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Mi band 3 Review | Value for money | used for one year by my daughter

Bryan

I know you will be looking for the latest Mi band 4 or Mo band 3i, however its necessary to look at the old Mi band 3 which is still available at an attractive price-point and hence I am posting this Review of Mi band 3 after about an year of usage. For that matter I also have prepared a small video showing how its being used in daily life by my daugther so please see it and like too on YouTube, link is being given in below post.

Mi band 3 have obviously all the basic things like Pedometer, Heart Rate Monitor, Waterproof and  Sleep Tracking too which is surely an attractive proposition today even after introduction of Mi band 4.

In the beginning that is before buying this band I thought it just as another smart watch which has its prime purpose of being used for fitness purpose and weight loss program tracking, however as my daughter kept on using it, months over months she found that this is much more useful than just a fitness band. In fact other benefits supersedes what I though in the beginning.

Let look into the small video first demonstrating the actual usage by my daughter

Xiomi Mi Band 3 Full Specifications :

Mi Band 3 Review

So coming down the the product review after usage of around an year or so, my daughter is extremely happy with this smart band and here are some reasons –

  1. Pedometer

    • This obviously keeps counting the steps throughout the day and she is easily able to make it count number of steps as well as distance traveled. So some days which are exhaustive can be easily co-related to the number of steps she had that day. So quantification makes it easy to understand and adjust the protein intake for a day.
    • One thing learnt over time by her is to take the band off during presentations, where all wrist movements done for presenting the pointer etc are counted as steps, this way you get realistic step readings 🙂

  2. Heart rate sensor

    • First time she used the hear rate sensor, she got some weird readings! So she came back to me asking for diagnose what wrong in the smart band.
    • I went to Xiomi website to check and found that the right way to wear smartband is to Fasten the band slightly above (about 1 cm) the wrist. Wearing too tight or too loose will affect the heart rate results.
    • So after correct fastening the belt, I mean in terms of location and tightness, the issue of giving wrong results resolved. This is also suggested by mi fit app (which I figured out later). Again this is kind of monitoring in the initial phases of workouts, once its a habit you need not look into monitoring hearbeats unless you have some cardiac problems.
    • In face later as an experiment I did a comparison of Mi Band 3 Heart Rate monitor accuracy by comparing it with another Heart Rate monitor used by my doctor which is a medical HR tracking devices and found that Mi Band 3 heart rate monitor/sensor is accurate enough.

  3. Phone locator

    • This is add on useful feature, however she did use this only once of twice, that too as an experiment. Practically this feature is not that useful in her point of view. Anyway nothing wrong in having a phone locator though!

  4. Incoming call display and reject function : MOST HELPFUL FEATURE

    • I will say that this is the most important function of smart band apart from the step counter. Yes, its hell lot of useful while my daughter is riding on her scooter (bike). Generally she keeps her mobile phone in purse or in bike dickey and then drives through busy roads. Now if someone (or me) calls her, she is not able to listen to the ring and hence can answer it only when she reaches here destination and looks at her mobile screen. This make hell inconvenience to her and us, since any important message to convey like we are not at home, or to buy something on the way back home are always missed.
    • But when she started using this Mi band 3 which is always connected to her smart phone, while driving she immediately gets an visual indication (caller ID with name) with vibration of band, so she is able to decide if she wants to take a call by stopping the scooter. She (and me too) love this facility very much. I think this is one of the main reason now she uses the smart band all the time. Even at home she need not be near the phone to see who is calling.
    • You can also read messages like SMS or Whats App, however my daughter keeps the whats app notifications OFF since it becomes too much irritating getting notification now and then, also consuming battery power of device.

  5. Unlocking your android phone

    • Again this is a good to have feature but really helpful. Although my daughters phone have face ID or fingerprint unlock features, having the smart band presence makes the phone unlock automatically. But again due to privacy reasons she makes this feature OFF when commuting outside home.

