Union Jack-packing limited edition straps also land
The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 has arrived in the UK. The budget fitness tracker, which sold one million units in 17 days in China earlier this year, goes on sale on 9 November for just £26.99.
The Mi Band 3 will be available from Argos, John Lewis and Amazon alongside the new Mi Store UK and you might be able to get one for an even lower price. The first 10,000 units will be on sale for £19.99, featuring a small Union Jack on the strap. There’s also a £99.99 bundle with its Redmi 6A smartphone available through Three Mobile.
Read this: Best fitness trackers to buy right now
Now, we gave the Mi Band 3 three out of five stars in our review. It’s definitely packed with features – it includes an improved, built-in optical heart rate monitor as well as auto activity tracking, smartphone alerts support and a large touchscreen. And the third gen tracker has had a slight design upgrade on its predecessor.
There’s also an NFC model with contactless payments, though having spoken to Xiaomi representatives, there’s no news on when that model will come to the UK.It’s unlikely to be 2018 from the sounds of it.
On the downsides, we’ve had some issues with the reliability and accuracy of both the tracking and the heart rate measurements. The motivation you’d get from a Fitbit is also missing, plus it can also be difficult to read the screen in direct sunlight.
Still, those cons might not be enough of a dealbreaker considering the very affordable price. It’s a decent option if you only have £20-£30 to spend.