Amazfit Band 5

After Amazon abruptly discontinued the Halo, I found myself in the market for a Smart band/watch. I was primarily looking for something that would track steps and heart rate and also provide me with text notifications. (I'll confess that having additional watch faces and/or the ability to customize watch faces was also important to me - I like being able to put my own spin on things). I'd love to pickup a Wear OS watch, but they are far too expensive and just not worth their price. I abhor Apple and would never get the Apple Watch. I had narrowed my choices down to several of AmazFit's watches around the $100 price point (I was wooed both by their sleak appearance and the offer of voice assistant functionality) or a Samsung Galaxy Gear, when I bumped into this band on sale for less than a quarter of the price. It has almost all the functionality of those more expensive models but in a simpler looking band. For the price, I HAD to pick one up, and I am not regretting it at all. The band was a little tricky to setup, but once setup it works great. The sensors work well and are intuitive to operate. The watch face can be customized within the app (don't be alarmed by the "purchase" header on the customization screen, you're not buying anything - I think this is just a translation error). I get all of my notifications (and unlike on the Halo, I can actually read them all the way through). The data syncs with Google Fit (my preferred fitness tracking program). The Alexa integration is awesome. My home is Google Assistant based (not Alexa), but the Alexa Assistant is more than adequate for setting reminders on the go (it's great not to have to pull out my phone to set a reminder to perform a task while out running errands). Alexa does have a problem listening to JUST my voice on this device. If the TV is going, or if there are a lot of other people talking in the background, then Alexa will try to listen to them as well (and will usually express confusion or otherwise error out). If your surroundings are relatively quiet though, Alexa does great. In short, this watch does everything that I want / need it to. I have no regrets for having purchased it instead of the more expensive options.

I started a new job that required me to be on my feet all day, move around a lot, and wash my hands constantly. It was important to me to have a waterproof watch so I could time certain aspects of my job. I wanted a cheap waterproof watch, and after trying two different 20 dollar watches from The Mart of Wal that both lasted less than a week, I decided to purchase this. I didn't care about tracking anything, I just wanted something cheap but durable that could handle being roughed up and exposed to water that would still tell the time. This thing is amazing for that purpose, but I wouldn't want to rely on it to accurately track biometrics. I've knocked my hand/wrist/arm into walls, pipes, sinks, toilets, desks, doorways hard enough on multiple occasions to wince and be convinced I accidentally cracked the screen. The screen is still flawless, and I didn't put any sort of protector on it. I've washed my hands enough to turn them red, submerged this watch, wiped it with lysol orisopropyl alcohol to disinfect it, accidentally slathered it in lotion, and it's come clean and still works perfectly every time. In fact, after a few months of use, it looks just the same as the day I bought it. 11/10 for durability. However, sometimes this thing misreads. One time I had it sitting in the pouch on the front of my lunchbox at work for a few hours, and it decided my heart rate was 40 BPM during those hours despite me not even being in the same room. (Unless my lunchbox has come to life?) Sometimes the device decides my heartrate is 120 while I'm sitting down, or 50 while I'm on my feet, and when I check my pulse with a blood pressure cuff I have in the house, it is most definitely normal. Overall the baseline pulse seems somewhat accurate, it just spikes and falls once or twice a day seemingly at random. The blood oxygen sensor seems to be bamboozled if I'm sweaty or have just washed my hands. One time I was sitting watching TV, and when I got up the watch decided that during the time I was watching TV I was actually asleep and it cheerfully informed me of my 'nap' biometrics. The one set of readings that seems pretty accurate is the step counter / pedometer. It wasn't a feature I was looking for but now that I have it I like to wear it even when I don't need a watch (mowing the lawn, etc) just to see how many steps I'm putting it. If you have a health condition that requires accurate information, or are serious about tracking, look elsewhere. If you want the world's most durable waterproof watch, this is it. If you're curious but not serious to see your pulse or other readings, and don't need them to be medically accurate, this is probably a good place to start with a basic tracker. The custom backgrounds are a nice perk, but I like having my pedometer information and the current weather displayed on the face, and none of the custom watch face templates have that so I've stuck with the default one. Customize-ability in this is basic but still way more than I was expecting since I bought this just looking for a cheap watch. It's also been EXTEREMELY comfortable to wear. I hate having jewelry on me, won't even wear my wedding ring because I hate the feel of something on my skin like that, but this doesn't bother me unless I'm particularly sweaty. Highly recommend, unless you're looking for accuracy.

