Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Bluetooth Activity Tracker, Waterproof Fitness Watch with Heart Rate Monitor, Pedometer & Messaging Notifications, Android & iOS – Graphite Black

I was very happy with the Mi Band 2, especially having bought the Mi Band Tools app which adds things like Sleep as Android integration. But when Amazon offered this one for less than the price of getting it directly from China...Good: the wrist band has the holes closer together! A little thing, but with the Mi Band 2, it was a choice of being a bit too loose or a bit too tight. Here, I can have it fit properly...Bad: the sides of the wrist band around the device itself are noticeably much thinner. I never worried about breaking the other one, I am nervous about pulling this one too much.Good: it's waterproof to a 'I'm never going that deep' depth rather than splash proof. You can actually go swimming with it on.Bad: a chunk of the waterproofing presumably comes from the design of the holder where a ridge fits into a notch around the device. Getting the earlier device in and out was easy. Here, it's much harder. Combined with the reduction in thickness of the wrist band, I do wonder if I will need to get a spare one.Good: the rounded surface it does look nicer and the display is easier to read in bright daylight. There are more pixels, but they still don't do an analogue clock display..Bad: .. and unlike the Mi Band 2, it is much more exposed to damage. Instead of the sides being covered by the wrist band to the point that you can put one face down on a table and the device won't quite touch it, I can see this getting scratched. You can buy screen protectors, but not having to do so would be a better design!Good: there are some extra features, like the weather and a stopwatch.Hmm: you might not use them much. I can see the stopwatch being useful for times when you don't have your phone (like swimming!) but apart from that, it's easier to use your phone.Good: another one makes your phone beep, so you can find the sodding thing if it's in Bluetooth range.Bad: there are no downsides to this one!Good: I'll have to do a comparison walk to see the difference, but it's already obvious that the step counter is now much better and you can now see it updating in real time..Bad: .. provided you're not walking around a carpeted house where it still misses steps.So, um, yes. It's very good and a worthwhile upgrade, especially at that price. Mi Band Tools is still a very worthwhile extra purchase for the things the Mi Fit software still doesn't do.

I'm going to compare this to the Mi Band 2 that I previously had.This immediately put a smile on my face coming from the Mi Band 2.It's faster, curvier and overall is an excellent upgrade for a £27 price tag, next day delivery.I'd rather much prefer it from Amazon than a few couriers throwing them about in a plane and few transit vans.There are some noticeable differences but not a MAJOR overhaul. It seems to me that it's more of a refresh.There's nothing wrong with my Mi Band 2 but I've now switched to this because, why use the 2 if I've got the 3 now :DYou will get about 2 updates out of the box once paired with Mi Fit, keep the band CLOSE to your phone.Advantages--------------------- Fulfilled and Sold by Amazon (that's a surprise in itself), it's only £26.99.Could be worse?- Just as easy to setup, in my scenario, unpair Mi Band 2, pair the Mi Band 3. (IT DOES NOT CARRY YOUR STEPS OVER, THAT'S IN THE BAND'S MEMORY)- The display is brighter than the Mi Band 2 and visibly crispier in sunlight and other situations. It's not the BRIGHTEST though.- The battery life is considerably the same or better (in my experience), I've set it to continuous heart rate and a whole load of functions and it stays alive for more than 10 days at the least- The bigger screen now means a lot more content can be viewed on the band itself, let's say you receive a text, the message content can be viewed or scrolled across the screen dependent on how long the message is.- No physical extruded button, in my opinion, this looks aesthetically pleasing. I did like the button on my Mi Band 2 but this has a more MODERN look and feel- The band it comes with, has more holes which is useful in my opinion. The Mi Band 2 had a few less.- You can now find your phone with the band itself, that comes default with the Mi Band 3- Syncing seems noticeably faster, that could be a new device thing though (not used much)- I like them curves.- Weather?Disadvantages--------------------- It would be useful to have a toggle that will allow functions to be used without having to hold the button down for x amount of seconds (e.g. heart rate now needs you to hold the button down to read heart rate..). This can easily be done by a Mi Fit update but that's my assumption. Maybe I haven't figured it out yet?I can't really think of any more disadvantages but clearly the advantages outweigh the cons enough to say that it's a worthy upgrade if you're a Mi Band 1/2 user.If you like the form factor of the Mi Band 2 or 1, by all means stick to it, this isn't a massive jump from them but it isn't too uncomfortable or large either. More holes on the band compensate for the size difference of the MI Band 3.It's really worth the money. Pair this with a screen protector and a metal black watch band (from Amazon) and you're good to go. I also tend to buy spare chargers for my devices, which I have for this Band as I tend to use the third party and not the original chargers as they're useful to keep in case.

Great product and has a feature set which can compete with activity trackers which are 3x the price. It is even safe to wear in the shower or whilst swimming. Admittedly it isn't the most accurate tracker, but offers a good ballpark figure, with the heart rate monitor often displaying 5-10BPM off my actual heart rate when exercising and step count often a couple of hundred out over the course of a day when compared to other pedometers.The area where this band excels the most is it's battery life. I have it connected to my phone permanently via bluetooth and the battery still lasts up to 10 days before needing a charge. The GPS functions do drain the battery a bit quicker but I don't use them all that often.The only problem I've come across are when setting the device to display notifications. The screen is quite small so reading text from emails and text messages can be a pain, and WhatsApp messages display as foreign characters (maybe due to encryptions).Overall a great product for the price and as an entry level activity tracker I would highly recommend it, although if you're looking for something which more closely resembles a smart watch with added activity tracking capabilities, I would suggest looking elsewhere.