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The Redmi Smart Band Pro was announced at the end of October and is one of the few Redmi products to be available in the UK.
The smart band shares a lot in common with the Xiaomi Mi Band 6, with Redmi being a sub-brand of Xiaomi.
Specification
- Display: 1.47 “AMOLED Touch Display – 194*368
- Sensors:
- 6-axis sensor: low power-consumption 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope
- PPG heart rate sensor
- Light sensor
- Battery: 200 mAh Lithium-ion polymer – 14 days typical use.
- Waterproof level: 5 ATM
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 LE
- Features:
- 110 fitness modes
- Auto-detect treadmill, outdoor running and outdoor walking
- 24 hour HRM
- Automatic SpO₂ when sleeping, manual testing during the day
- Sleep Quality Tracking
- Stress Monitor
- Deep breath exercises
- Female Health / Menstrual Cycle
- Music control
- Weather
- Notifications
Design / Features vs Xiaomi Mi Band 6
The Redmi Smart Band Pro is very similar to a Mi Band 6, which launched a couple of months ago but with a different shaped display.
The Xiaomi has a 1.56″ AMOLED display running at 152*486 with 450 nits brightness, whereas this has a 1.47 “AMOLED running at 194*368.
The Xiaomi has dimensions of 47.4 × 18.6 × 12.7 mm, whereas the Redmi is 42mm x 24.45mm x 10.15mm. The wider display gives it a bit more of a watch look rather than band.
Both devices have a rubber strap with a button hole fastening. During my time with the Redmi, this is one of its most annoying features. Trying to fasten the strap in place tightly for exercise is quite difficult.
The devices feature some slight feature differences, the Redmi has over 110 fitness modes, while the Xiaomi has just 30. For me, I find the number of modes irrelevant. There is little functional difference between the modes, it is just a name. Once you have covered the essential stuff, everything else is just padding out the numbers.
The Xiaomi appears to offer 24/7 SPO2 monitoring, while the Redmi switches to automatic and night only.
The Redmi has a larger 200 mAh battery vs 125 mAh but they are both rated for 14 days of use.
Health Tracking
The health tracking features of this are excellent with a good array of sensors. You have a 6-axis sensor (low power-consumption 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope), PPG heart rate sensor with SpO2.
Features include:
- Step counting / calories / standing time
- All-day heart rate – low/high/RHR
- Blood Oxygen – Manual measurements and/or automatic night measurements
- Stress Tracking
- Sleep
Most of the health tracking features have elements that you may want to enable or tweak. These will all affect battery life but will offer greater insight into your health.
For example, you can enable the nighttime SPO2 measurements, advanced sleep-tracking, you can increase the all-day heart rate sample time, and you can enable all-day stress.
With the battery life being excellent out of the box, I felt confident enabling all the features. I am not sure how useful all-day heart rate is with a 30-minute sample time, so I’d reduce that to 10 minutes or less (I set it to 1-min)
The overall accuracy of the health tracking appears to be good; most things match up with my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro, which costs over 10-times the price.
Fitness Tracking
The Redmi doesn’t have GPS built-in. When you see the GPS signal activating on the watch, it is trying to connect to the phone GPS. So you need to make sure it can do this under your permissions. You will ideally allow the Xioami app location permissions all the time, not just when you are using the app.
You can start tracking an activity from the app itself or your watch. I generally use the watch, especially for things like runs where I have my phone packed away.
For running, you get a decent amount of data, including your pace, heart rate, steps, active calories, elevation gain and loss, heart rate zones, average stride length and average cadence.
The app will also calculate your Vo2Max. Like most wearables, the accuracy of this is debatable, but if you focus more on the direction the numbers are moving rather than the number itself, then it works well.
Other Features
Like most smart wearables nowadays, there is a wide range of watch faces you can choose from. Some are locally stored, others you can download. I am as practical as possible, so I tend to go with one of the utility displays, which shows all the core stats.
Price and Alternative Options
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huawei Band 6 - Fitness Tracker Graphite Black | 9,604 Reviews |
£44.22 | Buy on Amazon |
| HONOR Band 6 Fitness Tracker Smart Watch, 1.47" Touch Screen... | 478 Reviews | £34.99 | Buy on Amazon |
The Redmi Smart Band Pro is currently only available in the UK from Mi.Com, and it is priced at £44.99 with £4.90 shipping, making it £49.89.
Weirdly, Xiaomi/Redmi don’t make it easy to find, there is no direct link to buy it from Mi.com and it is not listed on any third party sites like Amazon. I found the direct link via Google Shopping. You can buy it here.
The Xiaomi Mi Band 6 is currently £46 on Amazon
The Huawei Band 6 has an RRP of £60 but is discounted to £35 for Black Friday.
The Honor Band 6 is currently £40
Overall
The Redmi Smart Band Pro is a good affordable fitness tracker. With it being so similar to the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 in features and price, it is hard to recommend one over the other. I would perhaps choose whichever device you prefer based on the way it looks.
Similarly, there is not a huge difference when you compare against the Huawei/Honor alternatives. In this case, I would perhaps stick with whatever brand you are familiar with.
Redmi Smart Band Pro Review Rating
Summary
The Redmi Smart Band Pro is an excellent affordable fitness tracker, in a world full of excellent affordable fitness trackers.
Overall
70%-
Overall - 70%70%
Pros
- Accurate fitness and health tracking
- Nice design with a good screen
Cons
- Xiaomi Mi Band 6 is a bit cheaper and essentially the same
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.
Last update on 2024-09-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
