UPDATE: 3 fitness trackers for less than 100 euros review

Summer is just around the corner and some would like to become more active and do more sports again. In order to know more precisely how active you really are, most people consider buying a fitness tracker. We tested 3 fitness trackers for less than 100 euros.

Activity trackers provide information about daily movement in everyday life - from sports to the way to the supermarket. In addition, they usually also analyze the sleep and optionally even the pulse of the wearer. They should also be waterproof. We tested the Jawbone UP3, the Polar Loop 2 and the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S for you, all of which cost less than 100 euros. Each band was worn by me for at least 1 month and then worn together to test the step accuracy. Every band gets pro Area (except for heart rate measurement) Points, maximum 5.

I tested this:

• The apps
• Step accuracy
• Sleep Testing
• pulse
• Battery life
• Conclusion

The apps

The apps of the manufacturers are very different. But they have everything in common: the steps and sleep are clearly evaluated in the app. All fitness trackers have apps that are available for Android as well as for iOS. In contrast to Jawbone, Polar does not rely on two bars, which show the sleep and step goal of the day, on an "activity clock". This shows the degree of activity (sitting, walking, running) in a day clock. The Xiaomi Mi Band 1S, on the other hand, relies on a larger display of the number of steps reached during the day. The UP app from Jawbone and the MiFit app from Xiaomi score best, the Polar Flow app is a bit confusing. In the app area, the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S offers another advantage: if you have an active Bluetooth connection with the band, the steps are displayed "live" in the app during the activity. A plus point that many pedometers don't offer.
Unfortunately, the Xiaomi app is currently only available in English and Chinese.

UPDATE from June 07.06th: today an update of the MiFit App appeared in the Play and App Store. The app is now also available in German.

With Xiaomi's Mi Band, the synchronization via Bluetooth works immediately and only takes a few seconds, with Jawbone the data synchronization often only starts after half a minute and can often take up to 5 minutes. With Polar, the synchronization often doesn't work right away, but the process doesn't take very long. The synchronization was tested with an iPhone 5 and a Galaxy S3 NEO.

Points: Jawbone UP3: 2 points (deduction due to slow synchronization); Polar Loop 2: 3 points (little motivation); Xiaomi Mi Band 1S: 5 points (because of the very fast synchronization & live step counting)

Jawbone app:

Polar app:

Xiaomi app:

The step accuracy

Of course, you can't count all the steps in order to compare which fitness tracker performs better in this area. That's why I decided to walk ten times 100 steps, count them, and at the end see what fluctuations there are in the steps. There is no right or wrong count with fitness trackers anyway, since all activity trackers can never and will never count exactly. The models from Polar and Jawbone, like the model from Xiaomi, do not count directly with a simple hand movement.

Jawbone's Smartcoach provides additional motivation. This gives numerous tips on how to become more active, tips for a better sleep & praises the user for success, for example when reaching the daily goal. In addition, it is encouraging to achieve the given daily goal every day. But the Polar model is completely different: Loop 2 is not about the steps achieved during the day, but about the activity - e.g. you have to run for 1 hour a day to reach the goal. Personally, I don't find it very motivating.

Points: Jawbone UP3: 5 points; Polar Loop 2: 4 points; Xiaomi Mi Band 1S: 2 points (already counts with a simple hand movement)

Sleep Testing

Since you usually leave a tracker on your arm at night to record sleep, you should also have this clearly displayed in the app. The Jawbone UP3 and the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S show the sleep phases using bars, while the Polar Loop 2 relies on a simple time specification. Whether the recorded sleep phases are really very accurate is a matter of debate. If you want accurate results of your sleep, you should see a doctor. However, it often happened to us that the sleep data recorded with the Polar Loop 2 was no longer visible in the app the next day - it simply disappeared.