Last year I switched from an active/mobile job to a sedentary one. So I got this watch to track the steps and to alert for an hour of immobility. I am active overall; 5 runs and 6-8 gym sessions a week. I did NOT get this watch to track my workouts or runs. For under 40$, the watch provides absolute good value for the price. I like the different watch face options, but the watch was hanging up while using different faces. so I stuck with the original cover. I like the sunrise and sunset times on the display, it helps me plan my workouts. Battery life is longstanding. I charge once a week. The only workout options available are walking, running, treadmill, cycling (indoor & outdoor), yoga, swimming, elliptical, rowing, jump rope and freestyle. The watch doesn't auto-detect. I miss not having a hiking option. The watch is a bit unreliable for heartbeat and elevation tracking. The watch doesn't track the heartbeat in the middle of the workouts. The heartbeat tracking response is also a bit slow; I would be in the middle of a workout where my heartbeat is hiking through the roof but the display would be in the 90s. I've attached two workouts in the same course; one where the elevation is tracked and another where the watch did NOT track the elevation (it wasn't my choice to track and not track, the watch didn't track right). It is a basic watch to track steps and basic activities, no more than that.

This replaces the non-display Halo band. I was using a Casio digital watch and didn't want to look like a complete dork wearing two watches. I lost the Casio when I removed it to reset for standard time change. I figured I'd give this a try since it cost only slightly more than the Casio replacement would have. I actually preferred the Halo when the subscription ran out. I didn't use the recipes or health hints and giving points for exercise and sleep was less useful than steps or time. These were reintroduced shortly before I lost my watch and I didn't consider it an improvement. Glad to see that there are no optional, for money add-ons on the Amazfit. Looks like I can comfortably get about three or four days out of the Amazfit although I normally charge every other day. It charges quickly. I'm a light user, basically using it to count sleep and steps as well as using as a watch. Time steps and weather show up on the face of the band. Sleep is listed on app. I seldom change screens and have the simple basic, dark screen to save battery life. I have a separate app that I input steps and exercise converted to calories. I count steps and exercise from research on a university exercise site. This subtracts from a manual calorie counting app. I try to limit myself to 1800 calories a day. The Amazfit counts fewer calories than my computed figures, the Halo counted many more. I suspect the Halo was computing calories burned from simply being alive as opposed to exercise calories. The sleep counter shows that I'm averaging approximately 8 hours sleep, the Halo showed 7. The Halo was more accurate at measuring actual sleep as opposed to simply being still and horizontal. Trips to the bathroom that showed up as fifteen minutes in Halo show up as only a couple of minutes in Amazfit. No big problem. The Amazfit is a more accurate pedometer than the Halo which undercounted steps. On balance I'm very pleased with the Amazfit. I think it's a better buy than the Halo. The range of functions is larger, although I'm not using most of them. Kind of hard to judge a display device with one that's simply a band. I think the Halo looks a bit more expensive than the Amazfit, which is fine because it is. If the Amazfit holds up, I'm happy with it. UPDATE: LOOKS LIKE I CAN COMFORTABLY GET A FULL WEEK ON ONE BATTERY CHARGE. BECAUSE OF THIS I'M INCREASING RATING FROM FOUR TO FIVE STARS.

