Oura - Oura Ring 3

Love my Oura 4! I wore my Gen 3 until it got too big (I lost 25 lbs) and started slipping off. No problem with the app or algorithms. No scratches. No complaints.

Real talk-if I had to buy it again, I wouldn’t. I got mine fully through HSA funding and it’s been great for over a year, but it’s not for me in terms of what it offers. I mostly use it for stress management but that’s it. Solid product, I have a version 3, just a little expensive if you also rock a smartwatch like I do.

Can’t speak for 4 but I’ve really enjoyed 3. I can honestly say It’s really helped me improve my overall well-being over the last 3 years. I use my Apple Watch specially for tracking performance metrics during workouts (and for work notifications when I’m away from my computer).

I have a Whoop (obviously), Oura Ring 3 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 (+ Bevel App) in daily use. If I would need to remove one device it would be the Whoop. If I would need to remove two devices it would be Whoop + Oura Ring. In my use the Whoop is the most unreliable in terms of data collection. It regularly detects workouts when I do nothing. Recently had a „workout“ of Yoga that moved my strain on that day from 4.1 to 17.3 in just 20min. Problem was I was sitting on my chair doing office work. This stuff happens every few weeks and definitely lowered my trust in the accuracy of the device. Apart from that it is more comfortable to wear than the Apple Watch but less comfortable than the Oura Ring (especially for sleep tracking). What I like is the customization options with different bands (I have a black and a blue one) which you can use to make it fit your outfit better. I thought about getting a biceps strap but I‘m not paying the ridiculous prices Whoops charges for this. Oura is obviously always looking the same and I don’t like that it scratches relatively easily especially if you wear it while lifting. Build quality on the other side is perfectly fine for me. The Apple Watch feels most premium out of the three devices, has the most functions and I trust it‘s data the most in terms of accuracy. In combination with the Bevel App it gives me a lot of insight. Honestly without Bevel I would not get the Apple Watch if your only purpose is health tracking. Apples pre-installed health apps on the watch/phone have all the data but they way it‘s displayed and summarized is awful. I don’t mind paying my 6$ per month for Bevel and I got the Watch not only for health reasons but also to use its other features but keep in mind that Bevel is something you probably need to replace Whoop/Oura with the Apple Watch. If my Oura Ring 3 fails in the future I will probably get a Gen 4 ring. If Apple introduces a Ultra 3/4/5 etc with new useful sensors I can imagine upgrading. If my current watch breaks I would buy it again without a doubt. For Whoop I’m currently on the road to not extend my subscription once it expires. I‘m a bit over half way through my 2 year subscription and since I anyway paid for it I will continue wearing the Whoop daily but as of now I don’t really see a reason to renew it. Hopefully when this time arrives the introduced Whoop 5 or made significant improvements to the software and features. For those interested: Battery life I get with Whoop + Oura is basically the same of around 5 days. The Apple Watch lasts around 4 days (I have Always on off which boost the battery life significantly).

I don’t have the Oura Ring 4 but the third Gen of the Oura Ring next to my whoop for over a year. It’s pretty accurate based on my comparisons with an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and a Polar Chest Strap.

Compared to my Whoop 4.0 my Oura Ring Gen 3 is more accurate.

I’ve tried the Oura ring 3rd gen but returned it because I just noticed it on my finger too much. I have skinny fingers and the ring was just thick and heavy. I bought the 4th gen yesterday and there’s a big difference; this one’s a keeper. It’s much lighter and thinner, doesn’t have protruding sensor nubs like the 3rd gen. It recognized activity which was just me walking, playing fetch with my dog at the park where I was walking a bit faster than normal. I found that its ability to detect a change in my movement and heart rate, even a minor one, and to detect and label a walk was a bit surprising. It also captured my first nights rest spot on with the sleep and wake times and I didn’t notice the ring at any point. With 18 sensors versus the previous 8, I expect it to be consistently more accurate and helpful for my needs as it captures more data. I’ve also used Whoop off and on for years, the two most recent gen’s, where I used to like their data better. Oura has improved, though, and for a $5.99/ month membership versus $30 with Whoop, I’m gonna keep this ring and its membership for the foreseeable future.

I have had a gen 3 for \~4 years. I got it because I wanted to track my sleep and overall general health trends, and I don't like wearing a watch while I sleep. I was very happy that this technology existed. Over time, I've become frustrated with the lack of value in their subscription service (the ring itself isn't very insightful without it, and even though the subscription isn't that expensive, I still feel like I'm getting hosed). While OURA's customer service is excellent, the developers tend to randomly break critical functions and have little interest in fixing them. That part reminds me very much of what recently happened with Sonos: Fantastic hardware, but the app required to run all of it was compromised to support a new product launch that no one wanted. I still use it and interact with my stats daily. It's a great tool for anyone interested in incremental improvements to their health. Is it the best it could possibly be? Far from it. But it's pretty good compared to most of the options available on the market today.

I love mine. Had the Gen 2 then Gen 3. Fit is more comfortable, looks nicer too. Keep in mind in forums like this, you are 2x likely to get someone complaining as someone who is happy.

I have Gen 2 that is still working after 7 years and Gen 3 going on 4 years. Never had any issues. I keep the ring in flight-mode 24/7. Only wear it at night when it gathers all the important data. No benefits wearing it in the daytime. Will only shorten the batteries longevity.

I had Gen 3 and now got Gen 4. The ring is still super clunky but I haven’t had any issues with it at all.

I bought the 4. Lasted 1,5 weeks before it lost connection to phone. Got a new one for replacement. Replacement process was very fast. How ever…. I got the replacement ring 12.12.2024, and the replacement ring died 2 days ago. So now i’ll be getting my 3rd ring in 2 months. Not very promising. Still waiting for customer services response…. I had Oura 3, and it didnt have any problems…

Any advice on how to adjust settings if you wear an Oura gen 4 and Apple Watch 10? I don’t sleep with my watch and used to wear Oura only at night. I’ve decided to wear it daily too but I’m getting duplicate steps and wildly different heart rate info. Wearing the ring on my right index finger and watch on left wrist. I really like activity tracking on the watch and thought the gen 3 ring was terrible.

Had a size 9 gen 4 since launch, replacing a gen 3. Very happy with both. As above I don’t find value in the timeline, it’s not something I personally look at. I think the main page should be modular where we can add sections based on our ‘favorites’ or interests. But overall I’m quite happy with my purchases. Also own and wear an Apple Watch since launch, most recently an ultra 2, I feel Oura does the app quite a bit better.

One thing to keep in mind is that when people are happy with a product and they aren’t the sort to write reviews, they’re not going to post about it. I’m one of those people. I really like my Gen4, have not had any issues, but it wasn’t like some earth-shattering upgrade. So there wasn’t anything to really rave about. On the other hand, if people are having issues or if their expectations aren’t met, you’ll hear about it. My opinion: I recommend it. But I also recommend the Gen3. I don’t know that the differences are big enough for me to strongly recommend one over the other.

I have both. More recently, I found the Bevel app, and now I’m not sure I need the Oura ring 😂 But I still wear both.

I've been an Oura customer for 2 years, nothing but excellent customer service and quality for me. I have literally never had a single issue with either gen 3 or gen 4.

More people come to vent a concern to Reddit than sing praises… I have had Oura for about 5 years and it has helped me a lot and keeps evolving and growing with me and I learn more about my internal working and what impacts health and sleep daily. Personally, I upgraded to 4th gen at launch and as others have said, I am not gentle with it. It never leaves my finger except to charge. Lifting, swimming, rowing, inside of a boxing glove working a bag, cooking, and in general living. No changes in usage in any way from when I was wearing the Gen 3. No issues with it at all. With the recent post from Oura, the understand the cause, are making impacted folks whole, and are correcting the interlocking tolerances at the production spec edge to ensure the separation cases you are hearing should no longer occur moving forward. Overall, but direct from Oura and you should be getting the latest production runs and you should be ok.

This is awesome! Thank you. I’m planning on wearing Apple Watch series 10, fenix 8 and Whoop this upcoming weekend during IronMan 70.3 very excited to see the results so I know which ones to keep. I have Oura ring gen 3 but not even planning on wearing it since Apple Watch feeds it all the metrics. I’m hoping this will help me narrow it down to 1 device 😂 + oura for sleep

I’ve had mine for about 3 weeks and it’s holding up though I have to charge it every 3rd day. I really do think the gen 3 horizon is a better buy. I haven’t returned or exchanged my ring bc the sizing is better for me and it hasn’t broken yet. Idk… my advice is hypocritical 🥲💜 good luck!

I just got gen3 last week. During day I wear both Apple Watch and the ring. Watch is on left rwrist, ring is on right hand ring finger. At the moment I have both writing to Apple health for steps, and it looks like Apple health tries to reconcile a bit. But I feel it trends towards the watch/phone input, which my opinion is that the watch is better at tracking steps. Like at this very moment my watch says 8206 steps. Ring says 8709 steps. Apple health says 8252. The ring however seems to gear towards sleep and trying to see more health related data like seeing if my body temp trends

My spouse and I had the gen 3 since late 2021. We swapped to the gen 4 a few weeks ago and we love them. The fit is better for us in the 4 than the 3. Hope you like yours!

I bought the Gen 4 after being a loyal Gen 3 owner for three years. No complaints about the 4 for me. I understand that there is apparently a bad batch of 4s out there, but support will take care of you. I also went to Oura after not enjoying the rather garish look of health trackers.

I've had my Oura 3 since last fall: as for the device on its own, it's great. However, the android app is lacking, and if I had realized how Apple centric it is, I would have reconsidered...

Two main differences are: Apple has "find my ring", Android does not Apple has a widget to see data on the home screen, Android does not There are other minor things, I think, but these two stand out to me

I went to Oura. When I’m doing circuits (using free weights) I put on a Polar H10 chest strap. Any cardio stuff or weights machines in the gym, I just keep the Oura ring on. Not the most elegant solution but it’s the way I went.

