Ultrahuman Ring Air review

Smart rings like the Ultrahuman Ring Air are all the rage among health-conscious celebs: Gareth Southgate, Kim Kardashian and Prince Harry wear an Oura Ring.

The world’s leading smart ring is billed as a convenient way to biohack yourself in search of optimising your life, the universe and everything. It’s stolen a march on its rivals, of which there a few including the Ultrahuman Ring Air.

But how does Ultrahuman’s product compare to the market leader?

Ultrahuman vs Oura

For Ultrahuman, one of their key marketing wins over Oura is it’s lighter.

However, for us their major triumph is, unlike Oura, this is a non-subscription model. You pay your £329 / $349 and track away. That’s unlike the Oura where prices start from around £300 / $299 but you’re then topped up by a £6 / $6 per month subscription. 

The Ring Air’s forte is sleep and recovery but it also offers a wealth of further feedback.

First up, sizing. If you know the size of your digit – your index finger’s recommended for greater accuracy – simply click on the suitable size. If not, Ultrahuman will send out a free ring sizing kit.

You also choose your ring colour. I went for titanium but there’s also black, grey, gold and silver. It’s made from titanium and tungsten. Within a week, you receive your ring and charger.

You then wear it for 15 days before, say Ultrahuman, the ring is primed for feedback and advice. 

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Comfier to sleep with than a sports watch

The Ultrahuman Ring Air scores points for comfort. I’m not a huge fan of wearing sports watches to bed, so rarely wear them long enough to collect useful data.

Not here as it’s imperceptible, apart from a green glow that seeps out of the ring’s edges but that shouldn’t awake the most committed of light sleepers.

That glow emanates from the string of sensors including an infrared photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, a skin temperature sensor, a six-axis motion sensor and coloured LEDs for heart-rate monitoring and blood oxygen saturation.

It’s fine to wear in the shower or pool thanks to IPX8 water-resistance rating.

App integration

All of this assessment is tapped into on the Ultrahuman app, which syncs with your ring on opening.

It takes a few seconds to crunch the numbers before you’re delivered three key scores: movement, sleep and recovery. The first two inform the third and is similar to Garmin’s Body Battery.

Implausible workout data

The Ultrahuman Ring Air’s Movement metric is based on steps plus exercise. You manually select what you’ve done, while it can also estimates your cardiovascular fitness and blood oxygen levels. Neither are available yet though.

Workout tracking’s moderate with, like other users, 80 being a pretty constant workout bpm. We don’t work too hard but harder than that!

However, heart rate readings routside of working out seemed okay. Strange and hopefully something to be ironed out.

Sleep tracking is a strong suit

Where it scores is sleep tracking with time in bed and sleep quantity matching the subjective. You’re also given time in the different stages of sleep. This is potentially useful.

However, sleep quality is not only impossible to compare without access to a lab but also notoriously erratic compared to the lab. Still, with the sleep information you’re given advice and podcasts on how to improve, as you are with the other metrics. It’s interesting, detailed stuff. 

You can also click in ‘power plugs’, which are add-ons like the ‘caffeine detection window’ to tell you when to stop consuming the coffee. These are mainly free but a few are paid, which is where Ultrahuman will presumably look to optimise as time rolls by.

Ultrahuman Ring Air bottom line

Is the Ultrahuman Ring Air worth it? Well, your smart or sports watch is safe as there’s not the depth of fitness detail, or display, to challenge it.

However, it could certainly play a role in improving sleep. Ultimately, that’d mean greater recovery and better triathlon performance.

Ultrahuman Ring Air specs

Dimensions:	Width: 8.1mm, thickness: 2.45mm to 2.8mm (depending on size)
Weight:	2.4g to 3.6g (depending on size)
Material:	Titanium outer, epoxy resin inside
Connectivity:	Bluetooth
Battery life:	Six hours on full charge

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