Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: The smartwatch to start with

It revolutionized the fitness band market in India with its super affordable Mi Bands that offered to track your fitness and give you a glimpse at your health without breaking the bank. Now, Xiaomi is now trying to shift its smart band audience to the budget smartwatch segment, mainly through the Redmi Watch series. One of its recent endeavors is the Redmi Watch 5 Active. The smartwatch is priced at Rs. 2,599 and, in the best Redmi tradition, tries to punch above its price weight. But does it succeed in doing so?

Redmi Watch 5 Active looks and design: Blends in rather than standing out

In terms of design, Xiaomi really has not pushed the envelope with the Redmi Watch 5 Active. This is a very regular-looking smartwatch. You get a rectangular, flat, 2-inch LCD display with bezels that would be considered thick in today’s day and age. The display is glass, although Xiaomi does not mention any protective glass or layer. You get slightly rounded sides and corners that come with a smooth metallic finish. There is only a single button on the watch present in the middle of the left side, while the back hosts the charging point pins and other sensors. Xiaomi has paired the watch with a TPU strap.

The strap feels comfortable and does not irritate our skin during our usage. The watch weighs 42.2 grams, which is light. It does come with an IPX 8 rating, making it splash and sweat-resistant, and it is gym and run-friendly. While the watch does not feel flimsy or of bad quality, it certainly will not stand out – it actually falls on the opposite side of the visibility spectrum and would most likely not really catch eyeballs. The packaging is basic, too, and all you get in the box is a strap and a connecting cable.

Redmi Watch 5 Active features: Lots here, including GPS, calls, and Alexa!

Xiaomi has saved the ‘envelope-pushing’ in the Redmi Watch 5 Active for the performance department. A lot has been packed into this small package. The display is an LCD display, which will disappoint AMOLED fans. That said, it comes with 320 x 385 resolution and comes with 500 nits of brightness, which is very good for the segment. One of the biggest plus points of the watch is its UI, which is Xiaomi’s new HyperOS. It is an uncomplicated and simple UI that leaves much scope for customizations as well. If you do not like the way your watch looks, you get over 200 watch faces on the device, out of which over 50 can be customized. You get heart rate and blood oxygen sensors and, rather impressively, even inbuilt GPS, which is relatively rare at this price point.

Thanks to the sensors on board, the watch can track your vitals, including heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep. You can also track stress, log menstrual cycles, and get a vitality score based on your data. In the fitness space, the watch can track your calories, steps, and movement. You also get the option to track your stand goals, which basically nudges you to stand up for a little while every hour. There is support for over 140 different workout modes, and smart users will appreciate the support for calling and Alexa.

Redmi Watch 5 Active performance: Generally smooth with a few missteps (literally)

The Redmi Watch 5 Active is very easy to use and is bright enough to be clearly visible even under harsh sunlight. The display responds to touch well, too. Not once did we make a command and were left hanging or found ourselves struggling to get it registered.

After our workouts, we got a comprehensive report of our vitals on the Mi Fitness app on the connected phone, where one can also view fitness trends. The app itself is quite easy to use and comes with a simple UI. What’s more, it is available for both iOS and Android. In a very neat touch, the watch is also compatible with the Apple Health app and Strava, which means you can share your workout records and achievements with others on those apps. The watch was a steady performer right through, and we experienced no disconnections. However, we did find the watch readings a tad inaccurate while recording our heartbeat, with the watch often giving us recordings that were on the higher side. As a result, we even found ourselves getting some serious stress warnings while we were in a pretty relaxed state.

Another area where the watch really drops the ball is step tracking, where it tends to get the number wrong far too many times, which is kind of odd when you consider that step counting is something that most fitness bands have managed to master. And while it is great to have GPS on a watch at this price point, it tended to be a little inaccurate, showing us at the wrong location. We do hope Xiaomi will release a patch in the coming days to fix all these issues, as they tend to sometimes trip up what is otherwise a very decent budget fitness watch

As regards calls, you can accept and reject calls on the watch easily. You do get a slight lag while making the calls, but once you are connected, it works well. You get notifications promptly and the vibration buzz is quite a strong one, which means you are unlikely to miss them. The battery life of the watch is impressive, too. We found that the 470 mAh battery on the watch could easily see us through a week of heavy usage, which is pretty good when you consider the number of features packed into it, although short of Xiaomi’s claims of 18 days of normal usage and up to 12 days of heavy usage.

Redmi Watch 5 Active Review Verdict: A very good deal under Rs. 3,000

It may look a little plain and predictable and lack an AMOLED display, but at its price of Rs. 2,599, the Redmi Watch 5 Active is a good proposition for anyone looking to start their smartwatch journey. The smartwatch comes with many features and is a smooth performer that clocks up very good battery numbers. Its closest competitor is perhaps Nothing’s CMF Watch Pro, which comes with an AMOLED display and GPS, as well as better IP68 dust and water resistance, but can be rather buggy and is more expensive at Rs 2,999. If you are looking at a fitness-oriented smartwatch with support for calling, then the Redmi Watch 5 Active ticks more boxes than most.

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Review Overview