Tracking health and fitness doesn’t have to break the bank. In 2026, even sub-$100 fitness bands offer core health monitoring, smart notifications, long battery life, and sleek designs that work just as well at the gym as they do in daily life. From dedicated activity tracking to AMOLED displays and reliable sensors, these bands punch above their price tags. So here is our roundup of the 5 best fitness bands under $100 in 2026.

Amazfit Band 7

The Amazfit Band 7 remains one of the most compelling bands under $100 thanks to its solid AMOLED display, long battery life, and versatile health tracking suite. You get all the essentials like heart rate monitoring, sleep & stress tracking, SpO₂ measurement, and multiple sport modes, all wrapped in a lightweight and comfortable band. Its crisp screen makes stats and notifications easy to read at a glance.

Xiaomi Smart Band 10

A staple in the budget segment, the Xiaomi Smart Band 10 continues to impress in 2026 with a bright and responsive display, reliable health and activity sensors, and intuitive app support. It covers standard tracking like steps, calories, sleep, heart rate, and SpO₂, and includes guided workout profiles to help beginners stay consistent. The lightweight design is ideal for all-day wear.

Fitbit Inspire 3

The Fitbit Inspire 3 brings Fitbit’s strong wellness ecosystem to the under-$100 space (often available on sale in 2026). While it doesn’t have a gaudy display, it shines with accurate heart rate tracking, connected GPS (uses your phone), sleep stage analysis, and guided breathing sessions for stress management. Fitbit’s app is one of the best in class, making this a great choice if you want deep insights without spending flagship prices.

Garmin Vivofit 4

If battery life and simplicity are priorities, the Garmin Vivofit 4 is a classic choice. Unlike many bands that need weekly charging, the Vivofit 4 can last over a year on a single coin cell, which is a huge advantage for low-maintenance users. It covers basic activity tracking, steps, distance, and sleep, and its always-on display is readable without a backlight.

Amazfit Bip 6

The Amazfit Bip 6 blends fitness tracking with smartwatch-like features, all under $100. It offers built-in GPS for accurate outdoor mapping, solid heart rate and SpO₂ monitoring, and over 100 sport modes, making it one of the most capable fitness bands for active users on a budget. The transflective display stays visible in sunlight, and the battery comfortably lasts multiple days on a charge.

What to Consider When Buying Under $100

When looking at fitness bands in this price bracket, here’s what matters most:

• Display Quality: AMOLED screens make information more readable and enjoyable.
• Health Sensors: Heart rate, sleep tracking, and SpO₂ are baseline features worth prioritising.
• Battery Life: Longer battery means less charging stress.
• Companion App: A good app makes insights easier to understand and motivates progress.
• Design & Comfort: A band you can wear all day and night increases tracking accuracy.

The Takeaway

In 2026, you don’t need a flagship smartwatch to stay on top of your fitness goals. Sub-$100 bands have evolved significantly, offering vibrant displays, robust tracking, smart alerts, and reliable sensors that support healthier habits. Whether it’s an everyday activity, sleep insights, or keeping motivated with sport modes, there’s a strong fitness band under $100 in 2026 that fits your lifestyle without stretching your budget.

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Leading global technology market analyst firm, Canalys has recently published a report on the state of the global wearables market in the first quarter of 2022. In the report, it is stated that 41.7 million wearables were shipped in Q1 2022 alone, of which basic fitness band shipments compromised of only 9.7 million (23.3 per cent of the market), while the rest of the market is held by basic watch and smartwatch shipments at a staggering 32.0 million. 

Overall the worldwide wearables market in Q1 2022 experienced total shipments fell by 4% YoY when compared to Q1 2021. This phenomenon is caused by the rapidly declining social relevance of fitness bands, but fortunately, shipments did not fall further due to the rising popularity of the basic watch and smartwatch market.

Currently, Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi are the Top 3 best-selling wearables brands globally. Apple dominates in first with its 22.1% market share. The company had shipped out 9.2 million of its Apple Watches in Q1 2022, which could be could be contributed to the brand launching not only its flagship Apple Watch Series 7 of smartwatches but also launching a more affordable Apple Watch SE smartwatch, providing more options for the consumers and capturing more of the market share. Due to this, the company experienced a positive 21% growth in annual sales when comparing Q1 2021 and Q1 2022.

