As the worth of some health trackers creeps previous the $299 mark, protecting your eye out for a cut price is smart. The Huawei Band 3e is likely one of the least costly health trackers I’ve seen in years at simply $29.99, nevertheless it’s a case of getting what you pay for. It manages to pack in some pretty superior options, resembling an evaluation of your working that identifies heel strikes, and that is stunning given the low value. Perhaps unsurprising, nonetheless, is that among the monitoring options confirmed actually poor accuracy in testing, and the band does not have any fashion or visible enchantment, making it powerful to suggest.
I might be remiss to not point out that Huawei made headlines not too long ago when the corporate’s CFO was detained by US authorities on costs of fraud, particularly masking violations of sanctions towards Iran. This evaluation was written with out consideration for any of the corporate’s practices, nevertheless it appears related to let shoppers know that the corporate is entangled in a severe worldwide confrontation.
Design, Comfort, and Battery
I examined the Huawei Band 3e with a black band, although it is also accessible in grey, orange, pink, and cyan (it is extra of a darkish blue-green shade, actually). In the field you get one band, a shoe clip, and a charging cradle and twine.
The tracker pops into and out of the band, much like the Fitbit One from a couple of years in the past. I liked that little gadget in its day, however contemplating what health trackers do now, it feels from one other period. The Huawei Band 3e is a detailed reproduction in some respects, though it does not include a clip you may connect to your garments, solely your shoelace. The clothes clip was an enormous promoting level for the Fitbit One, and never having it for the Huawei Band 3e is a missed alternative. In any occasion, you pop the sensor out of the wrist strap both to cost it or to snap it into the shoe clip to trace your working.
At 0.2 ounces, the tiny sensor has an oblong passive-matrix OLED show measuring simply 0.5 inches lengthy. There are not any bodily buttons, no coronary heart price monitor, no shade indicator lights—nada. With the load of the wristband included, the entire thing is a scant 0.6 ounces. The proven fact that it is so light-weight makes it snug to put on, though the fabric used for the strap is not very luxurious. I’ve worn a couple of health trackers whose silicone strap had a downright velvety exterior (the Withings Steel HR Sport, for example), however this one feels odd.
The Band 3e’s show leaves lots to be desired. Grainy pixels tackle a grayish hue, relatively than glowing with precision. Because the show is not sharp or vibrant, battery life is greater than ample. One full cost lasts roughly 14 days with typical use, and doubtlessly longer. Huawei says you will get about 40 hours out of it in working mode. The band can also be water-resistant to 164 toes.
Daily Use and Accuracy
While sporting the Huawei Band 3e, I additionally wore a Fitbit Charge 3. Based on what I find out about my habits and from information collected throughout dozens of health trackers since I began sporting them 5 years in the past, I’ve a superb sense of what sort of numbers to count on. Sadly, the Huawei Band 3e constantly counted far fewer steps than I can contemplate correct. Sampling throughout three days, the common distinction between the Fitbit’s each day step depend and Huawei Band 3e’s was 4,110, which is substantial.
Certainly, health trackers file steps otherwise, and a few movement could depend as a step when it should not. As a end result, I give a large berth to what I contemplate correct. For a full day of strolling, something with as much as a mile variation is not unhealthy. The Band 3e simply did not come near recording all of the steps I took in each day put on. It fared higher in a concentrated one-mile treadmill take a look at, clocking 0.89 miles.
If step counts are poor, sleep monitoring is even worse. I often sleep about seven hours an evening, and it is uncommon for me to get up in the course of it. The first evening I wore the Huawei 3e to mattress, it mentioned I obtained fewer than three hours of sleep. The similar factor occurred evening after evening. If I have been really getting as little sleep because the Band 3e thinks, I would not have the ability to kind sentences anymore. One evening it mentioned I solely slept an hour and 54 minutes. Never as soon as was it even in the best ballpark.
If it weren’t for such poor leads to the reporting on my health stats, I’d pay extra consideration to among the options that do work nicely within the Band 3e. A find-phone perform, for instance, forces your telephone to chime loudly even when it is on silent, so long as you are still in Bluetooth vary of it.
When you put on the sensor within the shoelace clip, it robotically goes into run-tracking mode, and the superior metrics look attention-grabbing. You can see common floor contact time, common swing angle, your foot strike sample, and extra. This evaluation is the kind you get with costlier runner’s watches, so it is thrilling to see it right here, though I’ve little confidence within the accuracy given how poorly the gadget carried out in easy sleep and step monitoring.
Disappointments proceed within the app simply. For instance, you may arrange a coaching plan that will help you run sooner or construct up your stamina to finish a half marathon, however as soon as your plan is ready, you by no means get any reminders of your exercises. You additionally must dig into the settings within the app to allow quite a lot of performance that is off by default.
Comparisons and Conclusions
The Huawei Band 3e is addled by tradeoffs. A poor show makes for spectacular battery life. It wears weightlessly, however to maintain the worth low, the supplies look and feel low cost. You can arrange coaching plans, however you by no means get any reminders to do the exercises. The options are plentiful, so long as you do not thoughts the truth that they create extremely inaccurate details about your well being and health. So you may drop a meager $29.99 on this health tracker, or you may put that cash towards one thing higher, which is what I like to recommend.
If you are useless set on discovering a tracker with a cut price basement value, do not move up on the Misfit Ray (at present promoting for $19.99). It’s a couple of years outdated now however stays a reliable, lovely, and exceptionally snug tracker. The Fitbit Alta HR ($99) and the Garmin Vivosmart 4 ($129) price fairly a bit extra, but additionally ship way more in your cash.