Wyze Band Review: The $25 Fitness Tracker

POSITIVES

✓ Price

All the basics are there and they are good

✓ Battery life

7 days with heavy use

✓ Connectivity

Connects with Google Fit and Apple Heath

NEGATIVES

✘Inconsistent Bluetooth connectivity

Can be frustrating

✘ Feels on the cheaper side

Not the highest end materials

✘ Limited capabilities

Doesn't quite do everything

Retail Price: $29.98

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Have you been looking for a simple fitness tracker to help motivate you off the couch? Have you been unable to find a reliable product which is also budget friendly? Well, search no more. Your moderately-ambitious fitness dreams have come true.

Meet the Wyze Band, a new Alexa-capable fitness tracker. For only $25, can it compete in the crowded fitness tracker arena?

First Impressions

The Band initially struck me as a little cheap. I was underwhelmed by the lightweight materials, however after wearing it for 3 weeks, I realized it was surprisingly sturdy. Weighing in at only 2.6 oz, the device is very lightweight. Warning for those with smaller wrists: the Band may feel a bit clunky to you. Measuring 4.38” long, it practically extends the diameter of my entire wrist. Because of its rectangular design, the Band can interfere with mobility.

The Wyze Band has a water resistance rating of 5ATM (264ft underwater for 10 minutes), suitable for low-velocity and shallow-water activities including swimming.

Sporting a 0.95” AMOLED color display, it’s large enough to view your health stats, as well as Android notifications. Despite its size, and due to its minimalistic design, the screen isn’t too busy making its content easily readable.

The strap is 240mm long and fits a wide variety of wrist circumferences from 155mm all the way up to 220mm.

There are no physical buttons on the Band; everything is controlled via the touch screen. In my testing, the screen was sometimes temperamental and the device difficult to unlock, especially in the presence of moisture. The “rise to wake” feature allows you to read the time and basic stats by glancing at the screen. It takes a second or two to turn on the display and tapping the screen sometimes requires several attempts before registering with the Band.

The Wyze Band comes equipped with a Dual core MCU 100+150MHz CPU with 288KB+8MB RAM, and 16MB Flash storage. Connectivity utilizes the Bluetooth LE 5.0 standard.

The battery is a 120mAh lithium cell that Wyze claims can last up to 10 days with normal usage. Charging is straightforward using the supplied USB-A to proprietary connector. You must supply your own standard 5v USB AC Adapter. Wireless charging is not supported.

Features

First and foremost, it tracks your steps. On a hiking trip with friends, I had the chance to compare my Wyze Band’s step count with a 4th generation Apple Watch, and an unspecified Garmin tracker. All three reported a similar step count with a discrepancy of only a few hundred steps out of a 15,000-step hike.

The heart rate monitor works as expected. It uses an LED to make the capillary veins in your wrist visible to a sensor that measures how fast your blood is pumping. This is standard tech in lower cost devices, and I was not expecting an electrocardiogram (ECG) at this price point. You can set the Band to measure your heart rate on demand, or on an interval basis throughout the day.

I didn’t find the sleep tracking functionality particularly useful. The Band produces a stacked bar graph displaying your light sleep, deep sleep and awake times every night, as well as a weekly average. There were several instances during which I got out of bed and that time did not register as “time awake”.

The Band will also track your workouts. Although the workout tracker is primarily meant for runs, it can be used for other workouts as well. It will track your mileage, total workout time, average pace and total calories burned. It also provides an overall view of your heart rate for the duration of the workout. One useful feature is the display of exercise zones by heart rate. You can view a pie chart with your exercise zones broken down by heart rate: Relaxing, Warm Up, Fat Burning, Endurance, Hard Core and Maximum.

After inputting your weight and height, the Band gives a reading of calories burned based on the activity it tracks for the day. This is likely formula based and I would treat the data as a general guideline as opposed to an actionable health statistic.

Some other capabilities include a weather widget and up to 6 vibration-based alarms. Alarms can be set on the app and disabled on the Band itself. The weather feature provides a daily/weekly overview of high and low temperatures with a symbol designating each day’s weather. You can set your location settings, temperature units and a daily weather reminder on the app.

The app is easy to use and takes only a few minutes to set up. I had no discernible issues using my Google Pixel 3 on Android 10. The app provides a more detailed display of your activity, including weekly views as opposed to daily on the Band itself. It also includes detailed touches such as customization of the Band’s home screen.

I was most pleasantly surprised by the support for Android notifications as well as the built-in Amazon Alexa capabilities. You can choose the apps for which you would like to receive notifications and the Band will buzz when a new notification comes in. Having Alexa on your wrist is quite handy as well. Because the device lacks an external speaker, Alexa will buzz when providing you with a response. The screen displays the result of your command. Good enough for a budget device.

The battery life is remarkable. Despite being advertised as having a 10-day battery life, the device lasted about a week of heavy use between charges. Charging the device back takes 2-3 hours from dead to full.

Overall Thoughts

For $25 the WYZE Band is a no brainer for anyone who's interested in tracking their daily activity. It is nothing fancy, but it does all the basics remarkably well including steps, heart rate, sleep, calories and workouts. The touch screen can be temperamental at times and you may rarely experience Bluetooth connectivity issues, however it’s a great product for the price. App notifications and Alexa integration allow you to control your Alexa-enabled smart home from devices with ease. The Band is super lightweight and will last a week before needing a quick charge. The Wyze Band packs a serious punch without burning a hole in your wallet.

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