The Redmi Watch 2 Lite offers so much value for money for its $60 that it is going for on AliExpress and other online outlets. I have spent some time with this product and in the period I have been using it, a few features stood out compared to the other wearables I have used in the past.

In this post, I will be going through some of these features in the hopes of giving you some form of perspective should you be in the market for one of these watches for yourself or as a gift for a loved one.

Without further ado, let’s dive right into these Redmi Watch 2 Lite features.

Bigger display

So I have been in the Xiaomi Mi Band train for the past few years have used the Mi Band 4, 5, and 6, only switching to the Honor Band 6 recently. Moving to the Honor Band 6 was a breath of fresh air owing to the device’s bigger display that made it far more usable as a watch over the slim Mi band displays.

The Redmi Watch 2 Lite ups this a few notches and the 1.5-inch, 320×360 TFT display is even wider and resembles what we’d properly consider a smartwatch.

Of course, the TFT panel will not offer you as deep blacks as you’d probably get from the Mi Bands of this world but that’s a pretty small price to pay, especially considering the price here.

GPS

Most fitness trackers piggyback on your phone’s GPS to track your workouts and runs and that takes a toll on your phone’s battery life as it has to maintain a GPS lock and a steady Bluetooth connection with your watch or fitness tracker.

Having a device that has GPS built-in is a refreshing change as all that is handled with the watch itself, lessening its dependence on your smartphone.

Battery life

Battery life is important for any device that is expected to be mobile, be it a laptop, a phone, or even a smartwatch. See, none of the features are useful to you if the device is just going to die on you before the end of the day.

For a long time, this is the issue that has plagued smartwatches, an issue that ‘dumb-watches’ and fitness trackers didn’t seem to have at all. And the same seems to be translating to the Redmi Watch 2 Lite.

Xiaomi says that the Redmi Watch 2 lite will last you up to 10 days on a single charge and while this is a little too ambitious, I was able to get a solid week of use before the watch died on me.

Watch faces

I don’t know about you but one of the main reasons I go for fitness trackers and smartwatches is the ability to switch things up ever so often so I don’t get bored of the stock look and feel.

As such, I appreciate a healthy dose of watch faces and in this regard, nothing seems to come close to the kind of ecosystem built around the Mi Bands.

Of course, the same doesn’t exist for the Redmi Watch 2 Lite but the Xiaomi Wear app does have a decent collection of watch faces for this device and you’re likely to find something that matches your taste. The fact that these get updated with new versions often is just a cherry on top.

Vibration

Again, the vibration is probably one of the grossly understated features of any wearable tech. See, this is the primary mode of notification between you and your watch.

The Redmi Watch 2 Lite’s vibration motor is strong but not too aggressive. This means that you will probably never miss a notification but at the same time, it is not very likely to startle you when it goes off. Bonus point for the ability to change the intensity in settings.

Sleep tracking

To be productive, you need proper rest and in line with that, various fitness trackers and smartwatches often come with the sleep tracking feature. This allows users to monitor their sleep patterns.

The Redmi Watch 2 Lite also has this feature and when enabled through the settings, keeps a rather accurate account of your sleep, complete with a breakdown of the quality of sleep and the total time slept. This is pretty useful to ensure your body is functioning efficiently.

Of course, when turned on you might have to deal with poorer battery life but only by a few days off the advertised period so a relatively small sacrifice.

Auto detection of workouts

Like many other fitness trackers, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite has the ability to automatically detect workouts and ask you if you want to track them.

This is especially useful when you forget to set the watch to track your workout, and in my case, just a reminder that I now have a device that can actually track my workouts and not just a watch.

Look and Feel

As noted in the first impressions post, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite looks and feels a lot like an actual watch and not like a fitness tracker. This means that it looks and feels a lot more expensive than it actually is.

The square-ish display makes it look more like the Apple Watches of this world and that in itself should be enough complement.

Of course, there are other impressive features like the support for UTF-8 so texts look natural and you might even be able to see some emojis in your notifications. However, you still can’t interact with said notifications.

Conclusion

It is impressive just how good these inexpensive watches have gotten over the years and we can only hope to see more from these devices moving forward as that adds to the competition so, more variety for users.