I totally agree. They are both very similar in regard to metrics. Again, you are spot on that the Whoop app is just that bit bitter but the Oura one is pretty decent. The Oura form factor is a deal breaker for many but it’s certainly the closest thing I’ve ever saw to Whoop. I’m in the UK and the Oura Gen 3 can be bought brand new for £199. Bit of a bargain that.

Bought in 2023, Gen 3 Stealth. Wear and tear has been pretty minimal all things considered. Battery life is still pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of the App, but it does the job for the most part.

I was with whoop for 4 years. Left last year cause I just couldn’t justify the cost since I haven’t been active enough to need more than my Garmin when I do an activity, plus some bad relationships with sleep metrics. That being said, I’ve thought about coming back and Oura seems the way to go depending. I think Oura/Whoop is comparable to the Apple/Garmin situation. Apple is a great smart watch that’s good at fitness. Garmin is a great fitness watch that’s good at smart watch stuff. Whoop is a great tool for heavy athletes, and Oura is a great tool for people who may not be as serious about it.  For me personally, I couldn’t care less about strain atm. I just want to find a way to maximize my Deep and REM sleep on as few hours as possible, and buying a second hand Oura 3 for $100 seems like a better route than Whoop again 

While I agree with you on the fitness tracker comments, I disagree on the subscription fees. Oura is the only smart ring that charges a subscription fee...and they are losing marketshare because of it. AmazFit Helio Ring tried to charge a subscription fee for premium features of their app, but, after a few months, lowered the price of their ring AND now bundle the premium features for free. Ultrahuman has third-party add-ons called PowerPlugs. There are 12 of these niche add-ons and only two require a subscription. Cardio Adaptability, and Region-Limited AFib Detection. RingConn did say that they were considering subscription fees at one point before their Gen 2 started shipping, but later said they decided against it.

I typically am size 12 as that fits the most digits. For me, Oura Gen 2/Gen3 and RingConn Gen 1 size 12s are the same. But this may not be true for everyone with the slight differences in widths and in sensor bump placement. I would encourage you to get the sizing kit to be sure. I nearly made the mistake with Ultrahuman of assuming it would be the same size as Oura, but with Ultrahuman, I am size 11.

I use both. I feel my Apple Watch is more accurate with HR, steps, workouts. My ring is for sleep and stress.

exactly feel the same way here. I replaced my apple watch with an Oura, but then when I became more serious about running, I grabbed a Garmin. I wanted to disconnect from my need of seeing my messages all the time, but track my workouts and my sleep. I only track my sleep from my ring and my watch is specific for running.

I have both. Often, it appears the readings are for different people. Oura has me awake when I am asleep and asleep when I am awake. My sleep metrics seem more accurate with Oura aside from deep sleep which can be 14 minutes on Oura and an hour on Apple. My HRV has always been very low, even though I seem to be very fit and healthy. Oura’s average is 29 and Apple 20. Apple is far more efficient at determining lowest RHR at night.

Oura ring is the best on the market right now. But this is a ring, not a smartwatch. For smartwatch go for Polar

I got rid of my Apple Watch earlier this year and only wear the Oura ring. I like not being distracted by a small screen on my wrist, not to mention how ugly it looks. I mostly use the Oura ring data for sleep and readiness. Since I lift weights, I use scosche for my workouts. But I just ordered the AirPods Pro 3 which also has heart rate workout tracking, so that might replace the scosche. Overall, I am completely happy to not have an Apple Watch.

there are third party data analysis options available. and yes, i agree, if you're a serious athlete, it's where AW falls short. actually, if you do lifting or climbing or, hell, even rowing, the oura is uncomfortable - and in some cases, actively dangerous (you sure as hell should not climb with a ring on)

Oura also fucked people over even worse, which is one reason I went with the Whoop - Oura was "pay for the hardware, the app is free" and then moved to paid hardware and a paid subscription and bricked the devices of everyone who didn't want to pay for a subscription. Other reason I went with the Whoop is I lift weights and didn't want to scratch up my ring during training.

I have both and use both

Oura ring has one of the best sleep tracking.

I have heavy black full sleeves both arms and I've found none that work. I have a Garmin Fenix 7 that's essentially just a watch now since I had my sleeves done last year. I have an Oura ring which isn't much for fitness and it's all beat up just in a few months or wearing doing yard work and I'll ditch it once my annual sub is finished. I've heard the newest Whoop might work, thinking about trying it but it's nearly $30/mo which is significant and I'm not sure I'm ready to stop wearing a watch.

Not trying to troll but genuinely curious as to why not go for an Oura ring? That’s what I replaced my AW with and I find it much less intrusive with sleep tracking that anything on my wrist!

I'll give it a 7/10 Had to fight to get my warranty replacement because I wasn't there original owner Data no longer is syncing between Strava and Oura apps It's good to learn what you're baseline is but if you're a data geek maybe look at something else.

I'll say this in addition to my other comment... I'm probably not going to replace mine when this one bricks in the next year.

I’ve only mine for about 6 weeks so I’m still waiting for the cycle tracking to take effect, which was a big reason for me personally, but I’m still getting heaps out of it aside from that. I was so pleasantly surprised at how good my sleep and heart health were. My stress less so, that was hard to see, it was a rude awakening to realise how much I ignore and dismiss all those cues in my body. So I’m meditating more and taking the need to make adjustments to my day to day life way more seriously. It’s also pretty hard to drink even a couple wines once you see how much it affects you. That’s grim. I find it funny someone commented about people wearing them for social status. The ring is ugly. My closest friend teases me about it. My partner hates it (when he asks “if I slept okay” he adds that he’s asking me and not the ring).

I actually pre-ordered, but now had second thoughts and am trying to cancel my order. I have used Oura to track my sleep, recovery etc. and other products to track my training. I dont like the subscription model of Oura, and the fact that i cant wear the ring in the gym. But I think otherwise Im pretty happy with Oura, and do not need another device to track my activity, sleep etc.

I’ve had mine for a little over a month or so, I think it’s comfortable to wear and tracks okay. I haven’t had any issues with it not tracking correctly with sleep but I work out and don’t think it tracks calories burned or activity in that sense super well. I do intense Pilates session and it usually only says like 100-130 calories are burned when google estimates a Pilates work out should be something like 200-300. I don’t track my calories so it’s not a huge deal to me but for others it might be. I’ve also noticed that when I’m stressed or maybe my heart rate is a bit up (anxiety) instead of showing as stress it’ll show as an activity. I have the gold and it still looks really nice but I do wear a silicone cover for work outs and when I’m at work, I work in a restaurant and worry about chipping with beer bottles and such. I find it really comfortable though and I hate watches so this is a better alternative but I do think it needs a little work. Also Amex sometimes does money back on oura rings so if you have one definitely check it before purchasing. Edit- I think over time it’ll track all my things better but I think it’s good to know these things. I’ve also seen on here that if you work night shifts and stuff it’ll not track it an activity.

I looked at the other rings and I didn’t like them because they had bad reviews. From everything I read and the research I did the Oura ring was the best. Second best was Samsung ring but I am an Apple person so it didn’t make sense. I am really hopeful that Apple will come out with one that doesn’t need a subscription. I researched for almost a year.

I've been using my Oura Ring for about two months now and wanted to share my thoughts so far for anyone researching or those of you with advice for my problems! For context, I'm 26 y/o male who lives a pretty active lifestyle. My primary exercise is road cycling, with some strength training mixed in. My main motivation in getting the Oura was for sleep tracking, but I also wanted a fitness tracker that allowed me to still wear a regular watch. I've tried out Garmin, Whoop, and Apple Watches in the past. Here's my honest review: The Good: \- The sleep tracking is awesome. I had some concerns that I had sleep apnea due to a family history, and this allowed me to see metrics that put my mind at ease. I love checking out the sleep data each morning! \- Battery life is excellent. I'm charging every 4-6 days. \- User experience on the app is pretty good. Way better than Garmin, but not as good as Whoop - (the Whoop band always looked ridiculous to me) \- The resilience metrics are really cool. I haven't gotten sick since I got the ring, but my wife's is pretty accurate for recognizing when she's getting sick. The Bad: \- The ring scratches pretty easily. I even bought silicone covers to wear when weight lifting, but my silver ring looks very scratched after just two months. I'm just embracing it haha! \- I don't understand how the tags are supposed to be insightful. I've tried to be diligent with entering activities and when I drink coffee but am yet to learn anything from it all. They just launched this AI chatbot thing which doesn't seem to be very helpful. I would be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this. \- I don't think that it tracks stress accurately. I recently went through a week of having panic attacks off an on, but my ring would rarely label those times as stress. The Ugly: \- Okay here we go... I would discourage anyone who is a cyclist from getting an Oura Ring. I am yet to find any reliable way to accurately capture my bike rides in my Oura Ring data. I have it linked to Strava, but it cannot import any heart rate data for the ride. Also, the heart rate dashboard won't even give me an activity label for my Strava ride even when it's been imported. The majority of times I ride, the ring isn't even able to capture my heart rate, it just says "no data" for the time I rode. I messaged support about this, and all they could recommend is that I wear gloves so that the ring doesn't move around as much. No luck. \- The step counting is completely all over the place. When I first got the ring, it seemed to give me a step "equivalent" for my bike rides. Lately, it gives me virtually no steps for my ride. Obviously, when you are riding a bike you aren't taking steps, but they have to be able to think of some way to make an equivalent. \- Overall, I just don't really trust the activity data. I think that the Oura Ring is best labeled as a "wellness tracker" and shouldn't be considered by people that are more interested in tracking activities. If that's you, consider the Whoop or Garmin. Conclusion: I like my Oura Ring for the insights it gives me regarding sleep. However, If I had known that it would be so unreliable in tracking my cycling I probably would have gone back to Garmin. Would love to hear about other people's experience!

