Amazfit Helio was launched a little over a month ago, and so I decided to compare it with RingConn. Both of these rings have been called Oura’s more affordable alternative at some point, but I wanted to see which of the two may be worthier of being called so or if they have anything new and better to offer.
The course of my investigation has been quite interesting, and I am ready to share my verdict in this article. If you want to know which ring is better between Amazfit Helio and RingConn, scroll through the article to see how the two rings stand up to each other and which one finally emerges as the winner.
Design & Colors
I want my smart rings to look like normal, everyday wear kind of jewelry and not stand out as something weird. Which is why, I paid close attention to analysing which of the two rings matched this criteria better.
And well, Amazfit Helio doesn’t. Helio comes in just one color right now– titanium and has a dotted texture on top of it. I prefer my rings to be smooth and shiny, so I was not a fan of the textured surface of the Amazfit Helio ring. Apart from the surface, the ring didn’t look as bulky on my finger; it’s about 2.6mm in thickness and 8mm in width, so it looks quite light.
However, RingConn comes in three different colors— Moonlit Silver, Midnight Black, and Pale Gold. I chose the ring in midnight black since that is what I liked the best. RingConn made me feel good by simply giving me different color options to choose from— something that Amazfit Helio doesn’t do, yet.
RingConn has a sleek and minimalistic design that I like. The lack of a textured surface help it pass off as any other ring on my finger and doesn’t draw any extra attention to my hands– which is how I prefer it. Furthermore, being 2.6mm thick, just like Helio, and 7.8mm in width, RingConn didn’t look bulky on my finger either.
However, unlike Amazfit Helio, RingConn isn’t completely circular in shape. It has slightly square edges at the top, and I think it simply makes the ring more appealing.
With all this, in terms of design and colors, I definitely prefer the RingConn ring better.
Material, Comfort & Durability
Appearances, however important, are definitely not everything. I had to consider the materials a ring is made of, how comfortable I would be wearing it, and its durability while picking a winner.
Both the Amazfit Helio and the RingConn ring are made of the same high-quality material. The Helio is made of lightweight titanium alloy and weighs about 3.75 grams only, since I wear size 10, which makes it quite light and comfy on my finger. Getting size 12 would have made the ring weigh about 3.82 grams.
The RingConn also is forged in lightweight titanium and weighs just the same as Helio (3-5 grams) which makes it easier to wear on my finger, too.
I feel more comfortable wearing my Amazfit Helio than I do with RingConn. While the outer part of Helio is made of titanium, the inner ring is made of resin. This means the tiny sensor bumps don’t feel uncomfortable at all. RingConn doesn’t have any such ring covering and does feel just a teeny tiny bit uncomfortable at first; how thoughtful of Helio to include a resin covering in their design.
As of now, Helio only offers two sizes— size 10 and 12. While purchasing the ring, I was very skeptical of how comfortable and snug the fit was going to be since Helio doesn’t offer a sizing kit either. However, size 10 fit me just fine.
I faced no such issues with RingConn since it offers a variety of sizes and also a sizing kit that I made use of to determine my size before finally ordering the ring. Because of the sizing kit, I was able to get RingConn in a size that fits me the best.
I found the rings to be quite different in terms of durability. I was carrying some utensils around the house the other day and tripped over a piece of Lego. The fall was bad, and the hand I was wearing Helio on, bore the impact. When I checked the ring, I saw that it had a few scratches at the bottom.
But considering the ordeal I just put the ring through, it was all okay. You may call it my clumsiness, but I call it a durability test.
As for the RingConn ring, it already had a few scratches after some gardening the day before. It’s just that, after the fall, it had a few more scratches, even though RingConn hadn’t been the direct victim of my casualty. So, I concluded that, looks aren’t everything and Helio is way more durable in comparison to RingConn.
Clearly, while RingConn might look like a beautiful piece of jewelry in comparison to Helio, I found the latter to be much better in its build and feel.
Battery Life & Charging
| Charging Details | Amazfit Helio Ring | RingConn Ring |
|---|---|---|
| Official Ring Charging Time | 100 minutes | 90 minutes |
| My Ring’s Charging Time | 100- 120 minutes | ~90 minutes |
| Official Battery Durability | Up to 4 days | 7 days |
| My Ring’s Battery Durability | 3-4 days | 4-6 days |
I hate having to charge my devices frequently, so it’s important to me that all my smart devices and wearables have long-lasting battery lives. However, Amazfit Helio doesn’t.
