OURA RING REVIEW

OURA RING 3 HORIZON

Product	Oura Ring (Gen 3)
Category	Smart Health & Sleep Tracker Wearable
Material	Lightweight Titanium (Water resistant up to 100m)
Battery Life	Up to 7 days (Gen 3)
Key Metrics	Sleep quality, HRV, Readiness Score, Body Temp, Activity
Subscription	£5.99/month (Required for full data analysis)
Price	Gen 3 from £199 | Gen 4 from £349 (Save 10% via Healf)

Discounts automatically applied via Healf links

PLEASE NOTE: I paid for the Oura ring myself and was not gifted the Oura ring or paid by Oura or Healf to give a honest review. This page contains affiliate links. Making a purchase via our affiliate link means I may receive a small share of the sale.

My name is Lily (@l1ly_bg), I would consider myself primarily as a runner however truthfully I do a bit of everything including triathlons, horse riding and yoga.

This year I've commited to completing an Ironman so there is a long road of training ahead, in order to support with this I recently purchased my Oura ring to be help me to build a better picture of my health and fitness metrics ensuring I balance my training along with my recovery.

WHAT IS A OURA RING?

An Oura Ring is a super smart health tracking device worn like a ring that monitors your sleep quality, heart rate, body temperature, activity levels, and respiratory rate.

HOW IT WORKS

The ring contains advanced sensors in a lightweight titanium design that track health metrics continuously, syncing data to a smartphone app.

It provides daily "scores" for sleep, activity, and readiness using infrared and accelerometer technology to gather precise personal health insights.

KEY BENEFITS OF USING IT

The Oura Ring offers a discreet, comfortable wearable experience with long battery life, medical-grade accuracy, and comprehensive wellness tracking.

By providing detailed data about your body's performance, it helps you understand and optimise their overall health.

It is designed to be worn 24/7 and the ring transforms complex physiological data into actionable insights, making personal health monitoring both elegant and intelligent.

YOUR DAILY SCORES

Readiness, sleep and activity appear as the main three measures on the homepage however there are numerous other metrics tracked that you can review as and when you wish this includes information on your heart health which provides your cardiovascular age, cycle insights to track female health/menstrual cycles, resilience and daytime stress.

Each headline measure you select seems to open more and more detailed insights and with time this has increased and become more accurate.

SLEEP

Sleep scores are rated as an efficiency out of 100, this is based on a number of contributors including amount of REM and deep sleep, latency (time to fall sleep) and restfulness.

Alongside this it also provides average heart rate with a graph showing this throughout your sleep and your heart rate variability.

Over time your ring will suggest a recommended bed time and ideal sleep schedule based on your chronotype. Sleep scores will then impact your overall readiness and influence your activity goals.

There is also the ability to add tags so you can track the impact of other potential influences examples being using a weighted blanket for sleep or occasions where you have consumed alcohol this can help you to see the potential impact of these influences, if any.

ACTIVITY

Under activity measures you can set a baseline activity goal which is based on calories. Your daily movement will be tracked by the ring and will also include any activities recorded via connected accounts such as activities on Strava.

You will have an overall step count a calorie burn as well as a grading for training frequency, volume and recovery time, these gradings consider your sleep and overall readiness and if this is lower than normal it automatically adjusts your activity goal to help you focus on recovery.

In addition you can set the ring to rest mode to temporarily mute activity goals if you need to prioritise rest. For example if you are ill on the other hand you can set inactivity alerts in order to be prompted to make time for some movement.

READINESS

Readiness is again scored out of 100 and pulls together all of your data to give you a gauge on your overall health and readiness for the day, when it is good it will prompt you to make the most of it and being active and when your scores are lower it will prompt you to prioritise rest and consider factors that may have contributed.

This measure includes your body temperature, resting heart rate, heart rate variability and shows all your readiness contributors such as sleep, previous days activity, activity balance and recovery index to name a few.

This is probably the quickest and easiest way to gauge what areas if any may need a bit more focus.

If your Oura Ring Readiness Score is dipping into the red after a hard track session, you need to actively assist your body's healing process. Using active recovery tools, like Compression Boots or taking a plunge in a portable ice bath to boost your scores overnight.

CAN IT BE WORN ON ANY FINGER?

Yes, the Oura Ring can be worn on any finger, however Oura recommends specific fingers for optimal performance.

The preferred fingers are the index, middle, and ring fingers, with the non-dominant index finger being the top recommendation.

When choosing a finger, consider these guidelines:

• Avoid fingers with large knuckles
• Ensure a snug fit that doesn't slide off
• The ring should sit comfortably and allow the sensors to contact your skin
• You can switch fingers if needed, especially due to changes in finger size from factors like weight, exercise, or temperature

OURA RING SIZE

Oura provides a sizing kit to help you find the perfect fit, and they advise wearing the sizing ring for 24 hours to account for natural finger size variations throughout the day.

The sizing kit contains a replica plastic ring in each size which you can try on and then wear for a period of time to ensure comfortable this is important as fingers may swell/contract in size particularly dependent on temperature.

IS IT COMFORTABLE?

As recommended I wear the ring on my index finger of my right hand. I don't normally wear a ring on my index finger and the ring is slightly wider than my normal jewellery so using the sizing kit helped to ensure it was comfortable.

The ring as you would expect is waterproof and it feels comfortable and secure when I have worn it swimming.

CAN IT TRACK WORKOUTS?

The Oura Ring can track workouts through Automatic Activity Detection, capturing heart rate, duration, activity type, and calorie burn. It automatically recognises over 40 different activities and provides detailed heart rate zone information.