Moving onto Huawei, the company rises up from third place last year to second place this year with 11.1% of the wearables market share and 4.1 million total shipments of its fitness bands and smartwatches. The brand remains steady in the wearables market with the main appeal of its smartwatches being the company’s OpenHarmony ecosystem. The OpenHarmony ecosystem allows Huawei smartwatches to not only be connected to your Huawei smartphone, but also to Huawei’s IoT smart devices as well. And that includes the company’s own electric vehicles. For example, you can use your Huawei Watch as digital car keys to unlock your Huawei Car.

Xiaomi, on the other hand, has dropped from second to third with 10.1% of market share and 4.2 million shipments, mainly due to dwindling sales of the brand’s fitness bands. As fitness bands continue to lose in popularity due to their smaller screens, the brand itself is already quietly switching its focus to developing smartwatches. But currently, Xiaomi smartwatches like the Xiaomi Watch S1 are still the company’s first attempts at the concept, and with the shifting marketing focus, the fitness band sales decline is to be accelerated as well.

Coming in at 4th and 5th are Samsung and Fitbit respectively. Samsung remains stable in the wearables market with an increased 8.1% market share in Q1 2022 at 3.4 million shipments, due to the company’s collaboration with Google’s Wear OS for its Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series of smartwatches. Meanwhile, Fitbit, which has been acquired by Google saw its sales drop to 2.9 million in Q1 2022 with 7% of the total wearables market share. 

Analysing the basic fitness band market, it has been on a steady decline since Q4 2020. The bands suffered a 37% decline quarter-on-quarter (Q4 2021 to Q1 2022), marking the sixth consecutive fall in the quarterly shipments since Q4 2020. And the 9.7 million shipments figure is the first time that the fitness band market has dipped below 10 million in a long time after it had peaked at 27.9 million in Q4 2019.

On the other hand, the basic watch and smartwatch market has seen positive growth YoY by up to 15%. The Canalys report has cited some reasons why watches are growing in popularity.

“Consumers are favouring watches over bands. With bigger displays, richer features and longer battery life, they believe watches are better able to fulfil their health-tracking and digital lifestyle needs,” said Sherry Jin, Canalys Research Analyst. “Basic watches are positioned as an affordable step-up from basic bands, suitable for price-conscious consumers with growing expectations as to what wearables can do.”

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• Apple Watch Series 8 renders leak online showcasing the design of the smartwatch

(Source)

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This holiday season if you are planning to focus on your health, then check out this Early Black Friday 2021 Deal on Amazon Halo View Fitness Tracker. The band that retails for $80 is now available at a discounted price of $49.99 only for pre-order at Amazon US. Available in gorgeous black, lavender, and green color variants, this fitness band can also be a good gift option for your loved ones. Right now, the band is available only for pre-orders and the actual product will be released on 8 December. 

Amazon Halo View Fitness Tracker

Key Features:

• Activity tracking
• Heart rate, steps, and blood oxygen monitor
• Sleep tracker
• On the go control for texts, reminders, etc
• 50m waterproof: perfect for shower and swim
• 7-day battery life
• Colors: Black, Lavender, and Sage green.

Retailing for $80, you can now pre-order Amazon Halo View Fitness Tracker at a discounted price of $49.99 only at Amazon US. Please note that this is a pre-order offer.

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub. 

You can also find the best Black Friday Deals here.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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Earlier today, Huawei kicked off its smart life new product unveil event to launch many new smart life products. At the event, Huawei’s COO of consumer BG, He Gang, took to the stage to make some market performance announcements regarding Huawei’s smart wearable devices.

He Gang stated that Huawei’s cumulative global shipments of smart wearable devices had exceeded 80 million units. He further added that Huawei is still first in China when it comes to wrist-worn wearable devices. Huawei has served more than 320 million users worldwide, and Huawei’s sports health App has reached 83 million monthly active users worldwide.