I absolutely love mine. If it broke today I’d buy another one and have it en route before I went to sleep tonight. I will say it’s not for everyone, definitely read through some complaints some people have on this sub. For example, everyone will tell you to get the silver because it hides scratches the best, and then you’ll see many complaints from people who did not get the silver and regret it haha ETA-my HSA paid for it so that was great

Very good when it works. Very frustrating when it doesn't. I wanted to wear mechanical watches that's why I opted for a ring tracker. Worked very well the first few weeks. It tracked everything and gave me very good insights about my health but I am now experiencing connection issues. I tried all their troubleshooting steps and still nothing. My ring has not connected to the app for 3 days now and support has been a nightmare as well. No response. Take that as you will, your milage may vary.

Yup I actually just posted it, but i will copy it here for you :-) I noticed lots of bad feedback so I decided to dilute it a bit with a positive experience, that I as a new customer and first time user have with Oura. It seriously makes me approach my health more responsibly and make correct choices during the day. Whether it’s more movement, put down the phone at night and try to go to sleep earlier (seems to be my biggest issue as me scrolling phone before bed takes away a deep sleep i could have gotten if I went to sleep earlier), or read better into my cycle (I am still collecting data there though). It also predicted a flu two times already. I was not used to having any rings so it took me some time to get used to it but it’s getting better. I still take it off when doing dishes or if I am cooking and my hands get dirty, but I also created the habit to put it charging whenever i take it off so so far it has never ran out of battery for me. I am currently testing the Meal feature and I enjoy testing the features out of the lab. So far my experience is super positive and cannot wait to collect more data and insights 🤓

Apple Watch for fitness, Oura ring for sleep. Oura isn’t a great fitness tracker and Apple isn’t a good sleep tracker.

Not cheaper. The hardware is an upfront cost of $250 to $500 (depending which version and color) and there's a $5.99/month subscription. You can no longer buy a lifetime subscription. And both of my rings (one gen2 and one gen3) died after 2 years. (The warranty is only 1 year.) Whoop is definitely better for exercise tracking. Oura doesn't track cardio in any useful way at all, and you'll want to take it off for lifting weights anyway.

It depends. If you were only using your watch as a very basic fitness device, I could see the simplicity of the Oura being an attractive alternative. If you value a variety of workout tracking and metrics, I don't think the Oura is a suitable replacement. It's a better device to be used in conjunction with an Apple watch, rather than instead of one. And that doesn't even touch upon the watch's other functionality - an extension of your iPhone, which, of course, the Oura can't do at all. I wear both and think they work very well together. The redundancies are minimal, and the integration between the two is excellent.

My Oura Ring has been tracking it pretty well.

I have an oura ring, now I want to make it clear that I didn’t purchase this to track my karate. However; the ring itself is great. Tracks many different biometrics, sleep, tracks my period, my heart rate, etc. I wear a silicone cover over mine to not scratch it up while I spar, but it’s comfortable, doesn’t give me any trouble when I wear my mitts, not bulky etc. I like it better than the Apple Watch just because in my personal opinion it’s a lot more comfortable. The oura app is really cool, super insightful as well :) good luck!

I prefer my Fitbit over my Oura Ring, though I wear both most days and sleep them usually. My watch is far more useful on a daily basis, and has more integrated tracking for things like food, water, cals etc. And the fitbit app/basic things are free. Oura ring has an annual subscription and very limited integrations on apps for tracking anything outside steps, sleep, and period info which makes it somewhat frustrating for me to use, personally They're useful for different things and different reasons. I think smart watches are still the better buy right now, but I'd do some detailed comparisons between rings and watches for what you want to use them for then decide if it's worth it.

I am testing an Oura ring and its sleep metrics are superb compared to Garmin. I can't do AW because I am an Android guy. Garmin for all it's strengths isn't looking that good lately due to their behavior of no updates beyond 6 months and subscription stuff

I like both. Watch for the day and all the time Oura. I got the Oura because the watch was too clunky in bed.

Yup! Had mine for 3 weeks, no complaints about the ring itself, tracking seems pretty good comfortable to wear, great battery life etc. My biggest gripe is that it can’t integrate data from different sources like Ring + Apple Watch/Health. So when I go for a hike, for some reason it automatically integrates my Health data from the hike BUT they can’t import HR from Health for some reason (even though it’s available)…. So my HR data for any workouts where I use watch + ring is just missing. Very frustrating. I’ve given feedback on this and all they said is ‘we hear you and we’ll pass along your feedback’.

I’ll piggy-back on this excellent review, since I generally agree with it. Sleep: I have both the ring and pay for Sleepcycle on the watch and find the ring to be more accurate than the watch but also on the conservative side — I don’t feel like I’m getting credit for sleeping when I should but it’s hard to know since human memory is not accurate either. Data: You can download your data if you want and there’s a lot of it. Advice/coaching: turning data into things you can do differently is probably a lot of their R&D and it is annoying because it can’t be turned off, nor can you streamline what data you’re shown to reduce obsessive thinking but the language choices are surprisingly not off putting Vs Apple Watch: Agreed on it being okay for exercise but short of the watch, which seems more accurate and easier to use. If you just want a vague sense of your activity level it’s good. Ring best for sleep, watch best for exercise

Don't buy! Lots of problems. First ring broke in 2 pc after 2 weeks (outside shel fell off), without any reason to break. A lot of work to send it back and receive a new one, a lot of research to connect the new ring. Now after a few weeks: no connection anymore with the app, whatever I tried (only sometimes when placing it on the charger), battery empty after a few days, a lot of gaps in the data while it fits tight enough. So you pay a lot for a not working ring and not only the ring, but also monthly.. Send an e-mail to Oura to return it, but still no reply. I'll buy another device.

Use the sizing kit and wear the plastic version for 7-14 days. I wore the white plastic sizing ring 10 days to make sure it fit well. And so far my data on my ring has been great. I've had it about 60 days. First 5-7 days it was calibrating so the really good data starts about a week in. Good luck!

The sizing was accurate. My ring is a bit loose. I do occasionally have to realign the sensor with the inside of my hand. Most times I check it, it is fine.  But the finger I choose has a large knuckle. I probably could go down a size on the ring if it fit over the knuckle. But the performance is great. 

I mainly got it to sync with Natural Cycles as we prepare to try to start a family— the other data is interesting, but it’s such an expensive purchase that I don’t know that I would have gotten it solely to look at my other stats.

I have both Whoop and Oura. The Whoop app is better I think - slicker and cleaner - but the actual metrics from both track very closely. Besides the form factor as personal preference the data from both is pretty much the same. And I always use a Polar h10 for heart rate during exercise anyway. I don’t intend to renew my Whoop sub. Right now I sync all my data from Oura to intervals.icu and also Apple Health with a few shortcuts I found on the internet for hrv/spo2/rhr/temp and just track everything on there now. I have found that I don’t really need AI telling me how I should be feeling. If my training load and form show I’m not going crazy and I feel ok, I’ll do a workout. If my hrv is tanking and I feel tired, then I rest. Just my humble opinion and experience. But thought I’d share.

I have an Oura ring that works pretty well under 16 oz gloves. Haven't had any issues there.

I wear mine on my non dominant hand and use oura for sleep and Apple Watch for exercise. Seems to work well as like you I’m more interested in oura for sleep and it does a better job that AW

I too have an Oura ring. I do not believe it is a great fitness tracker. More for casual telemetry and for sleep. If I were very serious about working out, I would have a recent Apple Watch. Edit: important to note that it is a terrible idea to wear an Oura ring while lifting anything. Degloving is a thing.

I have and use both. For my kind of workouts I can’t wear the ring because it was would get super damaged (weight training and boxing).

Very good when it works. A lot of things just aren’t that accurate though. Depends on what your needs are from it

Stress, steps, and readiness

Oura ring recently started working with palantir if that affects your decision. I tossed mine. But either way, I took it off when I worked out, which was a lot

I have had an Oura ring for almost a year now and it is worth it for my needs. For women who get a monthly cycle, it is great for tracking, tips and connecting to other apps like Natural Cycles, Clue and I think one more. For me, the sleep data is also very helpful as well. (I only wear it to bed) It is also able to detect if something is straining you or you’re not feeling well. For me, it is worth it for the connection to the apps. The other bonuses are pretty good.

I wanted to keep track of my sleep and my cycle. I had garmin before but sleeping with it was uncomfortable. I love it, but def I think I can learn about my sleep cycle and then ditch it lol the subscription is ok now but anything with this economic landscape if needed I will cancel. its great for learning how your body reacts but I guess we can learn and then just recognize it without paying the sub.

I love it! I think it depends on what exactly you want it to do. I wanted it to track my cycle and help with family planning while also helping me track my overall sleep and health in the right direction. I just found out I’m pregnant which is in huge thanks to the ring so i am very happy with my purchase!

Same on the Oura ring. Bought it a few weeks ago after I bought my aqua terra. So far so good. Although be careful on the sizing, I would wear the sizer (which is 10 dollars at target which you get back if you purchase ) for a few days to determine the finger that is most comfortable for you. Unfortunately the information is best done on the index and middle finger which makes me feel like Tony Montana in scar face. lol

I just got rid of mine since they now work with Palantir, and I don’t like palantirs ethics.

I use an oura ring, but it is more about tracking and monitoring my recovery time than it is about activity/calories

I've had mine since 2021 and I love it. It does have it's moments but overall it has helped me to provide data to my doctor. I do wear an apple watch on my opposite wrist primarily for day time activity tracking and I use the ring all day but primarily for the night time data.

Also got Oura. I really like it as I hate sleeping with a (any) watch on my wrist.

I have an Oura ring and absolutely love it, but I always take it off for climbing. It makes me sad too, bc then it doesn't track my activity and my ring thinks im being lazy lol. Following this thread for other suggestions!

I have both (sense 2 for Fitbit) and honestly the stats are similar with a premium subscription. Sure Fitbit messes up sleep at times, but readiness values tend to be similar. I would say the symptom radar is more sensitive on the oura, but the key metrics I like (HRV, resting hr) are similar-ish.

