Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active review

Xiaomi’s Smart Band lineup (formerly Mi Band) is now in its ninth generation, and the Smart Band 9 Active is the most affordable out of the bunch. With its €25/£20 suggested retail price, this plastic nugget is one of the best bargains on the market.

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active specifications

• Display: 1.47” TFT LCD touchscreen, 172 x 320 px resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 450 nits peak brightness
• Straps: Detachable proprietary straps, 135-215mm adjustable length
• Features: 5ATM rating, Real-time heart rate monitor, 24/7 Blood Oxygen level monitor, Sleep tracking, Stress monitoring, Sports tracking, Step Counter, Meditation, Notifications, Idle Alert, Phone Finder, Weather Forecast, Music and Camera Control, Alarm, Stopwatch, Compass, Barometer, Flashlight.
• Sports Modes: Outdoor Run, Indoor Run, Outdoor Walk, Cycling, Hiking, Trekking, Jump rope, Freestyle (50 more in Mi Fitness app)
• Sensors: PPG optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, barometer, rotor Vibration Motor
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, Compatible with Android 8.0 and iOS 12+
• Battery: 300 mAh
• Colors: Black, Beige White, Pink
• Dimensions:46 x 27 x 9.99mm
• Weight: 16.5 grams without strap

Reaching that price point had to come with some compromises, and they are shown in the TFT LCD with its thick bezels, all-plastic build, and basic design. You still get the usual health and activity tracking features we’ve come to expect from Xiaomi’s wearables, but is the bargain price enough to justify going for the Active over its siblings or competing devices?

This reviewer had the Band 9 Active strapped to his wrist 24/7 for over two weeks, and these are his findings.

Design

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active is an affordable smartband made entirely out of plastic. The device is shaped like a nugget, with the one-piece TPU strap hugging it snugly. The only visual change from the Band 8 Active is the slightly raised lip around the display, which should offer better protection, and it certainly helps against the occasional dink against doorknobs and table corners.

The 1.47-inch TFT LCD offers a 172 x 320 px resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. It’s only rated at 400 nits of brightness, which is fine, even when viewed in direct sunlight outdoors. Still, an OLED panel like the ones on the Smart Band 9 or 9 Pro is miles better in terms of viewing angles, contrast and brightness.

We’re also missing physical buttons here, which has been the norm for the Band 6 days, but we’re still not convinced that the all-swipe gesture navigation model is the best way to go, especially when your hands are wet.

Smart Band 9 Active uses proprietary straps, which are sold by Xiaomi, and we’re already seeing listings from third-party makers on AliExpress. The retail package includes the Band 9 Active, a black TPU strap, Xiaomi’s proprietary two-pin magnetic charging cable, a quick start guide and a warranty leaflet.

Our review unit arrived alongside Xiaomi’s official Luminous strap, which adds a dash of style and functionality for runners with the fluorescent elements glowing in the dark for safer evening runs.

Like its predecessor and seemingly every smartband in the last few years, Band 9 Active is 5ATM waterproof, meaning it can handle dives in fresh water up to 50 meters. In layman's terms, you’ll be fine taking it to the pool and shower.

Features

Smart Band 9 Active features a light path sensor with an optimized health and fitness monitoring algorithm. It can monitor your heart rate and blood oxygen saturation 24/7 while also offering sleep and stress tracking. Xiaomi is also bringing over 50 sports modes, covering all of the basic options you’d expect.

Circling back to the entry-level price, Xiaomi omitted GNSS satellite positioning on the Band 9 Active, so you’ll have to rely on your smartphone’s positioning data to track your runs.

Like the rest of Xiaomi’s smart wearables, Band 9 Active comes with access to hundreds of watch faces via Xiaomi’s Mi Fitness companion app. The only downside is that it does not get automatic brightness control. Due to its TFT LCD nature, Band 9 Active does not support Always on Display (AOD) either.

Band 9 Active pairs to your Android/iOS smartphone via Bluetooth 5.3, and you can sync incoming notifications to buzz your wrist. You’re limited by the cramped horizontal space on its screen, and there’s no way to reply to incoming messages. There are no speakers or microphones on the device itself, so Bluetooth calls are a no-go. You can, however, control music playback from your wrist and use the Band as a remote shutter for your phone’s camera.