Huawei has also cooperated with more than 60 research institutions to carry out health research in the fields of respiratory health, heart health, sleep apnea, vascular health, women’s health, and more with Huawei wearable devices. At present, more than 5 million users have joined the research ecosystem of Huawei Research.

He Gang also pointed out that in the future, Huawei’s smart wearable devices will be divided into five series, namely smart technology, fashion trends, health care, classic all-around, and professional extremes.

Following these announcements, we expect multiple new launches in the wearable device segment by Huawei. In fact, earlier today, Huawei released the Watch GT Runner, the WATCH GT 3, Huawei FreeBuds Lipstick (earbuds), MateBook E 2021, and Mate X2 collector’s edition.

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• Huawei may license smartphone designs to Chinese partners to bypass US Sanctions: Report

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Gearbest is giving out this fantastic deal on TICWRIS GTX Men’s Fitness Band. The smart band which usually retails at around $48 is available for the next 24 hours at $35.99 only.

This ultra-modern smart band comes with a 1.91-inch huge touch display that looks super sexy on your wrist and the full touch colour screen helps you to see your health data with just a glance. Equipped with in-built multi-sports modes like running, walking, mountaineering, cycling etc this fitness band is perfect to track your workout and other activities. General functions like Heart rate and Blood pressure monitor and a pedometer gives you real-time data of your health parameters and helps you to stay active and healthy. With Bluetooth 5.0 you can connect this smart band to both your Android (5.1 or above) and iOS (9.0 or above) devices and the IP68 certification makes it a perfect addition to your swim gear. 

For the next 24 hours, Gearbest is giving out the TICWRIS GTX Men’s Fitness band (Silver Colour variant only) at a discounted price of $35.99. Additional shipping charges may be applicable.

So go grab this deal within the next 24 hours.

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Lava International unveiled four new Z-series of smartphones today in India. Alongside the smartphones, the company also unveiled its first fitness tracker in the country. In addition to sporting a color display, it supports features like Temperature, Blood Oxygen, Heartrate monitoring.

As mentioned above, Lava Befit is the company’s first Smart Band from Lava International. It features(via) a 1.1-inch color display and has a touch-sensitive button at the bottom. You can either single tap/ long-press the circular button can be used to access various features like tracking and notifications.

Lava Befit Smart fitness band Features

The display is rectangular with Black accents around and slightly bends towards the strap portion seamlessly. Speaking of which, the straps are also Black in Color and have unusual curvy patterns on them. However, the highlight of the band is the SpO2, Heartrate monitoring, and body Temperature measurement.

SpO2, which basically does the job of a pulse oximeter helps finding a person’s oxygen saturation. Additionally, Lava says the fitness band can also track the all-day activity of a user including Sleep. It can also tap the phone’s notifications like Calls, SMS, emails, and social media alerts.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi Mi Band 5 vs Honor Band 5 vs Realme Band: Specs Comparison

Some of the auxiliary features of the Lava Befit smart band are as follows:

• GPS Tracking
• Sedentary Reminder
• Vibration Alert
• Phone Finder, Phone Muting
• Run Plans with Ranks & Badges
• Telemedicine integration
• Water-resistance(unspecified Rating), and more.

Lava Befit Price, Availability

The Lava Befit is priced at ₹2,699($36.80) and will go on sale from January 26 in India. Users can purchase the fitness band both online from Amazon, Lava Website, and offline stores in the country.

UP NEXT: OnePlus Band tipped to launch in India on January 11, key specs and price revealed

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Researchers in the CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong) are studying a new method to harvest energy from human movements. The results of the study could bring about a shift in the technology used in wearable technology like smartwatches in the near future.

According to an SCMP report, the researchers are studying a swinging metal pole that is designed to mimic the movements of the human arms. The device that is built to harvest energy from this movement utilizes a highly compact generator, which contains under 10 components. This includes a motion capture unit and a power generation unit. The primary aim of this study is to harvest energy created by human motion to power smartwatches and wristbands.

Editor’s Pick: Apple patents next gen Touch ID, uses Infrared technology housed under the display

The research began earlier this year after a boom in wearable devices was observed across the globe. In recent times, the industry for smartwatches and other wearables has grown and is expected to rise even further once the market recovers from the Coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, the wearable industry had become a 20.65 billion US Dollar market, which is projected to reach 96.31 billion US Dollars by 2027.

