Updated with more thoughts on October 3rd.
For the past 30-ish days, I’ve been wearing an Oura Smart Ring. I wore it throughout the day, to bed, and during some gym sessions — although weightlifting and rings don’t mix well, so I took it off for those.
It's a second-generation hand-me-down from my father, who upgraded to the third-gen Oura. The ring comes in a matte black finish, and I usually wear it on either my index or middle finger.
After 30 days with the ring, I can say... I don’t know how I feel about this.
The big reason I asked my father to give me his was for sleep tracking. It’s been a major theme for me in recent weeks. I suffer from something called social jet lag, so I’ve been trying any fix I could find to improve my sleep quality. I hoped the ring would help me analyze my data and track any differences based on the methods I used.
But the more I wore the ring and looked at the data, the more I realized it’s a bit all over the place.
My biggest gripe with the ring is that it seems to mistrack my sleep. For one, what the ring thinks my circadian rhythm is and how I actually feel don’t really align. It wants me to go to bed an hour too early, which negatively affects my sleep score since I usually ignore it and go to bed when I actually feel tired.
I also regularly notice gaps in my tracking at night. It often misses an hour of data, causing my sleep score to drop even further (though this might be because it’s a hand-me-down and doesn’t fit me perfectly; I think it slides around at night).
Finally, I have to admit that I’m not entirely sure how to interpret the data. I haven’t yet figured out how to use it to improve my scores. (I'd love for Oura to recommend actionable steps and adjust based on my feedback.)
But the issue isn’t with the ring itself. I also wear an Apple Watch Ultra, and to be honest, I’d choose the Oura over the Watch any day. It gets in the way less, has a cleaner look, the battery lasts about three times as long, and you can wear a proper watch again. I’ve also turned off all notifications on the Watch (a vibrating wrist makes me super anxious), so in the end, I don’t use most of its features. A ring just feels much more suited to me. And despite my thoughts above, the way Oura presents data is lightyears ahead of the mess that is the Apple Health.app.
But all of this depends on whether I can figure out how to actually use the data these health trackers collect. My new exercise routine involves much more cardio (including Zone 2 and Zone 5 training), so maybe I’ll find a way to use the ring to stay within those zones. I also want to keep tracking my sleep to finally fix it — or at least make significant improvements; hoping the tracking gaps go away. Maybe I should actually look at the Oura documentation.
Funnily enough, I still like wearing the Oura because I love the look of a black ring on my right hand. It fits nicely with my tattoos. And now that Gen4 is out with a cleaner design and improved tracking, I might just upgrade to that. Matte black, of course. Or I’ll just get this instead.