the first sale on 1st of October and it was delivered the second day itself but when I opened the package it was a bit damaged so I had to ask for a replacement the reason was there were slight scratches on the MI band…
**Update**
The replacement was immediately sent to me on the 4th of October later I was excited to open this package so I opened it NIC it was nicely bubble wrap so the package should not get damage that was really prompt from the Amazon delivery side
**About the product**
This is is an amazing and the cheapest available fitness band in the market which gives a lot of features like
Decrease and bright LED display a and a really good battery life of two weeks also so this charges quick
Now Xiaomi has added some good features in this band like ok a bigger 1.29 inch OLED Touch screen and a bigger battery and an upgraded industry-leading PPG heart rate sensor and the silicon band also feels premium the best what I like is the magnetic charger which is a really good upgrade on this iteration of MI Band.
This MI band 5 is really a great product for the price and I am loving it
Negative Reviews
Negative Review 1
Bad sensors
It doesn’t suit for boys whith hair in their hands. The sensors couldn’t scan your body due to hairs. Spend a little more and buy a better one. Please don’t waste money on this product.
Negative Review 2
No support for Hindi, Can’t call or message, Always keeps
Pattern name: Mi Band 5Verified Purchase
Mi band 5 doesn’t support anything written in HINDI (eg contacts, messages, etc).
99% inaccurate STEP counter. (Event when I have walked barely 100 steps, it shows 7000-8000 steps). RIDICULOUS.
Always keeps measuring bp even if you put it on a table it keeps measuring Blood Pressure.
You can’t CALL or message with mi band 5.
Negative Review 3
Bad experience, not accurate.
It’s not accurate,and it can show heart rate without wearing, some time Bluetooth disconnect,
Sleeping mode is not correct, and step counting is calculated while I drive the bike.
Spending 2500 for this is bad ,
The above picture is taken the data without wearing a band
Negative Review 4
Band ok but Strap quality has been downgraded
Was using the Mi Band 3. Now ordered band 5. The first thing that you’ll not miss upon unboxing is the massive difference in the strap between band 3 and band 5. Band 3 felt solid and was made to last. It has lasted me more than 1.5 years before a need for change. But the band 5 strap looks so flimsy… I doubt if it will last even 3 months if I remove and wear the band on a daily basis. Quite disappointed with the strap quality. Looks like they’ll force us to keep changing the strap every quarter! Not good.
Will give a band review after using it for a month.
Negative Review 5
Battery issues.
Honestly here are some pro’s & cons
Pro’s – 1) good looking as compared to other bands.
2) accurate readings
3) display is ❤️
4) easy to use
CONS
1) battery life don you even think of 20 days of battery life, if you want it to run for 20 days you have to use it ok only basic settings and if you want to use it as a smart band then max battery life is around 4-5 days.
*These User Reviews are the Survey Based on Recent Purchases from Leading E-Commerce online Platforms (Amazon, Flipkart, SnapDeal, eBay, etc., or Retailers.