Furthermore, this category has also become increasingly health centric, with OEMs offering features that help users map their blood oxygen levels, heart rate, sleep patterns, and more. With the growth of health enthusiasts, this technology will also benefit the entire consumer market as well. At the moment, the primary concern with such devices is always the battery life, but the technology might be a stepping stone to a device that can sustain itself through just human motion. Since wearables have already saved lives in the recent past, not having to remove them for charging is another positive outcome.

UP NEXT: No Mi MIX 4 in 2020 says tipster, but foldables & 200W+ charging phones likely to launch in 2021

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Apple is expected to make a move to Mini-LED displays for its high-end iPad as well as MacBook models. As per the reports, Apple could start adopting this new display technology sometime later this year.

Now, the tech giant has been granted a new patent for Micro-LED display (via Patently Apple) which the company is planning to use for future MacBook, iPads, and a Fitness Band. Earlier this year, Apple was granted a patent for Fitness Band but there’s no confirmation if the company is actually planning to enter that segment.

It seems that the company will first adopt the Mini-LED display and will gradually move towards using Micro-LED display panels on its products. Currently, it is facing some issues and thus, its adoption in the near future seems unlikely.

Recently, it was reported that Apple could be using the MicroLED Display panel for the seventh-generation Apple Watch. Cupertino-based Apple is reportedly investing around $330 million in a Taiwan-based company for Micro LED factory that will manufacture displays for future iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and other devices.

EDITOR’S PICK: TSMC reportedly books its entire 5nm chip production capacity for Apple A14 Chipset

Manufacturers are trying to now adopt Micro LED screens instead of LCD or OLED panels as the new technology promises to be more energy-efficient and the panel is also thinner. It is said that the power consumption of the Micro LED screen is one-tenth compared to LCD.

Micro LED also supports a higher brightness, higher dynamic range, and wider color gamut. It also offers a faster update rate and a wider viewing angle. Given that the technology is still in the development phase, we could see devices with Mini LED display first, which falls between traditional LED and Micro LED technology.

UP NEXT: OPPO to soon launch new smartphones in South Africa, could be A53 and A72

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Redmi entered the smart band market earlier this month in China with its own Redmi Band. The company is targeting the ultra-cheap fitness band segment with users who just want the basic fitness tracking features at an extremely affordable price tag. The Redmi Band goes for 99 yuan ($14) in China, which is even cheaper than Xiaomi’s Mi Band 4.

We just got the Redmi Band in our hands yesterday and decided to give you guys a quick tour of its design and features. Our first impressions have been pretty positive with the band offering a comfortable design and enough features to get you started on your fitness journey.

Redmi Band Hands-on

The Redmi Band may not be the best-looking fitness band in the market right now it is quite refined for its price tag. The main body of the Redmi band and the strap fit well together, so much so that it feels like a one-piece design. But note that the strap can be removed from the side to expose the USB plug used for charging. This is one of the most convenient charging designs in the fitness wearable market – so you don’t need any external cables or cradles. You can practically charge the Redmi Band anywhere with a USB slot.

The Redmi Band is light and comfortable to wear. If you have worn a Xiaomi Mi Band, the feeling is similar. So most of you won’t mind wearing it for a long period of time.

Simply put, the design of the Redmi Band isn’t special but that’s not really a bad thing. A simple yet useful design is what we expect from an extremely cheap wearable fitness band.

1 of 4

The 1.08-inch color LCD display offers a pretty decent viewing experience. The display is big enough to show important information at a glance. Unlike other black and white display wearables, the Redmi Band’s display offers interesting and colorful visual elements for fitness tracking and over 70 watch faces ensuring enough customization options.

The display resolution does feel a bit low but for the $14 price tag, we can’t really complain about this screen.

The Redmi Band can be charged via the USB plug under 2 hours. Once charged, you don’t have to worry about charging for nearly 14 days. You can literally wear the band anywhere you want, including while swimming, thanks to its 5ATM waterproofing.

