Is It Worth The Money? We Find Out

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Look, as someone whose sleep schedule is currently all over the place (new mum) and whose daily exercise is either a 10km run or absolutely nothing, I wasn’t really sure if I needed one more fitness monitor telling me to ‘move more’.

However, the idea of tracking my sleep, stress, and survival odds via a discreet piece of jewellery instead of a glowing wrist-brick? Say less.

I wore the new Oura Ring 5 for a month straight to see if it’s actually worth your money, why everyone’s buying them, and what’s overhyped.

What makes the Oura Ring 5 different to its predecessors?

Beyond the smaller profile and bump-free titanium interior, the Oura Ring 5 upgrades battery life to an impressive 8 to 10 days and introduces a portable aluminium travel case that holds a month’s worth of extra charge. It also features a new 12-channel sensor layout that delivers up to 100x stronger signal accuracy for clinical-grade sleep and heart rate tracking abilities, while a tougher PVD coating gives the titanium exterior much-needed scratch resistance against keys, prams, and dumbbells.

The app also adds live activity tracking for workouts and new health tools like overnight blood pressure signals and ResMed-powered breathing disruption trends.

Lots of data to nerd out over

First things first, the sleep and recovery data is top-tier. Unlike wearing a heavy smartwatch to bed, you completely forget the Oura Ring is there for the most part — at first I noticed the glow from the sensors inside the ring, but I slowly got used to it. The inside is completely smooth, so nothing is digging into your skin while you sleep.

Every morning, the app hits you with a Sleep Score from 0 to 100 that ruthlessly exposes every bad life choice you made the night before. Instead of just telling you how long you were out, it breaks down your exact time spent in deep (physical recovery), REM (brain reset), and light sleep — showing you in real-time how that ~innocent~ 9pm glass of wine, late-night TikTok scroll or, in my case, toddler obliterated your sleep quality.

Its sensors continuously log your resting heart rate (RHR) and heart rate variability (HRV) all night, acting as a literal hangover meter; if you eat late or down margaritas, your heart rate graph will look like an alpine ski slope because your body is working overtime instead of resting.

On top of tracking sleep latency (AKA how long you lie awake spiralling) and nightly blood oxygen levels, it eventually determines your biological Chronotype and gives you a personalised ‘ideal bedtime window’, giving you concrete, cold-hard data to justify ditching plans early because your circadian rhythm demands sleep.

The daytime stress tracking is also pretty interesting. You can see what’s raising your stress levels throughout the day, be it a 3pm meeting with your boss or a stressful run to the bus stop.

The Oura Ring’s fertility tracking data

As a woman, it’s also an absolute game-changer for cycle and fertility tracking. By tracking micro-shifts in your skin temperature overnight (down to 0.1°C), it automatically maps your ovulation, predicts your period up to 12 months out, and syncs directly with Natural Cycles, if you prefer that method.

The fitness tracking

Now, as someone who often tracks their workouts and runs, the Oura Ring has a pretty different way of tracking it compared to a fitness tracker. While traditional sports watches bombard you with live wrist metrics like split times, cadence, and GPS maps, the Oura Ring treats your workout less like a live performance and more like a piece of a recovery puzzle. Instead of giving you real-time feedback while you’re out on the pavement, it logs your strain in the background to feed directly into your overall daily Readiness score. You won’t be using it to pace yourself during a 10km tempo run, but it excels at calculating the actual toll that run took on your body — telling you whether you should push for another PR tomorrow or surrender entirely to the couch.

The subscription

Okay, so one downside to the Oura Ring is that not only do you have to fork out cash for the ring itself, but you also have to pay another $6-a-month subscription fee to actually read your data. Now, $6 is basically a cup of coffee, so it’s not that bad, but it’s just enough to make users slightly salty.

The Verdict: Is it worth your hard-earned money?

If you care deeply about sleep, cycle tracking, recovery, and daily stress, but hate the bulky look of traditional smartwatches, you’ll love how low-key, beautiful, and legitimately helpful the ring is. However, if your main goal is tracking heavy gym sessions or running, or you’re just not that deep into data, you’re probably better off with a simple fitness tracker instead.

You can shop the Oura Ring 5 (From $649) here.

Lead Image: Oura