Despite the up to 4-days advertised battery life, in my experience, the battery lasted only 3-4 days. This was a bummer, as I had to put the ring on charge again and again. Thankfully, this is something that I didn’t have to do with my RingConn ring.
RingConn advertises seven days of battery life, and while it, too, doesn’t live up to its advertised claims, it comes pretty close to doing so. I easily get about four to six days of battery life.
Furthermore, battery consumption depends on certain factors, like how frequently I sync the ring or if I am monitoring my SpO2 continuously; these things drain the battery faster. Regardless of this, RingConn gives me a longer battery life than Helio.
When it comes to charging, Helio’s charging situation is not very different from Oura’s. The ring comes with a wireless charging dock. You have to put the ring on the dock and connect the dock to a power source via a USB-C cable. If you’ve ever used an Oura ring, then you’ll know what I am talking about here.
On the other hand, I am in awe of RingConn’s charging process. The ring comes with a portable travel case with a built-in 500mAh battery. When I have to charge the ring, I only have to put it in the charging case—no need to attach any cables anywhere. It takes around 90 minutes for the ring to charge completely.
The case can support about 15-18 charges/ around 150 days of battery life, after which it will have to be connected to a power source using a USB-C cable— which comes with the ring itself.
Clearly, RingConn is the clear winner for me in terms of battery life and charging situation, and Helio needs to step up its game.
Sensors
Smart rings are packed with really advanced sensors and batteries in a small space. My Amazfit Helio and RingConn are no different. Both of them have pretty similar sensors. In fact, having used Oura before and knowing how similar RingConn is to Oura, I already knew what to expect from its sensors.
| Sensors | Amazfit Helio Ring | RingConn Ring |
|---|---|---|
| PPG Module |  | |
| Photodiodes | |  |
| Skin temperature Sensor |  | |
| Accelerometer | | |
| Gyroscope | | |
| Infrared LED | | |
| Green LED | | |
| Red LED | | |
| EDA Sensors | | |
Unlike Helio, RingConn doesn’t have a 3-axis gyroscope, which is important for activity differentiation and motion tracking.
Another important difference between Amazfit Helio and RingConn is the EDA sensor. Amazfit Helio uses the EDA sensor to gather insights into my stress levels and emotional state, whereas RingConn depends on the heart rate sensors for this data.
Accuracy
Since both the Amazfit Helio and RingConn rings are packed with similar technology, I had expected them to be similar in their sensor accuracy as well. But they were not, and I found this to be quite surprising.
Step Tracking
When it comes to steps, I noticed that RingConn used to count extra steps compared to Amazfit Helio. I know it’s common for smart wearables to under/overcount the number of steps, but RingConn had this annoying habit of starting to count my steps before I even set foot out of bed!
Plenty of times, I’d open the app in the morning to check how I slept the previous night, only to see that the ring had already counted around 200 steps for the day while I was still in bed. Maybe it was because of changes in sleep position? I can’t say for sure.
But I can say for sure that Amazfit Helio is much more accurate at counting steps and activities.
I was really counting on RingConn to be the winner here. Hell, I was even ready to crown it as an affordable replacement for an Oura Ring, but as a fitness enthusiast, maintaining a step count is a big deal for me, and RingConn doesn’t get that.
Stress Levels
Next, when it comes to measuring my stress levels, Amazfit Helio uses EDA (Electrodermal Activity) sensors, which produce much more accurate numbers than RingConn. Furthermore, the Helio can also detect the changes in my emotional states based on the data it gathers from EDA sensors and changes in my HRV. This comes in greatly useful to me as it helps me regulate my emotions way better.
On the other hand, RingConn relies on my heart rate or HRV to provide me with my stress level score. I don’t find it to be accurate because there’s usually an increase in my heart rate when I am out running in the sun, which is completely unrelated to stress. In fact, that’s when I feel the happiest, but RingConn doesn’t get that.
Heart Rate Monitoring
When it comes to tracking my heart rate, I am not particularly satisfied with the performance of either of these rings. With Amazfit Helio, the ring needs to be positioned on my finger facing downwards, and if that position changes when I am exercising or simply doing any household chores, the ring will not measure my heart rate then.
There have been times when the Helio ring didn’t register my heartbeat for a good five minutes. This is a bummer because I can’t keep adjusting my rotating ring all the time.
Furthermore, during the times Amazfit Helio measured my heartbeat, I found the numbers to be higher than those provided to me by other established wearables like the Gramin and Oura.