The band comes with all the basic features you would expect from a fitness wearable. This includes 5 professional sports modes like running, walking, cycling, and even indoor exercise, 24-hour heart rate check, sleep monitoring, and even text and call notifications.

The Redmi Band doesn’t support NFC.

Overall, for $14, the Redmi Band offers everything you expect from a smart band and even more. Despite being a first-generation wearable, the band is built well and caters to first-time fitness enthusiasts.

We will be testing the Redmi Band in detail in the coming days, so stay tuned for a complete review very soon.

The Redmi Band is already up for sale on Giztop for $19.99. 

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Back in August this year, Fitbit announced the Fitbit Charge 3 fitness tracker in India, which is the successor of the Charge 2. Now the company has finally launched the device in the Indian market for Rs. 13,990 which roughly converts to $200. It will be available for purchase from 1st January through Reliance Digital, Croma, Helios and other major retailers, both offline and online.

The Fitbit Charge 3 will be available in Black color with a graphite aluminum case or Blue Gray color with a rose gold aluminum case. Accessories for the fitness band, including bands in different materials, colors, and finishes, cost between Rs. 2,990 ($43) to Rs 4,490 ($645).

The company also announced that it will soon launch Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition in the Indian market, which comes with an NFC chip that’s missing from the regular model.

The Fitbit Charge 3 comes with an aluminum body and is lighter than the Charge 2. It features a 40 percent larger OLED display, which is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Further, the display is now touch-enabled. It also comes with Connected GPT, continues heart rate monitoring, multi-sport tracking, sleep tracking, among others.

One of the major change in the usage of the fitness band is that with Charge 3, Fitbit has introduced goal-based exercise modes. This allows users to set a specific calorie burned, duration or distance goal for more than 15 exercise modes including swimming, running, yoga, among others.

It has got a heart rate sensor that helps users to accurately track their heartbeats, monitor sleep cycles, and understand users’ sleeping patterns. It also offers features like alarms, timer, weather, calendar, and smartphone notification alerts with quick reply option.

Read More: Xiaomi Mi Band 3 fitness tracker launched in India for Rs. 1,999 (approx. $28)

As for the battery life, the company claims the Fitbit Charge 3’s battery can easily last up to 7 days on a single charge. For compatibility, the fitness band can be paired with both iOS devices as well as Android devices.

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Since leaving Xiaomi’s cloak, Huami has focused on the Amazfit brand, which had a smartwatch to its name. The company has now added a new smart fitness band which functions like the Mi Band 2 and even has more fitness and health tracking features. It is worthy to note that Huami still manufactures the Mi Band 2 for Xiaomi.

The Amazfit smartband comes with a built-in ECG sensor which performs functions like heart rate monitoring, pulse monitoring and others. The device comes with a body made from both aluminium and stainless steel. While the strap is made from a 19mm-wide skin-friendly rubber. There is a 0.42-inch OLED display at the front and from the display, you can access features such as time and date and other parameters.

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I got the MGCOOL Band 2 a few weeks back and ever since I have been playing around with the device. MGCOOL is a special brand that focuses on products other than smartphones like wearables, action cameras etc.

The MGCOOL Band 2 is a good looking fitness band that works as promised. It took me a while to learn all the features on the handset, and there are quite a number of options available, despite its cheap price tag. And surprisingly, all the features work as described.

Just like any other wearable, there are three major things that you get inside the MGCOOL Band 2 box, the wearable device, a charging module and the user manual. No need for any kind of screen scratch guard as the display on board is quite resistant to scratches. At least I haven’t seen any significant scratches on the screen in my two weeks of usage.

MGCOOL Band 2 Review: DESIGN

The MGCOOL Band 2 is a pretty good looking wearable. I like that the company has given it a different design as compared to the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 which most local Chinese companies try to imitate. In fact, because of its slightly curved display design, the MGCOOL Band 2 looks better than Xiaomi’s wearable. However, note that the main module with the display is not removable, and is integrated with the silicone strap. But the strap can be replaced by taking out the two screws on each side of the module.

