Live Science Verdict

The Xiaomi Watch 2 performed well in terms of capture our health and workout stats , but its dismal assault and battery sprightliness and clumsy piloting rent it down . It ’s not all speculative , though : The great cover grant for an uncluttered , bright and colorful display . It ’s also super well-fixed to bear .

expectant sieve

Accurate exercising stats

Xiaomi Watch 2 on a wooden table.

The large screen of the Xiaomi Watch 2 allows for an uncluttered experience.

Great charging design

comfy to wear

sieve bezel chipped easy

Side view of the bezel of the Xiaomi Watch 2 on a wooden table.

We found the bezel to chip easily.

Short battery lifetime

Temperamental touchscreen

Prone to sliding down the wrist

Walking workout stats on the Xiaomi Watch 2.

The Xiaomi Watch 2 captured our walking distances perfectly.

Why you’re able to trust Live ScienceOur expert reviewers spend hour examination and compare product and services so you’re able to select the ripe ones for you . ascertain out more about how we test .

The Xiaomi Watch 2 is a stylish - looking smartwatch with a round covert , making it look more like a traditional watch , which we like . With 100 of workout modes and 5ATM piss resistivity , the Xiaomi can be have on during all kinds of workouts , including various watersports . It has gobs to offer , allowing you to supervise your spunk rate , stress levels , blood atomic number 8 , log Z’s and more . Its limited battery life does let it down , but for a budget smartwatch , it does a lot — if you may navigate its interface .

Although on first exercise the watch felt unmanageable to sail around , once you ’re used to it , it is very simple with a clear main menu and no frills . You do n’t get overwhelmed and , with special customization selection , thing are kept wide-eyed , take it ideal for smartwatch newbies . Plus , we obtain the stats to be somewhat accurate , so for a budget fitness tracker it perform well .

The back view of the Xiaomi Watch 2.

The sensors of the Xiaomi Watch 2 did a good job at capturing accurate stats.

Overall , the Xiaomi Watch 2 is a good purchase for those want to try out abudget fitness trackerbut it is n’t thebest fitness tracker . We hump the more traditional look of this watch and set up it incredibly comfy to wear , mean solar day and dark . The only downside is the short battery life sentence .

Xiaomi Watch 2 review

Xiaomi Watch 2: Design

The Xiaomi Watch 2 has a heavy , round 1.43 - inch ( 3.6 centimeter ) AMOLED display screen and , with the body being made from aluminum alloy , it is tiptop whippersnapper consider only 1.3 oz ( 36.8 g ) without the shoulder strap . The version we tested had a leather strap , although this is iridescent , with a skin - friendly TPU and a recycled pleach strap being the other pick . We found the strap comfortable to wear but it did incline to slip one’s mind down our wrist more than when wearing a silicone polymer shoulder strap .

The large screen makes it easy to see your workout stats , and although it looks big , it did n’t get in the way during workouts or when slumber . The buttons on the side are flush to the bevel , so they did n’t get on our vesture or rub against the skin during yoga , for representative . And the concealment remained bright during our swimming , allowing us to agree our lengths and tread under the lustrous artificial lighting and even stay clear underwater .

While the screen is large , the visuals are even better with colors remaining hopeful during the daylight . With the large blind , exercise stats are clear and the screen continue uncluttered . Offering bright visuals and graphs alongside numbers for your workout statistic , the Xiaomi Watch 2 has a great - sized filmdom to display it all . And while the covert ’s cleverness is a welcome summation during daylight hr , once it is on " Do not disturb " it did n’t wake us during sopor .

The BPM screen on the Xiaomi Watch 2.

You can see your workout and health stats even in bright sunlight.

The touchscreen was more often than not responsive , but it was n’t as responsive as other smartwatches we ’ve try out . We also found it to be less responsive after swim , although this was only temporary . We did n’t experience much stave overall with this screenland .

There are two push button on the right - hand side . The top button tolerate you to enter the master menu and then locks the sieve again . The lower push acts like a " back " button , taking you to the screen door you were last on . This think of you are reliant on the touchscreen a lot of the time , so its responsiveness is quite important .

We wore this watch for several days at a meter before it needed charge ( more on that below ) and find oneself the screen to make out with smudges and dirt well . The screen itself did n’t fret , but annoyingly , the bezel did check easily , and we noticed a little ding on the edge .

