Mi Band 5 Review: Simply The Best Affordable Fitness Tracker

Xiaomi’s Mi Band series has been excellent in recent years. Mi Band 4 proved to be very popular and Xiaomi launched Mi Band 5 a few months ago in Nepal.

Mi Band 5 is an update to the Mi Band 4. Though it looks similar it has some meaningful upgrades. Mi Band 5 price in Nepal is Rs. 4,499.

I used this device for more than a month and this is my full review.

Mi Band 5 Review

Old Design With Few Changes

• 47.2 x 18.5 x 12.4mm
• 11.9g

Mi Band 5 looks like the Mi Band 4 and there haven’t been many design changes. While the body is more or less the same, the circular capacitive button has been replaced with an inverted ‘U’ button.

Mi Band is comfortable to wear and it’s very lightweight. However, I did not like the strap locking mechanism. It felt cumbersome to adjust the strap when I wanted to get a tight fit.

And, like the Mi Band 4, Mi Band 5 is still water-resistant up to 50 meters/ 5ATM. One of the main changes is the new magnetic charging.

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Bigger Display

• 1.1-inch AMOLED 2.5D
• 126 x 294 pixels resolution

Mi Band 5 has a bigger 1.1-inch AMOLED screen with a screen resolution of 126×294. The display is quite good and the outdoor visibility was pretty nice actually. But, the flick to wake was not working sometimes.

The display is big enough and it’s easy to navigate the menus. Overall, it’s a very good display for a fitness band.

Fitness Features

Mi Band 5 has plenty of fitness tracking modes. Mi Band 5 now has 11 sports mode compared to the 5 modes available on the Mi Band 4. Rowing Machine, Jump Rope, Indoor Cycling, and Yoga.

There’s an auto-tracking feature for running, walking, and cycling. The auto-detection performs well but the watch needs to have a good fit on your wrist to work properly.

I was heavily using Mi Band 5 to track my Jump Rope session and cycling sessions. The Jump Rope tracking has a very good jump tracking along with burned calories tracking.

Besides, it can track cycling pretty well which will also provide GPS location if you connect the phone with mi band during your cycling session.

Except for these, I found the breathing exercise and stress measurement quite useful.

Then, Xiaomi has added a feature called PAI which is a short form for Personal Activity Index. It basically provides you a daily score by monitoring your daily activity. The activity tracking is based on the heart rate, so it was not accurate but this feature definitely encouraged me to be more active.

Heart Rate & Sleep Monitoring

• 24/7 Heart Rate Monitoring
• REM Sleep Tracking

Mi Band 5 has automatic internal heart rate monitoring or you can also use 24/7 heart rate monitoring. The heart rate measurement is more or less accurate.

Along with that, it now includes REM sleep tracking and sleep analysis. It provides a sleep score of each sleep cycle which lets you know your sleep quality and sleeping habits. It can track deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep which is very helpful if you want to improve your sleep quality.

Each of these data can be accessed via the Mi Fit app.

Connection and Other Features

• Bluetooth 5.0
• App & Call notifications

For connectivity, Mi Band 5 uses Bluetooth 5.0 and the connection is very good. I did not experience any issues with connection stability.

Xiaomi has added some useful features as you can use the Mi Band 5 as a remote shutter for your smartphone’s camera. If the Mi Band 5 is connected to the smartphone, you can use this feature to click pictures from your wrist. As for notifications, you can receive app notifications and call notifications as well.

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Battery and Charging

• 100mAh,14-day battery life (advertised)
• Magnetic charging

Mi Band 5 has similar battery life to the Mi Band 4. It matches Xiaomi’s claim of 14-day battery life. But, this is true if you use it without 24/7 heart rate monitoring.

As for charging, the new magnetic charging is a huge relief as it’s very easy to use. It takes around 2 hours to fully charge the Mi Band 5.

Mi Fit App

Mi Fit is the companion app for the Mi Band 5. You will need to install this app to connect your smartphone with the Mi Band 5. To be fair, it has all the basics but the software experience can be better.

It’s slightly difficult to check the activity history and even when you find the current day stats, I found it hard to find what I was looking for. Similarly, the settings menu could also use a refresh to make it more intuitive.

Should You Buy Mi Band 5?

Of course! It’s a must-buy if you’re looking for an affordable fitness tracker.

Mi Band 5 has all the things that you would need on a fitness tracker. It has various sports modes, a good display, heart monitoring, sleep tracking, and a good battery.

The only complaint I have is that the wrist strap’s locking mechanism could have been better and access to data should be easier. Fitbit Charge 4 is one of the best trackers out there but it is 5.5 times expensive than the Mi Band 5.

Thus, Mi Band 5 is a must buy an affordable fitness tracker.

I hope you like our review of Mi Band 5. If you have any questions regarding this device, then drop it in the comments below.