By far one of the worst accuracy with the step counters when chosen walking as a workouts. In a 3.5 miles walk about 7000 steps, it lose about 2000 steps and base on phone GPS it also lose .6 miles. I have tested this 3 times in the last 3 days walking a distance about 3 to 3.5 mile. The short distance walk of 2000+ steps 6-11-2021 was closer to being accurate but for some reason the Zepp app decided to drop my morning walk on the history log. Comparing it to Google fit app on phone and manual step counter the Zepp app report is highly inaccurate in steps and average speed and mileage walk. Look at the included images of the Zepp app report walking map distance 3.08 mile, the Zepp app reported a step counts of 4,783 steps dropping about 2000 steps. It did do good on the short 1.18 miles walk in the attached image on the first short afternoon walk after questionable accuracy on morning walk. This may have something to do with it not having a GPS and relying on using the phone GPS which could be the causing this the problem. The Amazfit band 5 does have some nice feature such as a Sleep monitoring, a heart rate monitor that is relatively accurate, and a SpO2 monitor for referencing approximate blood gas. The workout is only limited to 12 type, it doesn't include weight training as an option. I'm not saying this is a bad smart fitness tracker, but the main purpose that I have purchased this unit was to track my brisk daily walking so far have been inconsistently and not accurate when pairing it with my Moto G Power phone GPS. I would have given this a 4.5 stars rating if not for the steps inaccuracy tracking. The phone Google fit app give a much better result so far comparing to my Garmin GPS. I have this unit for just 5 days so far, with further testing I may make change my rating of the Amazfit band 5. Update 06-21-2021 Returning item for another replacement Amazfit 5 band Further walk workout testing indicated the unit in my possession may have a defective 3 axis accelerometer chip. The step counter consistently drop 2000 to 3000 steps when I've walked 3 to 5 miles regardless of using the phone GPS or not. I went for a short 3 miles walk today which usually equate to about 6500 steps for my height. The Amazfit band 5 band recorded 4235 step dropping 2000+ steps. Good things Amazon have a easy to use return policy. Update 09-08-2021 Overall this is a 3.5 stars out of 5 product, the replacement Amazfit 5 step counter work much better but still have steps count inaccuracy. I'm sure it have to with motion algorithm that compensate for arm movement. Using a hammer motion or jumping up and down would count as steps, keep that in mind. If you're over 50 and use reading glasses, the text message transfer to your band are too small to read without straining your eye. The Amazfit band 5 only use the the middle section of the AMOLED screen, you get unused black space on the top and bottom of the screen. The screen is hard to read on sunny outdoor activity. The SPO2 monitor can't be use for tracking sleep apnea because it's on demand variety, but it does monitoring your heart rate when sleep tracking is turn on. I don't think the sleep tracking is accurate in my opinion. The Amazfit band 5 is just an okay smart band in this vast field of fitness tracker.

