Finally, there's a smart ring that rivals Oura at half the price and no subscription

Smart rings are rising in popularity, but the big names — the Ouras, Samsungs, and Ultrahumans — can run $300 to $400. That’s not counting the subscription fee, which some customers pay for full access to all the data that the smart ring aggregates. With all these murmurs of an impending recession causing pennies to be pinched and wallets to be watched, who has the money for a $400 smart ring right now? 

I hadn’t yet tested a high-quality and affordable smart ring from a notable brand, but the newest smart ring from RingConn, the RingConn Gen 2 Air, could change that. It’s the first ring I’ve tested that retails for a price as low as $200, without any sale or special deal. I’ve worn RingConn’s newest smart ring over the past few weeks to see how the brand’s budget ring fares as a sleep and activity tracker. Keep reading to learn how it compares to the RingConn Gen 2, which costs $100 more, and the Oura Ring 4, which costs double. 

The smart ring looks and feels almost exactly the same as the RingConn Gen 2. The main difference lies in the charging case and battery. The Gen 2’s charging case has enough power to boost the smart ring for over 150 days, and the ring has a battery life of up to 12 days. The Gen 2 Air, on the other hand, does not come with a charging case equipped with extra juice, and it advertises a 10-day battery life (though, in my testing, I got around eight days). Even though the Gen 2 Air’s battery is lower than the Gen 2, both RingConn rings match or outcompete the battery life of the Oura Ring, the Ultrahuman Ring Air, and the Samsung Galaxy Ring. 

Also: I replaced my Oura with this subscription-free smart ring — and it did some things better

The Gen 2 Air is made of stainless steel, a more affordable material compared to the Gen 2’s aerospace-grade titanium. Regardless of the material, the Gen 2 Air is comfortable to wear and feels unnoticeable around my finger. It comes in a silver and gold finish, and available sizes range from six to 14.

Both rings are connected to the same app experience, so whether you’re using the $300 ring or the $200 ring, you’ll get your data and insights presented to you in exactly the same manner. Much like the Gen 2, the Gen 2 Air tracks sleep, stress, vitals, and activity. It takes all those factors and daily scores to deliver a Wellness Balance score. 

The Wellness Balance is displayed like a petal on a four-petal flower, and each biometric is ranked out of 100. At the start of the day, the activity petal is nonexistent, but the activity score increases as I exercise or walk. At the end of the day, I can view my aggregate Wellness Balance, and this score provides a holistic picture of my health. 

As I said in my spotlight of the RingConn Gen 2, the downside to this Wellness Balance is the absence of a readiness or recovery score that other wearables have calculated and provided to users at the start of their day to understand how their body bounced back from activity and how much activity or rest they should take on for the day. This recovery score provides insights into a user’s overall health and resilience, and it’s helpful for those who are following a training regime to know how to treat their bodies each day.

I tested the RingConn Gen 2 Air hand in hand with my Oura Ring 4, and both devices gathered fairly similar health metrics. One night, Oura gave me an 87 Sleep Score, and RingConn gave me an 86. Oura said my resting heart rate overnight was 48 beats per minute, while RingConn said 49 beats per minute. Oura said my average heart rate was 55 beats per minute, and RingConn said it was 52. While not identical, these numbers are close. 

Also: Oura’s CEO wants its smart ring to be the doctor in your pocket 

Activity data is a different story. One day, Oura said I walked 7,454 steps, while RingConn said I walked 5,706. This was on a moderately active day when I took a 25-minute walk. On an intensely active day, when I went to the gym for two hours and was out and about, Oura calculated that I walked 16,291 steps, and RingConn calculated that I walked 15,454 steps.

RingConn advertises an “AI health partner” as a function of its app experience. Every day, the AI partner tells you information, like how you slept or whether you hit your step count, and then asks questions based on your behaviors. These summaries aren’t available on the main page where sleep, activity, and stress data are displayed — they’re only available on the AI tab. But unlike other AI assistants, you can’t type out a personalized answer to these questions. Instead, you pick from the choices of responses. It didn’t feel like AI to me because it wasn’t as personalized, and the responses you could choose were simple; rather, it felt like a multiple-choice health summary. This is a classic case of a brand slapping AI onto a feature that isn’t actually AI. 

What I like about RingConn smart rings is they will tell you exactly when the ring will die and notify the user to charge it ahead of time. This is a helpful feature I hope other smart ring brands adopt. 

Also: Oura Ring 3 vs Oura Ring 4: Opt for the older, discounted smart ring or the newest?

One concern about a smart ring this affordable is whether the brand is keeping the user’s data safe and protected. Health data is valuable, and in the wrong hands, it can be sent to advertisers or health insurance agencies. Smart ring brands pay a lot of money to keep such data safe, which is why they cost as much as they do. 

A RingConn representative did not immediately answer my questions about why the smart ring can be so cheap, if user data is secure and protected, or if it is being compromised for the sake of a lower-cost smart ring. I did, however, review RingConn’s privacy policy which relays what user data is collected, used, and stored. I recommend looking over a health wearables privacy policy prior to purchasing a ring, so you understand how a company is keeping your information safe and secure. 

ZDNET’s buying advice 

So, should you buy this $200 smart ring? If you’re looking for an alternative to some of the big names that won’t cost you as much but will collect nearly the same level of health data, I’d suggest the RingConn Gen 2 Air.

Also: The best smart rings: Expert tested and reviewed

With competitive battery life, data display that matches its $300 sibling, and data collection that gets close to the Oura Ring 4, the RingConn Gen 2 Air is one of the first $200 smart rings I’ve tested that I can confidently recommend for the budget-friendly and smart ring-curious shopper. 

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