Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active Review: Cutting Corners or Cutting Edge Fitness?
Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active: A Budget Fitness Tracker with Major flaws
The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active promises to be an affordable fitness tracker that can accompany you on all your daily fitness adventures. After testing it for a while, I was more than a bit disappointed with what I found.
A Quick Overview
To be fair, the Band 9 Active costs a fraction of more premium fitness trackers on the market. But are you really willing to sacrifice that much quality just to save some cash? Perhaps not.
In this review, I’ll dissect the Band 9 Active, highlighting its specifications, performance, and overall design. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly what to expect from this affordable fitness tracker and whether it’s worth your while.
Pros and Cons
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Extremely Affordable | Poor Accuracy for Fitness Metrics |
| Decent Notification Handling and Music Control | Aesthetically Pleasing yet Underwhelming Experience |
| Great for Basic Tasks like Sleep and Heart Rate Monitoring | Inaccurate GPS Tracking for Outdoor Activities |
Design: A Work-in-Progress
The Band 9 Active might look sleek from afar, but up close, it’s clearly a budget-minded design. You’ll find nothing exceptional about this fitness tracker aesthetically or in terms of build quality.
Performance: The Achilles Heel
With poor accuracy plaguing the health tracking metrics – including heart rate, distance covered, and estimated calorie burn – the Band 9 Active isn’t exactly reassuring when it comes to providing faithful data. Combine this with less-than-stellar GPS tracking (read: pretty much useless during outdoor activities) and you can’t help but wonder if budget was the single deciding factor when designing this wrist-based companion.
Should I Buy It?
If saving every last dime is your main priority, yes, the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active does deliver on promise. However, if you actually care about consistent, accurate information to guide your fitness journey (or simply for a decently built device overall), you should look elsewhere or invest in its more expensive peers.
Why You Should Explore Other Options Instead
| Component | Xiaomi Smart Band 9 | Fitbit Inspire 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $44.99 / £19.99 / AU$42.99 | $60 / £34.99 / AU$79.99 | $99.95 / £84.99 / AU$177.00 |
| Dimensions (mm) | Unknown | 39.32 l x 18.6 x 11.75 | Unknown |
| Display | 1.47-in | 0.7 in AMOLED touchscreen | Unknown |
| GPS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Battery Life (Days) | 18 days | 21 days | 10 days |
Buyer’s Conundrum?
If savings are your #1 priority (and you know you’ll mainly use the watch for basic daily tracking), take a closer look at the price points above to see if either the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 or Fitbit Inspire 3 better cater to your lifestyle and budget (albeit spending a bit extra).
Bottom Line
Although the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active is marketed as an all-around fitness watch, its execution falls short across various aspects: performance, precision, and basic build quality, leaving you less than impressed. If performance is your non-negotiable, you deserve better. Even with its exceptionally low price point, the jury’s still out on whether cost-cutting leads to a value worth considering when compared to those premium fitness tracks on the horizon.
