The Amazfit Helio Strap is a good example of a wearable that’s happy to stay in the background and do its thing quietly, much like a smart ring. While comfort and distraction-free usage are at the forefront, what really works in its favour is the power of the Zepp platform, which is at the foundation of its capabilities. The Whoop Band might have created a bit of a buzz in recent times, but the Helio Strap reminds me more of the first-gen Mi Band, a fitness tracker that was also screenless.
Table of Contents
Design
The Helio Strap, as the name suggests, is barely more than a strap. The charcoal grey nylon band uses a hook and loop design and a velcro fastener, with a small tab at the end that bears Amazfit branding. The band is designed in a way that a small portion hides a plastic pod, which contains all the sensors and electronics.
Interestingly, the band uses standard 22mm quick-release pins, which means you can swap it out with regular bands of the same width. I tried a silicon band with the Helio Strap’s pod, only to swap it out again and move back to the original one — since the latter is so lightweight and comfortable. Which is the whole point, really. However, one caveat is that the nylon strap can take a bit of a time to dry out after a sweaty workout — so that’s something to keep in mind. Amazfit sells an armband option in the US which allows you to wear the device on your arm instead of on your wrist, but as far I know, that isn’t available in India… bummer. It does sounds like a useful accessory — it’d be nice to have another way of wearing this device.
As it is, the Helio Strap is quite unobtrusive, and because of its screenless nature and neutral design, no one is going to raise any eyebrows if you choose to wear this on one wrist and a smartwatch (or a conventional watch) on the other. In fact, if you use one of Amazfit’s compatible smartwatches (like the Balance 2, T-Rex 3 Pro, etc), the Helio Strap can actually help fill in data gaps by providing data on aspects such as heart rate, physical activity etc, even when you’re not wearing the watch.
Features
Before I get into the meaty stuff, here’s a quick look at the features offered by the Helio Strap:
- Continuous heart rate monitoring, sleep quality, stress, blood oxygen
- BioCharge Energy monitoring
- 27 workout modes, strength training, HYROX Race mode
- VO2 Max, training load, training effect, recovery time
- Uses Zepp app on iOS or Android, no subscription required
Usage and app
Wearing the Helio Strap 24 x 7 is extremely comfortable — just wrap it around your wrist and you’re good to go. The light weight, comfortable fit and lack of a screen also work well for wearing it to bed. In fact, I find wearing the Helio Strap more comfortable to wear to bed than a smart ring, but that’s just me — you might feel differently. To each his own right? In terms of usage, there’s not much to do. There’s no way to interact with the Helio Strap at all. The only mode of interaction with the device is its alarm functionality, which makes it vibrate on your wrist. And then, you can tap on it to make it stop vibrating. You can set multiple alarms via the app, and make them recurring too, if you want.
Eventually though, it all comes down to the Zepp app, which is the platform that gathers all the captured data, and then shows insights and trends based on that. And quite a capable platform it is too. We’ve experienced it previously with Amazfit’s smartwatches, and it comes across as fairly detailed, yet, easy to understand. The tabbed layout shows your data and related insights, and gives you access to workouts, and device settings. In addition, a tab labelled ‘Aura’ provides access to calming music and breathing exercises, among other things. 
The Home tab is where most of the action is, and that’s where you can get an overview of your core metrics, and insights on sleep, exertion etc. BioCharge is one of the scores displayed, representing your energy flctuations through the day, based on various parameters such as workouts and physical activity, sleep etc. Overall, it’s meant to give you an indication of how prepared your body is to take on the rest of the day. Among other aspects, I particularly like the detailed metrics Zepp provides on sleep, including an overall sleep score, along with details on sleep duration, regularity, awake times, deep sleep, REM, etc. You also get the option to tag your wake-up mood, and log bedtime activities like reading, noise, screen time etc to get an overall idea of things that might impact your sleep quality.Performance and battery life
From an accuracy standpoint, I’m more than satisfied with the data the Helio Strap is able to capture, including core aspects like step count, heart rate, sleep etc. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say its insights could prove beneficial to professional athletes, I think the Zepp platform, combined with the Helio Strap, is fine for most users who’re keen to monitor their daily activity. One aspect that could do with a bit of improvement in my opinion, is auto-workout detection which seemed a bit iffy to me. You can drive into settings to increase the sensitivity, which does help somewhat. But overall, if you want to make sure the Helio Strap logs your daily workouts reliably, the best way is to start the relevant mode manually from within the app.
For charging, the Helio Strap comes with a small charging puck that attaches magnetically to the base, and sports a Type-C port on the side. Amazfit doesn’t provide a charging cable in the box. Moving on the battery life, the Helio Strap promises 10 days, and in my experience, overdelivers. It lasted me about 12 days or so, though I admit I didn’t wear it 24 x 7 in that time. So I’d say 10 days should be accurate, and that’s excellent battery life for a wearable.
Verdict
The Amazfit Helio Strap’s asking price of Rs 8,999 isn’t too heavy I think, but it can’t really be an impulse buy. I don’t think it intends to compete with smartwatches, and while smart rings do similar stuff, the Helio Strap’s main competition comes from fitness bands. These are a dime a dozen, and promise similar capabilities. That’s where the Zepp platform shines I think, and stands out as a key advantage of the Helio Strap. Since it’s a distraction-free, easy to wear fitness tracker which you can’t interact with, the software platform is the key differentiator I think. You have to believe in the power of the platform, and Zepp delivers on that front. So if you’re looking for a fitness partner that blends into the background and does its job silently and efficiently, doesn’t bother you with low-battery alerts frequently, and doesn’t require a subscription, the Amazfit Helio Strap fits the bill.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros:
- Lightweight & comfortable
- Accurate sleep & heart rate tracking
- Long battery life
- Automatic workout detection can be iffy
- Strap takes time to dry
