Xiaomi Smart Band 8 vs Garmin Forerunner 165
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: 2023
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: 2024
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is a versatile fitness tracker offering comprehensive activity monitoring for everyday health and fitness. It precisely tracks steps, calories burned, distance, and provides real-time heart rate data during activities. With support for a vast number of workout modes, it caters to a wide range of physical pursuits, offering detailed insights into daily activity and exercise performance.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Garmin Forerunner 165 is an accessible GPS running watch designed for new and casual runners, offering essential activity tracking. It precisely records steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes, with a strong focus on core running metrics like pace, distance, and cadence using built-in GPS. It provides valuable data for monitoring and improving running performance.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: This device provides continuous heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking for detailed analysis of sleep stages and quality, and stress tracking to help users manage daily tension. The integrated SpO2 sensor allows for blood oxygen level monitoring, contributing to a more complete picture of overall health and well-being.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: This device provides continuous wrist-based heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, and sleep tracking for insights into daily well-being and recovery. It includes Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation monitoring, contributing to a more complete picture of overall health alongside its running features.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is known for its impressive battery life, offering up to 14 days on a single charge under typical usage. This extended battery duration minimizes the need for frequent recharging, ensuring consistent tracking of daily activity and sleep without interruption.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 offers practical battery life for runners, providing up to 11 days in smartwatch mode and up to 19 hours with continuous GPS tracking. This ensures sufficient power for regular runs and daily wear without constant recharging.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: Advanced sleep tracking on the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 monitors sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep) and provides detailed insights into sleep duration, quality, and consistency through the companion app. It helps users understand their sleep patterns and make adjustments for better rest and recovery.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Detailed sleep tracking on the Forerunner 165 monitors sleep stages and provides insights into sleep quality and patterns, helping users understand their recovery for optimal training and daily performance.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 does not have built-in GPS. It relies on connected GPS via a paired smartphone to accurately track outdoor activities like running, walking, and cycling, providing pace and distance data when your phone is with you.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Equipped with built-in GPS, the Forerunner 165 provides accurate outdoor activity tracking for running, walking, and cycling without needing a paired smartphone. It delivers reliable pace, distance, and route data essential for runners.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: With support for over 150 workout modes, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is exceptionally versatile for a fitness band. It covers activities ranging from running and cycling to swimming, yoga, and various sports, allowing users to track a wide array of exercises with relevant metrics.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: While primarily a running watch, the Forerunner 165 supports additional activity profiles including cycling, pool swimming, HIIT, and cardio, providing relevant metrics for these exercises alongside its core running features.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The device features automatic workout detection for common activities such as walking, running, and cycling. This ensures that exercises are logged even if the user forgets to manually start tracking, providing a more complete and effortless record of physical activity.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities such as walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring these basic movements are captured in your activity log seamlessly.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, connecting via Bluetooth to the Mi Fit or Zepp app for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: Synchronization with the Mi Fit or Zepp app is essential for the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 experience, providing a centralized platform for reviewing detailed data on activity, sleep, heart rate, stress, and SpO2. The app offers historical trends, insights, and customization options for the band.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central to the Forerunner 165 experience, providing detailed analysis of running data, activity metrics, health statistics, and sleep insights. The app allows for setting goals, reviewing training history, and connecting with the Garmin community.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: Beyond its comprehensive fitness tracking, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, messages, emails, and app alerts. It also offers music controls, weather updates, and alarm clock functions, enhancing daily convenience.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Beyond its running focus, the Forerunner 165 includes essential smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It also supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments (on the Music version, if applicable, but the data for 167 is just Forerunner 165, so sticking to basics) and allows for controlling music on a paired smartphone.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: With a water resistance rating of 50 meters (5 ATM), the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a durable companion for everyday wear and aquatic activities. It can track swimming workouts, including duration and estimated calories burned.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: With a water resistance rating of 50 meters (5 ATM), the Forerunner 165 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a durable companion for triathletes and those who incorporate swimming into their fitness routine.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 features a 1.62-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 192 x 490 pixels. This vibrant color display offers sharp visuals and excellent brightness, ensuring clear readability even under direct sunlight, making it easy to view stats and notifications.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 features a sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) color display, offering good readability in various lighting conditions, especially bright sunlight, which is ideal for outdoor running. The display technology is also power-efficient.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The device utilizes a user-friendly touchscreen interface complemented by a capacitive button for navigation. The intuitive design and seamless integration with the Mi Fit or Zepp app provide a straightforward experience for tracking and managing health and fitness data.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The device utilizes a five-button interface, which is reliable and easy to operate during runs or workouts. The user interface is designed for straightforward navigation and quick access to running data and essential features.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 features a lightweight and ergonomic design, making it comfortable for all-day wear and sleep tracking. Its sleek appearance and variety of interchangeable band options allow for personalization, balancing functional tracking with personal style.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 features a lightweight and comfortable design with a soft silicone band, making it ideal for extended wear during training sessions and everyday activities, prioritizing a secure and comfortable fit for runners.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: Equipped with an SpO2 sensor, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 allows for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels, particularly emphasized during sleep and physical activities. This feature provides valuable data for assessing respiratory health and overall well-being.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and spot-checks, providing valuable data related to acclimatization and overall physiological well-being, complementing its health tracking suite.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: It is important to note that the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: It is important to note that the Garmin Forerunner 165 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote relaxation.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote overall well-being.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: While not providing a dedicated recovery score, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 contributes to recovery insights through its detailed sleep tracking, heart rate data, and activity analysis, helping users understand the impact of their activities and rest on their body's state.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy reserves based on activity, stress, and sleep data, helping users understand their physiological readiness for training or the need for rest, contributing to optimized recovery for runners.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: No subscription is required to access the core features and data tracked by the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 through the Mi Fit or Zepp app. All essential functionalities and historical data are available for free, providing excellent value at an affordable price point.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all core features and data tracked by the Forerunner 165 are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for essential running metrics, activity tracking, or health insights, providing comprehensive value for an entry-level running watch.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Xiaomi Smart Band 8: $50.00
Check Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Price *2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: $349.00
Check Garmin Forerunner 165 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you