Xiaomi Band 8

Product Information

And if the battery is low and you're seeking a bit of juice to get you through the day, charging speeds are also rapid. Our test unit managed to shoot from 10% to fully charged in around 45 minutes. Should you buy it?

Band 8 - Xiaomi UK Xiaomi Smart Band 8 - Xiaomi UK

And largely thanks to being able to see that shiny metal frame, the look has now elevated far above previous generations. As shown above, all three devices registered a maximum reading of around 170 BPM on one test run, while the average reading was 4BPM higher than Garmin and 8BPM higher than Whoop - both much more in line with our effort.Xiaomi also continues to mimic plenty of the more advanced insights you’ll find on Apple and Garmin devices - such as training load, recovery time, and VO2 max - but none of these are really anything close to being useful.

Band 8 review - Wareable Xiaomi Smart Band 8 review - Wareable

This splits your night’s sleep into either light or deep sleep, though this expands to include REM sleep and heart rate monitoring (leading to more accurate sleep stage information) after you enable the setting. We should note, though, that resting heart rate figures are always gathered slightly differently between manufacturers. While we’ve seen previous Smart Band devices barely change from their predecessors, the Smart Band 8 offers some genuine reasons to get excited.

For example, we’ve run 30 miles in a week with the Smart Band 8, alongside two gym sessions and five hour-long walks, yet our training load is still considered ‘Low’. It means swiping through menus and viewing graphics and stats is much smoother - and much more in line with what you would see from a smartwatch with a much loftier price tag. Features, OS and ecosystem For those planning to use the device in Pebble Mode, we should also note that our tests found that you’ll only lose around 5% of battery per hour of running.

Band 8 Active - Xiaomi UK Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Active - Xiaomi UK

As shown in our example above, all the data seems within a healthy range of the wrist-based Running Dynamics info available from our Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2), which, considering the incredible price difference, is impressive stuff.Gone is the long-standing unibody design of older Mi Bands/Smart Bands, and in its place are now the more typical slot connections on each end. Even with just these two core changes, the Smart Band 8 appears to be one of the most significant upgrades in years - and that's before considering the cheaper price tag, slightly bigger battery, and refined screen. An hour-long, aerobic run will see the Smart Band 8 advise taking the next 63 hours off to recover, meanwhile, and tag the workout as mostly anaerobic despite an average HR reading of 153.