What I love about the band is its minimalistic design. The strap feels good and there is a cut out in between where you can neatly slide the remaining part of the strap (after pinning it) for a firm fit. While it may take a couple of trials to get used to the design, it ensures that the wearable fits well onto your wrist.

You have one capacitive button on the display that works well along with the MGCOOL branding on top. Overall the wearable feels pretty good for a $25 device.

MGCOOL Band 2 Review: DISPLAY

The Band 2 has a pretty decent display. It’s larger than Xiaomi’s Mi Band 2 and also uses its larger size in full effect. You get a host of information right from its first menu, which is great. As soon as you light up the display, the MGCOOL Band 2 reveals the time, date as well as battery remaining. Use the capacitive button to move to the next display page. I ‘ll detail all the display pages in the UI section, but since we are talking about the display quality here, note that it’s pretty good for a $20 device. The graphics are good and things look pretty sharp.

One important feature missing from the MGCOOL Band 2 is lighting up the display when you bring up your wrist. Although this feature doesn’t usually work as well as you would want in most cheap wearables, it is still a pretty essential feature. Having to manually click the capacitive button to light up the display gets boring after a while.

MGCOOL BAND 2 REVIEW: MGCOOL APP

Before we move on to the user interface, note that there is a dedicated MGCOOL Band 2 app on the Google Play store to make sure that the installation process is quick and easy. Like most other Chinese wearable apps in the market, the translation is a bit off in the app, well, not exactly off, but a bit funny. But that doesn’t affect the usage in any much as the features and options are clearly defined in the app. The app is good for basic usage, but don’t expect too much from it.

Once you download and install the MGCOOL Band 2 app, just go to device from the menu and your app should find the Band 2 pretty quickly. I tried out connecting the band on my Redmi 4A as well as OnePlus 3T and it was quick to find the wearable and connect to it. So, no issues in this department. The app will take a few seconds to sync data to the band and reveal it on your smartphone screen.

The app will show you important details such as your steps, sleep and heart rate data. Note that there is a special running mode on the device (I ‘ll explain it to you in the user interface section) and you have those details available on the app as well.

You can also play around with a lot of features on the MGCOOL Band 2 app from the setting menu, like Setting your goal for steps, distance and calories, Anti-lost, Music and camera controls, alarm, ringtone and hydration modes. Yes, the hydration mode as you may have guessed from the translation reminds you to drink a glass of water throughout the day. You can set an interval for the reminder as well as the number of times the band has to remind you for the same.

Overall, despite its weird translations, the app for the MGCOOL Band 2 works well.

MGCOOL Band 2 Review: User Interface

Unlike the Mi Band 2, the MGCOOL Band 2 comes with a lot of pages on the display. You are greeted with the date, time and battery life on the first page. As you move on to the next using the capacitive button, you’ll find the steps walked in a day, special running mode, distance traveled, calories burned, remote camera, remote music playback control, heart rate sensor, and firmware version details in each of the subsequent pages.

Note that these pages just display the recorded information. But if you want to start switch on the feature in some of the pages, like running mode, remote camera and music controls and even heart rate sensor, you have to long press the capacitive button. Long press in the remote camera mode takes a picture, but only when you have activated the camera via the companion Band 2 app. It’s a pretty decent setup for selfies. The music mode gives you three different controls, including play/pause, next and previous buttons.

All the interface modes are shown below in the gallery.

MGCOOL Band 2 Review: Fitness Features

The MGCOOL Band manages to track your steps with a decent level of accuracy. It’s pretty much the same as most decent wearables out there, so you won’t be disappointed. Initially, I felt that the step count was higher on this band than the Mi Band 2, but when I tested both the wearables together, the results were quite similar.

The heart rate sensor works pretty well, provided the band fits perfectly on your wrist. Sometimes you may have to adjust the position of the band to get rid of the “Please Wear Correctly” message in the heart rate mode. But overall the sensor works fine.

The band is IPX7 certified as well, which means it’s waterproof and can be immersed under water up to 1m for up to 30 minutes. So, it will be fine for use under rain, or a few splashes of water. But don’t go swimming with the device.

The running mode is pretty good as well, as it shows you the time taken to cover the steps taken as well as the calories burned during the activity.