Fitbit considers 68 as high! :) On a serious note, Oura seems to have higher recovery number for the score vs Fitbit, but HRV and sleep are around the same. This Wednesday Fitbit has me at a 66, oura at 73. HRV and everything was similar so it’s just how Fitbit decided to grade it based on their calculation. Don’t get me wrong, if you want an oura, go for it. I enjoy mine. Just saying that based on raw numbers (HRV, HR metrics, skin temp, breathe rate) they actually track similarly.

I have an AW, Oura, and Whoop and recently ditched the Whoop. The Whoop was great but a bit more than I needed stat wise. Because I’m a longtime user of Whoop I don’t pay a subscription so that factored into my decision. However, one thing Whoop has over Oura is it doesn’t scratch. (But scratches don’t bother me). For me it’s Oura for the win.

don't think it is as simple as alternatives. All the devices mentioned are just different . I have Samsung Galaxy Watch ultra ,oura ring and whoop . if I wasn't exercising/pushing as much as I am I would not be using Whoop . Whoop is by far the best for that .Oura ring is by far the best lifestyle tracker with best insights. And it is not close . If I could only choose one device still would choose only my watch . Having the screen +apps +ability to go for a run with just your watch and listen to books /podcasts directly,payments with just your watch ,easiness of activity tracking and heart rate tracking . Could go on and on . Second device I would choose would be oura ring for the quality of data and insight that is far superior to Whoop . Whoop shines when it goes to form .the strap is superior form if you are an active person . Not having it off makes it less burdensome too . I think Strain is superior form of tracking and gives me much better insights when it goes to overtraining and when to push or recover . If you can only buy one device buy a good smartwatch for the versatility .

I really like the Oura ring. The Whoop is great, too, but you already have an Apple watch, which is worn in a similar manner as the Whoop so the different form factor would be good so you can wear the Oura and AW at the same time.

Well i can state my story here for what it is worth and your consideration. First I always found smart watches strange because WTF would I want a second device to tell me what my phone already does? My phone is on my person 100% of the time. I saw no value in that and in fact something that would just give me MORE notifications. Don't we already get enough? However I DID see the value in a fitness tracker. I have owned an Oura ring, fitbit, and a whoop, because that made a whole lot more sense to me (Still does). Anyway, I got a free $300 OnePlus Watch 2 as a promo when i bought my new phone, so I got a smartwatch anyway. Basically a Android version of the Apple watch. Sure enough within weeks i took it off - as it was exactly what i expected, a near useless extension of my phone. ....buuuuuut it did teach me the value of a watch as a fitness tracker. SO rather than have a medicore fitness tracker, I got the top of the line garmin (970). And when i bought my garmin i immediately turned off ALL notifications so it remains a strictly fitness watch which BTW I find extremely motivating. I can honestly say this purchase improved my life and health. Anyway - there is zero question here. An Apple watch is a better *Smartwatch* (dismal battery aside). And Apple Health app is very cool actually. But Garmin is a better fitness tracker - the software there is incredible.

Great topic and comments! Based on my experience, I agree with most comments that AW is probably better to manage workouts, and the Oura ring for tracking sleep and stress. I think the Oura is also better in analyzing the data and providing suggestions or actionable insights. All Apple does is collect and display data but there's no analytics and insights behind it unfortunately.

I’m loving it. It gives you understandable insights, analyzing your data., tips etc. other wearables provides similar info but not in the same user friendly way. Eg I have an Apple Watch that use to track my workouts but in terms of sleeping only tells the time you slept and the phases. Oura tells you if your sleep was repairing, if you had movement during your sleep, advise on the best time for you to go to sleep…

My Oura used to say I was consistently stressed, everyday, for at least 5 hours. Now, this past week, it’s read that I was “engaged” when I experienced one of the most stressful weeks of my career. It doesn’t record gym activity all that well either. I think sleep recording is pretty good. It’s a nice gift.

Love mine and it’s great. I’m very rough with it and I’ve had no problems. Data seems SUPER accurate.

I use an Oura ring for daily monitoring (whilst embedding the Omega) and sleep tracking but a Garmin watch for activities. Let’s face it, you’re not generally going to be wearing your nice Omega when you go out for a run anyway (at least, I don’t).

I use Garmin for activity tracking, Oura for sleep/recovery/cycle tracking— I don’t think Oura is meant to be an activity tracker honestly.

This is spot on - I went from Apple Watch to Oura and honestly missed having actual workout tracking for my gym sessions. The ring is amazing for sleep data (way more comfortable than wearing a chunky watch to bed) but it basically just knows you moved around, not that you did 3 sets of deadlifts. Ended up getting a cheap Garmin for workouts and keeping the Oura for everything else

I love my Oura ring and Garmin Venu!

I’ve only had an Apple Watch and I’ve had it much longer than I’ve been a runner. I’m a woman that lives in a very safe area but - still a woman so safety is important to factor in. Being able to run with my Watch only connected to cellular service is soooo freeing. I have music and podcasts available to keep me entertained and getting audio cues from Runna for my running plan is just perfection. I haven’t found a reason to justify switching away from the ecosystem when this works beautifully for me. However: I do not love the sleep tracking on Apple. It is not an ideal setup. I added an Oura ring in December and use it as my rest/recovery index where Apple tells me all about fitness. That’s been working perfectly for me.

agree with oura ring and i also wear mine when i work out! i only take it off when im doing lat pull downs because it pinches my skin a bit. you can get a silicone cover for it if you dont want it to get scratched when you're lifting

I use both. Can’t recommend Oura for the fitness tracking so that’s why I still use the watch. The stats are interesting however.

I use a fenix for activity tracking and an Oura ring for sleep tracking. Two devices is unfortunate, but the oura’s small size, sleep tracking, and readiness metrics are worth it.

I tried to replace my Apple Watch with the Oura ring. Now I wear both. Oura ring is great for overall health tracking, particularly recovery/sleep/female cycle, but it is worthless for activity tracking. I use my watch for that.

I thinkg Oura would be your best bet. I have wore one about a year now, and I dont't even notice it anymore. Not done any weight lifting though.

I'm in love. I literally tell people that I know they should try it because it helps me better truly understand where I am. For example, my readiness score today is a record low 31. I have upped respiratory issues, a screwed stomach, back pain, a headache, and allergies. All I'm ready to do is go to bed. Without knowing this, I'd really try to keep pushing. I can make better decisions because I know what's needed.

I did exactly what you plan to and it took 2-3 days to completely forget about the AW. I don’t miss it. The times when I have to wear it (sometimes I MUST be ready to wake up in the middle of the night when I am called) it feels weird wearing it. I’ve been sleeping with an AW since the very first version but now it just feels clunky and uncomfortable. But I also wear an Oura ring which is good to fill the gaps of Whoop, especially step tracking (Whoop is hilariously bad at it).

I tested at least half a dozen wearables in the last few years and Oura and Whoop are my favorites. That said, Polar’s new screenless strap called Loop is very interesting, check it out. It’s like Whoop but no monthly fees, and Polar has a long history of excellent health / fitness tracking.

You can totally wear it during your workout. I wore my Oura ring everyday for 8 months and I lift 6 days a week. It got scuffed, for sure, but for me it was a tracker and not a fashion accessory so I didn’t really care and you couldn’t see them unless you were really close up

Have you considered a wearable ring? I have an Oura ring and it’s fine for tracking fitness/steps/calories and obviously a wild bunch of other shit, But it’s just a ring, no screen, no nothing.

100% agree Also more 5 years using the ring. Worth it for HRV data alone! In the 40 years since I tracked fetal well-being by HRV as a labor and delivery RN, clinical & research support for the measure is stronger than ever. Id say skip the ring if you’re looking to measure your exercise. (Personally, I can tell when I am exercising.) I appreciate having sleep and HRV data in planning and evaluating my activities of daily life. It helps to get my feelings, opinions & assumptions out of the way. For example, an interpersonal experience that I considered a stressful loss resulted in significantly increased HRV that remains after nearly a year. Whatever my emotional experience of the event, the data show that it calmed me down (=resulted in a permanent decrease in sympathetic nervous system tone) Clearly it was good for me. Knowing this helps me put the experience in perspective. And I’m not worried about support for breakage: Oura responded immediately with a replacement the only time Ive had an issue.

I turn off measures that drain battery. Pulse ox maybe? Luckily I haven’t been sick enough to need it.

Had it for two years. It’s a lot of fun and it has positive reinforcement. Has replaced the information from my phone. I prefer a ring than having to wear a watch

You won’t be able to sync any other device to the equipment in class and it won’t show in the app, but you can check your device’s reporting after to have a read out. However, I would check OTF Facebook groups or this page for someone selling a band if you don’t want to pay full price. The HR monitoring during class can be insightful and motivating, and the benchmark tracking and on-app class recaps are great to be able to watch yourself make progress towards new goals. It’s very worth it to me. I use an oura ring separately for wellness tracking and get my OTF stats linked to it from my Apple health from each class.

Idk I’ve had it since November and it just tells me I’m stressed all the time, even after days where I will feel like I has a good day and was relaxed. Nope, stress. Going to give it a year before I make any decisions with it.

I am also grandfathered into the membership which is why it continue to be worth it to me. I have small issues like, you used to be able to contact customer service much easier like there used to be an actual email, the perfectly round ring isn’t as stylish to me I’m sad that I don’t have the other look in the new ring anymore but I was forced to upgrade as my ring basically stopped working as soon as the new ring launched, that happened with the last ring launch as well so feels rigged. I don’t love the new app interface, but I am a long time user so I just was used to the other one. I don’t believe oura is the greatest activity tracker, I primarily use it for sleep tracking and overall wellness stats and for sleep tracking I think it is 10/10. Def get the sizing kit to be sure and even wear the sizing kit to bed so you know whether or not you like sleeping w a ring on.

