Xiaomi’s Smart Band lineup (formerly Mi Band) is now in its ninth generation, and the Smart Band 9 Active is the most affordable of the bunch. With a suggested retail price of €25/£20, this plastic nugget is one of the most affordable smart bands on the market.
Features of Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active
- Display: 1.47” TFT LCD touchscreen, 172 x 320 pixel resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 450 nits peak brightness
- Straps: Removable special straps, adjustable length 135-215 mm
- Features: 5ATM rating, Real-time heart rate monitor, 24/7 Blood Oxygen level monitor, Sleep tracking, Stress monitoring, Sports tracking, Pedometer, Meditation, Notifications, Idle Alarm, Phone Finder, Weather Forecast, Music and Camera Control, Alarm, Stopwatch , Compass, Barometer, Flashlight.
- Sports modes: Outdoor Running, Indoor Running, Outdoor Walking, Cycling, Hiking, Trekking, Jump Rope, Freestyle (50 more in Mi Fitness)
- Sensors: PPG optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, barometer, rotor Vibration Motor
- Link: Compatible with Bluetooth 5.3, Android 8.0 and iOS 12+
- Battery: 300 mAh
- Colors: Black, Beige, White, Pink
- Dimensions:46 x 27 x 9.99mm
- Weight: 16.5 grams without strap
Getting to this price point had to come with some compromises, and they show with the TFT LCD’s thick bezels, all-plastic build and basic design. You still get the usual health and activity tracking features we’ve come to expect from Xiaomi’s wearables, but is the cheap price enough to justify stepping up to the Active over siblings or competing devices?
This reviewer wore the Band 9 Active on his wrist 24/7 for over two weeks, and here are his findings.
Design
Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active is an affordable smart band made entirely of plastic. The device looks like a nugget, with a one-piece TPU strap hugging it tightly. The only visual change from the Band 8 Active is a slightly raised lip around the screen, which should provide better protection and certainly helps against accidental spills against doorknobs and table corners.
The 1.47-inch TFT LCD offers a resolution of 172 x 320 pixels and a refresh rate of 60 Hz. It’s rated at just 400 nits of brightness, which is good even when viewed outdoors in direct sunlight. Again, an OLED panel like the ones on it Smart Band 9 or 9 Pro miles better in terms of viewing angles, contrast and brightness.
It also lacks physical buttons, which was the norm Band 6 day, but we’re still not convinced that a full swipe gesture navigation model is the best way to go, especially when your hands are wet.
The Smart Band 9 Active uses custom straps sold by Xiaomi, and we’re already seeing listings from third-party manufacturers on AliExpress. The retail package includes the Band 9 Active, a black TPU strap, Xiaomi’s two-pin magnetic charging cable, a quick start guide, and a warranty card.
Our review unit came with Xiaomi’s official Glow Belt, which adds style and functionality for runners with fluorescent elements that glow in the dark for safer evening runs.
Like its predecessor and every smart band that has appeared in the last few years, the Band 9 Active is 5ATM water resistant, meaning it can be submerged in fresh water up to 50 meters. In layman’s terms, you better take it to the pool and shower.
Features
Smart Band 9 Active has a light path sensor with an optimized health and fitness monitoring algorithm. It can monitor your heart rate and blood oxygen saturation 24/7, while also offering sleep and stress tracking. Xiaomi also offers over 50 sports modes that cover all the basic options you would expect.
Back at the entry-level price, Xiaomi has omitted GNSS satellite positioning on the Band 9 Active, so you’ll have to rely on your smartphone’s positioning data to track your runs.
Like Xiaomi’s other smart wearables, the Band 9 Active offers access to hundreds of watch faces through Xiaomi’s Mi Fitness companion app. The only downside is that it doesn’t get automatic brightness control. Due to its TFT LCD nature, the Band 9 Active does not support Always On Display (AOD) either.
The Band 9 Active pairs with your Android/iOS smartphone via Bluetooth 5.3, and you can sync incoming notifications to ring your wrist. You’re limited to a narrow horizontal space on its screen, and there’s no way to reply to incoming messages. The device itself does not have speakers or microphones, so Bluetooth calls are impossible. However, you can control music playback from your wrist and use the Band as a remote shutter for your phone’s camera.
