Should you buy smart shoes made by Xiaomi? The company that brought us the most favorable, affordable and popular electornic devices on the market? Let’s check out. I am not a fan of running myself but I love running shoes and believe that they are great for everyday life. Especially for those of you who persists to be pretty active on a daily basis. Before I’ve got mine I was thinking about buying some original sneakers from Nike or Adidas. But at the moment I stumbled upon the thought: «What if I get something from Li-Ning?». For the note: Li-Ning is the one of the largest shoe companies in China. This firm creates sneakers for domestic market which is fairly well in terms of quality. Li-Ning even makes shoes for Chinese olympians and has collaboration with Xiaomi. Smart Shoes are selling in two different styles. One is “closed” with classic design. And one is “open” when part of the shoe covered with some kind of lightweight net instead of leather or typical textile. Because of my speciality I have to wear massive army boots during seasonal rains (I’m not afraid of wetting feet but there’s chance to step on a titan cutting scob. And that’s quite dangerous). So, that’s why this time I switched to lightweight Smart Shoes with durable base. Let’s take a closer look.
How They Look And What’s In The Box
Li-Ning uses recycled carton for packages of shoes. Package itself is pretty simple (as you could expect from quite cheap sneakers). Nonetheless they look and feel rather like something more decent and expensive. They’re made of synthetic materials, have no bad scents and sewed really well. A sole made of polyurethane with modified tread helps not to slid on any slippery surface.
As I said earlier some models have lightweight net in toe zone instead of ordinary textile. It helps air circulate through. At first glance Smart Shoes seem to be quite decent and firm. They definitely will survive two-three years of everyday wearing. Even on feet of a professional runner.
Li-Ning says that this device can work on one charge for about a year.
How Do They Work?
Everything is pretty simple. To start using smart features of shoes you have to:
- Get right sneaker.
- Pull out a slipsole.
- Put the microchip from the small box right into special hole under an insole.
- You have to install the app called Mi Fit from App Store (on iPhone) or Google Play (on Android phones).
There were some problems with application from Google Play (it haven’t been working with Li-Ning shoes for quite some time). Probably you’ll have to find patched version if it’s the case for you. - Than you should turn on Bluetooth on you smartphone and scan QR-code on chip using Mi Fit application.
That’s it. Now you can pull sneakers on and wait till they’re calibrated by software.




The Conclusion
Smart Shoes are great not just because they’re smart. Honestly even if you’re not fond of fitness and don’t really want boots to track your every step you still can buy them because they’re tremendously cheap. 50 dollars for such a decent footwear is a great deal. Fitness features are just additional bonuses for those who understands benefits of them. Also there’s a lot of different color styles and specific gender-based designs. If you are about to get your first smart sneakers take a look at Li-Ning. They’re cheap enough to test all the smart features out and decide is it something you’d like to wear or not. I definitely will wear them and already want to order one more pair for the next season.
The article was prepared with help of https://lifehacker.ru/(Material and Photos)
I have same shoes. Visually they’re great but not for the running. After 5 kilometers I felt pain in the feet. Sole is too tough. Like wood.
as it appears they don’t fit really well for so called natural running. How does it feel after running about 10 miles?
I don’t run in them but I walk really fast and too often. Sometimes about 8 miles a day. Everything is alright.
I believe it is not really good for natural running
I’ve got these shoes last year and wore them while ascending Pip Ivan and Goverlu. I used Li-Ning with a thought in mind that even if I’ll tear them it won’t be something critical for me (they’re cheap). But they’ve survived all of my adventures. So I definitely would recommend them. The only problem is that size which was indicated on shoes appeared to be not correct. Be careful while choosing.
I have same shoes. Visually they’re great but not for the running. After 5 kilometers I felt pain in the feet. Sole is too tough. Like wood.