Xiaomi Smart Band 8 review: Affordable fitness tracker with new versatility

[Redaktion]

The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is one of the most affordable fitness trackers on the market. Our test report reveals what the wearable has to offer for just under 40 Euros/~$44 RRP, whether the manufacturer has eliminated a major shortcoming of its predecessor and whether it is worth buying.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Xiaomi-Smart-Band-8-review-Affordable-fitness-tracker-with-new-versatility.787247.0.html

[LL]

Thanks. It will be interesting to make a comparison with Xiaomi Active Band 8.

[Neenyah]

I appreciate the effort and the review but with all due respect to the author I am pretty confident that The Quantified Scientist's in-depth review on YouTube paints a far more accurate picture about this device and its (in)accuracy:

Mi Band 8 International : Scientific Test

If you want to throw away 40-45€ then yeah, it's a good device, but it's not a device to even remotely accurately track activity and that is supposedly its main purpose.

[howard hoyt]

GR8 watch that i have been very happy with.
An addl drawback is the charger connection is weak-unlike previous version.
No approved way to convert CN edition to global ?
Overall, a very good smart watch !

[A]

If you want to throw away 40-45€ then yeah

TLDR for lazy people, what's more accurate in this price range?

[Neenyah]

If you want to throw away 40-45€ then yeah

TLDR for lazy people, what's more accurate in this price range?

Not much choice, sadly. This product overall is pretty decent but it's not reliable due to the mentioned heavy inaccuracy in measurements (it is very accurate for activities like sitting and working in the office and such but then again what's the point of it then?).

As a nice looking gadget with excellent screen to display some data and time plus being pretty damn good for notifications from your phone - perfect choice! Barely average for everything else.

Its predecessor, the Mi Band 7, is actually better and more accurate but it has a worse screen (30 Hz vs 60 Hz here) and no locking mechanism on its wristband ends (those pins which goes into the device itself) so it can snap off pretty easily (known problem with it 😐). Not an issue at your home but if you are running or swimming that is not something you would want to see as the device is too easy to lose in such scenario.
 
Then again, the first pretty nicely rounded device that is still relatively inexpensive at double the cost of the Mi Band 8 is the Huawei Band 8; so around 80€ (+- 5%) but despite being twice more expensive it is more than twice better (overall as a device but also in accuracy of its measurements) than the Mi Band 8. If you are limited in budget or simply unwilling to spend more than 40-50€ then, unfortunately, those two mentioned Xiaomi devices are the only ok-ish options 😐

[Sid Quidly]

Xiaomi sold the Mi Band 6 (global version) with Amazon Alexa and optional NFC payment. I have one on my wrist right now in the UK and it works great.

Did the 7 and 8 have this too? I'm not sure.

That the 8 doesn't even have Amazon Alexa really does smack of arbitrarily removing a feature so they can sell it back to you on a later model.