MGCOOL BAND 2 REVIEW: Battery Life

The MGCOOL Band 2 lasts for about a week after charging it once. So, battery life isn’t a problem on the device. The charger provided inside the box is also minimalistic. Unlike some wearable chargers that are magnetic that snap right onto the device, the one provided with the MGCOOL Band 2 comes with a basic clip on design. It’s quite easy to connect the three pins on the charger to the device and you won’t have any issues in this regard.

MGCOOL BAND 2 REVIEW: Conclusion

Overall, I am pretty happy with the device. The fitness features work well on most occasions, it looks and feels well built and the battery lasts for a few days. These are the things that you usually look for in a cheap fitness band and the MGCOOL Band 2 manages to fulfill these needs with ease. Given that the band costs just $25-30, the device can be a good addition to your fitness accessories.

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Fitness bands are the best selling wearables, mainly because they are cheaper than a smartwatch and that they provide a lot of important details relevant to someone who wants to stay fit. Xiaomi’s Mi Band and Mi Band 2 are definitely the two top smart bands that come to our mind when you think of cheap wearables, but there are other offerings in the market as well, and given their cheap price, it makes sense to buy one of these for those looking for an entry-level fitness tracker.

If your budget is under $20, you still have a couple of options and out of those, I believe, the Teclast H30 comes out as an attractive device. At present, the smartband is being sold on Gearbest for just $17 which is cheap, especially for the features that you get.

Of course, small time Chinese companies are known to claim big things when it comes to features, which is why many of us are quite unsure about these devices. Hence, I decided to take a look at the super cheap Teclast H30 fitness band, to see whether it works as good as the company claims. So, let’s move on to the Teclast H30 review to find out if it’s any good. Also, I know that we already have a great review by Linas of the same smartband, but if you want another look at the device, reading this review could help you out as the price has gone down since then.

Note that I have been using Xiaomi’s Mi Band 2 for the past couple of months on a daily basis, so I can directly compare the two wearables to see where either of them comes out short.

DESIGN

Design wise, I have to say that the Teclast H30 looks better than the Xiaomi Mi Band 2. Now, note that I am a big fan of the Mi Band 2 fitness tracker and I use it everyday, but when compared to Xiaomi’s wearable, the H30 looks much more stylish because of its curved form factor. It’s bigger than the Mi Band 2 as well, which helps it stand out easily. Plus, the large display helps as the characters are big and easily to read.

The overall design is simple, with one capacitive button on top to reveal different fitness data. At the back, there’s the heart rate sensor. The main module is detachable, unlike the Meizu Band and it’s pretty easy to insert it into the strap.

The strap is pretty decent, and it sits firmly on your wrist. I didn’t have any kind of skin irritation while wearing the band. Also, I personally like the metal lock at the end of the strap, especially because of the Teclast logo that’s etched into it. There are two pins for locking the band tightly to your wrist.

What I like about the Teclast H30 is that it comes with a standard MicroUSB port on the module itself. So, you never have to carry a separate cable for charging your band. Just connect to any standard Android charger and you are good to go.

DISPLAY

The display on the Teclast H30 is larger than traditional fitness bands. It’s a 0.86 inches OLED screen with 96 x 32 resolution. Because of its large screen, everything on the display looks quite big. It’s good for those who have a hard time reading small letters. Plus, unlike the Mi Band 2, the Teclast H30 comes with support for full English characters. On the other hand, the Mi Band 2 has limited character support, and only recently did the company release an update to add new characters which at present is limited to Chinese. So, that’s a plus for the Teclast Band.

Note that everything displayed on the band comes in Blue color. I would have personally liked the symbols and characters to be sharper, but to be honest, everything still looks quite good.

Indoor visibility is great and the blue characters are clearly visible all the time. However, if you are stepping out when the sun is shining super bright, it becomes quite hard to see what’s on the screen. You will have to look really hard in such cases to see the data on the screen. But in all other cases, the brightness is good.

The data on the screen is displayed horizontally. For a fitness band, that’s not the ideal layout, mainly because you naturally look at the band vertically (as the band comes up vertically when you lift your wrist). To be honest, I wasn’t happy with this layout at first but after a day, I got used to it. And I feel, most users would feel the same.