I have a Garmin and an oura and honestly I wouldn’t want either a smart watch or ring on their own. Watches aren’t good at health/sleep tracking - it isn’t very accurate. But the best for fitness. And rings aren’t good at fitness tracking - not accurate. But they are the best for health tracking. They compliment each other well

Yup same. Works better in conjunction. Would never use my ring for just workouts. I think you need both OP.

I wear my oura ring and have a cover for it. It’s in decent shape and tracks my kb workouts.

The ring has literally changed my life. The way I eat, what I drink, how I workout - everything. I’m 45 and in the best shape of my life because I can see the impact of all my previous bad habits that I had no idea were so bad (eating a lot before bed, drinking, over training, etc.) The metrics and dashboards give me such positive reinforcement for the good things I do that it makes lifestyle changes not only manageable, but exciting. I once lost my charger and was devastated that I lost days of data waiting for the new one. With my new ring I bought two juuuuust in case. I work in digital tech and this is my favorite piece of technology I’ve ever purchased. Does that help? 😂

I second the Oura ring! I want to give a very strong disclaimer that it's not the best activity tracker, but my active calories on my oura vs my garmin are usually around 50-100 calories off and I burn about 600-800 per day depending on what I do. Then you can use strava on your phone to track your miles if you would like. Oura will track HR and active cals.

I love my AppleWatch ultra 2 and oura combo. I upgraded my watch from the 6 a couple years ago when I was marathon training and it’s been amazing. Recently got the Oura from work and I absolutely love it for all of the additional data.

I returned mine last week, I just didn’t feel it was worth the price point. It fit properly but I didn’t feel the feedback was useful for me, more often than not, days where I had a great recovery score - I felt like garbage and was exhausted. My sleep score was usually off, it tracked me as sleeping even when I was laying in bed reading for hours thanks to my insomnia. I get the stress readings are based on multiple factors but it would register me as relaxed even when I was in super stressful situations at work, then would say I was stressed when cuddling on the couch with my dogs. I just didn’t feel like the info was helpful to me, maybe it was correct and I was interpreting things wrong but either way, the price point didn’t equal the value to me.

I love my oura ring. It definitely helps me monitor sleep quality. I also use visible but not really getting much out of it.

I’ve had an Oura ring for the last 8 months after using Apple Watches for years. It’s been an absolute game changer for my overall health vs just fitness tracking. It’s comfortable to sleep in and the battery lasts for approx 5 days, so it’s convenient and the data is really useful especially around sleep and ‘readiness’. I prefer rather than having a set of static goals, it adjusts them based on how my stats are. So if I’ve had a rubbish nights sleep or been travelling a lot and jet lagged, my exercise goal reduces while I recover and get back to baseline, if my stats are good and I’m sleeping and recovering well then it automatically Increases goals. It’s also got a tagging function so you can see how certain things affect your sleep, HRV, body temp etc. it’s helped me cut down caffeine, put extra attention to my sleep, reduce alcohol etc just because I can see what actually happens to my body when I do things ‘right’.

LOL that sounds like Oura rings customer service. SO done with Oura!

Great app and insights. Horrible finger eczema.

I've only had it for about 3 weeks, but I've enjoyed using it so far! I've found the sleep data to be pretty accurate. Sometimes I get enough sleep but I feel really crappy and groggy for hours in the morning, and I've realised that it happens on days where I wake up from deep sleep or REM. I'm not sure there's much I can do to control that, but I also realised that my resting heart rate always lowers late which is probably because I eat late, so I'm going to try and eat earlier and see if that helps. The readiness scores are also interesting to me. There have been days where, like I said earlier, I've woken up feeling exhausted, looked at my glowing readiness score and thought "I don't think so!", but then later I've felt more energised and managed to have a great gym session. Lastly, I go to the gym regularly and I usually push it hard every session. The recovery adviser almost feels like it's giving me permission to tone it down on some days, it's okay to do an easier session or skip the gym and do a bit of walking instead. Recovery is important! I don't find the tag feature helpful. I think it'd be much more helpful for me if there was a notes/memo feature when it does the stress adviser summary at the end of the day so I can write anything pertinent for that day. It'd also be a good way to reflect.

I’ve had mine for 4.5 years (with some replacements). I love it. Excellent life addition.

My oura ring. My wrist is too small for a watch, so a ring is perfect for me. I mostly got it to track my sleep, where it's just a lot more comfortable to wear than a watch

I had a Fitbit of some sort for 12 years and lost a brand new one in the back of an uber. 😓 that's what made me switch to the Oura ring. Took some getting used to the dashboard, but I like it a lot better. It's still a little wonky recording some exercise. Seems to be better on a full battery though.

To be honest, this is more of a comment about bio tracking and expectations. Data is great but it really is what you do with it. You need to perform the changes. -1) the data is not perfect. It is very good but not perfect. To be honest, nothing is perfect. 2) why do you want it? Most people i know who has the whoop, oura or apple watches dont even look at the data. Or— they do after a workout. 3) oura is more of a recovery/sleep tracker than it is on working out. I have a heart rate monitor that syncs with apple health which syncs to my oura app. You wouldnt want to workout with oura ring unless you’re running or cycling. Injury with something on your finger is real especially lifting weights That being said- i look at my data and have made better life choices because of it. I add tags everyday to see if there are any patterns This data + general feeling of self allowed me to realize alcohol’s impact on my recovery. Ive decreased drinking dramatically. I also have been optimizing my sleep and oura has been great to have as a north star. Is what im doing really impacting XYZ. Most people dont. Most people use it for social status.

I highly recommend the oura ring. I've been wearing one for something like 8 years, in various models. It's excellent as a wellness and sleep tracker but less so as a fitness tracker. But I also wear a Google watch on my right wrist (mainly to be contactable) and a constellation on my left (because it's pretty). I have no shame in that - each device has its own purpose, nobody cares that I'm wearing two watches - there's bigger shit to worry about imo.

I just got an oura but I’m keeping my watch because it still is useful for me for several things.

Watch for daytime and workouts, ring for sleep. Especially great if you have Watch w cellular and go for runs without your phone. Ring isn’t a good sports/fitness tracker. I happen to dislike watch for sleep (even with sleep/DND mode), otherwise would probably not have the ring at all (even though it’s probably better for sleep, the incremental difference isn’t much for me). I’m not XX so the menstrual cycle stuff useless for me but Oura has that. This is the best of both worlds.

I use both. My watch isn’t just for tracking things for me. I’m glad I can have both the watch and the ring.

I love mine! Have had for over a year now. It has really changed my perspective on health in general and challenged me to make better choices. Especially when it comes to sleep and stress. The membership is so little so doesn't bother me. In general it's been amazing. For example, I got the stomach flu a couple days ago and the insights helped me so much. Showing me my heart rate and quality of rest etc. There's a feature called "resilience" and it shows how well you adapt to stress. It's so helpful to see when stress is overcoming me and my ring picks it up pretty much immediately. Before my ring I had spells of "idk why I'm so tired" "I just feel like crap" and now that I have the data it's pretty obvious what was causing me to feel that way.

I have had Oura for about 3 years. I recently got Whoop. They both have strengths & weaknesses. The biggest negative for Oura for me is that it needs charging about every second day. If you do any traveling it’s a pain. Oura also has a monthly fee. Whoop holds a charge for 2 weeks. I think Oura is inaccurate as to things like VO2 max. Whoop gives me more useful info for every thing but sleep. If I had to pick one it’s whoop

I made the switch two months ago and I’m happy with it.

I use Apple Watch for workouts and oura for everything else sleep/birth control/overall health tracking. I feel like the activity is more consistent on the watch.

My oura ring is linked to a natural cycles app and it tracks my cycle by taking my temperature every morning. Basically it lets me know when my body is going to ovulate / what phase of my cycle I’m in to either help someone get or prevent getting pregnant! I was a long time hormonal bc / iud girly and I’ve been using this system for probably 4 years now. It’s amazing highly recommend ! If you don’t want to get an oura ring to track this you can also buy a thermometer or a less $$ ring

I've had mine for 5 years. Got it in the UK and that comes with a 5 year warranty. In that time, I've gotten 3 free rings and a free lifetime membership, all because of dying batteries. Customer service is good and happy to replace it with no questions asked (they can see from the app that the battery is draining too quickly). It is not like Lord of the rings, that when you put it on, it fixes all your sleep problems (or makes you invisible). It does drill in how severely alcohol affects your sleep. But I'm lounging around all day in my pajamas, watching TV, and it tells me that I have had 5 hours of high stress... Which I clearly haven't. Sometimes I think I slept great, check my ring, see I got a bad sleep score, then realize "actually, I don't feel that good" and it ruins my day. It is useful for temperature and heart rate.. you have an objective measure of how you are doing.. if you are getting sick, if you are recovered. And that's all I have to say about that.

I’ve dropped a lot of cash on wearable devices, trying to figure out which ones work best for tracking my health and fitness. Here’s my take on each, cleaned up for clarity: 1. Oura Ring: I like this one a lot. It’s awesome for displaying sleep data in a clear way, and I don’t mind the monthly subscription. That said, it’s mostly focused on sleep tracking. It can get uncomfortable when I’m lifting weights or wearing motorcycle gloves. Their customer service is great, though—they replaced my ring even after the warranty was long gone. My only worry is how they handle user data; I’m not sure I trust their database practices. 2. RingConn: This was a total bust. The UI and UX are awful, and my device had a sensor error. I emailed their support for weeks with no response. Only after I posted about it on X did they reach out and send a replacement. Honestly, it’s not worth the money or the headache. 3. Apple Watch Ultra 2: This is great for tracking activities like running and general fitness. The data has gotten much better, but if you want in-depth info on sleep, stress, or what Whoop offers, you’re stuck paying for multiple subscriptions. I use it for sleep, running, and pretty much any activity, and it does the job well. I decided to pair it with the Whoop since they complement each other perfectly, and I still get to show off my cool watches. 4. Whoop 5.0: This is my top pick. The data is incredibly detailed, and the new bicep strap is so comfortable I forget it’s on. It doesn’t auto-detect activities, but I sync everything from Apple Health, so I don’t need to manually start or stop tracking. Pairing it with the Apple Watch works like a charm, giving me the best of both worlds while letting me wear my favorite watches. After spending all this time and money, I’d say the Whoop 5.0, paired with the Apple Watch, is totally worth it for me. It’s the most complete and seamless setup I’ve found.

