If you’re considering picking up an Oura ring to hit your health goals this year, this in-depth review will help you make the right choice.
I’ve personally tested the Oura ring for over a year and used it for tracking regular daily health monitoring while working, walking, sleeping, and recovery optimization.
November 2024 Update: Oura Ring 4 is now available which has better accuracy and an extended battery life:
Overall, the Oura Ring Gen 3 offers some of the best and most accurate consumer-grade health tracking available.
The simplicity of design through the ring and the user-friendly software makes it one of my favorite options for health optimization, but it isn’t suitable for martial artists or even weightlifters.
If you want to know if it’s right for you, keep reading as this Oura Ring Gen 3 review breaks down the features and what I think about it.
Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- The Oura ring itself is simple to use 24/7, stylish, and doesn’t get in the way most of the time.
- It’s the most frictionless health tracker I’ve tried for regular use, particularly for sleep.
- The health tracking data provided each day, particularly for the Sleep and Recovery Index, is insightful for understanding your body’s signals to restoration.
- Understanding links or disconnection between how you feel and what your health data is saying can be confusing. Even with the extra information, understanding what you need most takes trial and error.
- I found it a bit annoying at first to get used to washing my hands while wearing the ring, you need to wipe dry underneath your ring every time, or you can get peeling skin. But you get used to it.
- Although the ring could be worn underneath a boxing glove, the Oura ring will not cut it for martial artists. They’re better off getting a
WHOOP 4.0 . - Oura rings are also pretty impractical for weightlifters and likely unsafe. But runners, soccer players, and other feet-dominant sportspeople will probably love this.
Is Oura ring worth it?
The Oura ring is worth it if you are looking for a convenient daily health, readiness, and sleep tracker with the least friction for daily living.
But the Oura ring isn’t the most suitable fitness tracker for some weightlifting athletes or martial artists because it’s not always practical.
I’ve personally found the Oura gen 3 to be an excellent method of tracking health data.
Its sensors are very accurate at giving specific measurements across heart rate, sleep, and activity.
It also gives a daily Readiness Score. The Readiness Score gives you a good idea about how you’re recovering and whether you can expect more or less from your body on any given day.
I have really enjoyed using it and learning more about Heart Rate Variability, the lowest heart rate (bpm) during sleep, and my overall health.
But unfortunately, it doesn’t give me the full package as a martial artist.
You can wear the Oura ring underneath your boxing glove fairly easily, but it can sometimes be really uncomfortable, and your sparring partners would be pretty mad if you were punching them while wearing rings.
It’s standard fighters’ etiquette to remove all jewelry before sparring.
In other martial arts, where a lot of gripping with your hands is necessary, like wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, or even Judo, it’s impossible to wear the Oura ring while training.
So if you practice any of these grappling martial arts frequently, you’ll need to pick out a better option.
I’ve already compiled a list of the best fitness trackers for BJJ, which is also relevant for any kind of grappling arts.
It’s also not ideal for weightlifters. Oura themselves don’t recommend people to wear the ring when lifting weights because it might get scratched up.
But I think there is more to it than that, as I’m not sure it’s safe for your finger, hands, or the ring, to apply massive pressure through your grip when lifting a heavy weight.
It won’t be natural and could be at least very uncomfortable.
You should have a great idea of whether the Oura ring Gen 3 is right for you already…
But if you want to learn more about the Oura ring experience in my full review, keep scrolling.
Oura Ring Gen 3 full review
Let’s crack on with reviewing the great, the good, and not-so-good, parts of using Oura for your health and fitness tracking.
Finding your ideal Oura ring size
Before you’ll get your hands on your Oura ring, you’ll need to pick out your ideal ring size.
If you’re ordering directly from OuraRing.com, then upon purchase, you’ll be sent a ring sizing kit in the mail first.
You’re given a selection of plastic models of ring sizes to try on that match the size and shape of an Oura ring.
The absolute key here is to choose wisely. For many people, there will be two possible sizes to wear – like there were for me.
But the Oura ring sizes don’t entirely represent standard ring sizing, depending on your country.
And to add to that, the sizing kit rings are not exact to the actual Oura ring.
When trying out your sizing kit, it’s imperative that you select that almost-too-snug size.
I bought my first Oura ring off eBay, thinking I had a good idea of the right size to pick. And the Size 10 seemed to be the right one at first.
It felt right because it slipped over my first/index finger the easiest while still feeling in good contact around the finger.
How wrong I was.
The better option is the ring that feels almost slightly too tight, which is a mild struggle to remove it.
The reason is a big difference in the friction between the plastic model from the sizing kit and the actual titanium/metallic Oura ring itself.
The actual version has a tiny bit more natural space as the inner bumps have less friction, and the official ring can be slipped on and off much easier with just a little water.
It doesn’t work the same with the plastic model version.
So, in summary: pick the size from the sizing kit that feels almost too tight and has resistance to getting it off.
The actual Oura ring will be easier to slide on and off than the sizing kit one.
In the end, a Size 9 was the perfect fit for me.
It’s a comfortable fit that doesn’t feel tight unless my finger is swollen for some other reason.
It doesn’t spin around too much (which disrupts the sensor) but can be taken off easily enough with a bit of water.
What you get in the Oura ring box
After you’ve notified Oura of the perfect size you want for your ring, they’ll send it to you in a very neat package.
The ring comes in a sleek white box, which contains the following:
- Simple instructional manual
- Oura Ring
- Charging stand for the ring
- Charging cable (USB-A to USB-C)
Friendly and straightforward box design. It reminds you a bit of the Apple unboxing experience.
Setting up the Oura ring for the first time
As the instructions will tell you, to set up your Oura ring, you need to plug in the charging stand with the charging cable into a power source.