

Read more: 11 best running backpacks for racing, commuting, trails and marathons Although it might sound a bit gimmicky, we found it provided added motivation to get our heart rate going, while the app’s tips on what we needed to do to reach the next goal were a handy feature. The idea being that you should aim to keep this number above 100 over a seven-day period.Īs you progress on your fitness journey, the difficulty of gaining PAI is increased, making you work even harder to reach the target.

Something unique to Xiaomi, the idea is that the smart band takes all of the data it’s collecting, combines it with your sex, age, height and weight while giving you a PAI score. The most interesting data screen is the Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI).
#Mi fit band 6 how to
The Xiaomi tracker and its associated app are able to give you an overview of your current status but also provide you with tips on how to improve – whether that’s your sleep, workout schedule or stress levels. That said, starting, stopping and pausing an activity with the touchscreen is seamless – even when in the middle of a high-intensity effort.Īll-round health and fitness is the aim of the game with a smart band. When running, we found the size of the screen again let the tracker down when compared to a dedicated running or triathlon watch as it’s quite difficult to see the data displayed. Read more: 8 best running watches for tracking your workouts That’s because the Mi smart band 6 doesn’t include a GPS tracker, which isn’t surprising considering its sub-£40 price tag, so instead relies on your phone’s signal. The big ones – running and cycling (both indoor and out), and swimming (thanks to the band’s 5 ATM water resistance) – are also covered, but the land-based exercises require your phone to be paired to get the most accurate information. In reality, the band is doing nothing more than tracking your heart rate, but it’s nice that Xiaomi is catering for some niche (if quite specific) activities in its 30-strong list of workout profiles. Whether you’re a table tennis aficionado or prefer hitting the rowing machine, the Mi smart band 6 has a workout profile for you. The app not only gives an overview of health stats, but is also where we could make various customisations – whether that’s the shortcut settings when swiping right or turning on activity heart rate sharing, which allowed other smart devices to receive our heart rate data. After downloading the accompanying Mi fit app, it was easy to pair the band with our smartphone and make the most of the features on offer. Getting started with the fitness tracker was really straightforward. Its saving grace, however, was that it was supremely comfortable – an important feature for something that is meant to be worn all day (and night). This design meant that the band could come undone quite easily if knocked by mistake, making it feel quite insecure during energetic activities. Unlike a conventional watch strap, the fastening is secured by a popper that clips into holes on the band. It comes with a sleek black strap as standard, but five more (including a jazzy yellow and ivory white) are available to buy separately. Read more: 12 best women’s running shoes that will really go the distance Heart rate monitoring is taken care of by an optical lens on the reverse of the band, which is used for tracking your efforts when exercising, general day-to-day life and sleeping. The information displayed also meant that, once fully set-up, there’s no need to use the accompanying app unless you want to drill down into your data trends.
#Mi fit band 6 full
Swipe right to cycle through a range of programmable shortcuts (ranging from the weather to a Pomodoro timer), up to reveal the band’s full menu, and left to return to the previous screen. Outside of these hiccups, the four-way touch screen was intuitive to use. It also can make it tricky to navigate if you have the watch face set to one with lots of widgets – the step tracking screen, for example, was revealed during attempts to tap the weather icon on numerous occasions. While the display is bright and crisp, its narrow width makes some of the smaller details hard to see at a glance. The Mi smart band 6 has a pill-shaped 1.56” AMOLED screen that is held in place with a TPU plastic strap.