The Xiaomi Watch 2 on charge.

Although we didn’t like the short battery life, the Xiaomi Watch 2 charged quickly.

Battery life:65 hours — we found this precise

GPS availability : Yes , in - built GNSS

Water resistance : Yes , 5ATM . desirable for swim and watersports up to 50 beat .

Xiaomi Watch 2 Wear OS 160+…

Display type:1.43 in ( 3.6 centimeter ) AMOLED

Heart pace monitoring : Yes

Sleep monitoring : Yes

Prime

The Xiaomi Watch 2 is customizable to an extent , allow for you to change the view of the apps and the clock face up . However , unlike other smartwatches we ’ve tested , you ca n’t neuter the widgets you see when swiping leave or veracious . Swiping go out or right Acts of the Apostles like a crosscut to the atmospheric condition , exercising modes , eternal sleep datum , heart rate and blood O level . We could n’t find oneself a way to custom-make which shortcuts you see .

We did n’t find the Xiaomi Watch 2 as comfortable to use as other smartwatches : Some of the role seemed unintuitive , and the watch matte clunky to voyage around . We did like the top button give direct admittance to the chief bill of fare , but the layout and functions seemed a bit basic , with swiping leave or right proffer crosscut and not much else . However , once you ’re used to the Xiaomi Watch 2 for a while , it becomes easy and obvious how to use it .

While the main focussing is on the workout mode and wellness monitoring stats , the Xiaomi Watch 2 has extra functions such as cycles , let you to monitor your period of time via the app , sleep monitoring , stress mensurate , take a breather techniques and more . This scout allows you to gain a better view of your overall wellness rather than just focalise on workout statistics , and can be an aid in calm your nervous system , which will at last profit your overall health .

Xiaomi Watch 2…

We particularly like the charging dock on this vigil . It model comfortably into a " bottom , " meaning once connected , it is unconvincing to get nudged and stop charging . One thing that did rent this find out down was the battery — only lasting two to three twenty-four hours , at a get-up-and-go . However , it was nimble to charge from whole flat to full in an hour . Overall , though , the design of this watch was good with little left to be miss .

Xiaomi Watch 2: Performance

Getting workouts started on the Xiaomi Watch 2 is simple , either by swiping left or correct to enter the cutoff or , as we preferred , fall into place the top push to enter the principal computer menu . Once you ’ve see your physical exertion mode from the hundreds available , simply chatter on it and weightlift ' Go ' . It ’s that easy to get started .

It also has an auto - detect function so if you forget to begin a workout , the sentinel will give you a nudge and suggest what it think you might be doing . We screen this a few time when out walking and it pretend properly . ]

you may also sync your euphony to this smartwatch , reserve you to see the soundtrack to your workout through the medium player . Unfortunately , when in a workout mode , there is n’t a cutoff in that mode to start and stop medicine . This means you have to voyage to the media player to start and turn back medicine — a good good example of what we mean by clunky …

The workout menu on the Redmi Watch 5.

Although there are two perfectly good buttons , to hesitate or end a physical exercise , you’re able to only swipe right and habituate the touch screen . We feel there could have been a more effective way to do this , by using the buttons .

Despite the clunkiness of the interface , we found the strap comfortable to wear , barely even noticing we had a smartwatch on . The clean leather strap looked quite fashionable , and more like a normal watch when put on it day to day . Although incredibly comfortable to wear down , we did get hold the watch tended to slide down our wrist , which can mean some statistic may not be as exact as they could be .

Saying that , we found the statistics to be quite precise . We measured our BPM independently and checked this against the readings from this watch and they were close enough . The Xiaomi Watch 2 also bewitch our walking routes well and measured kilometers travelled pretty accurately .

Xiaomi Watch S4 being tested by our reviewer

When used in the swimming pool , the spotter catch our length , fourth dimension and stroke perfectly . It also gave us our SWOLF score , number of strokes , pace , large calorie burnt and beat swam . When tested against another fittingness lookout at the same time , though , we did notice some of the stats varied .

We tested the picket during various workouts such as walk , Zumba , yoga and swimming , with it always carry off to capture the data well . We had a few issues with it due to it being so well-off to wear out during our exercise .

One affair we would note is that it ’s better to have the TPU strap for swim than the leather one : This remained dampish for hour after our swim and was more or less less well-to-do . Be cognisant that when you terminate your swim , the watch automatically clears the water from itself , but this lead in a loud beeping noise if you have the speech sound on .

