Oura Ring Generation 3 Review

One day, I accidentally put my FitBit in the washing machine and that was the end. I’d heard about the Oura ring so decided to take this as an opportunity to try the new generation 3 Oura ring.

What I was looking for in my Oura ring:

• Track my sleep
• Track my steps
• Track my heartrate and calorie burn during workouts

Not only did I figure out what size to order, but also that I was more comfortable wearing the ring on my middle finger. Oura Ring’s website suggests you to wear the ring on your index finger, but I just couldn’t. So I ordered the ring according to my middle finger size.

While wearing the test ring, I also figured out that the ring would take some getting used to. It was significantly thicker than a normal ring and actually made my middle finger and the surrounding fingers sore.

I had ordered the black and after wearing the black test ring, realized black was way too visible and dark for me. I wish I had bought silver, a lighter color. I wasn’t paying $100 more for the gold color.

To be honest, if I hadn’t already paid for and selected the ring, I would’ve canceled due to width alone. But, I emailed their customer service and hadn’t heard back (except emails saying they were really backed up) so I figured I’d see it through.

Then, my Oura Ring generation 3 arrived….

The photos above are the same ring and hand but in different lighting – you can see just how wide the ring is on my hand. And, why my index and ring finger hurt from being up against it.

Plus, in these photos below, you can see how obvious the ring is. I saw photos of people wearing it on their website, but I was focused more on the color than its size on a female’s hand.

I chose black because I thought the matte color wouldn’t be as obvious, but it turned out to be shiny and more obvious than if I had done silver (I think).

But the stats in the app were really cool and insightful:

But randomly, I came across a YouTube video that talked about how Oura ring generation 3 users would have to pay for their app statistics in the future…. what? After digging a bit, I found the Oura Membership page. Currently, new generation 3 purchases will get 6 months of data free. Then, you’ll be charged $5.99 before tax each month moving forward.

Excuse me? Hello, hidden fee.

You don’t HAVE to pay the monthly fee, but then you’ll only get three daily Oura Scores (whatever that is) and then regular ring and app settings. So, you won’t get the essence of the ring.

And now I do see that there is an “Oura Membership” box on the check-out page that says “6-months free. $5.99/month afterwards.” but I never equated a membership to accessing your basic data. I thought that was a community situation of forums, videos, webinars, etc. that I just wouldn’t join.

Especially after paying $299 on the ring, why would I have to pay to access my ring’s data?

PROS

• It was waterproof
• In the time I wore it, the ring never scratched despite weight lifting and other daily activities
• It held a charge for days and was quick to recharge
• The app gave good insights daily and tracked over time
• The data was beautifully presented and easy to understand
• I felt like the data was more accurate than my Apple Watch or FitBit
• Easy set-up and sync

CONS

• The ring literally hurt my fingers because it was so wide (ring, middle and index)
• Due to size and color, it is really obvious
• It’s expensive: $299 for the black or silver ring
• After your first 6-months, you have to pay a monthly fee to get your data
• The support team is VERY slow to answer. It took weeks to get a response.

In the end, I decided to return my Oura ring generation 3 and get my money back. I returned everything within the 30-day window and received a credit. No issues.

I’m glad I tried it. Honestly, I probably would’ve kept it if there wasn’t a pending monthly fee to get the data in the future, but that was a deal-breaker for me.

I now have a new Charge 5 FitBit ($150) to wear at night and track my sleep. My Apple watch isn’t good for accurate calorie burn during my workouts, but I’ll survive. No hidden monthly fees are coming, so I’m good.