Two weeks with Xiaomi Mi Band 5. What a plus, what a minus?

Xiaomi Mi Band 5 guests on my wrist around the clock for 14 days. What succeeded and what is still missing? I invite you to review.

In this Xiaomi Mi Band 5 review I will not duplicate information that you already know. I will not deal with the menu, basic functions or construction. You will find all this in my extensive first impressions . Instead, I will immediately go to the merits listing the 5 best and 5 worst features of Xiaomi Mi Band 5.

Advantage No. 1 - Xiaomi Mi Band 5 recognizes the movement of the wrist much better

Xiaomi Mi Band 5 finally can perfectly detect the movement of the wrist. It has not happened to me that he misread the gesture of raising his hand to check the time. Against the backdrop of its predecessor, huge progress can be seen in this aspect.

The Mi Fit application now has two wrist movement detection positions, with "Sensitive" turned on by default. I recommend this setting because it works simply great.

Advantage 2 - Mi Band 5 better recognizes sleep

Sleep monitoring is an important feature of the band for me, which is why I'm happy that Mi Band 5 copes with it better than its predecessor. The band not only detects the extra sleep phase (REM), but also better recognizes waking moments.

I used Mi Band 4 for several months and this equipment often did not recognize what time I got up at night in the next room with my daughter. Mi Band 5 has no problems with it, so I can track at what hours and how long my daughter did not sleep at night.

Advantage No. 3 - the new shortcut system is a hit

For me, the key functions in a sports band are the aforementioned dream and notifications. When the notification disappeared from the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 screen, digging into it was so bothersome that I preferred to reach for the smartphone. It's different in Mi band 5. The list of notifications can be set on the side screen, accessible with one swipe of your finger.

This is possible thanks to the new function called Shortcuts. It allows you to define side screens in Mi Band 5. We can add and remove them, change the order and choose which screens are to be visible. This is a great addition that improves the quality of the band's service.

Advantage No. 4 - configurable discs work great

The theme of the shields has been thoroughly redesigned in Xiaomi Mi Band 5. After holding the shield longer, we can change it to another (you can choose from three built-in ones, each really nice), but in addition each shield can be modified.

The shields have one or two configurable fields to which different elements can be assigned. You can choose from several variants, including, e.g. number of steps, last heart rate measurement, heart rate and step graphs, indicator of the new PAI system, weather, humidity, alarm, shortcut to training, etc., etc. You don't have to choose whether you want a nice or functional shield. We can have two in one.

Advantage No. 5 - we have everything you can expect from a cheap headband

The fifth advantage is the most important. Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is simply a very good sports band that performs its functions well. Even the heart rate sensor criticized in previous versions works clearly better and more precisely in the five. Xiaomi Mi band 5 is not ideal, but it is equipment that offers the best value for money. It measures daily activity, displays smartphone notifications, works with Android and iOS, all at a price of just over PLN 100.

Disadvantage 1 - the working time of Xiaomi Mi Band 5 noticeably decreased

This is best demonstrated by the fact that during two weeks I had to reach for the charger at all. Xiaomi Mi Band 5 after eight full days of use demanded connecting to the charger. At that time, I had turned on all available functions, including automatic heart rate monitoring and sleep assistant every 1 minute, stress monitoring, screen brightness at 80%. (with dimming in the night mode activating from 23 to 6 am), alarms, notifications and the PAI system running in the background.

At that time I didn't do any training. I added these in the second week, but they only have a slight effect on increasing energy consumption, because I have already set a very high frequency of pulse detection. I am sure that after limiting the pulse measurement intervals we will successfully get two or maybe three weeks of work on one charge. It is certainly weaker than in Mi Band 4, but compared to the competition is still great.

Disadvantage 2 - there is still no multitasking here

Xiaomi Mi band 5 on the one hand records workouts, on the other hand, allows you to control the music (by the way, it works smoother than in Mi Band 4). Unfortunately, both cannot be done at once. Do you want to enable running training? Great, but forget about changing music during this time because you can't turn on the relevant screen. There are major limitations of the operating system of the band.

Disadvantage # 3 - Why is the band still not displaying sleep data?

How many people, so many uses of Mi Banda. For many users, measuring sleep is completely unnecessary, but for me it is an important function, which is why I was disappointed to discover that Mi Band 5 is still unable to report sleep quality on the band's screen. To view sleep statistics, you need to use the mobile application. For many it is a trivial matter, for me something that I waste my time every day.

Disadvantage 4 - automatic training detection? Good

Theoretically, Xiaomi Mi Band 5 can automatically detect workouts and, for example, turn on a higher heart rate measurement at that time. In practice, it just doesn't work. I tried to trigger training in many ways, but the band did not recognize it.

This is quite annoying, because each time you need to choose the training function and type of activity from the menu. I would prefer the band to know for myself that I am getting on the bike, after which I myself recorded the route and other parameters of this activity. Unfortunately, Mi Band 5 does not offer this level of automation.

Disadvantage 5 - During training, the information on the screen is too small

And if we turn on training, the elements on the screen become very small and even illegible. At the very top we see the hour, but it is so small and dark that it is simply impossible to read it. The situation is worse the more engaging the sport we do. During the run, the screen is useless.

All this means that Mi band 5 is not the best choice for measuring activity, unless on a very basic, amateur level. On the other hand, why measure your workouts in such a case? Mi Band 5 works well for measuring steps, but if you care about sports functions, you will rather have to look around the watch.

In summary, is it worth buying Xiaomi Mi Band 5?

Definitely worth it if you need one of the functions of a sports band. How many people, so many ways to use this equipment. Some want to count steps and motivate themselves to daily activities, others want to have notifications on the wrist, and others want to monitor their heart rate.

Mi Band 5 works well in all these applications. Maybe not outstanding, but good enough. Of course, there are devices on the market that can do it all better, but at the same time they are several times more expensive. Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is on the one hand the cheapest way for a sensible fitness gadget, and on the other, it is one of the least invasive products in the wearables category. So non-invasive that you can successfully sleep with it.

I exchanged Mi Banda 4 for Mi Banda 5 and I don't regret it at all, although the exchange was dictated mainly by the fact that my Mi Band 4 got a lot of scratches. The new band works better, looks better and is easier to charge. The differences may not be cosmic, but the cost of replacement is also not. This is by far the best Mi Band ever made.

Two weeks with Xiaomi Mi Band 5. What a plus, what a minus?