Ok this smart ring has the coolest name. If smart rings were to be ranked in terms of the coolness of their names, the Ultrahuman Ring Air would win the race by a country mile. However, that is not the case. Spoiler alert, I still think the Ultrahuman Ring Air is the best choice for those looking for a smart ring.
The market leader for smart rings would be the Oura Ring. However, the current reiteration of the Oura Ring, the Oura Ring Gen3, is subscription based. This means that on top of paying for the ring itself, you will still need to fork out USD$5.99 every month as a subscription just to see your own personal data. That is like me buying a house with a toilet and every month I have to pay a fee to the person who sold me the house just to use the toilet to take a shower or take a dump. That is total crap and consumers should not consider the Oura Ring. Oh yes, not to mention, the Oura Ring would cost you USD$299 for the Heritage design with a flat top or USD$349 for the Horizon design where the ring is a continuous round circle. $50 difference to get a round ring. The Oura Ring situation is a gift that only keeps on giving. The only issue is that in this case it is the consumer who is constantly giving.
Hence the only notable option would be the RingConn. Ok the name is way less cool than Ultrahuman. Ringconn wanted to send us a unit for testing. They sent us the ring sizing kit but delayed on sending the actual ring. They mentioned that a new version of their RingConn ring would be out imminently and hence they did not want us to review the outgoing ring.
That was then. At the point of writing, RingConn just released their RingConn Gen 2 smart ring.
Now back to the whole concept of a smart ring. A smart ring essentially does almost all the things my Apple Watch does. Only in a much smaller package. Due to its less intrusive size, I am much more comfortable with sleeping with a smart ring than a watch. I have only slept with my Apple Watch on one occasion. Personally, it is so uncomfortable for me to have something around my wrist while I sleep. Because of this, I do not track my sleep with my Apple Watch.
So then sizing. I am a size 7 for the Ultrahuman Ring Air. I tested the sizes at this bicycle shop called Entro Cycles. That was where I got my Ultrahuman Ring Air. Side note, if you are looking for a more than decent friendly bicycle shop, Entro Cycles is right for you. I got my Wahoo Kickr Bike Shift from Entro Cycles as they are the distributor for Wahoo. I did not get the sizing kit and I did not wear the ring for over a day. I took the risk and it worked out fine. It is recommended that you get the sizing kit and wear the dummy ring for a day or more to ensure that you get the correct fit.
Anyway, it took about 3 weeks for Entro Cycles to get my ring. Here is the box. I got the titanium option.
Here is what is in the box.
I did an unboxing video of my Ultrahuman Ring Air.
To put everything into context, I will turn 43 this year. I live a very active life and exercise about 6 to 7 times a week. I try to do about 1 hour of cardio a day and about 40 minutes of weight training. My main motivation for keeping healthy is for cardiovascular health. I track my resting heart rate, my VO2 Max, my functional threshold power (FTP). I also try to do most of my cardio around my zone 2 heart rate. For all of these, my Apple Watch does it perfectly well. However, to optimise recovery, I will need to track my sleep. A sensor that takes reading on the top of my left wrist is not ideal. Firstly, that location produces sleep readings that are less accurate as compared to a sensor on a person’s index finger. Secondly, having something on my wrist is extremely uncomfortable and I do not wear my Apple Watch to sleep. Therefore, the smart ring was to complement the data that I get from my Apple Watch.
I am pleased to announce that the Ultrahuman Ring Air is an excellent sleep tracker.
Firstly, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is extremely comfortable and I do not notice it when I am wearing it to sleep. In comparison, the few times that I attempted to sleep with my Apple Watch on my wrist caused such great discomfort that I could not sleep soundly.
Here is me wearing the Ultrahuman Ring Air. I already wear my wedding ring on my ring finger. The Ultrahuman Ring Air is twice as thick but it feels as light if not lighter than my wedding ring. You have to experience it yourself to understand how unbelievably light the Ultrahuman Ring Air is. To be able to fit the sensors and battery in a smart ring that is lighter than my wedding ring is impressive.
You will get a sleep score every morning. That score is out of 100. This made it easy for me to know how well I slept in comparison to other nights. The impressive part was that the ring could sense that I had a fever. That morning I woke up feeling ill. It got progressively worse. Every day I was constantly reminded by the Ultrahuman app that I was running a fever. I eventually did a PCR test a few days later. The test result showed that I contracted Influenza A and Parainfluenza.
The sleep index will be further broken down into various parameters. This allows you to zoom in on areas which need attention. For example, my HR drop needed attention. I was advised by the app that I should not eat heavy meals close to my bedtime. I used to eat just before bedtime. I now reduce that to just a handful of blueberries and a glass of soy milk. My HR drop is now optimal.
Our sleep is divided into stages. You will get a breakdown of the various stages of sleep. On this particular day, my sleep was pretty horrendous. I felt weak during the day which was in line with my sleep index score. I need to improve on my REM and deep sleep.
The app is very helpful in explaining the various terms and how I can improve.
Data is also consolidated and given as an average over periods. One of the ways in which the data is presented is in weekly numbers.
Oh yes, I find the sleep debt function useful. If you sleep poorly on one particular night, then you will need to make up for this shortfall by sleeping more on another day.
I find that the ring is a perfect complement to a wrist based fitness tracker like an Apple Watch. I do not think that a smart ring can replace a fitness tracker.
For starters, it is not possible to have a smart ring like the Ultrahuman Ring Air on your finger while you are lifting weights. The ring is intrusively wide and the pressure that occurs on the wearer’s finger while lifting weights is too great. For me, I could not stand the pressure. Every time I did any weight training, I removed the ring. I could not even do pull ups proper. The pressure is quite uncomfortable. The ring gets scratched rather easily as well. As a point of reference, I ordered the Ultrahuman Ring Air in titanium. I only attempted to lift weights with it once. The ring still looked quite beat up after using it for a month. If you are selecting a colour, I think this titanium finish would age the best. Imagine scratches on a glossy black finish.
Secondly, because you need wearing it with the sensors on the underside of your finger, on occasions that the sensor shifts, the readings can be very off. There were instances where I had no sleep data because the sensor was not aligned properly.
Thirdly, a smart ring is not fitness focused. Unlike an Apple Watch where you can start a workout on the watch itself, you will need your phone to operate the smart ring. I can leave my phone at home while I go out on runs or rides with my Apple Watch as it has cellular connection. However, with the ring, I am not able to.
However, I believe that sleep tracking is an integral aspect of health. If you, like me, cannot sleep with something on your wrist, then you will definitely need a smart ring. Your criteria for a smart ring should be the lack of a subscription service and comfort. In that aspect, the Ultrahuman Ring Air ticks both boxes. I paid SGD$499 for my titanium finished ring. I saw that it could come down to about SGD $439 during tech shows or promotional periods on platforms like Shopee and Lazada. I believe that we should never pay to have access to our own data. No way should Oura Ring be an option. The only other options worth considering should be the Galaxy Ring and the RingConn Gen 2 smart ring.
I think one aspect that the Ultrahuman Ring Air can improve is perhaps to create a marking to indicate where the sensors are facing. The first RongConn smart ring is not totally round so you can see that the flat portion of the ring faces the top of the wearer’s finger and the Oura ring has a dimple on the ring to indicate which way the ring should be facing. Instead, I have to remove the Ultrahuman Ring Air to check to see which way the sensors are facing.
Other than that, this is a very welcomed arsenal to my wearable devices.
Now back to improving my sleep…
Yours sincerely,
Daryl
