Smart Band Buying Guide

Fitness Bands give us a lot of data and this is possible with the help of sensors in them. Specific sensors are utilized to pull specific data which is then utilized to calculate a list of metrics and provide you in the best accurate way as possible. Hence, presence of many sensors improves the output. However, identifying the sensors in your band can be tricky as manufacturers many a times do not explicitly mention them. We can still identify by referring their advertised features. Below is a list of the most relevant sensors and the way to identify their presence:-

1. 3-Axis Accelerometer – Accelerometer measures the movement in 3 Axis and is responsible for measuring your steps, pace(speed) data on the band. This is the most basic sensor that a band has.If your band can count steps then it confirms the presence of an accelerometer.

2. 3-Axis Gyroscope – Gyroscope measures angular rotation about the 3-Axis and along with accelerometer forms the 6-axis motion sensor which is responsible for automatic activity detection like running, strength training etc.If a band is advertised as being capable of detecting your fitness activity then it has a gyroscope.

3. Altimeter – Altimeters measure the altitude through ambient pressure. In simple terms it is responsible for the stairs climbed data on your band or the elevation data shown during your hiking expeditions. Altimeters are usually found in expensive smart bands and will help in the accuracy of other data mainly calories burnt. If a band is advertised to measure the stairs climbed or elevation then it probably has an altimeter.

4. Heart Rate Sensor – They are Optical Sensors (green colour) using the photoplethysmography(PPG) method to measure the heart rate in beats per second. Heart rate measurements help in giving additional information by giving you various intensity zones hit during workouts like active zone, fat burn zone, ultimately resulting in the accuracy of calorie data. Attention has to be given to see if your band provides 24/7 heart rate monitoring as some bands don’t. 24/7 Monitoring will help you identify a few things like efficiency of your heart (ability to recover heart rate after exercise), issues in your heart (based on fluctuations in resting rate), your fitness progress (based on your resting rate).Presence of heart rate sensors will be explicitly mentioned by manufacturers, but look for the ones that have 24/7 heart rate monitoring as that will mean it can give full day heart data which will help in the analysis of your heart's performance.

5. SpO2 Sensor – This sensor measures your blood oxygen saturation levels by using an optical sensor (red colour) in the band. Blood Oxygen levels helps to check if a person's blood oxygen is critically low. It also helps in gauging the capacity of a person to handle physical tasks of high intensity, helps athletes who perform at high altitudes to monitor oxygen levels. SpO2 sensors in budget bands only allow for manual spot reading of blood oxygen whereas expensive bands take readings during sleep and throughout the day which helps in identifying conditions like sleep apnea, heart disease, lung issues like pneumonia and lung cancer. Again, presence of SpO2 sensors will be explicitly mentioned by manufacturers, for a more benefits you will need to check if the band can do SpO2 checks during sleep or throughout the day.

6. GPS – GPS is the location data provided by the band which mainly helps to provide route travelled data and speed. GPS also helps in the accuracy of distance travelled and other related data like speed, cadence. GPS is used by some trackers with no altimeter for elevation data although this can be inaccurate at times whereas the best would be to have GPS and altimeter for more accurate elevation results than having either of them. Entry level bands may not allow for GPS tracking whereas some may allow by using the phone GPS as they don’t have GPS built into them. Using phone's GPS causes reliability issues as there may be connection delays and issues. A band advertised as having in-built GPS will have GPS in them and will not require to use the phone's GPS.

Moral of the Story: Ensure your tracker has the specific sensors for the results you expect from it.More sensors may improve the quantity and accuracy of your data.

As explained, comfort is based on the build and design of the band. The band mainly has 2 elemental parts i.e. A) The body and B) The strap. Hence, your comfort depends on how well they are constructed.

1. Design - A band's design can mean a lot when it comes to comfort. Good designs ensure your skin does not peel or feel itchy when wearing the band, it also ensures you dont sweat a lot in the area beneath the band. Edges have to be smooth and rounded for best feel and comfort.

