That said, smart rings can still produce inaccurate readings and should not be treated as medical tools, Dr. Bhaskar Semitha, a cardiologist and cardiothoracic surgeon at Fortis Hospital Vashi in Mumbai, India, told Live Science by email. “They cannot detect arrhythmias as accurately as an ECG, and they certainly cannot predict a heart attack. I have had patients panic over false alarms from their wearables, and I have also had patients ignore real symptoms because their smart ring data looked normal. That is where these devices can be misleading,” Semitha said… More here.

I have tried the Oura and the Ultrahuman Air and returned both quite quickly. The Ultrahuman had too many problems and customer service responses that sounded like scrabbling around to cover up obvious problems. Neither could be relied upon for any exercise tracking, but seems fairly accurate for heart rate and sleep.

Smart rings may offer a partial solution in the future, but I suspect that the obvious issue of where they have to be worn will always limit their tracking capabilities.

UPDATE: I am trying a new smart ring, review will be up next week.

Categories: Fitness, Fitness Trackers, Health