Xiaomi Mi Band 2 Fitness Tracker - Under $30 w/ Heart Rate monitoring and OLED screen

[PedroDaGr8]

Xiaomi announced the Mi Band 2 fitness tracker today. For $23 (likely closer to $30 here domestically due to shipping) you get a fitness tracker with heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, 20+ day battery life, OLED display and more. This is dramatically cheaper than any other fitness tracker offering these similar functions. I know some of you on here are looking for new affordable fitness trackers for your self or loved ones. This might be a good option.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/...ns-affordable/

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For those that don't know Xiaomi, they are one of the higher quality companies out of China (along with Oppo and a few others). Companies that make very very well built stuff at affordable prices. They are not your usual bottom price seeking company, instead these types of companies choose to try to find a maximum value point instead of the cheapest price and quality possible. I have their Piston 3 headphones and I can't say enough good about them. For $15-20, the headphones are pretty much the best headphones under $50-70, very balanced, high quality. I store them in my back pocket EVERY day and have had no problems with them at all in the past 6 months, in spite of sitting on them tangling them up, etc. They also stay in my ears very well when I am working out, something very few other headphones do.

Here is a site I saw linked, which is selling it already for $32 including shipping to the USA:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/...uetooth-sports

[Darrell KSR]

I have the first one, which has battery power like crazy (well in excess of the 30 days, even with multiple "buzzers" set. But this is much better than the one I have. I read about this one earlier.

My issue is I hate wearing things on my wrist. But I tolerated the other somewhat and may get this one, too.

[PedroDaGr8]

I have the first one, which has battery power like crazy (well in excess of the 30 days, even with multiple "buzzers" set. But this is much better than the one I have. I read about this one earlier.

My issue is I hate wearing things on my wrist. But I tolerated the other somewhat and may get this one, too.

Believe it or not, I think I have found the solution for you. They make pendant cases and magentic clasp cases for the MiBand 1 and 1S. They will likely have the same cases for the Mi Band 2 when it fully comes out in China. Now you will loose the heart rate monitor function because that has to be held right against your wrist, but everything else should work just as expected. Basically, the center of the Mi Bands pop out for charging and you just pop them into these cases.

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[Darrell KSR]

Believe it or not, I think I have found the solution for you. They make pendant cases and magentic clasp cases for the MiBand 1 and 1S. They will likely have the same cases for the Mi Band 2 when it fully comes out in China. Now you will loose the heart rate monitor function because that has to be held right against your wrist, but everything else should work just as expected. Basically, the center of the Mi Bands pop out for charging and you just pop them into these cases.

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That's tremendous. Very much like the Fitbit zip I tolerate by clipping on my pocket.

[PedroDaGr8]

That's tremendous. Very much like the Fitbit zip I tolerate by clipping on my pocket.

Tremendous and tolerate, not sure how those two go together.

[Darrell KSR]

Moving something from intolerable to tolerable is pretty tremendous in my book.

[Doc]

Believe it or not, I think I have found the solution for you

I got another solution. Be fat and lazy. It's worked for me

[Darrell KSR]

I got another solution. Be fat and lazy. It's worked for me

I multitask and do both!

[PedroDaGr8]

GearBest has the MiBand 2 on sale for $17 right now.

https://www.gearbest.com/smart-watches/pp_362705.html

Use coupon code SDMB2.

As for how do I like mine? I still love it. Wear it every day. I even got several extra bands for it as well. It still gets a lot of looks.

[blueboss]

My Fitbit Charge HR just quit working. I contacted Fitbit and they have discontinued the Charge HR and replaced it with the Charge 2.

After a bunch of back and forth with Fitbit they are going to replace my broken unit with the new Charge 2 for free.

The MI Band referenced above looks to be better than the Fitbit for a fraction of the cost. The new Charge 2 lists for $149.99. The MI band looks like it does everything the Fitbit does plus its waterproof.

If I wasn't getting a replacement for free I think I would definitely be switching to the MI band.

Might get one anyway since it's waterproof. Does anybody that has one use it while swimming?



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[Darrell KSR]

I'm not sure I would necessarily recommend this, but I can vouch for the Mi Band 2 being perfectly fine submerged in the Gulf of Mexico for a couple of hours. In retrospect, that was probably a test I should not have done, but I forgot I had it on. I was actually shelling for most of the time in shallow water, and my arm was submerged most of the time. Crazy test passed.

I wear it in the shower daily, of course.

[PedroDaGr8]

My Fitbit Charge HR just quit working. I contacted Fitbit and they have discontinued the Charge HR and replaced it with the Charge 2.

After a bunch of back and forth with Fitbit they are going to replace my broken unit with the new Charge 2 for free.

The MI Band referenced above looks to be better than the Fitbit for a fraction of the cost. The new Charge 2 lists for $149.99. The MI band looks like it does everything the Fitbit does plus its waterproof.

If I wasn't getting a replacement for free I think I would definitely be switching to the MI band.

Might get one anyway since it's waterproof. Does anybody that has one use it while swimming?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, it is 100% compatible with swimming. I am not sure I would take it diving more than swimming pool depths, but it seems to do just fine down to 5-10ft. The app is leaps and bounds better than it used to be but it still only syncs to itself, GoogleFit or WeChat. Apparently, FitBit won't let them sync steps over to their apps. I use GoogleFit so it isn't a big deal for me.

I'm not sure I would necessarily recommend this, but I can vouch for the Mi Band 2 being perfectly fine submerged in the Gulf of Mexico for a couple of hours. In retrospect, that was probably a test I should not have done, but I forgot I had it on. I was actually shelling for most of the time in shallow water, and my arm was submerged most of the time. Crazy test passed.

I wear it in the shower daily, of course.

If you use it in salt water, I would advise removing it from the case and wiping down the charging contacts. Otherwise the salt water can cause those to corrode. Other than that, it is perfectly fine for pretty much all major uses.

[Darrell KSR]

Too late to do anything. But it keeps a licking and keeps on ticking (metaphorically speaking).

The good news is, after the 2 hour submerging--really, it was submerged a good part of that time, as I often had hands under water during that time--I did take a shower later. So maybe the fresh water cleansed it.

[Darrell KSR]

Still working...several days worth of salt water dunking, followed by a freshwater shower a couple of hours later. I wouldn't want to do that with a $200 device, but this is easy to forget it is being worn and easy to use and abuse, I guess.