Redmi Smart Band Pro Review: Best budget fitness tracker?
Xiaomi has launched the Redmi Smart Band Pro alongside the Redmi Note 11 and Redmi Note 11S. Going by the name, it’s clearly positioned as more capable than the Redmi Smart Band. The new Redmi Smart Band Pro brings with it a lot of highly demanded features such as an AMOLED display, SpO2 and stress tracking, and the ability to track multiple types of workouts. With the improved feature list, the price has also gone up, but only by a little. Does the Redmi Smart Band Pro still offer value for money? I put this fitness tracker to the test to find out.
Redmi Smart Band Pro Price in India
The Redmi Smart Band Pro costs Rs 3,999 in India, but the company has announced a limited offer price of Rs 3,499. The Redmi Smart Band Pro will go on sale on February 14 at 12 noon.
The Redmi Smart Band Pro is light and barely noticeable on the wrist
Redmi Smart Band Pro Design
The Redmi Smart Band Pro features a rectangular polycarbonate body that houses a 1.47-inch AMOLED display. This panel is large enough to comfortably read text on without having to squint. It also has an always-on mode and there’s an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the brightness. The Smart Band Pro doesn’t have any buttons and navigation is purely touch-based. You get TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) straps that are curved, similar to the ones found on the Mi Band 6 (Review). These straps have a proprietary connector, making them easy to remove without the need for any additional tools. However, those looking for third-party alternatives may have a hard time finding them on the market.
The bottom of the Redmi Smart Band Pro has all the health sensors placed in a pill-shaped bump. There are also contact pins that are used to charge the Smart Band Pro. The included charger has magnets, which makes it easy to plug in this fitness band for charging.
I found the Redmi Smart Band Pro to be super light at just 25.5g. I barely noticed it on my wrist and wore it to bed without any problems. The Smart Band Pro has a 200mAh battery and is 5ATM water resistant.
Redmi Smart Band Pro Software and Features
The Redmi Smart Band Pro can be paired with Android and iOS smartphones using the Xiaomi Wear and Xiaomi Wear Lite apps respectively. The pairing process is simple and requires a Mi account. Once paired, both the apps can also be used to change some settings of the Smart Band Pro. The apps support multiple Mi and Redmi wearables and are very easy to use. The band syncs with the app on your phone after which it can display various parameters. You can also change the watch faces on the Redmi Smart Band Pro using the app. There are over 50 watch faces to choose from and you can also set a photo from your phone’s gallery as the watch face.
The bottom of the Smart Band Pro contains all the health sensors
The Redmi Smart Band Pro runs on custom software and is powered by the Ambiq Apollo 3.5 SoC. It has Bluetooth 5 LE for connectivity. Unfortunately, it lacks GPS, so it will have to rely on your connected smartphone for positioning. The Redmi Smart Band Pro can fetch notifications from your smartphone and alert you to incoming calls.
You can track nearly 110 different types of workouts, including 14 water fitness exercises, on the Redmi Smart Band Pro. Common exercises such as walking, running, cycling, HIIT, trekking and swimming can be activated directly on the fitness band. You can edit the list of available exercises based on your workout regimen. The Redmi Smart Band Pro can automatically detect certain activities such as running, walking and using a treadmill. In addition, the Redmi Smart Band Pro can also track heart rate, SpO2, sleep, stress and menstrual cycles. The band can continuously monitor the wearer’s heart rate, as well as SpO2 levels while you sleep, but these features are disabled by default to save power.
The Redmi Smart Band Pro has a very simple user interface. From the home screen, you can swipe right for quick changes and swipe left for widgets for heart rate, SpO2, weather, workouts and fitness stats. Swiping down from the top shows you unread notifications from your paired smartphone and swiping up from the bottom shows you all the features of the Smart Band Pro.
Redmi Smart Band Pro Performance & Battery Life
I used the Redmi Smart Band Pro for a week and found it comfortable to wear at all times. The screen was viewable outdoors, but I found it to be too bright when sitting in a dark room, even with auto-brightness adjustment enabled. While the interface was very easy to use, it didn’t feel too fluid at first, especially when scrolling. This issue was fixed with a software update (1.1.127) during the review period. The Smart Band Pro’s raise-to-wake feature was well calibrated and the screen always lit up when I raised my wrist. It turned off just as quickly when I lowered my hand.
You can monitor your SpO2 level on the Smart Band Pro
I had to manually enable automatic heart rate and SpO2 tracking, as well as app notifications and advanced sleep tracking metrics, using the app. I set the Redmi Smart Band Pro to measure my heart rate at one-minute intervals and SpO2 every 30 minutes while I slept. I also enabled notifications for resting and active heart rates, and set the band to vibrate for incoming notifications.
In terms of fitness tracking, I was pleased with the accuracy of the Redmi Smart Band Pro. I used an Apple Watch Series 7 (Review) for comparison and found the heart rate monitoring to be in the same range. Periodic monitoring of my heart rate did have a negative impact on battery life (more on that later), but resulted in more useful stats. Sleep tracking was accurate, with the band giving me a full overview of my sleeping patterns. I enabled SpO2 tracking while I slept, and the device complied. I took manual measurements throughout the day and found it to be in the same range as what a medical-grade pulse oximeter reports.
I used the Redmi Smart Band Pro to track my evening walks. Since it doesn’t have built-in GPS, it relies on the paired smartphone for accuracy. Without GPS, the Redmi Smart Band Pro underreported the distance, reporting 0.96km for the actual 1km I walked. With a paired smartphone in my pocket, the band did better, reporting 1.02km for the same distance.
The Xiaomi Wear app displays health data on your paired smartphone
It’s also capable of auto-detecting workouts for three specific workouts, as I mentioned earlier. The Redmi Smart Band Pro prompted me to start tracking my walk within a minute of starting the activity. It measured 1,002 steps for every 1,000 steps I counted, and this margin of error is acceptable considering the price of this fitness band.
Battery life was decent considering the small 200mAh battery, but it really depends on how you use your Redmi Smart Band Pro, so your experience will vary. I had the always-on display enabled, the heart rate measurement interval set to one minute and the SpO2 measurement interval to 30 minutes during sleep, and I was using the advanced sleep tracking option. App notifications were also enabled, and the Smart Band Pro was used to log outdoor walks each day.
With such heavy use, the fitness band lasted four and a half days, which is quite a bit less than the fourteen days of battery life that Xiaomi claims, which could be possible with light use. With some compromises, you should easily be able to get more than a week on a single charge. The included magnetic charger clicked onto the band quite easily and managed to charge the battery in less than an hour and a half.
Pronunciation
When I reviewed the Redmi Watch (Review) last year, I found it to be a capable device, but one major drawback was the lack of SpO2 tracking. Xiaomi has addressed that deficiency with the Redmi Smart Band Pro. Compared to the Redmi Watch, the Redmi Smart Band Pro only lacks GPS functionality. If you’re used to taking your smartphone with you on your hikes, the Redmi Smart Band Pro should still be able to track it accurately.
The Redmi Smart Band Pro has all the features you’d expect from a fitness band and has been launched at a good price. It will appeal to those wanting a larger display than the Mi Band 6 (Review), which is also a cheaper option and will suit those wanting a slimmer profile on their wrist. The Honor Band 6 is a direct competitor to the Smart Band Pro, offering a similar feature set at the same price point.
