Xiaomi’s first wearable activity tracker made a splash last year by offering up to 30 days of battery life, a waterproof design, and basic fitness tracking features for under $15.

Now Xiaomi is launching an updated model that has one more feature and the same low price: the Mi Band 1S has an optical heart rate monitor.

The Mi Band 1 S sells for 99 yuan in China. That’s about $16. The original Mi Band is also still available, but it’s getting a price cut: if you don’t need the heart rate sensor you can pick one up for 69 yuan ($11).

mi band 1s_01

Xiaomi says there aren’t many differences between this year’s model and last year’s aside from the heart sensor. The Mi Band 1s is a little heavier, but it’s just 5.5 grams, compared with 5 grams for the original. You probably won’t notice much difference.

The fitness tracker doesn’t have a display, but it pairs with an iPhone or Android phone over Bluetooth 4.0 so you can view your steps, distance traveled, and other stats in a mobile app. It can also track sleep quality and vibrate when an alarm is scheduled.

You can also automatically unlock your phone when wearing the bracelet if you use the Mi Band or Mi Band 1S with some phones (including most models running Xiaomi’s MIUI 6 or later or other phones running Android 5.0 or later).

Xiaomi hasn’t revealed international pricing or availability details yet, but while the company doesn’t yet sell its smartphones in the US, Xiaomi has been selling the original Mi Band in the US for $15 through the Mi Store website… although it’s currently out of stock.

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22 replies on “Xiaomi Mi Band 1S is a $16 fitness tracker with a heart rate sensor”

  1. Hey. I am interested in buying Xiaomi my band 1s. What do you think about this? Regards!

  2. So this thing gets a separate email to clog up my inbox?

    Its just an infomercial for something that is absolutely pointless.

    Spam attracts spam, apparently… That’s almost funny.

    How do I unsubscribe from single item infomercial spam, especially fitness dog leashes and similar nonsense?

    1. it doesn’t have a display but three small leds with configurable colors

    1. If they came out with a heart-rate sensing model as well at a comparably low price to compete against this, that would be amazing. I don’t need a smartwatch, I don’t need to be getting notifications while I’m doing my workouts; however, as a cyclist and athlete, having a inexpensive activity tracker with an accurate heart-rate monitor would be a great thing.

      The majority of standalone heart rate sensors sold to athletes and even for hospital use have been overly expensive, bulky, uncomfortable to wear and obtrusive to date. It’s great that someone is building something small, simple and inexpensive that actually works with our phones or other bluetooth compatiible devices that we actually would likely have with us anyway. I’m pretty excited about this.

  3. The old model has always been 69CNY in China , no price cut there.

    As for heartrate sensors ,check out at least the last graph here https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/embedded-insights/4440217/Optical-heart-rate-measurement-s-top-5-challenges
    That’s why the likes of Apple and Samsung made efforts to convince regulators to ignore these devices. Isn’t corruption lovely?
    Why nobody in the so called press made any efforts to ever test the sensors in devices they review is interesting too.

      1. Its actually a little bit concerning that you would bother to track the prices of these things…

        If you were leaving your body on a nightly basis for some good, old fashioned astral travel, and you wanted to make sure your body is ok, while you’re away, I could see the point…

        But since you can feel your heart rate directly, without electronic detour, and even use any plain old watch to count the beats for 20 seconds (if you must know a number for some odd reason).

        Maybe this is for people who have forgotten that their body and mind is one? They think the head is like a clay jar and the brain needs a WiFi to get any info from the body?

        The stranger the culture gets, the stranger the flowers…?

        1. You are an idiot. Do you live in your mom’s basement? I’m guessing that you’ve never used a cycling computer, a runners watch or ever had a medical condition that required that you do some extra monitoring of your vital signs or activity. All of these things are more than valid reasons to improve the technology and simplicity of these types of devices. The spillover into various industries is actually quite amazing when you think about it…

          Basement dwelling Luddites that lack imagination like you are always amusing to listen to… for a while…

          1. really… you own stock in this company?

            Or are you one of the people with a qualifying illness who has a need for this? In that case, go buy it and be happy.

          2. You’re not riddick and that was not well said – it was just name calling and a cheap personal attack by a guy making assumptions based on his own life about others. Funny people… :p

          3. Ah, nothing like cheap attacks from your own assumptions that probably mirror what YOUR life is like.

            I have probably travelled more countries in the last year than you have in your entire life.

            And no, I don’t have any conditions that require electronic tracking of my vitals, thank you very much.

            And I have no issue if these were specifically offered to those with illnesses that require them.

            But that’s not the case, this stuff is advertised to people who have no need for them, just to siphon their cash for an item that will end up discharged in some drawer until it ends up in a landfill or on ebay a couple of years later.

            So, mostly, this is a waste of resources and a stupid fashion fad.

        2. I don’t think we need to be uncivil, but note that during exercise, it’s a bit counterproductive to stop and check your pulse…

          1. I don’t know with uncivil, given what various people have said. I could not detect anything “uncivil” in my post.

            As for checking my pulse during exercise – I’ve never felt the need to do that. If I run out of breath, I obviously need to slow down. My body tells me far better what to do than any theory about ‘ideal’ pulse rate.

            I think humanity came a long way without checking their pulse during exercise. I remember just one story from the old days, where the guy should have checked his pulse: The inadvertent creator of the Marathon, who ran ~40 kilometers or miles or whatever to warn his people of an impending attack, and then died on the spot from exhaustion or heart failure – hard to tell at this point.

    1. You are expecting too much. These are nothing but cynically intended “null value” products meant to separate the gullible from more of their cash. Pretty much the same thing as the tablet, capsule, powder, and liquid products you find in the highly profitable “vitamin” aisle of your grocery or drug store – but with a fashion element. The old term was “Snake Oil” I believe.

      1. Wait, don’t give Snake Oil a bad name!
        It actually *could* have some benefit, but barring that, I bet its still less unhealthy than margarine, if you smother your toast with it.

        These fitness bands lack any and all redeeming qualities and the band probably leaks plastic softeners and other crap into your skin. And a little more EMF pollution rounds out the offering.

        1. The Mi band’s ‘band’ itself is made of silicone rubber, which I would say is quite safe to have against your skin.

          1. Ok, so in this particular case, its only the EMF.

            You should check sometime on Youtube for the guy testing his work desk with an EMFmeter for his WiFi EMF. EMF is really not good for you. We have evolved with the natural magnetic and electromagnetic frequencies of the earth. They have certain rhythms and frequencies our bodies interface with.

            Scientific tests have actually shown that people who are isolated from these (Faraday Bunker test) become first unhappy, then agitated, then sick. Now the earth’s fields are only subtle, easily drowned out by your wifi router hacking away at an insane rythm.

            We have advanced medicine, yet more people than ever succumb to various and sometimes mysterious illnesses. And Bees can’t find their way home near Cellphone towers.

            You tell me if the silicone band alone makes this safe for wearing, cause I don’t know, but something tells me I should be suspicious, because Corporations who want to sell something have never been honest with us.

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