I have an oura ring and it misses most of the game stats. Sweat maybe?

I would look at Whoop or Oura. I have not tried wearing my apple watch on my bicep but the wrist or finger seems like it would be more comfortable and the Oura ring battery lasts about 3-5 days. I think the Whoop band is almost 2 weeks.

Oura and Whoop do not write to Apple Health? I have an Oura ring and I thought it was able to add data to apple Health. I never looked into it because I usually sleep with my watch. I have sleep data for the nights that I did not wear my watch but wore my ring. I use AutoSleep and HeartWatch to view sleep data. Both of these apps require Apple Watch. I don’t look at HRV. I have a pacemaker so my HRV is not accurate.

I dumped whoop and moved to Oura ring a couple of months ago. Couldn’t be happier. And bloody glad I did after this scam.

This is exactly what I do ! Love it and the ring is a lot more in tune with my body

\+1 for Oura. Great for sleep and HR tracking. Sucks for activity tracking but I realized I dont really need to track that. Did I go to the gym today, y/n, is all I need lol.

I have a Garmin 970, wear an Oura Ring at night and I have had a Whoop for about a month. It has actually made me lose faith that any of these are very accurate. When it comes to RHR, the Garmin and Oura ring are usually pretty close, the Garmin is always higher by one or two. The Whoop is much higher, usually about 6 or 7. I'm guessing it has something to do with the how often they measure and the algorithm they use. As for HRV, the Oura Ring and Whoop are pretty close, with the Whoop consistently being about 2-3 higher. The Garmin is always at least 15-20 higher. The recovery scores and sleep scores are all over the place and rarely agree with each other.

I also wore my Oura for this one, but just didn't post it. It was 73 the score and dinged mostly because sleep was restless and resting HR was high.

Yes. Oura has the same amount of sleep. Thats because my sleep was very fragmented which the Apple Watch didn’t pick up.

Oura was 7 hours, Garmin 6.5, and Apple Watch 7 hr 44 minutes

AND if your watch dies all the time, look into getting the battery replaced at the apple store- I just did for CAD$165 and it’s now back to how it was when I first got it. No need to pick one or the other!  I too have both an Oura ring and Apple Watch, they work well together imo

It’s kind of stressful like a mom telling you you have been stressed for 8 hours so need to breathe deep for one minute😂. I like some of the data but it seems like it tells me the opposite of how I feel-when I am stressed it will say “you are relaxed” and vice versa.

Same. I put on my apple watch specifically for workouts. And take off the Oura ring. But use Oura the rest of the day

Oura tracks temperature and connects to natural cycles and therefore should be better for tracking menstrual cycles. Whoop doesn't do much at tracking menstrual cycles.

Apple watch in the gym only for me. Oura ring everywhere else. Good point on the degloving, absolute nightmare.

Upvote for the Oura ring as someone who also got into watches recently and was daily'ing an Apple watch. (I daily a Speedmaster now) The battery life isn't as great as the new Apple watches, but will be fine for a normal work day.

My Oura ring tracked the heart rate from 110 to 160 for the full three hours . 1/2 hour in zone 5 and 45 minutes in zone 4 cardio . It was brutal.

Ultrahuman is full of unreliable algos to drive metrics, better go with Oura or Garmin.

I’ve had mine for 2 months now. Which reminds me I should put it on now. It’s a lot bulkier than I thought it would be. The sleep information is nice. I bought it because I would sometimes wake up with headaches/migraines. I thought maybe my sleep apnea came back or something. Looks like there is no correlation. So now I can narrow it down to consecutive nights of poor sleep or wrong pillow. It’s good at its job. But once you have the info you need I feel like you don’t need to wear it so much anymore.

After much research and consultation, I’m planning to move to the Oura Ring…. As an iPhone user the Fitbit Google migration has been a pain I can no longer endure anymore.

I have an oura ring, it’s brilliant for telling me when I’m starting to shown signs of a flare or another illness. I also have an Apple Watch but the oura has rendered it pretty much redundant now

It measures hrv, temp, rhr, cardiovascular fitness and loads of others to do with health and sleep. Yes it does require a subscription, I think the app is pretty basic without it. I wouldn’t be without mine now. The battery lasts about 5 days and it’s completely unobtrusive with no screen or audible notifications. My watch used to irritate me with constant notifications

No, mainly the sleep and readiness pages. Says about mr hrv, what type of sleep I get etc I tend to miss deep sleep when I’m flaring. Resting heart rate and recovery index also show when I’m starting to drop a bit. I have had my oura a while now and consistently use tags for flare symptoms etc which helps me understand more if that makes sense

It doesn’t work a lot of the time. I get a lot of missing data and/or wrong data. I ended up selling mine because it was really just useless for me. I would not recommend.

100% agree here. Apple Watches and Oura have been tested and rank higher in terms accuracy in predicting your sleep and stages. The Apple Watch SE is much cheaper and probably a better option! Garmins don’t track sleep stages quite as accurately, but if you’re not going to be using it for the fitness features it’s probably not worth the money. My Garmin honestly doesn’t really get the times I fall asleep very accurately and it’s usually skewed by quite a bit. If you do want a Garmin go for the Vivoactive, Venu or very base model forerunner 55! I can highly recommend Garmin specifically for the amazing battery life.

I use oura ring for my 24 hour health tracking. I then switch between no watch, Garming, a AWU version 1 as I like, but generally prefer Garmin for use during any sort of workout and AWU as my watch the rest of the time. I have started wearing both on runs sometimes since it's nice to leave my phone behind and still stream music.

Have had a Fitbit since 2012. The last 2 years I've also had an Oura Ring. Honestly, the only reason I still use it is: 1. Vibration alarm 2. Watch face 3. Small size - I've always loved the thin little trackers,smaller than an eraser. I didn't enjoy the Versa. I'm using a Luxe currently. Will have to find something to replace those functions soon it seems.

Could not agree more about oura. Anything activity wise is insanely inaccurate so I ONLY use it to track my cycle and get sleep insights.

I got the Oura ring hoping to replace my watch as well and ended up doing what a lot of others also mentioned - watch for workouts and ring for everything else. Mainly because I didn’t want to risk degloving with weight lifting. That said, I’m considering the new AirPod pros in lieu of the watch since they are supposed to be able to track workouts

Oura does not need to hold the candle to whoop for fitness as you can use your Garmin and oura is able to read those metrics too.... love the oura+garmin+bevel setup - never had more accurate metrics that actually reflect my day status. Female health in whoop as a runner? Ridicoulous - you keep fighting with lower HR ranges whoop does not cater to (so much for "individual dataset") lest the "hormone" tracking was off and gave no insights.

I’ve never been able to get it to not track steps during outdoor rides. Avid cyclist and Oura user since 2020. I started doing structured training 4 months into using Oura and the increase in HRV was amazing. Being able to monitor HRV along with the peaks and rests taught me how to manage my activity levels and that helps me manage my life stress. I’m sorry you suffer with anxiety. I hope this is an area Oura is looking at.

Certainly and thanks for yours! I should add that I record activities outside Oura. I’ve never thought of it as an activity tracker but a recovery tracker.

Did bought an Oura ring ... Went from a plastic device to titanium. From a US to an more Europe based company. From a subscription over 20€ a month to 5,99. After this announcement from Whoop my Oura ring smiles from my middle finger ;) Cheers.

Misfit has worked well for me for years. There's many ways to wear it, too, as a necklace, as a watch, and at one point, I got an ankle band and put it in there to be really out of the way when I was working at Walmart in the deli and still wanted to track my steps but was afraid of losing it if I attached it to my shoe with the included clip. ETA: Misfit also has a speedo version that tracks swimming laps, which is helpful for a lifeguard! Right now, though, I'm using the Oura ring, and I like that as well, but if you want the readiness scores and insights, you need the subscription (about $6 per month), but you can also use it as a basic fitness tracker without the subscription, I've heard. I've never had it without the subscription to know personally what ask that entails, though, and it's quite pricy to have things withheld. These are some common complaints along the users. If you're considering it, there's a subreddit dedicated to it with screenshots of the app, discussions of results, and common complaints being discussed with cost versus benefits.

Oura is probably the best for that, but it mainly works as an accountability tool. Some people get inspired by that, some annoyed.

I got mine in December and I’m loving it! I’ve gotten great insight to stress management and getting better sleep (what I got it for) and I have been able to improve both of those. It was also really interesting to see how everything was affected when I was sick last month. I definitely recommend it!

For what it’s worth, I am super sensitive to lights at night—even tiny LED lights. If there are any at home, I put black electrical tape over them, and in hotels I use shirts or anything I can to cover them. But the light that occasionally shows from the Oura ring when it’s taking a reading somehow does not bother me one bit. I guess I don’t sleep with my index finger right by my eyeballs, but then again, it’s a lot closer to me than hotel room thermostats! Just mentioning in case that helps. :)

I really like my Oura ring. That said, if you can tolerate how ugly the Whoop is, I found the data to be more useful.