For activities with limited hand movement, you can manually log workouts in the Oura App. The Oura app links to my Strava so any activities I record directly on there or via my Garmin are pulled through to the Oura app.

The Oura ring doesn't have a start/stop activity recording function but it will detect when you are doing an activity, record and then suggest what this activity may have been, you can then amend and confirm or delete.

For me I don't record my twice daily dog walks or horse riding on Strava/Garmin (neither have the functionality for horse riding) but my Oura ring picks up on these activities and records the information.

You can also manually add an activity if it hasn't correctly picked it up an example of this for me might be a short yoga session that has slow movements and doesn't lead to a particularly increased heart rate.

ARE THEY WATERPROOF?

The Oura Ring is water-resistant up to 100 metres, suitable for swimming, showering, and most water activities.

While not fully waterproof, it can withstand typical daily water exposure without damage. You can wear it confidently during swimming, saunas, and hot tubs.

HOW OFTEN DOES IT NEED TO BE CHARGED?

The Oura ring comes complete with a charging dock and USB C cable, you simply place the ring onto the plugged in charging dock to complete the charge.

Personally I have got myself into a habit of popping it on charge when I shower and I have found that this has kept it consistently topped up and means I'm not without the ring for long.

A full charge takes about an hour and a half and without any regular charging the ring battery should last about 1 week.

There is a small icon in the top right of the app clearly showing how much battery remains and you receive a notification if battery is low

WHICH OURA RING SHOULD YOU GET?

I have been using the Oura Ring Gen 3 for my Ironman training. Oura has since released the Gen 4. Here are the differences so you can decide which to buy.

Oura Ring 3 vs. Oura Ring 4 Comparison

Feature	Oura Ring Gen 3	Oura Ring Gen 4 (Newest)
Design & Build	Titanium exterior, epoxy plastic interior with 3 raised sensor bumps.	All Titanium inside and out. Completely smooth interior (flush sensors).
Sensors & Accuracy	Standard 8 signal pathways. Great sleep tracking, some daytime HR gaps.	Smart Sensing Tech (18 pathways). 30% more accurate blood oxygen sensing.
Battery Life	Up to 7 Days	Up to 8 Days
Sizes Available	Sizes 6 to 13	Sizes 4 to 15 (More inclusive)
Price	From £199 (Budget Choice)	From £349 (Premium Choice)

Oura Ring 3 vs. WHOOP 4.0

Feature	Oura Ring Gen 3	WHOOP 4.0
Form Factor	Discreet Titanium Ring. Looks like regular jewellery.	Fabric Wrist or Bicep Band. Looks like a fitness tracker.
Primary Focus	Holistic health, highly accurate sleep tracking, and daily readiness.	Athletic performance, cardiovascular strain, and deep workout analysis.
Battery Life	Up to 7 Days (Must take off to charge on a dock).	4-5 Days (Can slide a battery pack over it to charge while wearing).
Upfront Hardware Cost	£199+ (You buy the ring outright).	£0 (The device is "free" with the subscription).
Subscription Cost	£5.99 / Month	£27.00 / Month (Massively more expensive over time).

WHERE TO BUY OURA RING?

Purchase your Oura ring directly from Oura and other leading stores like Healf.

OURA DISCOUNT CODE

You can take advantage of our Healf partnership for a 10% discount on your Oura ring by clicking on our links. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the difference between Oura Ring 3 vs Oura Ring 4? The new Oura Ring 4 (released in early 2025) features upgraded "Smart Sensing" technology with 18 signal pathways (compared to 8 on the Ring 3) for more continuous accuracy. The Ring 4 also has a fully titanium, flattened interior for better comfort and an extra day of battery life (up to 8 days). Both models track the same core health metrics.

Should I buy an Oura Ring or a WHOOP? It depends on your lifestyle. The Oura Ring is a discreet, jewellery-like wearable that excels in comprehensive sleep, temperature monitoring, and subtle daily health insights. WHOOP is a wristband heavily focused on athletic strain, deep workout analysis, and aggressive recovery metrics. Oura is generally preferred by those seeking holistic wellness and a watch-alternative, while WHOOP appeals to pure performance athletes.

Does the Oura Ring have a monthly subscription fee? Yes. To access the full app dashboard, daily scores, and deep data analysis, you will need the Oura membership. It currently costs £5.99 per month or £69.99 per year.

CONCLUSION

I purchased the ring as although I have a Garmin watch I only tend to wear this when doing activities or working from home, I also don't wear a watch sleeping. When I am working in the office or not in sports kit I wear a dress watch and therefore there were a lot of gaps in my data.

I will also add my Garmin is an older model (735XT) so although this has a heart rate monitor it lacks some of the metrics that are recorded on newer models and with some alternative brands such as Coros. The Oura ring has therefore provided me with a much more complete picture of numerous metrics.

Aesthetically it's a very simple design so easy enough to wear alongside my jewellery, I wear a mix of silver and gold so one colour wasn't going to perfectly align to all of my jewellery however with the design and given that ultimately it is serving a function I don't have any issues with the visual appearance and in my opinion it certainly looks nicer than me wearing a "sports" watch.

As mentioned due to not wearing my Garmin all the time and this having a limited functionality I have previously only been exposed to a very small amount of data.

My Oura ring has significantly increased the information that is available to me, over the past 8 weeks as it gets to know me better the amount of data has increased and is becoming more useful I am also finding it to be more accurate over time.

I have no doubt that as I start to understand all the metrics and details better myself this will be something I can and will use to support me when considering my sports performance, lifestyle choices and overall health.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions you would like to ask about the Oura ring, please get in touch.

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