Mi Band 6 Review: A Decent Upgrade from the Mi Band 5

Xiaomi’s Mi Band series has been excellent in recent years. Mi Band 5 was a pretty solid fitness band for the price and the Mi Band 6 is its upgrade.

Mi Band 6 brings few key upgrades to the table with a slight increase in price. Right now, it costs Rs. 5,999 in Nepal.

So, is it worth it? I’ll let you know in my review of the Mi Band 6.

Mi Band 6 Review

Same Old Design

• 47.4 x 18.6 x 12.7mm

Mi Band 6 looks exactly the same as the Mi Band 5. There’s no change in the overall design except slightly thin bezels.

Mi Band 6 feels light and comfortable to wear. But, the pin-hole strap is not my preference.

Mi Band 6 is also water-resistant up to 50 meters/ 5ATM. Like the Band 5, it has magnetic charging which is pretty easy to set up.

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Bigger Display

• 1.56″ AMOLED display
• 152 x 486 pixels resolution

Mi Band 6 gets a big leap in terms of display with a significantly bigger 1.56 inches display compared to the 1.1-inch display of the Mi Band 5.

The display is big enough and it’s plenty bright. But, it doesn’t have an auto-brightness feature which I would have preferred. However, you do get options like touch to wake and swipe up to wake.

Fitness Features

One of the new features of the Mi Band 6 is the SpO2 sensor. This helps to measure your oxygen level on the go and it is quite reliable. I compared its result with the traditional oximeter and the results were quite similar.

Furthermore, Mi Band 6 has 30 workout modes compared to 11 on the Mi Band 5. So, you are getting whole lots of workouts to keep track of including swimming. And, it can also auto-detect 6 workouts like elliptical and running.

For workout-tracking, it is the same as the Mi Band 5. It keeps track of metrics like heart rate, calories burned, and distance traveled. Also, it doesn’t have built-in GPS and has to use connected GPS to track your routes.

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 6 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 Xiaomi Wear app.

Connection and Other Features

• Bluetooth 5.0
• App & Call notifications

For connectivity, Mi Band 6 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 6 as a remote shutter for your smartphone’s camera. If the Mi Band 6 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

• 125mAh,14-day battery life (advertised)
• Magnetic charging

Mi Band 6 has similar battery life to the Mi Band 5. 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, it uses the same magnetic charging as Band 5. It takes around 2 hours to fully charge the Mi Band 6.

Xiaomi Wear App

Xiaomi Wear is the companion app for the Mi Band 6. You will need to install this app to connect your smartphone with the Mi Band 6. 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 6?

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

Mi Band 6 has all the things that you would need on a fitness tracker. It has various sports modes, a good display, SpO2 monitoring, heart monitoring, sleep tracking, and a good battery.

The only complaint I have is its band style and the lack of ambient light sensor.

Thus, Mi Band 6 is the best affordable fitness tracker in the market.

I hope you like our review of Mi Band 6. If you have any questions regarding this device, then drop them in the comments below.