Honor Band 3 review

Simple yet affordable activity trackers are still coming to the market and they’re adding more features all the time. Honor is in that pack, offering its Band 3 as a way to enhance fitness, sleep and activity tracking all while remaining unobtrusive and simple.

But the competition is fierce and there are even more affordable options like the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 undercutting it.

The Band 3 adds swim tracking to the mix, yet there are more proficient options for that, like a Garmin or Fitbit, so does the Honor Band 3 have a place at its £70/$59 (roughly AU$125) price point?

Design

• Simple, minimal design
• Comfortable but has to be worn tight to track heart rate

Simple and minimal works for Apple, so why not for an activity tracker made by Honor? Alright, we’re not really comparing the design of this fitness band to an Apple product, but it is good. Yes, good, not amazing, not terrible, but good. It’s a fitness tracker, how far wrong can you go?

This ticks all the boxes, the rubberized band is comfortable and slim enough to be unobtrusive. The display is simple but crams plenty in and is clear in daylight while not drawing too much power.

Controls are simple and intuitive while all staying in a single button which, impressively, works even when you’re wearing gloves.

The only faff is a special charger the unit needs to clip into, but even this uses micro USB to power it, so should be easy enough to take anywhere and have access to power.

That said, the fit might not suit all. To get the heart rate tracker into position the Band 3 had to be slightly too tight, any looser and the tracker was slipping about uselessly.

Specs, performance and tracking

• Consistent heart rate monitor
• Basic run and swim tracking
• Stat-packed sleep tracking, but questionable accuracy

This is a simple fitness tracker with an accelerometer and gyroscope but no GPS. So you can track runs but they will never be as accurate as a GPS wearable, or even your phone. That said, the Honor Band 3 does track steps accurately whether out on a run, going for a walk or even on the treadmill in the gym.

Swimming is another metric that is tracked, which in some part goes towards explaining the price hike of this over the likes of the Xiaomi Mi Band 2.

This is an underrated feature as it lets you focus on the swimming rather than constantly counting and trying to remember where you are.

Heart rate tracking works well on the Band 3, with fast acquisition, even on hairy arms, and pretty decent accuracy - and yes, even underwater. It’s not chest strap level good but it’s not far off and stays consistent, so works well for zoned heart rate training.

Though since you only have the options of outdoor run, swim and indoor run, even that zone training is limited. We tried to use this on indoor run mode to track a yoga class but the lack of regular movement made it useless, so be sure you plan to do one of the sports it covers.

Sleep tracking is also a bonus on the Honor Band 3, which uses what the company calls Huawei TruSleep (as Huawei is the parent company). This records lots of depth when sleep tracking and there is even detailed analysis of that sleep.

While this is a great idea and looks good, its accuracy was, well, interesting. This tester has a nine month old baby and was up several times in the night.

The tracker picked up on two of three wake ups and showed back to sleep in mere minutes, which might be accurate, but the speed of slipping into a deep sleep seems optimistic at best compared to previous trackers tested.

There's also a breathing score – though we're not sure how our perfect score of 100 was achieved there, or measured for that matter.

Battery life and app

• Lasts up to a month between charges
• Effortless syncing
• Convoluted app setup but easy to use after that

The really appealing part about the Honor Band 3 has to be the battery life – it goes for a month. That’s the Honor claim, at least. But even a pessimist will be pleased, as even with smartphone notifications pinging away and regular exercise you still get close to that claimed figure.

The reason this is great is that the band is so comfortable you only really need to take it off to charge it once a month. Since that’s only 12 times in a year it’s likely you’ll commit to wearing it, and the app takes this commitment even further.

The app syncing works so well you won’t even notice it or think about it. Just open the app and there will be all your data up to date. It’s actually better at this than Garmin's wearables and makes this part of the wearable lifestyle seamless and easy, so you continue using it.

The only gripe here is that the information from the connected smartphone is minimal – you’ll see who’s calling or messaging but little beyond that.

The app itself is a bit convoluted at the start as it’s actually three apps you need. Once all that is installed and you allow permissions for literally everything you can think of, to a creepy degree, then it’s up and running.

One app, Huawei Wear, sorted out the connection and read out basic data and settings, then the Health app extrapolates data. You can see sleep in detail with tips, steps and heart rate, and exercise is laid out clearly.

You can even set up goals easily, with training plans created for you to follow, like for a 5km run or a marathon, for example. These also give you reminders to get you out the door.

Verdict

When it comes to in depth sleep tracking, swim tracking, heart rate monitoring and ease of use, the Honor Band 3 does an excellent job. That one month battery life and effortless smartphone Bluetooth connection make it a useful tool.

The lack of GPS and minimal on-screen smartphone notification information leave it falling short of a smartwatch though. This is a lifestyle tracker that doesn't reach into true sports tracking or true smartwatch uses. There are more affordable trackers and there are more adept, albeit pricey, smartwatches.

So if this hits the specific needs you have then it’s perfect – anything short of that and you might want to consider varying your budget.

Who's this for?

This is for those who want to track their health and perhaps ease into exercise, especially if that exercise is swimming or roughly-measured running, perhaps with a heart rate zone training focus. 

It is also for those who want to see their sleep in detail and be given information to improve that.

And it's for those who like the idea of seeing who’s calling or messaging without needing to know any more.

This is also for those who want to spend more than the basic but less than the comprehensive. Over a smartphone, it offers swim tracking, so for some it will be worth the money for that alone.

Should you buy it?

If you are sure that you want to swim and do heart rate zone running then this is a good fitness and life tracker.

If you aren’t interested in sports and simply want a step tracker then perhaps a cheaper alternative could work too. If you want more sports or notifications then you might want to splash out a little more, on, say, a Garmin Vivosport or Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro.

First reviewed: February 2018