The Amazfit Helio strap uses the same app as high-end smartwatches, providing a wealth of fitness metrics without a monthly fee.
The Amazfit Helio Strap is available now for $99.
As a smartwatch alternative, the strap offers virtually all the same health tracking features via the robust Zepp app, with over a week of battery life.
The fabric strap isn’t made of exceedingly high quality materials, but luckily can be easily replaced.
Amazfit, makers of such smartwatches as the Bip 5 and the new Balance 2, just released its new Helio Strap, a fitness tracker that has all the core functions of a smartwatch, but in an ultra-minimal form: no watch face, no decorative elements (and no subscription).
The strap is about as simple as you can get — just a solid black band with the tracking component below it. Unlike other popular straps like the Whoop 4.0 (or new 5.0), there’s no buckle, making the whole thing incredibly light at just 20 grams without the strap.
This results in a device that’s not only affordable at $99, but also extremely battery efficient — lasting over 10 days on one charge for normal use and up to 25 days in battery saver mode. Amazfit Helio Strap
The Helio is a light and comfortable fitness tracker with no watchface, resulting in a 10-day battery.
I’ve been wearing the Helio strap for the past few weeks now, and one of the main reasons why it works so well is because the app that Amazfit’s smartwatches work with — Zepp, for Android and iOS — is good enough to carry, providing all the useful health and fitness metrics you could want, including workout tracking, heart health, and sleep stats.
The lack of a watchface also eliminates the inherent distraction of looking at it in the middle of a workout — something I find myself constantly doing any time I wear a smartwatch. By relegating everything to the app, you can put your phone away and not worry about checking it until afterwards.
The app also has its share of unique metrics intended to provide deeper insights into health behavior. For example, the BioCharge feature generates a number for you in the morning (a score out of 100) that tells you what kind of shape you’re in for the coming day, with the score changing as you progress through the day.
