TREND ON TRIAL SMART RINGS
Want to hack your sleep, fitness and stress? MH puts two popular finger-worn trackers to the test to find out which reigns supreme
08 ON THE PULSE
09 RING OF TRUTH
If you want the data insights delivered by sports watches and Whoop-alikes, but aren’t totally sold on the style statement, opting for a more discreet tracking ring might be the solution.
With all the same sensor tech crammed into a more compact product, these smart accessories toil quietly in the background, delivering daily biometric info to help you zero in on your goals.
But how reliable is the accuracy and advice? And can they really replace your watch? We stick two of the top contenders into the, um, ring, to find out.
01/ THE TREND
Fitness tracking has been transformed in the decade since the launch of the first basic step-counting Fitbits. Smart rings, such as the Oura Ring 3 and the Ultrahuman Air, cram a careful configuration of advanced sensors into a comparatively tiny wearable.
Despite being only a little chunkier than a standard ring, they harness optical heart rate, skin temperature, ECG, blood oxygen and movement sensors to paint a comprehensive picture of your daily routine.
It’s not just about gathering raw data, either. Partner apps crunch your vitals and let you dig into your health trends, offering up recommendations to help you master your training, sleep, recovery and stress levels.
The Oura and the Ultrahuman offer activity balance, sleep efficiency, readiness and recovery insights. They tell you everything from when’s best to hit the sack to whether to beast yourself in the gym or take a breather. The Ultrahuman goes further, attempting to predict the optimum time to get out in daylight and when to have your final coffee of the day. The Oura even tries to assess your real-time daily stress.
02/ THE TRIAL
Our tester wore the Oura Ring 3 and the Ultrahuman Air day and night for two months, only taking them off when they needed charging – once a week, on average. Each day, we compared the accuracy across all the main metrics including sleep, stress, recovery and readiness. We tested alongside a popular Garmin watch that offers all the same insights and one of the most popular heart rate variability apps on the market, HRV4Training.
Our tester also compared the app-based insights with his own (paper-based) journal, where he lo