  6. Sleep monitoring

    • Over time period one more useful feature she found in Min band 3 is the sleep monitoring capability.
    • Here are some sample graphs that she got when monitoring sleep in the initial phases, obviously its upto you how to utilize them. In her case she used it to monitor if the sleep quality improves as she began her exercise routine and how it is related to her work pressure and food habits.
    • The feature is super useful tool if used carefully and over time period to monitor / change habits / observe results over time. Its not a weeks job but will take few months to master the technique and get some good results.
    • Turning Screen OFF during Sleep – One simple thing you can do it so switch off the Raise the wrist feature during sleep hours (keeping it ON is disturbing while you sleep, every now and then, the screen awakes due to wrist movements) In fact you can schedule when this feature can be used by the band, which can be done using selection menu.

  7. Sedentary reminders

    • This is another useful feature while she studies hard after office work. She often forgets to take a rest or a glass of water in between.
    • The sedentary reminder makes the band vibrate (default is one hour but can be set as per need) which reminds you to drink a glass of water or move from place.

  8. Battery life

    • Battery life of Mi band 3 is simply superb. Once fully charged it can easily work flawlessly till around 3 weeks. Wow, especially when she goes out for a week or so, she need not carry the band charger separately, just makes sure to charge it full.
    • In the span of one year she lost the charger (its so tiny that once lost very difficult to locate), but easily got it for about five dollars (check latest price of Mi band 3 USB charger here)

  9. Use during important meetings – MUTE

    • Getting a call during meeting looks like offensive especially while you are sitting in very higher level management reviews. However people don’t mind if you look at your watch in meeting!!
    • So if you get a call during meeting, simply look who is calling and if you touch the panel, the call will be muted 🙂
    • And if at all you wish to decline the call, long press the touch button, that’s it!!

  10. MISC

    1. Clock faces – Out of the box you get simple clock face which shows the time. If you wish to see steps or battery level, you need to goto the menu by multiple clicks.
      Instead you can choose from two built in clock faces which can display the additional info on a single screen.
      To change the clock face all you have to do is Tap on the touch button of your band, navigate to the More… option by swiping down. On the More option screen, swipe left until you see a T-shirt icon. Now, long press on the button and select appropriate clock face. Its so simple.
    2. Alarm – Although every smartphone is equipped with alarm function, it can be really disturbing to the partner. However when you use the alarm function in band, it simply vibrates, awaking only you and no-one else 🙂 so one more super useful feature she liked over time.
    3. Resetting Mi Band 3 – In ever case you need to reset the band 3, you first need to unpair it with your phone. Now you can goto factory reset in menu and select it to get original settings.
    4. Updating firmware of Min band 3 – Goto Profiles >> Settings >> tap on the Firmware version option. Whenever there is an update, the button will be enabled. (Remember the band should have been connected to the mobile device having an active internet connection)

One question came to my mind about what is the science behind how it measures heart rate using sensor?

Most of the smart bands in market including Mi band 3 features a heart rate monitor to check your heart rate.

If you switch to the hear rate sensing mode and look below the watch, you will see GREEN light signal bleeping fast which means when you wear the watch, it throws a green light on your skin, its then senses how much green light it can see back when looking at the skin on your wrist. Blood is RED and it reflects red light and absorbs green light, so when your heart beats, there’s more blood flow in your wrist, and more green light absorption. Which is reflected as a count of hear beats (I mean when between two heart beats, watch will see less absorption of green light.)

So the smart band uses a technology called photoplethysmography, (aka PPG), to measure heart rate which is sending Green light to your skin and calculating how much your skin absorbs it.

Anyway this information I searched for because of mere curiosity of my daughter and giving here as info for you all.

Bottom line

Finally what all I can say is Mi Band 3 is a super value for money product. And while Xiomi has introduced their latest band 4, still the old model is available at attractive price.

So keeping in mind all the advantages which I mentioned above, especially the caller ID feature usefulness during meetings or on the scooter, sedentary reminder to get a glass of water, or target setting for weight reduction …  this band is a must to have accessory.

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