For the month of March I didn’t wear my Apple watch (I wrote about it here) and just used my Oura ring to track my steps and sleep. Prior to that I had been wearing both since January and comparing their stats. During my break from my Apple watch I noticed a few things.
What I liked about not wearing the watch was that I wasn’t constantly looking at my wrist to check for texts, notifications, or my activity stats. It really helped wean me off needing to know all the things all the time. In the beginning it felt weird to start a workout, but not start it on my watch. I think it was good to take a break and get a little less attached to the watch, but I have to admit I missed it.
I think the thing I missed most was being able to ping my phone when I couldn’t find it. Seriously it’s best feature. I missed being able to easily check the time or respond to a text because I don’t always have my phone with me around the house when I’m with the kids. My husband did get me a watch for my birthday, but I think it is something I will wear when I’m going out. 90% of the time I’m in workout clothes, so the Apple watch fits that vibe and the season of life I’m in right now.
By taking a break I already notice how less attached I am to the stats and I’m not looking at my wrist nearly as much as I used to. Right now, I’m wearing both the Oura ring and Apple watch because I believe they offer similar, but different info. I’ll break it down.
Oura Ring vs. Apple Watch:
Some of you have asked the difference in these and wanted to know the pros and cons of each.
Pros:
- Accuracy: I got the Oura ring with the intention of using it to track my sleep and recovery, not my activity. It took about 2 months for the ring to sync with me and get to know my body. Initially, the stats were not accurate, but now I feel like it’s very similar to my watch. For example, right now my ring says I have 13,620 steps and 749 active cal burn, and my watch says 13,244 and 710 active cals. Pretty similar!
- Tracks Recovery: What I also like about the ring is how it’s emphasis is recovery. That has been a goal of mine to listen to my body and grow my recovery tool box. My ring lets me know when I’m not well recovered and should have a more mellow day. It adjusts my daily active cal burn based on how well I’ve slept and recovered.
- Sleep Stats: I’m really into my sleep stats and working on ways to improve my REM sleep. Sleep impacts our overall health. It has a significant impact on stress, the foods we crave, weight status, and more.
- Period Predictor: It’s spot on! It will predict my period start date within 2-3 days by tracking my heart rate at night and reminds me to chill during my period.
- Battery Life: Lastly, I like how long the battery life is for the ring. I charge it once a week and it is water proof. I never take it off unless I’m charing it.
If you’re someone wanting to get away from the watch’s pings, texts, notifications, etc. and just focus on steps and sleep then ring may be a good option.
Cons:
- Adjustment Period: It took me a while to get used to wearing the ring. It’s pretty big and bulky and I wear it on my pointer finger. The first few days-weeks I was over thinking it at night while trying to fall asleep. I was having a hard time falling asleep thinking it was tracking everything I was doing. Now I don’t think twice about it and actually sometimes forget to check my sleep stats in the morning. Like I said, it also took about 2 months for the ring to really get to know my body and provide accurate stats.
- Inaccurate Workout Tracking: The ring sometimes picks up on workouts and asks you to log, but it’s not very accurate in noticing different activities. If you’re someone that likes to start a workout on their watch- the ring will disappoint you. You also can’t track real time milage of a walk or run. So, if you’re someone who walks or runs a lot and enjoys knowing how far they’ve gone the ring alone won’t be for you.
Pros:
- Tracking Steps: I like the watch for tracking my steps and milage when walking or running. I do think it’s pretty accurate.
- Responding to Texts: My hands are always full these days with the kids and dog, and I realized I like being able to see and reply to texts when I’m not near my phone. I’ve turned off a lot of notifications, so I get the bare min pings.
- Easy to Use: I think the watch is user friendly, esp. if you’re use to an iphone. I like being able to quickly see the time, weather, etc.
Cons:
- Obsessive: It can be triggering to feel like you need to close your rings daily, see what exercise friends are doing, or getting notifications to move more. If it becomes obsessive I encourage you to take a break from it like I did or break up with it completely.
- Accuracy: I’m not sure how accurate the calorie burns are for different exercises. For example, sometimes Kinsley accidentally starts a workout on my watch while I’m sitting with her and somehow I’ve burned 50 cals doing an “elliptical workout” in 10 minutes. Makes me a little skeptical, so I take the activity burn stats with a grain of salt.
- Battery Life: Needs to be charged every night and have to remember to put on first thing in the morning.
Heather also wrote a post on her experience between the Apple Watch and her Garmin.
For now, I plan to wear both my ring and my watch as I think they both have their different strengths.
xx, A
