[Honor Band 5] A Tremendously Helpful, Remarkably Cheap device!

Dear Fans,

Staying active has always been a challenge for me. I drive everywhere, have a desk job, and don't make it to the gym nearly enough. My hobbies are all indoor activities, like watching sports and playing video games, so I'm definitely a tad overweight.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that I've made some proactive improvements to my daily routine, and am now living a much more active lifestyle. Some of this is related to recently turning 30, but that was already four months ago. My quality of life only changed measurably when I purchased an Honor Band 5 six weeks ago, as a sort of low-cost fitness helper.

The price was right — it literally cost less than my monthly membership at the YMCA. I wasn't willing to splurge on an Apple Watch or personal trainer but wanted to see if a cheaper alternative could bring most of the same benefits. I'm already beginning to think that the Honor Band might be the best electronics purchase I've ever made.

I'll start off with some of the negatives though. The band is not very interactive, and the display is small. You get what you pay for in that regard. You'll have to reference most of the detailed data, like high-level sleep quality information and workout metrics, on your phone through the Huawei Health app. I'm ok with this minor inconvenience, but other people might be pickier.

That being said, it's been a true life-changer for me, for what it does do — monitor and catalog health and fitness data with remarkable detail and precision.

There are ten (!) workout modes, of which I use 3-4 on a weekly basis, but I hope to try out some others. I've begun to swim at least twice a week, as my local YMCA has an Olympic-sized pool, and the band's swim tracker is incredible with a stroke detector and some fascinating efficiency measurements. I was on my high school swim team, so it'll be nice to get back to being a high-level swimmer in the coming months.

There are a couple of other handy functions that I should mention.

I mentioned my desk job, which makes it all too easy for me to stay immobile for hours at a time. Fortunately, there's an "Activity reminder" setting you can make, that automatically notifies you when you've been seated for more than an hour, by vibrating and displaying a green man stretching. I'm sure to do some basic stretches several times a day now (though I get weird looks from some of my co-workers!). By the end of the workday, I definitely feel the difference in my back and neck.

Then there's the heart rate monitor. It's hard to really measure your resting heart on your own through single readings because you need to be completely relaxed to do so, but if you enable continuous heart rate tracking on the band, it will do this for you by calculating from a large sample of readings. Here's what it looks like in the app.

Heart disease runs in my family, so it's especially important for me to have a good tracker, and I've even recommended the band to my dad and uncle. It's given me a lot of peace of mind to see that my data around a healthy 60-70 BPM for the time being, though I know that it's something I'll always need to keep tabs on.

I'd highly recommend the Honor Band 5 for just about anyone — not only recovering couch potatoes like myself. I'm sure there're features I've missed out on, so gym rats could definitely benefit from using it as well!

What are your thoughts on the HONOR Band 5? Comment below!

More about the HONOR Band 5:

HONOR Band 5 FAQs

HONOR Band 5 not charging

HONOR Band 5 notification Problem

HONOR Band 5 Manual