HARDWARE

INTERFACE

Using the Teclast H30 is simple. There’s a single capacitive button to browse through the data inside. Lighting up the display will first reveal the time panel. This also shows you the Bluetooth connection as well as the battery status. Click the button again and you get the date menu. Next, you’ll get the step count number and after that, you have the number of calories burned during the day. After that, you have the distance traveled menu. Click the button again and you go to the sleep time tracker. The number on the screen is hours you slept last night. The next menu is for connecting your band to the smartphone via Bluetooth and after that, you have the software version. After all these options, you get to the heart rate panel. It takes a few seconds for the band to calculate your heart rate, but it works fine.

To be honest, it takes a while to get used to so many menus and if you want to get to an option near the end, like the heart rate monitor, you will have to go through all the options that lie before it.

COMPANION APP

So, there are two ways to downloading the companion app for the Teclast H30. You either scan the QR code for the Teclast Smart Bracelet app given on the user manual (it’s in Eng as well as Chinese) or just head over to the iOS / Google Play store and download the TSports app. Both are fine, however, note that if you are scanning the QR code, you are forwarded to the Teclast website and you will have to enable ‘install apps from third party sources’ on your Android phone to install the app.

So, I would suggest just download the Tsports app from the Play store as it works well.

The Tsports companion app is pretty decent. I could quickly connect my band to the phone via Bluetooth and all the data is transferred to the app. Head first over to the settings menu and connect the band to your phone. I would advise, first take the requied time to make all the settings right in this menu. There are a lot of things to activate / deactive here, like target step count, max heartbeat, sedentary reminder, alarm, remote photo, and even the apps which can send you notifications directly on to the band. This is where the large display and full English character support really plays an important part, as you get real-time notifications of calls, whatsapp, and Skype right on your smartband screen.

There are a few advanced options as well, like time sync, software update, recovery etc. So, I feel, the app is pretty good when it comes to features. However, note that the app does not feature perfect English. There are some areas where the words used could have been better and I feel, the company has used literal translations for some options. But to be honest, it does not hinder the functionality of the app in any way, so there’s no need to worry.

One thing to note is that the battery life is a bit affected with the app running in the background.

FITNESS TRACKING

For a $17 fitness band, the Teclast H30 does a very good job of fitness tracking. The pedometer seems to be decent and the step count wasn’t too high when compared to the Mi Band 2. So, I would say it’s good. If you would ask me whether the step count was perfect, I will say “Not Really”, but if you ask me whether the step count is close to other notable bands in the market that cost much more, then my answer would be “Yes”. I hope this gives you a good picture as to what to expect in terms of fitness tracking.

As for the heart rate sensor, it’s just decent. It’s definitely not without flaws, as there were one or two times when I was running on the treadmill and the heart rate shown was just 75, which was clearly not the case. However, when I tried it again, it showed me 100+ rate, so the sensor inside does work. Just don’t expect it to be super accurate all the time.

BATTERY LIFE

The battery life of the Teclast H30 is satisfactory. You easily get more than a week on a single charge, which is pretty decent for a fitness tracker. I have no real complaints in this department, and I am sure most users would be happy with this battery life.

VERDICT

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about the band at first, mainly because I am quite used to my Mi Band 2 and this one’s a lot different from the Xiaomi Wearable. The horizontal character display actually takes a day or two to get used to and I would have liked the layout to be vertical, as it feels more natural to look at. Also, I feel the heart rate sensor could have been better. But apart from these two things, I have no major complaints with the H30.

I like that it uses a standard MicroUSB port, IP67 certified, has a large display with full English Character support and it’s super cheap. At $17 right now, you can’t go wrong with the Teclast H30 as an entry-level fitness tracker.

So who should buy the Teclast H30?

• Want a super cheap smart fitness tracker
• Want a cheap band which can show notifications as well
• Don’t care too much about the accuracy of the pedometer and heart rate
• Looking for their first smart tracker

Who shouldn’t buy the Teclast H30?

• Heart rate’s accuracy is super important
• Willing to spend a lot more than $30 for a smart fitness tracker

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