A Week With This Oura Ring Competitor Killed My Excitement - Here's How Things Went

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Circular Ring 2 is disposable for $249.
• Its build is akin to its competitors and is subscription-free.
• The little value comes pinch a wellness features and companion app that autumn short.

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The smart ringing abstraction is flooded pinch companies clamoring for nan title of adjacent champion wellness tracker. While location are respective companies pinch precocious value products, others don't rather make nan cut. 

Unfortunately, that's nan lawsuit pinch French institution Circular's latest smart ring, nan Circular Ring 2. I precocious spent complete a week pinch it to spot if it would beryllium a worthy competitor to nan high-profile brands, but my first impressions propose not. 

Also: Your Circular Ring conscionable sewage a large wellness upgrade

However, don't fto this 1 marque deter you from utilizing a smart ringing for wellness tracking. I've included 3 options group tin shop arsenic alternatives to nan Circular Ring, arsenic good arsenic immoderate tips for uncovering a reliable, trustworthy merchandise worthy your money.

Circular markets its Circular Ring 2 arsenic a wellness companion pinch nan emblematic suite of wellness search metrics: ECG and atrial fibrillation detection, humor unit and glucose tracking, and a unique-to-Circular smart siren that detects nan lightest slumber shape to aftermath users up in. It's besides subscription-free, which rivals its biggest biggest competitor, Oura, which gatekeeps nan bulk of personification information down a $70 a twelvemonth subscription. 

If its package weren't truthful laggy, possibly I would person been capable to effort retired these features successful nan first place. I spent 14 days having nan ringing get accustomed to my sleep, activity, and wide lifestyle. During this period, Circular doesn't connection up immoderate analytics; saying that it's still getting to cognize me. 

Also: Why your Oura Ring's artillery life is dying quicker

This is acold excessively long, particularly compared to different smart rings that dive into analytics connected time one. If metrics aren't 100% meticulous disconnected nan bat, different smart rings set scores and information according to user's baseline arsenic it's worn further. Most group aren't diligent capable to deterioration and complaint a ringing for 14 days pinch nary feedback. 

When I yet started getting information to sync pinch nan Circular Ring 2, metrics varied considerably from nan Oura Ring 4 I wore alongside it. I wondered really nan information could beryllium truthful disparate, and I'm still wondering, because nan ringing has yet to upload that information to nan app. 

Every greeting I hold for my nighttime of slumber information to move from nan ringing and to nan app. It takes respective minutes for this process to initiate, but arsenic it inches person to 100, nan app often crashes. 

Also: The champion smart rings I tested

A little look astatine nan Circular Ring Reddit proves my grievances person company. Many users person complained astir app syncing issues, prompting Circular to reside these issues successful a caller post, ensuring firmware updates will lick nan problem. 

As pinch immoderate emerging technology, location are bound to beryllium much issues arsenic Circular refines its product. For now, though, I would debar purchasing this smart ringing until Circular addresses these synchronization issues. I look guardant to retesting nan ringing erstwhile it is complete pinch nan features it advertises. 

What I propose instead

RingConn Gen 2 Air

Nina Raemont/ZDNET

If you're willing successful search your sleep, activity, and accent pinch a smart ring, I'd urge the RingConn Gen 2 Air, a subscription-free merchandise that's affordable but capable. The ringing sells for $150 little than nan Oura Ring 4, and successful my testing produced akin slumber scoring and search results. 

Also: I tested this Oura Ring 4 rival that's functions likewise but astatine half nan value (and nary subscriptions)

One of nan Gen 2 Air's biggest characteristic highlights is its marathon artillery life of 8 to 9 days, but it's still 1 of nan much feature-limited smart rings connected nan market. For example, its AI wellness partner was much of a gimmick than a working, generative package feature. 

Still, nan Gen 2 Air's approachable value constituent and bevy of usable features makes it a awesome preamble to nan merchandise statement for anyone who doesn't want to break nan bank. 

Oura Ring 4

Nina Raemont/ZDNET

If you'd for illustration a much precocious smart ring, I'd recommend the Oura Ring 4, which is nan champion smart ringing for slumber scoring, denotation tracking, and wide wellness metrics. Not to mention its aggravated committedness to privacy, of which its competitors person yet to match.   

I trial respective smart rings and smartwatches, but person kept nan Oura Ring connected my digit nan longest. Oura is perpetually researching and processing caller features and improving connected existing ones (like it's overmuch contested measurement counter). Oura, for illustration immoderate different smart ring, monitors vitals for illustration bosom rate, bosom complaint variability, assemblage temperature, and respiration rate, search these biomarkers arsenic you slumber and work, and utilizing them to make scores for sleep, activity, and recovery. 

Also: Withings' smart thermometer is FDA-cleared - and checks much than your temperature

Its Symptom Radar characteristic is simply a adjuvant 1 during acold and flu season, and I already utilized it erstwhile this play to show nan progression of a caput cold. It besides precocious launched a Cumulative Stress feature, which illustrates stress' semipermanent effect connected nan body. 

The only rumor I've seen respective users kick astir is Oura's deteriorating artillery life complete time. Several Ring 4 users study nan artillery life shortening a twelvemonth aft continual use. Luckily, Oura will nonstop users caller rings if they study this issue. 

ZDNET's buying advice

We'll beryllium keeping an oculus connected nan Circular Ring 2 for important merchandise updates, but arsenic of now, I urge opting for 1 of nan different rings mentioned first. 

When shopping for a wellness locator (or frankly, immoderate merchandise that's going to tally you complete $200), I highly urge glancing astatine merchandise reviews from writers (like myself) who person gone hands-on pinch dozens of competing products, while cross-referencing reviews pinch Reddit to study what existent users are saying.

As a note, it seems for illustration galore users connected nan Reddit page purchased their Circular Ring done Kickstarter. Those who did study that they are still waiting for their ringing to vessel and person yet to person notifications astir its estimated arrival. Kickstarter itself does not rumor refunds.