Oura Ring

Garmin fenix is the way.

I used to have an Apple Watch but also got annoyed with all the notifications and I like traditional watches better anyway. I got an Oura Ring a little more than a year ago for sleep, stress, and recovery tracking. I wear it when I do cardio, but I do take it off when I lift weights, so I don't damage it. 

I find the data pretty useful and interesting to look at trends over weeks and months. Definitely makes me not want to drink as much lol. I'd recommend it.

As CRE said, they basically just tell you what you already know, but some people just need to see the data to believe it. It will tell you that alcohol kills your sleep even just a couple drinks. caffeine kills your sleep even if it's early in the day, eating before bed decreases your sleep quality, etc. 

For some people, having that data every morning is a motivator for them to be better. They get hooked on seeing the sleep scores and they don't want to have a couple beers at night or eat a big steak an hour before bed because they know they'll wake up and have to see that low sleep score. 

One benefit could be seeing how certain grey area things impact your sleep. For example, for some people weed doesn't make a difference, for others it is harmful for their sleep quality. Which are you? Or testing things out. Meditate before bed or use blue light blockers and see if that's making a big difference. 

So I think they can be useful for a few months for you to see with data how you react, but I don't understand the people that wear them forever. At some point you know exactly what it's going to tell you every morning. 

Whoop is the way. Super simple, doesn't get in the way of anything, holds a charge for like a week. Been using one for almost 2 years now and absolutely love it. 

At different points in time I had an oura ring, apple watch, garmin watch, and eight sleep. They all tell you approximately the same thing (the scores are fictitious and only useful on a relative basis within their own ecosystems and trended over a long period), and the best device is one that fits your lifestyle. IMO:

- Oura ring: Felt like a douche wearing it, but maybe I'm just not a ring guy. I didn't get much from the monthly subscription as you still get a score if you don't subscribe. You can't use it while weightlifting which is a big con. Also, my fingers became slightly larger from when I bought it and it became uncomfortable to wear. Same goes for when I was running/seasonal changes.

- Apple watch: Sleep tracking is horrible on this thing. For me, having to fuck around with the wake on wrist turn and having the sensor light randomly blast me in the face are huge negatives.

- Garmin watch: Much better for sleep tracking than the Apple watch, and generally better IMO if you're an active person. Biggest con is the UI. The sensor light is also an issue like the Apple watch.

- Eight sleep: Not a wearable but tracks sleep. I've found it less useful ever since my gf started staying over. We 'share' performance data, which gets muddled if you don't share identical bedtimes/habits. Maybe there's separate data per person if you each make an account and link them to the pod, but this doesn't apply to me since I haven't given her access to the device.

- Whoop: Never used it, but my friends who have them swear by them. The cost is steeper (at least last time I looked) per month, but if you have a more active lifestyle that uses your hands (weightlifting, bouldering) it could be the best option.

Used it for like 4 months and realized that it wasn't too beneficial. As stated above, I didn't need ring to tell me when I had a bad nights sleep, because i felt tired, lol. After a while seeing them charge me a subscription for it, I cancelled since it really didn't tell me things I didn't already know.

Every time I do coke my Garmin flashes "Cocaine Bad Cocaine Bad" - how do I turn this feature off?

Seems like a gimmick, not a fan of the subscription model either.

I did the trial but when it came time for the sub I found myself asking what am I paying for here, and ended up just returning the ring. I wanted it for sleep tracking but didn’t find it reliable - I’d have shit sleep and get a score of like 76 and then have great sleep and get like an 82 - both in a good sleep range which didn’t correlate to how I actually slept/felt

All these watch/ring gadgets are for goobers. If you actually want to track your health trends, get bloodwork done every month or so to make sure your body chemistry is balanced, that's all. 

I'll stick with my Cartier Tank 

Know more about the Oura ring than I want to know (previously worked at a firm that invested in one of their early rounds and I had to do a lot of the diligence).

It is more precise than any wrist-based device, but the question is whether that added precision is valuable. I would say it’s not. You’re only going to want to know these data points directionally anyhow . . e.g. you want to know if your sleep score is generally improving over time with better habits, not what is your sleep score precisely each night.  

Oura ring still isn’t low-profile enough in my opinion, it’s still thick and looks a bit off compared to any normal ring.

The last two editions of the Apple Watch and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 offer really good sleep tracking accuracy compared to other wrist based devices . . still less precise than Oura ring but as explained above, I don't see how it matters.  BTW this is also a good time to point out that none of the sleep trackers are particularly precise.  They're all just shades of imprecision.

Personally I like the Garmin Forerunner the best. Very lightweight (I like that I can’t notice it on my wrist) and great battery life plus the physical buttons make it better than an Apple watch for using as an alarm and for rewinding podcasts.