Amazfit T-Rex 3 being tested by our reviewer

We enjoy using the additional feature on the Xiaomi Watch 2 , include the sleep monitoring and stress measuring . While the emphasis measuring was interesting , we found the scores did n’t commute much : we were apparently always " gently stress " even when our bodies were say us otherwise . We ’d send word using this measure with caution .

The sleep monitoring was passably accurate and delineate up with how we feel we ’d slept .

We were left disappointed with the range of breathing practice session available on this watch compared to others we ’ve tested . There is only one alternative , which go steady you breathe in and out for anywhere from one min to five . We found this was a minute dull and other respiration technique would make this function more utile .

TicWatch Atlas being tested by our reviewer

The real disappointment with this watch is the minimum battery life story . We could only get the vigil to last for a uttermost of three days before it needed charging again . This matte inapt — a long battery animation would make this look out far more attractive .

Xiaomi Watch 2: Functionality

Overall , the Xiaomi Watch 2 performed well for a budget physical fitness tracker . The large screen allowed the colorful graphic to be seen distinctly as well as enabling you to view numerous exercise stats with easiness . Plus , it was well-fixed to have on .

Once you ’ve made your way around the watch , the interface feels okay , but we find it unintuitive to utilise from the get - go and wish it were less ungainly to voyage between silver screen . Our main disappointment with this watch , though , is the poor battery life . It was frustrating to have to keep charge the watch so often and it feel like it could n’t keep its charge . Even on days when the watch was n’t used excessively , the assault and battery would drop significantly .

We liked that the buttons model moneyed on the bezel , meaning there was no danger of accidentally pressing them . As there are two buttons , we do palpate they could have been put to better utilise for voyage your mode around the watch . There ’s potential there to make them more useful .

Garmin Instinct 3 being tested by our reviewer

The Xiaomi Watch 2 performed well , measure our exercising and wellness stats middling accurately , so we do n’t have much to grumble about on this front . The principal things that let this watch down were the poor barrage life and the clunkiness of the navigation . Other than that , this is a bargain physical fitness watch that can do well across different workouts .

Should you buy the Xiaomi Watch 2?

✅ You ’re await for a stylish - expect smartwatch : We be intimate the declamatory , pear-shaped screen , which makes it bet more like a traditional watch .

✅ You want a comfortable smartwatch : We ca n’t fault the comfort of this watch and shoulder strap , both in workouts and for Clarence Day - to - twenty-four hour period use .

❌ You require a smartwatch with a long battery life : The Xiaomi Watch 2 has a disappointingly short battery life — for interfering people , a long shelling life would be better .

Garmin Venu 3 being tested by our reviewer

❌ You desire a smartwatch that ’s flawless to navigate : We did n’t enjoy the clunkiness of the sailing — it ’s well avoided if you want no - fuss switching between screen and modes .

We enjoyed test the Xiaomi Watch 2 and , for a budget fitness tracker , it performed well across all of our tests . The health and physical exertion stats were reasonably accurate from what we could evidence . While we found navigation around the picket a second frustrating , the positive is that it ’s elementary once you cognise how to pilot around it .

The main menu is clear and there are no frills to this scout , so it would be effective for those new to smartwatches or to tracking their fitness . Although we were a little discomfited by the lack of customization available , this might really be a positive to newbies — it leaves little room to get lose and confused in the pick and data . Those appear for a more robust , accurate and fancy smartwatch will probably desire to look elsewhere .

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 on an orange background

Saying this , we found the data that was trance and displayed in numbers and graphs on both the watch and app elaborate and interesting . You get a lot of selective information with every workout , so you wo n’t be shortchanged on that front . With the added feature such as cycles , sleep monitoring and blood atomic number 8 levels , you’re able to get a just idea of your overall wellness and this is a bonus .

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If you ’re a keen variation person and the Xiaomi Watch 2 does n’t feel correct , theGarmin Instinct 2may beseem you better : We rated it thebest for cycling , swimming and run .

Young woman exercising on a rowing machine at home

Another option is theAmazfit Balance , coming in at a similar price point in time to the Xiaomi Watch 2 . We vote it thebest fitness tracker overall . Similar in design to the Xiaomi Watch 2 , the Amazfit Balance offers a much recollective battery life story .

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