Software and performance

Like its predecessors in the Xiaomi Smart Band series, Band 9 Active boots a familiar-looking real-time operating system (RTOS), which is entirely operated via swipes. The UI comprises of card-based widgets, though you can’t customize or group different widgets into a single card like you can with the more premium Smart Band models. The app layout is list-based and features 16 built-in apps without the option to add any third-party ones.

Navigating the UI feels smooth thanks to the 60Hz refresh rate, and everything works as expected. The screen is a bit wider than the one on vanilla Smart Band 9 but it’s still noticeably more cramped than the 1.74-inch 336 x 480px panel on the Band 9 Pro.

The Mi Fitness smartphone companion app stores a month’s worth of health-tracking and workout data and you can sync your data to Apple Health or Google Fit as well as Strava and Suunto.

Mi Fitness app interface

We tested the Band 9 Active paired with an iPhone 15 Pro. Connectivity between the two was great, with no interruption in data sync and some minor delays in incoming notifications.

Health and activity tracking

Heart rate tracking on the Band 9 Active is configurable in 1, 10, or 30-minute intervals like its predecessors and you can have 24/7 monitoring for a better overall picture of your HR fluctuations. Readings from the Band 9 Active are consistent with those from the Xiaomi Band 8 and 9 series and are also in line with the ones from the Huawei Watch Fit 3.

The same can be said about the SpO2 readings, which are comparable to what you’d get with the other smartbands in this price range, with all coming in or around the same result with some minor deviations.

Sleep tracking on the Band 9 Active features the standard set of metrics like total sleep time with a breakdown of light, rapid eye movement (REM), and deep sleep stages. During the course of our review, we found the Band 9 Active to be inaccurate when it comes to go-to-sleep and wake-up times compared to the Huawei Watch Fit 3.

Sleep data from the Smart Band 9 Active inside the Mi Fitness app

Xiaomi’s latest band also showed persistently longer sleep times than its competitor and it also failed at jotting down wake-up times during the night, which was not the case on the Huawei wearable. Another annoyance is that you don’t get the deep sleep time on the band itself, so you have to go into the Mi Fitness app each time.

For workout tracking, we tested the Smart Band 9 Active alongside the Huawei Watch Fit 3 at the gym where both were put to the test of an average workout with a combination of treadmill running and weightlifting.

Band 9 Active sample workout data

Band 9 Active underreported the steps and total run distance. Both devices recorded similar results in heart rate readings during workouts. Still, we found that Band 9 Active exceeded maximum heart rate readings by around 10BPM, which seems to be a pattern on Xiaomi wearables.

The absence of a dedicated GNSS tracker inside the Band 9 Active means you’ll have to bring your phone if you want to jot down outdoor runs.

Battery Life

Band 9 Active features a 300 mAh battery, which Xiaomi claims can last up to 18 days of use with moderation or 9 days with more action.

In our tests, we found the Band 9 Active to last us 8 days with display brightness set to 60%, all of the health and activity tracking features activated alongside a workout every other day, and notifications.

That’s good enough endurance in our books, though we’d find it hard to reach the advertised 18 days unless you turn off most of the health tracking features and lower the display brightness considerably.

What’s not so good is the slow charging, which took over 90 minutes to go from 0 to 100%.

Verdict

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Active is the most affordable fitness tracker from the company, and it delivers a decent overall package with its compact and sturdy build, waterproof design and decent battery endurance. You get the usual mix of health and activity tracking features and a rich companion app that sums up trends on your health, sleep and activity.

The TFT LCD is not the brightest around, and it’s a considerable step down from an OLED display like the ones on other Smart Bands from Xiaomi and its competitors. Sleep tracking leaves a lot to be desired and the build quality, while decent, feels noticeably cheaper than the vanilla Smart Band 9. Given the Active name, we expected a built-in GNSS satellite receiver to track outdoor runs and hikes, which is a missed opportunity here.

At the end of the day, Xiaomi’s Smart Band 9 Active is worth considering solely for its entry-level asking price, which is hard to beat. If you want a more premium smartband experience, we’d advise you spring up for the vanilla Smart Band 9 or its more premium sibling - the Smart Band 9 Pro.

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