I decided to do a Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S Review as I have now been using the Pulse 1S for around a month. I do a fair bit of exercise and didn’t fancy an expensive Smart Watch so decided to take the plunge with the cheap alternative. Please note this was written back in January 2016 but never published. I have added some updates to the bottom.
If you do not fancy watching the video version of this review then please jump down below it:
First impressions of the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S
The Xiaomi Mi Band 1S is pretty sleek and not as bulky as a smart watch. It definitely doesn’t look stupid when wearing it and doesn’t get in the way while doing daily tasks. The strap is pretty secure and has not come loose once. The band is waterproof which is great as I do not have to take it off while I shower and it has even been in the bath. I’m not 100% sure how water resistant it is and whether you can take it in the sea though. So far I have only had to charge the device once and apparently has a great battery life of 30 days.
Xiaomi Pulse 1s
Day Time Tracking
The pedometer is fairly accurate. I tested this by walking along with the app open and it seems to register my steps. You input your height and weight when setting up the app so gives an indication of the number of calories and grams of fat burned while walking. Whether or not this is accurate I am not 100%. I have noticed that every night it thinks I have been walking in my sleep which must actually be due to me tossing and turning as i’m sure my girlfriend would tell me if I kept sleep walking! Unfortunately I have no way to confirm whether the distance the app says I am walking throughout the day is accurate but i’m guessing this could be reasonably accurate based on the height keyed in at the start.
Heart Rate Monitor
When I bought the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S I expected it to monitor my heart rate constantly but this is unfortunately not the case. The heart rate monitor is only activated when you choose to do so in the app whereby you have to hold your arm steady next to your chest. The annoying thing is that it must be monitoring your heart rate to work out when you have fallen to sleep but there is no way of viewing this! I looked on a few forums and found that some people had managed to get the original Xiaomi Mi Band(1st version) working with Endomondo so I may need to try and play around with this. This is a big shame as one of the main reasons for a fitness tracker is to see your heart rate.
Night Time Tracking
Having a sleep tracker for under £20 is great! It seems reasonably accurate most days. There has been a couple of times when it has been incorrect and has said that I have either woken up/fallen asleep earlier/later respectively. I also noticed a slight bug in the app where I have checked the app first thing after waking up. Then I have re synced later in the day and the number of deep sleep cycles or time I woke up has changed slightly.
Another problem is that it does not monitor your sleep in the day, which is fair enough if you have a nap but what I didn’t like was that one night I went to sleep about 5.30am and the app didn’t register that I slept at all that night. I was pretty drunk but I’m pretty sure sure I fell asleep! This would technically make the device pretty useless to someone working shifts.
The Mi Fit App
I have been using the Android version of the Mi Fit app which for the majority is great but could do with a few improvements. For example you can view your current day or nighttime activity in great detail but all historic data is only visible by a graphical overview and you cannot review your deep/light sleep cycles. This is a bit poor because if you do not upload your data daily then you cannot see a breakdown of yesterdays or previous days activities throughout the day/night.
Pros
- Cheap with a great battery life.
- Great for counting calories and steps throughout the day.
- Great little sleep tracker with smart alarm.
Cons
- Poor heart rate monitoring. This really needs to be constant.
- The app could do with some upgrades to view historic data.
- Sleep monitor should be able to detect any prolonged period of sleep whether it is in the day or night.
Conclusion of Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S Review
I may have picked out a few negatives above but when you compare it to the price (less than £20) its hard to complain. I’d like to hope that many of the issues could be ironed out by a future version of the app/firmware. The main downfall in my eyes is the fact there is no constant heart rate tracking but overall the band itself works great as a basic fitness tracker with the added bonus of a sleep tracker and smart alarm. You can’t really go wrong for this price. If you are looking to buy a Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Heart Rate Wristband then you can get them from gearbest.
The unfortunate part of buying Chinese technology is that the manual is also in Chinese which I do not speak so if any of the above is wrong then please write in the comments below! Also if anyone knows why it flashes under certain circumstances then please let me know as I would love to find out. Do you own a Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S, i would love to know what you think? Also please let me know what you think about my Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S Review in the comments below.
Update to my Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S Review as at 2016-07-07
- It appears that if you go to bed late this does record your sleep. I went to bed at 5.30am the other day and it did record it.
- The app has also received many updates. Constant heart rate is still not one of them
- The app seems to sync my sleep pattern correctly first time.