****UPDATED REVIEW**** So I am about a week or so from the last review. ONE cool thing I will note is that (at least on iPhone) there are widgets you can place on your phone screentop. I left off the last review on 1/27 with 57% battery, recently charge on 1/25. Battery died on 1/29, I charged it on 1/30. Wore my iWatch on 1/30 and 1/31. Put the Amazefit Band on 2/1. It's 2/3 (8am) I am at 51%. As I've mentioned previously aside from the original charge, I've had to sync up with the app every time for all the feature to work/work properly. This is highly annoying. The last 2 charging times, the band is not syncing or remaining synced. For example it's telling me it's 60/64 degree's and sunny, sorry its 43 degree's (65/40) and raining. Or it's told me I haven't walked at all - literally 0 (ZERO) steps today - I've been up wrangling kids for the bus since 5am. Three hours I haven't taken a single step? When did I learn to fly? My iPhone pedometer which hasn't even been on my person the whole time, has registered 218 steps. I have to open the app and swipe the sync for it to sync, it doesn't automatically do it. It's literally just NOT functioning in the basic capacity. And I'm about 3 days out of the return window.....of course. Guess my kids just got a new toy. Back to the have to charge every night iWatch. At least I can answer calls on it, and it has a calculator and memo recorder. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Has everything you want, maybe more so. Lacks accuracy. (Review is in compared to an iWatch.) The main reason I wanted a watch/band is: a watch, a pedometer, a rudimentary fitness tracker (including walking, treadmill, cardio and swimming), a sleep tracker (including duration, REM, # of times awaken during the night, and quality) & continuous heart rate monitor. The stress monitor would be a plus, but only useful if the information is recorded. And of course - and LONG battery life. Compared to the iWatch/iPhone technology, the AmazeFit Band 5 is Watch - Hello it's a watch - they both probably pull time from the NIST. Pedometer - Well not only did I measure the iWatch, the AmazeFit Band 5, the Xaomi Mi Band 6, the Garmin VivoActive 4S, and my Treadmill (ReeBok GT40x). I reviewed both steps and mileage. They were all wildly different. I ultimately chose the AmazeFit because it was the closest to meeting the treadmills numbers. However, after about 4 weeks, this band has become quite different than the treadmill. Almost 1/2mile to 3/4mile off from the treadmill. After each workout the band does let me calibrate the workout, and some times I can "match" it up to the mileage I did on the treadmill - but oftentimes I cannot match the total workout, which for me is very annoying. I didn't do all of that for nothing. * I am unaware of whether that only affects my "workout" mileage, or if it affects my daily step total also. I have not been able to see a correlation to daily steps - since that continues on through the day after my workout. (And the treadmill doesn't tell me steps, of course) ** One other thing to note about the pedometer while in "workout" mode that really bothers me is that, if I am not CONTINUOUSLY swinging my arm it will go in to "PAUSE" mode and stop registering my movement. And I DO MEAN CONTINUOUSLY. Like if I literally just not swing my arm or if I take a sip of water or brush my hair out of my face I have use the hand that doesn't have the band or it will "PAUSE". That is very annoying. *** I have not had a chance to use it in the pool yet, so I cannot attest to its stroke counting or water durability. Rudimentary Fitness Tracker - I personally do not enjoy the presentation of the information in the APP. (I do not particularly enjoy it in iHealth either) Sleep Tracker - Again, the presentation in the APP is not ideal. I understand there are a lot of tid-bits presented. However, if you don't look at it each day, you are unable to view some pieces of information, such as REM, Times awake, Amount of Deep Sleep or Light Sleep. You can see they are there - just not the individual data. Which makes it redundant. When you select the date it only tells you the total amount of sleep for that day. Continuous Heart Rate Monitoring - As similar with other reports - if you don't check it that day and get whatever information you need, you wont be able to access. For today only, you can see what time your heart rate was at "xyz," - but yesterday or any day prior you will only see the lowest and highest readings, with no timestamps. There are no alerts for spikes or dips either. Stress Monitor - I can manually run it on my band, but the APP doesn't recognize it. The last registered reading was 1/1/22. Battery Life - Finally the MAIN Reason I chose this, and did not continue on with my old iWatch. In late December it had a 15 day battery life. * You have to reconnect with the APP after each charge or some functions will not work, or sync back to the APP. My iWatch had buckled down to about 18hours of battery charge, which was useless to me and with it's pedometer seemingly unfixable with every re-calibration trick tried, I was ready to move on. This was approximately $40, it had a "15day" battery life, it was the closest pedometer accuracy I could find and the app wasn't terrible. As of late January, 4 weeks later - I have had to charge this band 3 times. Charged when received 12/28 wore AmazeFit Band 12/29 - 1/13, (14 days) charged 1/14, wore the iWatch. wore AmazeFit Band 1/15-1/24, (10 days) charged 1/25, wore the iWatch. 1/26- (2 days and at 57% currently). * It does NOT take all day to charge, I just did not want to interrupt my step count once the day started by change watches midday. ** I do not know, nor assume that it is a trend, that the battery life will continue to drop. It's only been 2 charges post full usage, so a lot of factors go in to that. I let the battery drain completely down, because I understand that it the best way to preserve the battery. If this is a significant trend I will update. Conclusion: As most people say - it's a good watch for $40. Don't expect an iWatch or a Garmin. Don't ever expect to compare a $40 item to a $300 item. That said if you're frustrated with the APP or interfaces of iPhone or Garmin or Samsung and want something more straight forward this could work. Or if your resigned to not be fully on board with anything/everything, then you'll be happier to pay less at less for a fully functional (in the overall sense) product such as this than paying gobbloads for Apple, Garmin, Samsung, etc. I will say this - I do like the construction of this product. I don't feel like I need to buy a protective layer for it or worry about my clumsiness. It's hearty and fits well on my wrist without being too bulky.

