A month with RingConn Gen2 – a reliable minimalistic ring for a good price. 2 weeks left until the end of the campaign 😱
I've been using the RingConn Gen2 smart ring for a month. With its compact design and impressive battery life, it's a strong contender in the smart ring market. Read on to see how it compares to other options!
I've had RingConn Gen2 at home for a month now. I've been asked a lot about it. No wonder. RingConn has been an underrated option for a long time. But now, with its new generation, it's broken all campaign records.
In this article I hope to answer some questions, look at the ring with some longer experience and also show you some nice results from the monthly measurement.
See my previous article:
💍Hardware – best of the best
Let's go over the strengths of the RingConn Gen 2. Please note that I am referring to size 9.
- Width - the SMALLEST smart ring - 6.84mm. In second place is the Samsung ring (7.03mm).
- Weight - LIGHTEST ring - 2.47g. The others start at 3g.
- Thickness - difficult to measure, but the range is 1.94-3.52mm. So it's one of the thinnest.
Thanks to these parameters, we can rank it among the least invasive, the most discreet and also the most comfortable. Personally, I'm not a fan of the somewhat atypical 'square' shape, but that's probably a matter of taste.
🔋 Battery
The battery life of the ring is once again in the "best category". Even the first generation had a battery life of around 7 days. The Gen2 manages a cool 10 days. And that's really impressive considering the size of the ring (and the competition).
If you want to argue that it doesn't measure body measurements that often and therefore saves battery, you're at a loss. RingConn claims that it takes an 💓 HR (heart rate) snapshot every 2.5 seconds. The Oura does it every 5 minutes.
By the way, RingConn says that the endurance is 10-12 days depending on the use:
- How you use the ring - workouts and sleep apnea measurements (see more below) drain the battery more.
- What size ring you have - larger sizes have more capacity.
Here's an example of a size 12 battery life chart. A size 12 will last a symbolic 12 days. Decent!
You can also use the airplane mode to save even more battery...
🔌Charger case
Let's continue the beauty journey, BEST. RingConn Gen 2 has the biggest charger-case, which will charge the ring many times. In fact, you can get shipwrecked on a desert island with it and I think you'll be found before you've used its capacity.
To put this in context, the Aizo Ring and Samsung Galaxy are also available. But their capacities don't even come close to the RingConn's.
🖼️ Visual comparison with others
I currently have all the relevant rings on the market. I believe a picture is worth a thousand words.🖼️ Visual comparison with others.
I think I have praised RingConn to the skies. But I think I was right. Let's get down to earth.
📱 Software - RingConn app
If you haven't experienced the previous version, you should know that the RingConn app has come a long way. However, it is now also available in version 2.11.0.
App versions history ⤵️
1.1.0:
- Synchronization with Apple Health and Google Fit
1.4.0:
- Added sleep schedule feature
1.5.0:
- Introduced widgets for iOS
- Added bedtime schedule
1.7.0:
- Added zoom function in the vital signs section
- Introduced system notifications for inactivity and high heart rate
1.8.0:
- Display for multiple sleep sessions
- Added sleep stability factors
2.0.0:
- Wellness balance status module
- Data export function
2.3.0:
- Added exercise modes (outdoor running)
- Badge module
2.7.0:
- Menstrual cycle tracking module
- Added indoor running to exercise modes
2.9.1:
- Health alert function
- Added outdoor walking to exercise modes
- Sleep algorithm improvements
In the past I have criticised RingConn for the lack of interpretation of readings, or simply a verbal summary/recommendation. There has been progress, particularly in relation to the 💠 Wellness Balance, which is the main tile of the primary Insights tab.
💠 Wellness Balance
Wellness Balance is the showcase of the app and is actually an assessment of the overall health of the body in the form of three categories - Excellent, Good and Improvable.
It includes a "Radar Chart" whose peaks are 4 basic areas - 💤 Sleep, Vital Signs, 🏃 Activity and 😱 Stress Management. If RingConn gives you a score of 100/100 in the above categories, the curve will touch all 4 peaks.
It contains a brief and fairly general verbal recommendation. Click through to see specific scores, insights, suggested exercises and indicators for improvement. Swiping then takes you to separate areas with more detail.
Below are tiles for all 4 areas + 1 bonus area. This is the sleep apnoea monitoring.
The last part of this "home tab" Insights is the Health Timeline, where you can automatically record certain inputs (waking up, reaching a step goal, going to bed, etc.) and also add notes (and photos).
Wellness Balance is still in beta, and I'm curious to see if there are any significant improvements when it moves to the main version. If I'm going to be critical anywhere, it's here. I appreciate the innovative approach (a form of ray visualisation), but I would have expected more quality in the insights.Oura, for example, is more advanced there.
📈Trends, sharing and reports
Where RingConn clearly excels are the charts in the app under the Trends tab.
And I have spoken positively in the past about sharing details with friends.:
⚕️ Is RingConn a medical device? It might be!
Of course, RingConn comes with the classic disclaimer that it is not a medical device. But it still takes some interesting steps into the underbelly of your health.
Sleep apnoea - as mentioned above, one of the tiles on the main tab is sleep apnoea monitoring. If you suspect you may be suffering from it, you can manually switch on the monitoring any night (the phone must be within ringing distance) and get the results. The basic output is a standardised AHI index (Apnea/Hypopnea Index).
I'm currently getting AHI = 0, so I guess I can't tell you more about that.
Vital Sign Abnormality – I was recently surprised by a new output from the app. It reported a medical abnormality. Great, right?
There is, however, one flaw. I didn't have a ring on my hand at the time the anomaly was detected. 😄 However, I reported it as feedback to support. Almost immediately, they acknowledged that it was a bug 🐛 and that they would fix it.
But just before this article was published, RingConn Gen2 reported another anomaly. This time very accurately. Well done.
📐 And what about accuracy?
As I hope you're used to, you won't find any general and useless information from foreign magazines on this site. I regularly monitor the devices I test and review and compare them to each other to put tests & reviews in the context of the market.
For a month, I tested the RingConn with the Oura, which has long since proved to be a reliable heart rate monitor - see my previous chest strap comparisons if you are interested:
How did it go? Subscribe for free and see ⤵️