Software and performance
Like its predecessors in the Xiaomi Smart Band series, the Band 9 Active loads a familiar-looking real-time operating system (RTOS) that is controlled entirely through swipes. The UI consists of card-based widgets, although you can’t customize or group different widgets on a single card with more premium Smart Band models. The app layout is based on the list and has 16 built-in apps with no option to add any third party.
Navigating the UI feels smooth thanks to the 60Hz refresh rate and everything works as expected. The screen is slightly wider than the one on the vanilla Smart Band 9, but noticeably narrower than the 1.74-inch 336 x 480px panel on the Band 9 Pro.
The Mi Fitness smartphone companion app stores a month’s worth of health tracking and exercise data, and you can sync your data with Apple Health or Google Fit, as well as Strava and Suunto.
Mi Fitness app interface
We tested the Band 9 Active paired with an iPhone 15 Pro. The connection between the two was excellent, with no interruptions in data syncing and some minor delays in incoming notifications.
Health and activity tracking
Heart rate tracking on the Band 9 Active can be configured at 1, 10 or 30 minute intervals like its predecessors, and you can monitor 24/7 to get a better overview of your HR fluctuations. The readings from the Band 9 Active match those from the Xiaomi Band 8 and 9 series, and also match those from the Huawei Watch Fit 3.
The same can be said for the SpO2 readings, which are comparable to what you can get with other smart bands in this price range, all coming in at or around the same conclusion with some minor deviations.
Sleep tracking on the Band 9 Active has a standard set of indicators such as light division, rapid eye movement (REM) and total sleep time with deep sleep stages. During our review, we found the Band 9 Active to be less accurate when it comes to sleep and wake times compared to the Huawei Watch Fit 3.
Sleep data from the Smart Band 9 Active within the Mi Fitness app
Xiaomi’s latest group also showed consistently longer sleep times than its rival, and it failed to record wake times during the night, which was not the case when the Huawei was worn. Another concern is that you don’t get deep sleep time on the band itself, so you have to log into the Mi Fitness app every time.
For exercise tracking, we tested the Smart Band 9 Active alongside the Huawei Watch Fit 3 at the gym, where both were put through a moderate exercise test with a combination of treadmill running and weightlifting.
Band 9 Active sample training data
Band 9 Active reported steps and total distance run. Both devices recorded similar results in heart rate readings during exercise. However, we found the Band 9 Active exceeded its maximum heart rate readings by about 10BPM, which seems to be the case with Xiaomi wearables.
The lack of a dedicated GNSS tracker inside the Band 9 Active means you’ll need to bring your phone if you want to record outdoor runs.
Battery Life
Band 9 Active has a 300 mAh battery, which Xiaomi claims can last up to 18 days with moderation or up to 9 days with more activity.
In our tests, we found the Band 9 Active to last us 8 days with the screen brightness set to 60%, with health and activity tracking features and notifications activated every day along with exercise.
That’s pretty good endurance in our books, though we’ll struggle to reach the advertised 18 days unless you disable most of the health-tracking features and reduce screen brightness significantly.
What’s not so good is the slow charging that takes over 90 minutes to go from 0 to 100%.
Judgment
The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active is the company’s most affordable fitness tracker, and it offers a decent overall package with a compact and rugged build, waterproof design, and decent battery life. You get the usual mix of health and activity tracking features and a rich utility that aggregates trends about your health, sleep and activity.
The TFT LCD isn’t the brightest around, and it’s a significant step down from an OLED display like the ones on other Smart Bands from Xiaomi and its competitors. Sleep tracking leaves a lot to be desired, and while build quality is decent, it feels noticeably cheaper than the vanilla Smart Band 9. Given the active name, we expected a built-in GNSS satellite receiver for tracking outdoor runs and hikes. missed the opportunity here.
At the end of the day, Xiaomi’s Smart Band 9 Active is worth considering just for its entry-level asking price, which is hard to beat. If you want a higher-end smartband experience, we recommend you go for the vanilla Smart Band 9 or its higher-end sibling, the Smart Band 9 Pro.
We may receive a commission on qualifying sales.
Source link
