Multitool.org Forum
Non Tool Forum => Gadget Freak and EDC Forum => Topic started by: Whoey on November 15, 2018, 11:36:52 AM
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So I finally decided to delve into the world of activity bands. Mainly because they now seem to have accessibly priced options (I don't need a complete replication of my smartphone, just a basic logging device that syncs is fine with me)
I settled on a Xiaomi Mi Band 2, and while I know they have a new model out that has a larger display area with longer battery life etc, the old one has my preferred display mode of clock inline rather than the hour and minutes stacked on top of each other. The other main factor being that the price of the old model is half the new one for essentially the same features. The other thing that sold me on Xiaomi as a brand was the experience I had setting up my brother in law's Xiaomi laptop, which is essentially a MacBook clone with windows, I was impressed with the build quality overall, many manufacturers have a habit of cheaping out with plastic shells, and the smooth aluminum shell is really spectacular.
I've had it for about 48h now, and it seems to do a pretty good job of tracking my steps, logging heart rate (when prompted) and sleep patterns. The battery seems to be doing fine after the initial full charge, I tried a partial charge when I got it using my phone's turbo power charger and it didn't seem to work well so I plugged it into my USB3 hub. It's comfortable and I barely notice it on my wrist. I usually take off my watch while at home and this doesn't even feel like anything is there. There's a heap of features I'm not even using, and cleverly they are all disabled by default.
Note that to use this band you have to install the companion app on your smartphone and pair it on Bluetooth. It was relatively painless. It does log data without the phone in range and can sync at a later moment.
So what bands are you using and what is your experience?
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I bought a cheapo fitness tracker over a year ago. Works fine even if it's not the most accurate out there. I rarely use it as my wrist is too full of stuff.
(https://i.imgur.com/mfsPbde.jpg)
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I got my mum a fitbit last xmas and she loves it.
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I can accurately judge how many steps I took during the day by how much Tylenol I need to take in the afternoon/evening. :D
Pulse checking? Fingers on wrist with pressure, count beats during 15 second interval, and multiply that by 4.
On a serious note, thanks for some of the ideas. I am thinking about getting one to help limit my physical activities during the day, since I keep getting tendon ruptures from over-exertion.
Microbe,
I'm just going to put mine on the alternate wrist from my watch. :D :pok:
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I'm just going to put mine on the alternate wrist from my watch. :D :pok:
That's not a bad idea... although mine does function as a watch.
I might enable the inactivity alert in mine.
Interestingly I've discovered the heart rate doesn't transfer to google fit unless you trigger it from within the Mi Fit app, from the device itself it only syncs to their app or some other 3rd party apps I'm not overly keen on.
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Thanks for the info, Whoey! I have been weary of third-party apps since the revelation that some simple flashlight-apps were collecting personal data. Though, I try and read through all permissions and switch off any that I feel could be questionable if possible.
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For the last four years I'm wearing an Apple Watch. Perfect health tracker, pedometer etc.
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For the last four years I'm wearing an Apple Watch. Perfect health tracker, pedometer etc.
If I could get one for under 20eur I'd jump on that :P
Currently on day 8 or so of full charge, battery says 63% remaining.
I don't have the majority of notifications enabled, just using it as a pedometer, sleep tracker, occasional heart rate tracking. Sync a couple times a day using the phone app (also so I don't need bluetooth on the phone eating that battery...)
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I had a Pebble Talk that I really liked, but it didn't appreciate swimming over the summer as much as I did, so I no longer have a Pebble Talk. It was supposed to be waterproof, but as Pebble no longer exists, I doubt there's much that can be done.
Now I use my first generation Samsung Gear watch and my phone itself for pretty much all of my activity tracking needs. I use Samsung Health to track what I do on my phone, and my watch feeds that info to the phone for me. Now all I need is the activity to track.... :facepalm:
Def
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I wish they could build all the features of this one into one of those modules that are supposed to sit under your traditional watch. I don't really feel the need to have a full-on touchscreen with the same notifications showing on my phone (bad enough that I have them on desktop, tablet and phone already)
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According to the app, it's now been 12 days since I last charged it, and the battery is currently at 47%. A few days ago I did switch on the heart rate sleep assistant which supposedly reduces battery life but it seems to be very similar to how it was previously.
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Hi, great choice, i started with mi band 1, mi band 2 and now I have amazfit bip. :)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181127/b1900883bdcc7bca23b0a57a23ae1a97.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181127/631912b6bbad57c867a05b247658f18a.jpg)
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I finally decided to re-charge after about 2 weeks on the first charge, even though it still had about 20% left.
Of note, the other night I slept rather badly and opted for a post-lunch siesta to recoup a bit. It doesn't seem to track any sleep other than at night which is a shame as I'm sure I notched up some nice deep sleep...
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MI fit track day sleep few years ago with first mi band, newer versions can't.
Try notify n fitness app if you want track sleep during day.
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I bought a Polar Loop a few years ago when I had a bit of health issues. That didn't last long for me wearing it as I still do prefer a watch over the band. However, this thread got me to wipe the dust off of it and am currently charging and syncing the Loop to my just re-downloaded Polar tracking software.
:facepalm:
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Nice! A person can never use/have enough gadgets.
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The other day we were out an about downtown and discovered that they had opened a Mi store a couple doors down from the mac store...
They seem to sell mostly just small items such as headphones, activity bands and phones at least so far, we had a quick look but since it's new it was packed! Looking forward to having a proper look when it's less chaotic. The wife was well impressed with the phones, and I'm guessing that will be her new one whenever her current one starts to go wonky, which probably won't be for quite some time.
I did see that they had the newer version of my band, and I'm still happy with my choice as it still does more than I need, and the price was still great.