Similarly, Ringconn works with equal accuracy when monitoring my heart rate because it, too uses PPG sensors. But, when I am doing HIITs or dancing, RingConn doesn’t register the rapid changes in my heart rate accurately, and this leads to inaccurate data later.
Sleep Tracking
Almost all smart rings are said to focus heavily on sleep tracking. Naturally, I went in with certain expectations regarding both Amazfit Helio and RingConn. However, I found some significant differences between the sleep-tracking capabilities of both these rings.
Amazfit tracked my sleep in great detail. It provided me with details about my sleep stages, breathing, REM, blood oxygen levels, and sleep score. The data painted a pretty accurate picture of my sleep quality. In fact, sleep tracking is the only decent feature that I think Amazfit Helio has.
While RingConn did something similar for me, the depth and accuracy of the sleep report that I got from RingConn weren’t as detailed as that of Helio. Furthermore, the sleep score that I’d get wasn’t accurate a lot of times, either. RingConn would fail to capture the irregularities in sleeping patterns that Helio could.
Activity & Workouts
I am a fitness enthusiast, so needless to say, I am pretty active. I don’t just finish my 10,000 steps and call it a day. I also engage in other kinds of activities that I need my smart ring to track and monitor.
Amazfit Helio only allows me to track a few kinds of activities, such as walking, running, cycling, and treadmill workouts. And that works perfectly for me. It also gives me recovery insights and predictions based on my performance, which I find to be particularly helpful.
While RingConn also tracks my daily activities and workouts similarly, I have found its tracking capabilities to be less advances and accurate in comparison to that of Amazfit Helio. Because the latter even uses a built-in GPS to help me track my different kinds of outdoor activities accurately.
Both Amazfit Helio and RingConn need me to start a workout using the app so that they can track it. And well, there have been times when I simply forgot to start an activity in the app, leading to inaccurate data.
Furthermore, did I mention that it’s quite uncomfortable to wear the RingConn ring while lifting weights or doing strength training? I sometimes have to take off the ring before doing either, and that not only defeats the purpose of the ring as a fitness tracker but also leads to data inaccuracies later.
Luckily, I don’t face any such problem with Amazfit Helio, so I trust it to track my workouts better than RingConn does.
Specifications
| Specifications | Amazfit Helio | RingConn |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Titanium Alloy (outer ring), Resin (inner part of the ring) | Lightweight Titanium |
| Size | 10 &12 | 6 to 14 |
| Weight | 3.75 & 3.82 grams | 3-5 gms |
| Thickness | 2.6mm | 2.6mm |
| Width | 8mm | 7.8mm |
| Charger | Wireless charger | Portable charging case: 500mAh. Can recharge the ring up to 18 times |
| Battery Life | Up to 4 days | Up to 7 days |
| Charging Time | 1 hr 40min | 90 min |
| Colors available | Titanium | Moonlit Silver, Midnight Black, Pale Gold |
| Connectivity | BLE | Bluetooth 5.2 (Low power Bluetooth module) |
| Compatible With Other Apps | Yes | Yes |
| Water Resistance | 10 ATM/100m | IP68/ 50m |
| Memory | N/A | Up to 7 days |
| In-Built GPS | Yes | No |
| Compatibility | Android 7.0 and above, iOS 14.0 and above | iOS12.0+, Android 8.0+ |
| Warranty | 1-year | 1-year warranty |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C to 40°C | -10°C -41°C/14°F-104°F |
| EMF-Safe | No | Yes |
| Airplane Mode | No | Yes |
| Sizing kit | No | Yes (Free) |
Features
| Features | Amazfit Helio | RingConn |
|---|---|---|
| Heart Rate | Yes | Yes |
| Heart Rate Variability (HRV) | Yes | Yes |
| Resting Heart Rate | Yes | No |
| Workout Heart Rate | Yes | Yes |
| Blood oxygen levels (SpO2) | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Nap detection | Yes | Yes |
| Detailed sleep analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Bedtime Guidance | No | Yes |
| Sleep Coach | Yes | No |
| Respiration Rate | No | Yes |
| Breathing Quality | Yes | No |
| Skin Temperature | Yes | Yes |
| Steps | Yes | Yes |
| Standing Time | No | Yes |
| Equivalent Distance | Yes | Yes |
| Calories | Yes | Yes |
| Activity Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Sports Coach | Yes | No |
| Achievement Prediction | Yes | No |
| Advanced Running Support | Yes | No |
| Workouts | Yes | Yes |
| Cycle tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Period Prediction | Yes | Yes |
| Fertility & Ovulation Prediction | No | Yes |
| Health Reports | Yes | Yes |
| Health Timeline & Note | No | Yes |
| Emotional state | Yes | No |
| Set Personalized Goals | Yes | Yes |
| Personalized Wellness Assistance | Yes | No |
| PAI health assessment system | Yes | No |
| AI Chatbot | Yes | No |
| Insights Feature | Yes | Yes |
| Share Data | Yes | Yes |
| Wellness Trends | No | Yes |
| Stress | Yes | Yes |
| Recovery | Yes | No |
| Wellness/Readiness Score | Yes | Yes |
| Readiness Insights | Yes | No |
| VO2 Max | Yes | No |
While both the rings track sleep, Amazfit Helio’s sleep-tracking systems are way more advanced in comparison to that of RingConn’s.