I was a FitBit user for close to 10 years and the last one I purchased, the Charge 5, was in March 2022. The battery life on it was so disappointing that I had to keep bluetooth on my phone off just to keep it from draining every 24 hours and sync it once a day. After 1 year, 9 months the bluetooth stopped working. Luckily, I purchased a protection plan and received $130 refund (Amazon gift card). I was searching for a new tracker and the Amazfit 5 was on sale for $28.00 (I would have paid the full price of $40) and I thought, why not give it a shot. I am incredibly shocked by this tracker compared to the Charge 5. I've had bluetooth on continuously, it's been three full days and the battery is at 71%. I am not a fan of the band style, but I purchased traditional clasp replacement bands. This is strictly preference and does not lower the 5 star rating. The only thing I am unsure about is the sleep tracking. While the times I go to bed and get up are recorded correctly, it was only recording light and deep sleep only. Then I found out you need Sleep Assistant on and it started recording REM. I don't know how helpful sleep breathing quality monitoring would be if turned on because to measure Sp02 and get an accurate reading it states, "Wear the band tightly, so that you an appropriate sense of pressure on your wrist. Place your arm on a tabletop or a stationary surface with the band screen facing up. Remain still during the measurement process and focus on the measurement." It even recommends tightening the band one notch. Since you are not going to tighten it, stay still, etc while sleeping, I do not see the purpose of the Sp02 being on while sleeping. I still will not lower my rating due to this. As far as longevity, I will update this review when that time comes, but so far, I am impressed with this tracker after paying just $28 (I'd be just as impressed at the $40 full price).

I have to write this review because I was misled by a lot of negative reviews and waited for long time. I almost decided to buy the Fitbit verse 3, but wanted to give this band a try first. I have owned two Samsung smartwatches, one Fitbit, and a new Apple watch 6 for wife, but I am looking for a simple, light, long battery life particularly with Alexa control function smart device. I finally made decision to try it. It took less than 5 minutes to setup EVERYTHING. The screen is beautiful, super crisp text. The Alexa function works perfectly even without the ability of speaker. I can read text message, and get phone call notification. It has a lot of basic health fitness tracker features that are very useful. I would give it 5+ stars. Now, why I disagree with some of the negative reviews which is misleading. ** Simply the most important: set the right/realistic expectation for a $35 smart device that can do Alexa control 1. Not accurate: come on... is the xx steps difference really that important for you which will destroy your whole health tracking plan? If yes, go spend $400 to get an Apple watch. what's important is the trending: did you exercise consistently, do you have a surge or drop in the heart rate suddenly. 2. Buggy software: I set it up and forget about it. I am not really sure what buggy is about. Are you doing a stress testing for a $35 device? 3. if you are pulling out each feature and compare with a dedicated device or apple watch or Samsung watch, why don't you buy all those devices to make sure you are happy with everything? Last comment/warning: the screen is small, the text may be too small for some users. For me, it is really trivial comparing with what I am expecting from this smart Alexa band. Thanks.