2. Construction - A smart band's body is either made of Plastic or Aluminium, aluminium being more expensive and better interms of causing less sweating, and friction. With that said, plastic bodies also do a decent job with the help of efficient design. Coming to the band strap, as most of them are rubber you will be mostly choosing as to which has the best grade of rubber.

All smart bands have a companion app which acts as an interface for all the tracking results, customisation and firmware updation . A good app is very imperative for ease of use and easy interpretation of the results. Also, the function of the app/software is to get 100% out of the hardware together being easy to use and convenient like less bugs, seamless/flawless sync.

Premium Smart Band manufacturers like Fitbit, Garmin have more advanced and easy to use apps that helps in interpreting the data with ease. Although budget manufacturers (Mi, Oneplus, Oppos) have decent software and are improving, years of experience and R&D investment by premium companies outclass them.

Apps from Premium Manufacturers will anyday be better than that of Budget manufacturer. With that said budget manufacturers provide decent application and give you a lot of value for the money paid. However, consumers who are serious into fitness and want as much details as possible at their disposal can better stick to premium bands like Fitbit or Garmin which score on ease of use and availability of social fitness platform. Also, we would advise to stay away from unknown brands as their Apps mostly provide a bad experience.

Smart Controls are handy functions you are able to perform using your smart band. Functions like pause/play/forward music, make payments, click photo, accept/reject calls, mute rings, find your phone and much more are made possible. These controls are really helpful as they are convenient and does not need phone access. Bands also allow for gesture controls, which means by performing a hand gesture like - 'twisting your arms back and forth twice' can click a photo which is helpful. As many times, you would like to focus on just keeping your hand still in order to avoid any shakes when clicking the shutter on the phone.

Smart Controls make you productive. Although, it is rare to use all of them, the ones to watch are the ones that you require the most.

Smart Bands come with protection and are IP (Ingress Protection) rated. The common IP ratings and their meaning is mentioned below:-



Protection is an important feature and is a 'no-brainer go to' for people who cant give enough attention to the safety of their watches. Hence, we cant stress enough as how crucial this feature is as you are then free to do day to day task like washing hands, gardening, cooking etc. As seen in the table, protection comes in ratings and you should select accordingly. To know more on Protection Ratings please read our " Protection Rating Protocol" article. For general usage IPX6 should be enough, but if you are going to wear your tracker for swimming then you should have IP68/IPX8/50m resistance rating as that will give good resistance to water even at depths for a long duration.

Buying a waterproof band is strongly recommended. Swimmers should go for IP68,IPX7 or 50m resistance. Others can settle for IPX7,IP67.

Although fitness bands do not require fancy displays; a good looking, legible and non-laggy one will do great good than okay. Not to forget, they have to be legible under sunlight. An ideal display for a smart band would be the one which has good viewing angles, has good legibility under sunlight, and has a seamless touch experience. Smart Bands come with OLED, LCD, AMOLED displays. AMOLED Displays offer richer colours, better contrast, and better sunlight visibility. Touch-Sensitivity is also an important aspect of the display as lags in the touch transitions will jeopardize the overall experience.

A good touch responsive, crisp and a good outdoor display are ideal qualities for a good smart band.

Fitness bands come with various activity modes like running, jogging, cycling, swimming and also indoor ones like yoga, skip rope etc. These activity modes are designed to keep a tab on the duration you perform and for a better calorie count data.

Moral of the Story: Having a band with as many activity modes will only do good than harm.

A. Battery Life - Having a long battery life would mean that you have less interruptions in terms of unbuckling the watch to charge it. Fitness bands being continuous trackers are best supposed to be on your hand the whole time and hence charging it would mean you miss on the track data for the duration you will be charging. Bands come with battery life ranging from 4 days upto a whopping 16 days. A band with a 5-6 day battery life would be called decent.

B. Notifications- In today's day and age bands display notifications. Notifications were features exclusive to Smart Watches and were one of the distinguishing features. Notifications like sms,email,whatsapp etc are shown by bands these days. You also are able to interact by replying with a list of reply templates. Ability to display notifications will help as you do not have to reach to your phone to check. This will be very useful when you are involved in an activity (driving, exercise) and accessing your phone is not an option..

The above features should only be a deal breaker for you if they are really required and will be used.