Sleep mode is activated automatically on all three models. Before that, you had to activate sleep mode manually with the Jawbone UP3 by double-tapping the LED display. With an update in spring, this is now done automatically, as with most models. In addition, the Jawbone model measures the pulse at night. The Jawbone UP3 uses a sleep phase alarm clock to wake the wearer, if possible, in a light sleep phase so that you can get out of bed faster. Worked fine for me too. The Xiami Mi only has a normal alarm clock, with which the band vibrates at the set time. With the Polar Loop there is also an option to set up an alarm, but currently only in the Android app.

Points: Jawbone UP3: 5 points (shows light, deep and REM sleep very clearly); Polar Loop 2: 2 points (only time information during sleep, sleep data often disappears); Xiaomi Mi Band 1S: 4 points (indicates light and deep sleep, measures the pulse at night, but does not display it)

pulse

To measure the pulse on the Xiaomi model, you have to switch to the app and manually press a button so that the pulse is measured using a green LED on the underside. At night, the Mi Band measures the pulse to improve the accuracy of sleep recording, but does not record it in the list - a shame.

In contrast to the Mi Band 1S, the pulse measurement with Jawbone is completely different: the pulse is even measured automatically. The pulse is also measured at night using electrodes and displayed in the app. During the day, measurements are only taken during rest periods - if you want to have your pulse measured manually, you can do this in the UP app. Currently only Jawbone's iOS app supports this. The Polar Loop 2 does not have a heart rate monitor.

The battery life of the trackers

For activity trackers that you wear day and night, it is of course important how long the battery of the band lasts. The battery of the Xiaomi Band 1S lasted the longest, a full 30 days in a row - I measured my pulse manually every day with the tape and the tape was on my arm for a month. Top. In second place is the Polar Loop 2, which lasted 9 days in our test. And in last place is the Jawbone UP3 with about 6 days of battery life, but it must also be taken into account that the pulse is automatically measured several times during the night - during the day only during rest periods.

Points: Jawbone UP3: 3 points (short battery life with daily synchronization); Polar Loop 2: 4 points (9 days of battery life); Xiaomi Mi Band 1S: 5 points (30 days battery life)

Results table

Source: TechnikNews. NET

The conclusion

Of course, every fitness tracker does better than another model in a different area. There is also no right or wrong with fitness trackers when it comes to measuring the data.

However, with the Jawbone UP3 we have to say that the synchronization definitely needs to be worked on. However, the Jawbone model scores in terms of step accuracy and sleep analysis. But Jawbone still has a lot of potential in terms of sensors: because it has a bioimpedance, skin temperature and ambient temperature sensor. Unfortunately, one cannot yet access the opening verseproaccess certain functions. Too bad.

The Polar Loop 2 unfortunately lost a few points because the app was not designed so clearly with this "activity clock" and personally did not motivate me very much. Before using the tracker for the first time, the tape must be cut, after which it can no longer be adjusted. Instead, the loop scores in terms of water resistance and step accuracy. In addition, the data between the app and the tape was synchronized quite quickly, even if not always reliably.

Our test winner: The Pros of the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S are: very cheap purchase price, very reliable and fast synchronization with the MiFit app, long battery life and water resistance. However, the heart rate measurement and step accuracy can still be expanded. But you can accept that at this price.

Source of images: All of the images used in this article “3 fitness trackers for less than 100 euros review” were copyrighted by TechnikNews.NET photographed.

Info: All fitness trackers were tested independently by us and we were not paid so that a fitness tracker would get a better result. Thanks for sending the trackers to us at Jawbone & Polar!

All links:

• Jawbone UP3 in the shop of Jawbone or on Amazon* to buy
• Polar Loop 2 directly at Polar or Amazon* to buy
• Xiaomi Mi Band 1S at Xiaomi or Amazon* to buy

*Affilate links – if you use this link to get the respective Proshould buy a product, we will be supported by a small amount. However, this has no effect on the final purchase price. We would be pleased if you could do this via this link Probuy duct.

Download links for the apps

"UP" from Jawbone

"Polar Flow" from Polar

"MiFit" from Xiaomi

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