I convinced my mom to buy an Oura Ring – my biggest regret is not buying at this price

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As a tech reviewer and writer, I test out lots of technology each week. While I can normally designate a product’s use for a specific person or group, it’s much harder to recommend the product to most people, a qualifier I use only in rare instances. 

The Oura Ring 4<!–>, however, is one of those products I have recommended to anybody who asks me about my favorite technology. It’s so good I have even told my own mother, one of the more critical people I know, to buy one for herself. 

Also: The best Black Friday deals live now

The main reasons boil down to its sleep tracking, wealth of data insights, and illustration, and general tendency to alert you of possible illness or strain, thanks to its intelligent predictive algorithm. I have made several positive changes to my daily routine and have become aware of my less healthy habits thanks to the Oura Ring. 

Despite its small size, it comes with a big price –  $350 plus the additional annual $70 subscription for full access to its data capture. Thankfully, however, the Oura Ring 4 Titanium is seeing one of its largest sales in the lead-up to and during Black Friday. Oura is offering a 30% discount–> on its Titanium Oura Ring this holiday season. If you’ve been eyeing one for a while, now is the time to buy. If you’re unsure whether to get one now, keep reading to find out if it’s right for you. 

The Oura Ring does several things, but its bread and butter is sleep and vitals tracking. It uses the data it monitors, including a person’s heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, and breathing rate, to create daily scores for a user’s sleep, readiness, and activity. It also tracks daytime stress, specifically how often a person’s heart rate exceeds a relaxed state, and cumulative stress, which measures the long-term impact of that aforementioned daytime stress on a person’s ability to recover. 

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Each morning, I receive a sleep and readiness score that summarizes when my resting heart rate lowered, how many hours of sleep I received, and how restored or unprepared I am to take on my day. I wear the ring almost 24/7, so it’s monitoring my daily exercise, my heart rate fluctuations as I work or rest, and my sleep quality. 

This data is helpful for both a regularly active person (I exercise around three to four times each week) who wants to continue training without straining themselves and a desk job warrior looking to further understand their activity levels, stress, and sleep. 

Read the review: Oura Ring 4

The Oura Ring’s data is honest and, at times, hard to look at. Especially when I’ve worn the smart ring on a night out and I wake up the next morning to a low and poor sleep and readiness score. Alcohol consumption, I’ve learned from the Oura Ring’s data capture, greatly impacts my quality of sleep, because it delays my heart rate’s ability to lower during the first half of the night, a signal of recovery. 

After wearing the ring for several months and learning about the impacts of alcohol or a late meal, I began to change my habits (and get better sleep along the way). Now I rarely eat after 8 p.m., and I avoid casual drinking as often as I can. 

Also: The best smart rings you can buy

If you want to spend at least $350 on a smart ring that tracks these biometrics, you also, in my opinion, should be willing to receive (at times) harsh feedback about your behavior. Several friends of mine who work stressful jobs or lead active social lives say they stopped wearing the ring because of their poorer scores. Keep that in mind if you’re hesitant about purchasing an Oura Ring. 

However, if you’re willing to occasionally get a poor sleep score after a fun night with friends, then I’d recommend getting one of these smart rings. Yes, it tracks my late nights, but it also shows me how long my body takes to recover from them and helps me institute healthier practices, which I believe have made me a healthier person. 

Also: Feeling burned out? Now your Oura Ring can tell you more about why – here’s how

On the topic of health, the smart ring also features a Symptom Radar, which utilizes your biomarkers to predict and notify you of potential strain. Symptom Radar indicates whether you’re experiencing minor or major signs of strain. On the Oura Ring Reddit, people have reported that their Symptom Radar turns on after receiving a vaccination shot or just before testing positive for COVID-19 or the flu. 

Symptom Radar is usually one day behind my actual bodily response to illness. For example, I had a head cold that lasted around a day and a half, and it alerted me to minor signs of strain one day after I felt unwell. The next day, I was back to having no signs of strain. It’s a good indicator of overall health, but of course, you should still consult a professional if you’re feeling unwell. 

Also: Can the Oura Ring predict when you’re about to get sick?

The smart ring has a durable build, can be worn practically anywhere, and lasts around six to seven days. Users have reported that the battery deteriorates over time, but Oura addresses this issue with a generous trade-in policy. 

So, what does my mother think about her Oura Ring? She’s a stressed-out woman, so she loves seeing her daytime stress and connecting it to the agitative moments in her day. She’s also a big exerciser and a great sleeper, and loves looking at her sleep scores. She mentions, though, that the sheer amount of data can be overwhelming, and she hasn’t taken enough time to parse through it all. 

How I rated this deal 

The Oura Ring deal cuts the price of this expensive smart ring by 30%, which is well worth a 5/5 deal rating in my book. The Oura Ring 4<!–> is one of ZDNET’s favorite products, and the technology delivers on its many promises, a difficult feat in this commercial environment. What it doesn’t deliver on, it addresses through reliable customer service and constant feature updates. 

Source: Information Technologies - zdnet.com