Yep, Oura ring. More accurate in my experience

Apple watch to workout, oura ring and mechanical watch everywhere else

I like the Oura, but if bulky is a deal breaker, Ultrahuman seems to be a better fit. I read the reviews and I was torn between the two. If you want more info, they are explained in decent detail here. https://kalodynestudios.com/home/kalodyne-studios-expert-reviews-buying-guide/best-smart-ring-of-2025/

I have Oura and Apple Watch. For years, AW passively fed me data and I made no lifestyle changes. After a month of Oura grading me every morning, I started taking sleep seriously. Two years later, I've gone from 5 hours to 7-7.5. Life changing stuff. My RHR is down 25%, HRV is up. Oura's daily score keeps me honest. AW is better activity tracker. Oura is better at sleep, recovery, nudging you towards change. If you're susceptible to being graded and interested in recovery and sleep metrics, Oura is for you. For activity tracking, I'd skip it.

I wear an Oura ring when I work out and was surprised by how much information was being tracked and stored. It’s also very easy to hide since I typically wear gloves when I play. I wonder if anyone else can attest to Oura ring?

I have an Apple Watch and it works for every except sleep since you got to charge it. For sleep I use the Oura Ring, that is really good. And for calories and macro tracking I use Cal AI

I have been a Oura ring user for the last 5 yr, but, I have been looking into getting a band. I’ve been reading all the post watching YouTube videos etc. when I saw that polar was coming out with the loop I was very interested but, certain features that I see on other bands are missing and I thought bringing out this new band they would bring out a better app. I haven’t used a polar watch in more than eight years and I did use the chest band up until 2 year ago.. I’m thinking I will go with the Amazfit for now after reading so many post and seeing what ppl are saying.

I also wear the Oura ring for sleeping and it has been spot on. I wear my watch and another band for workouts

I have had mine for 2 1/2 years. I love it and will keep having one in the future.

Generally yes, but there are expections. Eg Oura have the best sleep tracking of all wearables.

Exactly the same, BB always correct. Sleep detection time is not correct on Garmin, but I have also the Oura ring.

I switched and love it. The watch was basically a phone on my wrist. I don’t weight lift so the ring is never in the way for my workouts. I could not sleep with my watch on EVER but the ring is so easy to sleep with. The size I got is snug on 1 finger and loose but secure on another so if my fingers swell I can move it to the other finger. Oh! The bands for the watches that I had were all the stretchy ones. Which get gross but they are washable. But when I wash my hands and get water on the watch on occasion? Awful. Ring though? I don’t even think about it. It’s far less annoying to me.

I returned it because I work night shift and they don’t track movements between midnight and 4am. Also, the ring looks pretty cheap

Oura is the best among smart rings and ranks among the top in the fitness tracking market, but Apple Watches are #1 in sleep tracking.

I've been diagnosed with sleep apnea after a polysomnography with a special device attached on me. The results were really not good, doctor didn't recommend yet a CPAP machine, but told me to lose weight and do daily cardio. Oura and Apple told me that I had a great sleep 10 nights in a row, which was really not the case. Refunded Oura and kept the apple watch for being more confortable, but I do not trust these apps at all. I also audio record my sleep with an app and the snoring is otherworldly.

100% agree - a major for instance for me feeling better is I did not know that if you want/need more deep sleep, you need to go to bed early i.e. within the recommended timeframe from the ring and indeed your deep sleep will increase… I figured if you got say eight hours it didn’t matter when that eight hours was but it turns out that is not the case! It’s things like that that have made my Oura uper worthwhile for me! Symptom tracker is also a game changer!

Oura ring + BB58, both left

I’d say yes, but also: it depends. If you’re happy to have and wear a smartwatch over analogue and have the means to buy it, then yes. I think it will give you good data to start with. If you’re not the smartwatch type and can’t be bothered with all the other features of an Apple Watch, then maybe check out the Oura ring. I have both, love both but for different reasons. My watch is basically my phone on my wrist and I love it for its fitness tracking functionality among other things. My Oura ring is my ultimate health companion and in my opinion one of the best on the market to track sleep and overall health. So I guess it depends on what feels comfortable for you and what are your main use cases.

This I’ve spent a stupid amount on my oura ring plus over a year fees vs just buying the garmin watch and being done on that front (I still use both now that I added a garmin)

I don't use Apple health. I use them independently within the Oura app and Garmin Connect. If I was starting fresh right now I'd probably just get a good Garmin watch and leave it at that. I like the Oura and the data and the interface and appearance but...I'm used to it as I've had it well over a year at this point, and it gives me apples to apples comparison over time where I don't have that history with Garmin. But the Garmin seems to have plenty and do well enough, just it should be good. Also my Garmin 965 battery lasts a lot longer than my Oura ring's battery so the need to charge is less (I can get up to 3 days/nights on the ring but try to charge M/W/F from my desk at work so it never has to go too long and get too low. I could probably get, IDK over a week from the Garmin maybe two I charge it when it is at like 50% and that's maybe every 4 days or longer

If you take working out seriously I would say you need both. Oura isn’t the best for actually tracking the specific exercise you are doing.. If you care more about general wellness and metrics like heart rate, temperature, etc. I think the Oura js better in pretty much every way. I have the Oura primarily to track sleep and my cycle as a woman. I couldn’t imagine wearing my bulky watch to sleep or my ring to lift weights. The battery life also lasts like 3-4 times as long with the Oura. So totally depends on what you’re tracking but to me they work together!

And I also have Oura because I am a woman and track my cycle and ovulation for birth control purposes

I got mine free from work and it wasn’t my thing. I didn’t like how thick it was, it was thicker than my husbands wedding band. I had major sensory ick. I felt like it had to be charged often too. I liked it more than the Apple Watch but tbh I love my Fitbit more

It doesn't track swimming in any meaningful way, at least for me.

It sometimes (sometimes) says "maybe swimming" in the app after it detected certain movement - and that's usually post-swim shower and not the actual swimming. Basically, it is completely useless for tracking swimming. You can enter the time of start and finish off your swim into the app, but that is not even particularly useful. It is not a workout detector and neither does it pretend to be. It just about tracks steps but not exactly accurately either. If you are thinking of replacing an Apple Watch with Oura ring for workout tracking, don't. If you want better battery life, Garmin (up to around 11 days) or Apple Watch Ultra (up to about 2 days).

I don’t have a good suggestion, but I can give you my experience with smart devices. I have an Oura ring and used to have an Apple watch. I scratched my watch face multiple times when climbing. I also never climb with my ring. I don’t trust the Oura ring to survive or be safe when climbing.

Ik this is 4 months old. Oura and whoop both detect alcohol easily. When i used whoop everytime i drank my recovery was in the red. Even if just 2 Miller lite. It's literally a poison it's horrible for you.

It should import Fitbit data. I was a Fitbit user, but realized I prefer having only one wearable on so I just use Oura now. But it did work fairly well together

Not specifically, but I do use it at the gym with weights, etc.

I’ve been loving the oura ring - I’ve used it for 4 years- the fitness tracking isn’t as robust as others but it’s just a ring (no watch tan lines  :))) and honestly not too blocky either. The sleep tracking is very very good as well

I don’t think it’s great for activity tracking. I would look into whoop. That’s kinda what I wish I would have gotten but I didn’t learn about it until after I got my oura

I didn’t say it’s bad. I said it’s not great lol. There’s room for improvement when it comes to activity tracking in my personal opinion

I got mine for free, so I’m not that biased. I’m honestly blown away. It has exceeded my expectations and I’m loving it more for every day

I switched about a year ago and I like it so far. The only activity/sports tracking I need it to do is for spin or occasionally run on a treadmill so I just manually track/start the activity and it’s pretty close to what my watch tracks in calories burned. I don’t care about step count. I like that the ring is less intrusive than a watch.

I’ve gone both ways with this and back with AWU and Oura. Whoop has a beautiful UI but is largely inaccurate on HR reading for me. So that throws everything else off. I’ve tested Whoop and AWU against the gold standard HR chest strap and the AWU is insanely accurate for me on my wrist. Whoop, not so much. Really wanted Whoop to work too. I’ve tested this over and over. Data nerd.

https://preview.redd.it/vs3mpaibzznf1.png?width=403&format=png&auto=webp&s=82e691eab0e6bd67ddc6d17a04dd527b18b7674c That's interesting. I haven't looked at the calc methods yet, but I'm currently trialling Whoop and Oura with my Polar Pacer Pro. I only have 7 days of data so far, as you can see, correlation is high but Polar HRV is always 10-20ms higher. A late, but sober night on day 2. Alcohol on day 5 and a little bit on day 6... I'm primarily doing this for sleep data, but when my legs aren't playing up I run, hence the Polar device.

This is my perspective as someone who uses Whoop and wears an SMP or a Speedy that I rotate according to how I feel. Also, I've tried Oura, and liked it, but it wasn't for me. And I have an AW Ultra that I use when running and hiking, and this is after a few years of using a Garmin Fenix. Most people think of Whoop as simply a fitness tracker, which it is, but it is much more. What seperates Whoop from other things is how it shows you the impact of your behaviors. Yes, I think Whoop was less than honest about their upgrade policy with the new 5.0 and MG release, but I still can't find anything like it. The "magic" of Whoop is that it allows you to pre-select certain behaviors that will appear in a daily journal. Each morning you take 30 seconds to check yes or no on these items, e.g. Did you consume added sugar yesterday? Did you eat a late meal? There are endless options. As times goes on, Whoop continues to show you how these behaviors are impacting your sleep so that you discover how far before bed you should stop eating, or what's the latest time of the day you can drink caffeine without it impacting your sleep (even though you may think it doesn't because you fall asleep quickly). I'm not trying to sound like an advertisement for Whoop, but I think most people evaluate Whoop without knowing what it really does. So when I run or hike I use my Ultra for reasons that don't overlap with Whoop. But the rest of the day, when wearing my SMP or Speedy, or when I sleep, I wear Whoop because it is providing overall health insights that I find valuable and have led to lifestyle changes that I may not have made otherwise--even as a person in great shape who works out six days a week.

Other factors can be based on actionable items as well. I sleep better when I don't drink caffeine or alcohol too late at night. Oura takes that into account by measuring things like latency (time it takes to fall asleep), HRV, etc. So I am able to learn and improve my behaviors to get better sleep. IMO that's a lot more useful.

