Unveiling the Redmi Watch: Affordable Fitness Tracking with Room for Improvement

If you’re in search of a fitness tracker, it’s likely that you’ve already explored Xiaomi’s offerings. The Mi Band series has allowed the company to establish and sustain its presence in the fitness tracker market. To expand its lineup in this category, Xiaomi has introduced the Redmi Watch, designed for users who prefer a watch-like aesthetic along with integrated GPS for tracking fitness activities. At a price of Rs. 3,999, the Redmi Watch appears budget-friendly, but does it provide the best value? I decided to put the Redmi Watch through its paces to find out.

Pricing of Redmi Watch in India

The Redmi Watch comes in a single size and is priced at Rs. 3,999 in India. Xiaomi offers the Redmi Watch in three different dial colors: Black, Blue, and Ivory, accompanied by four strap choices (Black, Blue, Ivory, and Olive). For this review, I had the all-black version of the Redmi Watch.

Design of the Redmi Watch

The Xiaomi Redmi Watch features a square dial, which doesn’t particularly distinguish itself, as many fitness wearables in this price range share similar aesthetics. It has a plastic casing with a matte surface and soft curves at the corners, while the sides remain flat. On the right side, there is a singular button, with the left side left blank. The watch is equipped with a 1.4-inch LCD display covered with 2.5D glass.

The Redmi Watch is water-resistant up to 5 ATM, allowing you to wear it while swimming without worrying about damage. Xiaomi employs proprietary connectors for the straps, which limits your options for replacement straps. It’s easy to remove the strap by pressing the release button on the watch body, and reattaching it is straightforward, producing an audible click when secured.

The Redmi Watch features a single multifunction button

Xiaomi has designed the straps with a pre-curved shape, making it comfortable to wear. The watch uses a standard pin buckle, and I didn’t experience any issues with it coming undone during my time with it. On the back of the Redmi Watch, you’ll find the heart rate sensor and charging pins. Notably, this device does not include SpO2 tracking, a feature that may have enhanced its appeal given the ongoing pandemic. The provided charging dock features a full-sized USB plug on the other end. Housing a 230mAh battery, the Redmi Watch claims to deliver up to 10 days of battery life and it weighs a mere 35 grams.

Software of the Redmi Watch

You can pair the Redmi Watch with either an Android or iOS device, requiring the Xiaomi Wear or Xiaomi Wear Lite app, respectively, for management. Pairing the watch is a breeze, and it maintains a reliable connection when the phone is within range. The app necessitates signing into a Mi account and is utilized for several other Xiaomi wearables, such as the Mi Watch Revolve (Review), which I have previously evaluated, and the recently launched Mi Watch Revolve Active. The app is user-friendly and allows for customization of certain settings on the Redmi Watch, including changing watch faces and selecting which apps can send notifications to your wrist.

You can have up to five watch faces stored on the Redmi Watch, easily switchable by long-pressing the current one. To download new watch faces, you’ll need to use the Xiaomi Wear app. There are so many choices available that you could rotate through new options daily without repeating for months. However, customization of these watch faces is not available.

The Redmi Watch can track heart rate, sleep, and workouts

The Redmi Watch operates on a custom operating system and offers features such as heart-rate, sleep, and workout tracking. Additionally, it includes a barometer, compass, and built-in GPS, enabling outdoor exercise tracking without the need for a smartphone. The user interface is straightforward; swiping down reveals notifications while swiping up accesses quick toggles. Swiping left or right displays different screens showcasing weather updates, sleep statistics, heart rate, calories burned, and music controls. Pressing the button on the side brings up a list of all the watch’s functions.

Performance and battery life of the Redmi Watch

I tested the Redmi Watch over a two-week period and found it to be quite comfortable. With a weight of just 35 grams, it’s so light that you hardly notice it on your wrist. This lightweight design also makes it suitable for wearing in bed. The display is average in quality, and I found the automatic brightness adjustment to be somewhat aggressive. The raise-to-wake feature is effective, and the watch promptly turns off its display to conserve battery life.

I configured the watch to vibrate for incoming WhatsApp notifications, which I could read on the display, but replying to them is not an option. The watch can notify you of incoming calls, displaying the caller’s name, but you cannot answer calls directly with it; however, you can dismiss or silence them.

Heart rate tracking proved to be quite accurate, showing minimal deviation compared to readings from an Apple Watch SE that I was also using concurrently. The default heart rate tracking interval is set to 30 minutes (to conserve battery), but you might consider adjusting it to every 5 minutes for more actionable insights. Sleep tracking was accurate as well, providing detailed sleep quality information via the app. If you’re looking for SpO2 tracking, unfortunately, that’s not available on the Redmi Watch, which could have been a significant advantage.

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The heart rate sensor and charging pins located on the back of the Redmi Watch

Step tracking on the Redmi Watch showed a minor error margin; for example, when I manually counted 1,000 steps, the watch recorded 1,002, which is acceptable for a device in this price range. The Redmi Watch can track up to 11 different workouts, including Cricket, but due to current circumstances, I was limited to testing its fitness tracking capabilities with indoor exercises using the freestyle mode. In this mode, it only displayed my heart rate and calories burned, and I found the heart rate readings during exercise to be inconsistent. I was unable to assess the accuracy of GPS tracking on the watch.

Battery life was adequate given the size of this device and its small 230mAh battery; Xiaomi claims up to 10 days, but I managed about 7 days with nightly sleep tracking, workouts every other day, and notifications enabled for WhatsApp. Increased app notifications or more frequent workouts may further reduce battery longevity. The included charger takes around two hours to fully charge the Redmi Watch, and faster charging would have been a welcome addition.

Conclusion

The Redmi Watch meets expectations but doesn’t offer anything distinctive to differentiate itself among the current selection of fitness wearables. Xiaomi has made strides to keep it lightweight, but I would have preferred a slightly heavier model with improved battery life. Xiaomi still provides satisfactory step tracking, and if your main goal is to log daily steps, the Redmi Watch can comfortably fulfill that requirement.

There is potential for Xiaomi to enhance the Redmi Watch, and incorporating SpO2 tracking would be an excellent starting point. Until then, if you’re on the lookout for an affordable fitness tracker that includes standard features along with SpO2, the Amazfit Bip U Pro represents a viable alternative.