FITNESSBANDS
ISSUE387|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MAY2020 87
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These results should be music to the ears
(or eyes, or wrists) of anyone less than keen
on spending £300-plus on an Apple Watch.
Three of the best fitness bands here cost
£50 or less, with the cheapest of the
bunch –the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4–
also being the best value. It’s laden with
features farbeyond what we’d expect for
£28, including connected GPS and swim-
proofing, and its phenomenal battery life
gives it anicely practical advantage over the
similarly inexpensive Honor Band 5.
The latter is, as we’ve seen, great value
as well. It’s only major downside is its use of
Huawei’s mobile app,but the hardware is
more than good enough forabeginner’s or
intermediate’sfitness tracker.
As is the Fitbit Inspire HR. It’s amajor
upgrade on the standard Inspire,thanksto
its heart-ratesensorand connected GPS
support, but doesn’t cost all that much
extra. In fact,itdoesn’t cost all that much
at all, and while it’s not quiteasabsurd a
bargain as the Mi Smart Band 4, it does have
the bonus of aclass-leading mobile app.
The cheaper but sensor-deprived Inspire
is leftbehind as aresult, but that’s no great
loss: there’s evidently no shortage of
credible alternatives that manage to stay
lowon price but aimhigh on features.
VERDICT
RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED BESTBUY
Manufacturer FITBIT FITBIT HONOR HUAWEI XIAOMI
Model InspireInspireHRBand 5 Band3Pro MiSmartBand 4
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
HARDWARE
Pedometer YesYes YesYes Yes
Altimeter No No No No No
Heart-ratemonitor No YesYes YesYes
Sleep tracking YesYes YesYes Yes
GPS No Yes(connected) Yes(connected) Yes(onboard) Yes(connected)
Waterproof Yes(50m) Yes(50m) Yes(50m) Yes(50m) Yes(50m)
Weight 19g 20g 22.7g 25g 22.1g
Wireless Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth
DISPLAY
Displaysize 0.7in 0.7in 0.95in 0.95in 0.95in
Resolution 128x72 128x72 240x120 240x120 240x120
Displaytechnology OLED OLED AMOLED AMOLED AMOLED
SOFTWARE
Operating system FitbitOS FitbitOS Proprietary Proprietary Proprietary
Mobile OS support Android, iOS Android, iOS Android, iOS Android, iOS Android, iOS
BATTERY
Battery size Not stated Not stated 100mAh 100mAh 135mAh
Battery life Five days Five days Twoweeks Three weeks 20 days
BUYING INFORMATION
Price £50 £70 £30 £50 £28
Warranty One year RTBOne year RTBOne year RTBOne year RTBOne year RTB
Supplier http://www.johnlewis.com http://www.johnlewis.com http://www.amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk
Details http://www.fitbit.com http://www.fitbit.com http://www.hihonor.com consumer.huawei.com http://www.mi.com
Part code FB412BKBK FB413BKBK KYG3649645453002TV 55023002 XMSH07HM
