The Amazfit Band 5 is quite a nifty fitness tracker. Not only does it look pretty sleek and track your steps. It also tells you the time and measures your blood pressure. It can even measure your O2 saturation – to put it simply, that’s how much oxygen is in your blood.
It even has Alexa bult in and you can swim and shower in it. It really is amazing!
- Alexa Built-in
- 15-Day Battery Life
- Blood Oxygen
- Heart Rate
- Sleep Monitoring
- Women’s Health Tracking
- Music Control
- Water Resistant
- Play music
How Does It track Steps?
I’m not entirely sure that it tracks the steps you dp when pottering around the kitchen. So far it’s been hard to tell as they don’t appear to add on every time you do a step, but in a bulk load every so often. SO I checked out the FAQ’s on Amazfit’s site and yep it’s as I suspected, it doesn’t start counting until you have done ten steps,
According to Amazefit
“To reduce errors, Amazfit Pace sets an initial value of 10, which means it will count steps when you walk more than 10 steps. In other words, the Amazfit App will show the real walking steps and start counting from step 10.
Our products gather your step/calorie data via an algorithm our team made that determines how far one’s arm would swing while walking at a normal pace. This algorithm is based off of the height, weight and gender of user. “
Unfortunelay this also means that you could hike up a mountain, but if you have your hands inyour pocket it will not track any of the steps. Which is a little disappointing. The fitbit tracker I used to have in my pocket and it tracked steps. The fitbit can do this because it tracks using a 3-axis accelerometer to count your steps. This sensor also allows your device to determine the frequency, duration, intensity, and patterns of your movement.
What it looks like?
It looks great. I bought the Amazfit band 5 in black, it looks sleek. It fits nicely. The silicone strap is smooth and there are no rough edges. The face of it does protrude from the arm a little more than the Fitbit Charge that I had until recently when I dropped it down the toilet. Although I have fairly small wrists and can only just make it go small enough, so if you are petite the strap might not be small enough.
The Packaging
The Amazfit band 5 comes in a need little box, a crips white bax with an image of the tracker and nice silver writing. It looks more expensive than it is. The packaging looks quite sustainable. Whilst I touch on sustainability, the box is recyclable, the handbook is also paper so can be recycled. The watch itself and the charging cable come in quite thick plastic bags that have a recycle 7, CPE symbol. According to the Good House Keeping online magazine items with a 7 cannot be recycled. Which is disappointing. Come on Amazfit you can do better on the recycle front.
Can You use It without an App?
You can’t use the Amazfit Band 5 without sinking with the Zepp app which you need to download onto your phone.
You can link it to your computer but you first need to install an emulator first, as there is no app for windows devices.
Would be nice if you could just track your steps, heart rate and O2 saturation without needing to be checked up to your phone. I’m not bothered about having a log of what I have done each day, I just want to use it to motivate me each day to get my 10,000 steps in. If it’s teatime and I’ve only done 6000 steps, I’ll hop on the stepper to make sure I reach my target.
Is it safe?
The device constantly has Bluetooth turned on. This raises the question – does the constant blue tooth and the exposure to the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emitted from wireless devices.is bad for your health. Which will be applicable to all fitness trackers today.
According to Healthline: “Scientists warned that potential health risks of chronic EMF exposure include cancer, genetic damages, neurological disorders, learning and memory deficits, and reproductive issues, among others.”
It has been shown that Bluetooth devices emit a specific type of nonionizing (or low-level) EMF called radiofrequency radiation (RFR). The International Agency for Research on Cancer, in 2011 classified this as possibly carcinogenic because there is an increased risk of glioma, a type of brain cancer, related to cell phone use. My mother in law had a Glioma, she lasted 6 months after diagnosis. A small win as she last 2 months longer than they said she would. It was pretty horrible. Makes me think if I want to expose myself and my child to this by getting more products that emit EMF.
In summary
If you can afford a Fitbit, get a Charge if you want something little and delicate. I couldn’t so I have the Amazfit Band 5, which I have lots of positive things to say about it, other than it’s a little bit bigger than I would normally choose.
We don’t like that it uses that arm swing to track steps. I could potter around my kitchen all day and not track any steps. But ki would have been very active, albeit I probably wouldn’t have raised my heart rate by very much.
It’s a great addition to anyone fitness collection! It’s pretty much a must-have item if you want to make sure you get enough steps in to burn fat. The fact that you can monitor your heart rate and O2 levels, play music and all sorts of other handy things make it simply brilliant for the price.
Where Can I Buy an Amazfit Band 5?
I actually bought mine from my local Argos store, for those of you not in the UK, that’s a catalogue shop in Britain. However, I did see that they sell them on Amazon. So that’s pretty easy for you, wherever you happen to be in the world. And the good news is that the price is really attractive.