Over the years, despite having lesser features when compared to a smartwatch, fitness trackers popularly referred to as smartbands have continued to remain a favorite among fitness enthusiasts. The main factor behind this is that smartbands are fitness-focused and as well very compact and lightweight. Today, I’ll be reviewing one of the most popular smartbands, the Mi Band 7 which is now succeeded by a more stylish and durable Mi Band 8. This is a long-term review of Mi Band 7, and in this review, I’ll be sharing my experiences to help you decide if the Mi Band 7 is a worthwhile investment.
Mi Band 7 Review 2023
Mi Fitness app is the companion app
Before anything else, you should know that the Mi Fitness app is the main companion app. Though you can also pair Mi Band 7 to your phone using the Zepp Life app. Many first-time users will find it confusing to choose between Mi Fitness and the Zepp Life app, the difference is that the Zepp Life app has more watch faces and will also allow you to setup quick replies which is not available yet in Mi Fitness. Since Zepp is now the parent company of Amazfit, the Mi Fitness app is the official app for all Mi Bands and Xiaomi watches.
The Mi Fitness app has a very neat interface with a decent number of features that no doubt makes it a fantastic app. It allows you to configure how the Mi Band 7 functions, change watch faces and more.
Design
If there’s one reason I like smartbands, it is their lightweight design. And the Mi Band 7 like its predecessors and even its successor is very lightweight and compact. To be very honest with you, I could wear the Mi Band 7 all day and would even forget I’m wearing it. It is that light. All thanks to its plastic frame that weighs just 13.5 grams excluding straps.
It’s actually important that a smartband should be very lightweight. This will allow you to wear it all day, thus allowing you to keep track of your daily activities and fitness goals.
Beyond the very lightweight and compact design, the Mi Band 7 is also very durable. In the last one year, I haven’t had any issues whatsoever. The screen is an anti-scratch tempered glass, and the swappable band is made of silicone. You can always get an additional band just like I did.
Meanwhile, the Mi Band 7 is rated 5ATM. This means it’s waterproof up to 50 meters, and it’s safe to wear while bathing or swimming in the pool.
With regards to the design, it’s worthwhile to state that the Mi Band 7 has a remarkable design that makes it very comfortable to wear.
Display
After design another important component of a smartband is the display. The better the display, the easier it is to view tracked metrics and other important complications. The Mi Band 7 has an outstanding 1.62 inches AMOLED display that’s very colorful with up to 500nits brightness which makes it very easy to read in any light condition. I never had any problem reading complications on the screen.
In addition to the awesome display, the Mi Band 7 watch face can be changed, and you have loads of options to choose from. The Mi Band 7 has a few watch faces on the device that allows you to easily swap watch faces. If you wish to add more watch faces, you will need to go to the Mi Fitness app. The app features a handful of watch faces all of which are free.
The Mi Band 7 doesn’t have a physical button nor does it have a touch key. However, it’s still very easy to navigate the device – thanks to the very responsive touchscreen.
The interface isn’t sophisticated, yet very neat and easy to use even for the absolute beginner. Swiping up from the homescreen takes you to the app menu where you get to see all apps on the device.
And when you swipe down, you get to see your notifications. Swipe left or right to access your widgets. You can add more widgets from the Mi Fitness app by going to the system section on the app. And when you swipe right from any other screen other than the homescreen it takes you to the previous menu.
In essence, the Mi Band 7 has a wonderful display and it’s also very easy to navigate.
Health Tracking
As a fitness-focused device, the Mi Band 7 is equipped to track your daily activities such as steps, calories, stress, blood oxygen, sleep and heart rate. And even though it lacks inbuilt GPS, it can still map your routes by connecting to your phone’s GPS.
Steps and Calories Counting
Tracking your steps and counting calories is the basic activity-tracking function of the Mi Band 7. As long as you wearing the Mi Band 7, it will count your steps as well as calories burnt. Compared to more expensive wearables like Versa 3 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the Mi Band 7 is a very consistent steps counter.
Heart Rate Tracking
The Mi Band 7 has a heart rate sensor that enables the device to monitor your heart rate. It will monitor your heart rate continuously as long as you wearing it.
For the Mi Band 7 to monitor your heart rate continuously, you need to enable continuous heart rate monitoring. Open the Mi Fitness app, tap on the heart rate tile, tap on the three dots at the top right corner, select settings and enable continuous heart rate. You also have the option to enable high and low heart rate alerts. You can also enable continuous heart rate tracking directly on the Mi Band 7 when you go to the heart rate app on the device and select settings.
You can use the heart rate app on the Mi Band 7 to manually track your heart rate, and from the Mi Fitness app, you get to see your heart rate history including your resting, maximum and minimum heart rate.
I did test the heart rate tracking accuracy of the Mi Band 7 by comparing it against the Omron heart rate monitor and Galaxy Watch 5. The results of my many tests showed that Mi Band 7 is quite accurate in tracking my heart rate.