Everyone prefers different things, for sure. I find Oura's presentation the easiest and simplest to take action on, and it's the only thing that's actually led to improvements in my lifestyle regarding sleeping. I love my Apple Watch, but think it's pretty much useless for helpful sleep tracking.

Ditto. My Oura gives a much more accurate picture of my sleep then Apple Watch unfortunately. I'm not sure there's much I can do short of sleeping for 4 hours to get my Apple Watch score to drop below 90.

I came from an Oura, Apple Watch, and I’ve owned a garmin. I love Fitbit’s app the best. Especially with the integrated food tracking. I’m no athlete so all the Garmin features weren’t interesting to me. Oura gave me info i thought was useless. Always telling me to take it easy cause I had “major signs” yet I felt fine 🤷🏻‍♀️I love my Apple Watch but I loathe having to charge it everyday so here I am.

I use a whoop for my all day tracking (have used oura too) and just use a garmin for my actual workout tracking- it's only worn when I'm in a workout.

I found the Oura incredibly accurate compared to my AWU2. The Oura seemed to pick up my wake periods better. What was weird was if I didn’t wear my watch, the data from the Oura into Apple Health would look massively different.

I had this when I had more than one source feeding into my sleep stats. I don’t think the Apple Watch records time in bed, but some apps and maybe Oura do. It all gets horribly garbled. Having even two active sources messes up the results, at least as far as duration and time awake are concerned, even though one of them is supposed to take priority. I found that once I ditched the Oura, AutoSleep, Sleep Cycle, Pillow etc (or at least stopped them writing to Apple’s sleep stats, as opposed to just reading them), Apple’s sleep stats seemed much closer to reality.

At least as far as duration and wake times go, I found the watch and Oura pretty close, though Apple usually recorded an extra 15 minutes or so of total sleep. It was close enough that I’ve pretty much stop using the Oura

Agreed. I own an Apple Watch Ultra, a garmin instinct, an aura ring and a whoop. There is no perfect fitness tracker, they all have pros and cons. People who give a black and white “x is better than y” always get a raised eyebrow from me.

Well they could add a chest strap lol even sell it and profit instead of bands but would me acknowledge their innacurate reads Yeah to be fair I think one is enough of those I just have many since I have free lifetime on Oura so its free to use and nice to just have another data source but I think Helios does the job for the price specially in accuracy on all these whoop, Oura. Was amazed how good helios was on wrist since day 1 but the data could be better presented in the UI for sure

Recovery to strain analysis. After 4 years I can use whoop to get myself ready for race day while maximizing my training in the weeks leading up to it. Over time the metrics have allowed me to perform better in my 40’s than I did in my 20’s. It’s not just the device, I find the algorithms and the app itself make a big difference. I tried the oura, it felt like a less accomplished version. I don’t want a watch. I know the AW has better hardware, but it doesn’t have the data analysis and I already wear watches. It’s also not 24/7 due to charging. So the app, lack of screen, 24/7 wearability due to charge on wrist. If I’m going for serious assessment of potential overtraining or such I have a frontierX chest strap that is more accurate than the AW.

Garmin Epix Pro, HR strap (I use a Polar one) & an Oura for Sleep & Recovery has been my trio that has worked the best to get me through training.But do yourself a favor and never look @ your scores for sleep and recovery race day!

Happy to know I’m not the only one why sleeps with multiple devices lol (AWU3, F8 Pro, Oura, Ultahuman and occasionally whoop) 😅

I prefer Oura for sleep, Garmin for everything else.

Don't have any tracker. Used to have oura and found the information useless.

I tested Oura and returned it for this reason.

Considering. If it comes to a retailer that has a good return policy, I may give it a try as this is cheap enough for me. Tried Oura but I was too conscious of it, so this could be more suitable. I use a smartwatch again as a phone on the wrist, but am not happy with its health metrics.  Would have appreciated a vibration motor and smart alarms though. 

I had an Oura a few years ago and it was infinitely better than the Apple Watch. I’m pretty sure AW just guesses and makes stuff up depending on when I enable and disable sleep mode. Oura was scary accurate, and would even know perfectly if I fell asleep for 5 minutes watching TV vs just sitting still for a while.

Plus one for the Oura. I know the Whoop is a more comprehensive fitness tracker but it looks terrible. Oura delivers almost everything I’m looking for in a wearable. My current setup for running is Strava on the phone plus a Wahoo Tickr, and on the bike I have a Garmin 520. I’m considering supplementing my Oura with a Garmin Instinct for running so I don’t have to take my phone with me to get better stats.

I’ve had Fitbit for 10 years. It was great until Google bought the company. It has been going downhill since then and legacy users are now being forced to switch their account to Google. The support sucks. I also use an aura ring and I love it. I’m to the point of getting rid of my Fitbit. The main advantage that it had is that the Fitbit scale synced with the app, but then they stoped selling the scale. Eventually, they’ll probably try to move all Fitbit users to the Google watch system. I’d look elsewhere.

Casual weight lifter over here. I do two strength days a week and the finish on the ring got scratched up and looked awful within two weeks. I returned it

Have tried the Oura and Ultrahuman, but the RingConn was much better for me as it is invisible when worn. None of them are particularly accurate, however, and the tech is still in its infancy. The Fitbit Luxe is small on the other wrist, but is not perfect. Sadly an Apple Watch or Garmin are way better, but double writing is tricky.

Since Oura is a Finish (EU) company you should not worry about data protection too much. It will be much better than any American or Chinese brands (RingConn etc.) or India (ultrahuman). When it comes to data accuracy / quality especially for sleep tracking nothing beats Oura. Check out: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDhV6EbBUk&ab\_channel=LordofTheSmartRings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDhV6EbBUk&ab_channel=LordofTheSmartRings) or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMKtqY6CmM&ab\_channel=TheQuantifiedScientist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMKtqY6CmM&ab_channel=TheQuantifiedScientist)

Used to do Apple Watch and switched to Garmin, but not for daily tracking. I did it specifically because of the data it gives me for workouts, and the training plans. It’s a training watch. I think all the stuff you mentioned for me I don’t really need a lot of frills around, really. A simple line chart showing me VO2 max over time is fine. My Garmin Fenix shows me my current estimated VO2 max right on the face. I do like how Garmin charts HRV, but neither Apple or Garmin should be considered best for this if you really care. Wrist is just not an ideal location for it, even if Whoop had done well. I use Oura for sleep tracking. Apple and Garmin BOTH are kinda weak here. What Garmin does do well is show me trends of HRV, and from that it can be useful in terms of telling me recovery impact to training. Ultimately I view Garmin as a training device and Apple Watch as a lifestyle device. Both are about the same for daily tracking of activities and Garmin can feed Apple Health. If you like Apple nudging you to “close the rings” you’re maybe more of an Apple Watch candidate than Garmin. If you like Garmin telling you that today you should run intervals or ride a long zone 2 ride then you’re a Garmin candidate. I also hated having notifications and apps and stuff on my wrist. It was cool at first and then it was annoying and distracting. My big motivation away from Apple Watch was this. First I stopped wearing it at all. Since my goal is training data I was doing activity tracking from my phone and it was unwieldy. I looked at trackers like Fitbits and Whoops and stuff and settled on Garmin. Admittedly I kinda needed out on the data and the maps of the Fenix. I do some remote canoeing and hiking and thought the maps would be really useful. I think the only thing I really want from my watch is some ability to control audio from it. Admittedly Garmin isn’t strong here: they do have Spotify but no way to do Apple Music or Audible or anything, and what you can do is limited. So if I want to run or ride with music or a book my phone always comes with me. I remember when Apple Watch first let you do music from the Watch back in like 2016 and it was really cool at first, then I didn’t care and was bringing my phone on runs anyway. Since you asked about badges and motivation and whatnot: as mentioned Apple has really nice stuff, but I view it as more pedestrian oriented. Ultimately I didn’t ever feel motivated by it. Garmin seems to have tried to get into the social game, too, but I don’t know many people that use this and do gamification. They have a great badge system built more around training than anything else. That said… As another poster mentioned, I also use Strava and Strava as a social media platform is far more motivating for me. If you’re into training at all, look into it. Strava tells you about your previous times on a segment, for instance, and whether you’re getting a PR. It does Q/KOM (Queen or King of the Mountain). It can show you routes and segments in your area. It has a great interface for breaking down training data as well. Garmin is better for like overlaying cycling power with heart rate and elevation, but Strava gives you a lot of this data as well. You can feed Strava with either Apple or Garmin. At the end of the day my opinion on why to chose Garmin is if you want the training planning and tracking. If you have a goal like a race then it’s a pretty cool coach. If you have a program you’re already following and just want to track against it then it matters a lot less. The only other winning thing is depending on model you can get Garmins with incredible battery life. My Fenix 7 gets almost a month on a charge. My wife charges her Apple Watch daily. I’d probably go without a smart watch before going back to an Apple Watch because all of the cool features of an Apple Watch are lost on me.

I have a Whoop and Oura, and neither of those seem ideal for your use case. They don't provide continuous SpO2 readings, just a single daily value for SpO2 (I believe this is averaged overnight but not 100% sure). I take multiple times daily SpO2 readings with a finger pulse oximiter and they don't correlate super great with the wearable readings; the Whoop seems to underreport much more than the Oura. Here's a plot of the last 4 months to compare, with the average of my finger readings during the day in green: [https://imgur.com/a/dOAgBcm](https://imgur.com/a/dOAgBcm)

Garmin is good for workout tracking. Probably the best. However, it’s among the worst in sleep and recovery tracking. I even bought the Index Sleep Monitor and it’s as bad as the watch. The hardware is doing its job, but the algorithm is outdated and unreliable. For sleep tracking I’d say Apple Watch is the best followed closely by Oura. Their algorithms are excellent.

I feel that. Speaking to someone who loved his Apple Watch but ended up getting an oura so I could wear my automatic watches I own.