Oura Ring 5 review: after two months of testing, this is the one to beat

The Oura Ring 5 has spent more time on my finger than my actual wedding ring

In fact, sometimes it's even replaced it. I've been testing it out for two months now

and it's the first wearable device that truly disappears into the background

and doesn't interfere with my life. In fact, it almost passes as jewelry

And that right there is its superpower. Because it disappears, you're more likely to wear it 24-7 on your finger

and that consistent use is the key to unlock all those health data trends

If you're already set on buying a smart ring, take the plunge. This is the best smart ring I've ever tested, especially for women

But at $400 starting price, $500 for this gold one, it's also a big investment

And you'll likely want to tack on that $6 a month subscription fee to get access to its best features

And since it's not exactly an impulse buy, you're going to want to make sure that you want a smart ring in the first place

So now let's go through its best features. In fact, its most important upgrade has nothing to do with tech

It's this. The Aura Ring 5 is 40% smaller than the previous Ring 4 and it's truly a game changer

Yes, of course, this helps with the look. No other smart ring comes close in terms of size and design and that new coating

Also better at hiding scratches. Because if I'm paying luxury prices for this thing, I expect it to hold up like jewelry would

This is my old Aura Ring 4 and this is the Aura Ring 5 after nearly two months with me

And I haven exactly gone easy on it I taken it hiking rock climbing zip kayaking and dragged it across different textured dumbbells at the gym The fact that I have to shine a light on it just to find a scratch

is impressive. There's also a physics element to it. The fact that it sits lower on my finger

means it doesn't come into contact as much with other stuff when I'm lifting weights or washing

my face. That's important because the best wearable isn't necessarily the one that's the most accurate

It's the one you're actually going to live with 24-7. And yes, comfort is one of the main reasons

why you wear it longer, but battery life is also an important factor. Eight days, which is what I

got in my testing, is much more than your average smartwatch and a full 24 hours more than the

previous ORA Ring 4, if you're looking for another reason to upgrade. Now that's give or take depending

on your ring size, so if you have a larger ring, you might get more out of it. This means fewer

gaps in your data, especially at night when my watch mostly sits on the charger. And sleep is

what unlocks key metrics like recovery and other health trends. But the ring itself is only half

the story. The hardware collects the data, but it's the app that turns all those numbers into

something useful. One of my favorite features is symptom radar, which now lives under health radar

And what this is doing, it's looking for subtle signs of distress in your body, things like heart

rate variability, respiratory rate, and temperature. And if one or more of these signs is out of whack

Then it definitely lets you know now I haven been sick during this testing period But I definitely used this feature in the past to give myself a rest day on days where I showing signs of stress and I would probably have otherwise just pushed myself to the brink of exhaustion

And if you're a woman, cycle tracking is personally one of the biggest reasons I'd consider an aura ring

The ring uses overnight temperature trends to track changes throughout your menstrual cycle

to estimate ovulation and explain why certain workouts might suddenly feel harder at certain points during your cycle

Of course, none of these insights really matter unless the underlying data is accurate

Aura says it redesigned the sensors on the Ring 5 and reduced the number of optical signal pathways

but made the remaining ones more powerful. Now, I can't verify these claims, but I can tell you about my results

One area where I really noticed an improvement was the automatic workout detection

My biggest frustration with previous Aura rings was that it would somehow give me more credit for cleaning the house

than my 30-minute Pilates session when my heart rate was much higher

This time around, after manually tagging my Pilates workouts for a few weeks

the Ring 5 actually started learning my habits, and now it catches those sessions automatically about 90% of the time

Then I tested the Aura Ring 5 on a run with my Polar Chest Wrap, which is the gold standard for heart rate testing

And while Aura doesn't give you access to the raw second-by-second data, for a true comparison, the overall graph trends look surprisingly close

My average heart rate was actually spot on and the peak heart rate was within seven beats which isn bad for a ring But this is where it important to understand what you buying into The Oura Ring 5 is obviously not going to match a heart rate strap in terms of accuracy

It's also not going to replace your smartwatch for that day-to-day training because it just doesn't have the live stats on your wrist

It also doesn't take as frequent reads, which means it can miss those peaks

But that's not really why you're getting an Oura Ring in the first place. You're getting an Oura Ring because it stays on your fingers, tracking your data when that smartwatch is on the charger, which for me is almost nightly

So should you buy it? If you've already decided you want a smart ring, stop shopping

This is the one I would buy. It works well with both iPhone and Android phones, and it connects with Apple's Health app and Google Health

I think women especially will benefit from that slimmer form factor, but I do think it has enough upgrades across the board to appeal to everyone

That said, for anyone who doesn't mind the clunkier design, you might be able to save yourself some money on the Oura Ring 4, which is getting a lot of the same software updates, including health radar and the better workout detection

And if you're still on the fence about whether you need a smart ring after watching this video, check yourself, because the Oura Ring can only do so much

It can track your data, tell you about your sleep, tell you when you're getting sick, but it can't change your habits

That one is on you. I've linked my full review of the Oura Ring 5 in the comments section below and let me

know, are you team Smart Ring? Are you team Smart Watch? Are you both

Let me know in the comments section below and thanks for watching. I'll catch you next time