Oura Ring Review

Breaking down my thoughts on the Oura Ring, its appearance as well as its sleep, period, and activity tracking!

I shared back in January that I purchased the Oura Ring and since then, I’ve had SO many questions about how I like it and for me to do a review. I wanted to give it a solid 3 months before sharing my opinion so here we are! If you aren’t familiar, the Oura “Smart” Ring is a wearable sleep and fitness tracker. Previously, I was wearing the Whoop band to track my sleep and activity, but ultimately, I didn’t like the way that it looked and I found myself taking it off with nicer outfits and that would disrupt the data. When I saw the Oura Ring, I loved the design and hoped that it could be a good replacement. Let’s break it down:

APPEARANCE:

I have the gold “horizon” style and I wear it on my pointer or middle finger. It’s a little bulky, but for a fitness ring, I think it looks pretty nice. It can scratch a little bit when working out, so you can wear a protective cover around it or I usually just wrap a fitness band around my barbell for a protective cover. You can’t see the scratches unless you look carefully.  I wish it was a little slimmer, but for a wearable fitness device, it’s probably the best looking thing on the market. 

SLEEP & PERIOD TRACKING:

The main reason that I wanted to try the Oura ring was for its sleep and cycle tracking. This data is SUPER interesting and helpful for me and I think it is very accurate. Every morning, I check the app and I have a “Readiness Score” for the day. This is based off of sleep data, resting HR, HRV, and other factors but it basically tells you how recovered you are for the day ahead and if you should maybe take it easy. Although none of my workouts are crazy intense, I’ve heard this is super helpful for people who might be training for a marathon, etc., and they can plan their big runs around their recovery score. I also like the cycle tracking which is super helpful to know! 

ACTIVITY TRACKING:

When I purchased the Oura ring, I had heard the activity tracking wasn’t the best and that would be my biggest complaint. Thankfully, I knew that going into it, so it wasn’t a shock, but it still is a bummer for such an expensive device. The step counter is way off (much higher) compared to my Apple Watch and pedometer, and I don’t think the exercise tracking is super accurate… That said, I am not one of those people constantly checking on how many calories I burned and what my max heart rate is during a workout, etc… I really don’t care. BUT I know a lot of you do, so definitely be aware of that. 

MY THOUGHTS:

Overall, I think you have to know what you’re purchasing the Oura ring for. If you’re looking for a fitness and step counting device, I don’t know that this is best. I personally like it for accountability with my sleep and for cycle tracking, but I don’t know that I would necessarily repurchase it knowing what I know now. Please note that there are MUCH more in-depth and science-y reviews out there than what I’m giving… but I hope my honest thoughts are helpful!