Sleep Tracking
When you wear the Mi Band 7 to sleep it will track your sleep in all four stages of sleep which include awake, light, deep and REM stages. You need to enable automatic sleep tracking which can be done from the sleep app on the device. Open the sleep app, scroll down and tap on settings, then toggle on advanced monitoring and breathing score. This will allow the Band to automatically track your sleep and your breathing rate during sleep. When you wake up in the morning, you will be able to view your sleep details directly on the Band. Meanwhile, you can see your sleep history in the Mi Fitness app.
Compared to the Versa 3, the Mi Band 7 is quite accurate in tracking my sleep duration. I can’t really say how accurate it is in tracking time spent in the various stages of sleep. Nonetheless, I think it’s a good choice as far as tracking sleep is concerned.
Stress Monitoring
Another activity tracking feature of the Mi Band 7 is the ability to monitor your stress throughout the day. It will monitor your stress as long as you wearing the Band.
To continuously monitor stress with Mi Band 7, you need to enable all-day stress monitoring. You can enable this option by going to the Stress app on the device and toggling on all-day monitoring. You can also manually check your stress level using the stress app on the device.
When you’re stressed, the Mi Band 7 has a breathing app that can help you reduce stress by guiding you through a breathing session.
Blood Oxygen Measurement
The Mi Band 7 will monitor your blood oxygen all through the day. You can enable all-day blood oxygen tracking directly from the Spo2 app on the device. Once enabled and you wearing the Mi Band 7, it will continuously monitor your blood oxygen and will alert you when it goes below predefined levels.
Route Mapping
The Mi Band 7 like its predecessor and even its successor, Mi Band 8 doesn’t have inbuilt GPS. However, it can still map your routes as long as you carry your phone along. Interestingly, the Mi Band 7 despite not having inbuilt GPS does a great job of mapping my routes, locations and pace.
You simply need to start an outdoor workout, it will then connect to your phone’s GPS. Once connected, you should feel a vibration indicating that GPS was successfully connected. You can then start the workout and the device will track your pace, routes and other metrics. To end a workout, just swipe right and tap on press & hold.
I compared the outdoor mapping accuracy of the Mi Band 7 against Fitbit Versa 3 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the results of my many tests showed the Mi Band 7 despite not having inbuilt GPS did a decent job in mapping my outdoor workouts.
Preloaded Sport Modes and More
The Mi Band 7 features 120 sports modes and it can auto-track 5 activities which include outdoor running, walking, treadmill, rowing machine and elliptical.
For women, you can log and track your menstrual cycle with the Mi Band 7. It will also track advanced metrics like VO2 Max, training load and training effect.
In summary, the Mi Band 7 is a comprehensive health tracker equipped to track your daily activities and help you stay fit.
Managing Notification
With the Mi Band 7, you can manage notifications received on your phone. You need to enable notifications for your preferred apps in the Mi Fitness app. Open the app, tap on devices, tap on app notifications and tap on custom notifications to select apps you wish to receive alerts from.
When there’s a new notification, you will get a vibration. To access your notifications, just swipe down from the homescreen to see your messages. You can reply to messages with preset quick replies but this is only possible if you pair the Mi Band 7 using the Zepp Life app.
When there is an incoming call, the Mi Band 7 will vibrate. You will have the option to reject the call outrightly or reject the call with a quick reply. You need to enable incoming call notification in the Mi Fitness app to receive incoming calls. Open the app, tap on devices and scroll down to locate Incoming calls. Tap on Incoming calls and toggle on Vibration to receive incoming call notification. Also toggle on reply with messages to be able to reject calls with quick replies.
Utility Apps
Beyond the ability to track your daily activities and notify you when you get a message on your phone, the Mi Band 7 also features some interesting apps. There is a timer app which is one of my favorites helping me stay productive. You also get a stopwatch, alarm, touch light and music control apps.
Battery Life
Going by specifications, the Mi Band 7 has a 180mAh battery capacity which according to Xiaomi can last up to 14 days, that’s not far from the truth. With always-on turned off, continuous heart rate, stress and blood oxygen all enabled, as well as worn to sleep every night, I get 9 days of battery life. For me, that’s enough battery life to keep me going especially when I’m away from home.
Charging the Mi Band 7 is also very easy. It comes with a dual-pin magnetic charger, and from my test, it takes a little over an hour to fully charge the device.
Conclusion – My Verdict
Rounding up, there are so many nice things I can say about the Mi Band 7. It is so lightweight making it very comfortable to wear all day long. The display is also easy to read and it has lots of activity-tracking features. Moreover, the battery life is also great. The only thing I really wish the Band had is an inbuilt GPS. Nonetheless, the connected GPS worked great every time I compared it to the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.
Another thing I don’t like about the Mi Band 7 is the hollow strap. While it was easy to change, it leaves the Band with a very cheap appearance. I’m glad that has changed with the Mi Band 8.
Overall, I like the Mi Band 7 and for me, it’s totally a worthwhile investment.