Helio also offers Sleep health assessments that include metrics like Sleep Apnea, Daytime Sleepiness, RLS, and Insomnia. I have found these metrics to be more useful than I can explain. For example, Helio helps me understand when I feel sleepy the most during the daytime, and I adjust my schedule accordingly.
However, even though both of the rings have plenty of useful and unique features, I noticed that neither Amazfit Helio nor RingConn comes with a feature I like the most— Rest mode. While tracking things like activity and workouts is important, I feel the ring makers should also have provided this feature for people’s well-being.
It’s still sort of okay, though. Because even if the Helio doesn’t provide me with a Rest mode, it does provide me with physical recovery and mental recovery scores. These scores do give me an idea of how rested I might be and how well I could carpe diem for the day. So, close enough.
Companion Apps
User Interface & Design
Zepp, the companion app of the Amazfit Helio, is as amazing as the ring itself. The app comes with both light and dark themes and provides me with different kinds of scores, like Readiness, sleep, etc. (pretty similar to Oura), right on the home screen. I can scroll through the home screen to quickly get an idea of how I am doing on different parameters.
RingConn’s companion app, which goes by the same name as the ring, provides me with similar stress, wellness, and other kinds of scores.
Apart from the Home tab, which features all of this data, the Zepp app also has Sleep, Workout, and Profile tabs, which are pretty self-explanatory. The Sleep tab provides me with my sleep score right at the top and a detailed analysis of my sleep data when I scroll. All the data is very detailed, and honestly, given that it’s all packed in a small space, I found it a little overwhelming to take it all in during the first few times.
Although the RingConn app features many colourful charts and graphs for easier understanding, is also a little overwhelming at first.
However, the difference between the two is that I found Helio’s data a little easier to understand than RingConn’s. Despite this, I really hope both apps work a little more on their app interfaces.
Functionality Of The Apps
There are both similarities and notable differences in how both the Amazfit Helio and RingConn’s companion apps offer comprehensive health tracking capabilities.
For example, both the Zepp app and RingConn’s companion app require me to manually start a workout using the app, but given that the Helio ring comes with a built-in GPS, I get to see a very detailed analysis of how much and how I have run. Given that I am into running, I cherish the detailed stats offered.
Furthermore, the Zepp app also comes with a Data Fusion feature that makes it easy to sync data from both an Amazfit smartwatch and the Helio ring in one place. This could come in very handy if someone decides to wear the watch for once and skip the ring; their data could still be collected and monitored on the app continuously. Since I didn’t wear the watch and the ring together, I can’t really comment on this feature, but it’s quite nice knowing that the feature is there.
The Zepp app offers a PAI health assessment system and also uses AI-driven features to provide insights and personalized recommendations that will help me improve my health and performance.
The RingConn has something similar; the homescreen of the RingConn app shows useful health related insights, offers me feedback, and post-workout summaries that I can use to see how I performed.
But, the main difference between the apps is that I have to a avail the paid version of the Zepp app, i.e. Zepp Aura to get access to these insights, and the RingConn app is free.
Prices, Subscription & Availability
Although the prices of the Amazfit Helio and RingConn rings differ slightly, I could comfortably afford both.
| Pricing Details | Amazfit Helio | RingConn |
|---|---|---|
| Official Price | $299.99 USD | $279.00 USD |
| Discounted Price | N/A | $259 USD |
| Subscription | Yes (Optional) | No Subscription |
I got the Amazfit Helio ring from their official website (I couldn’t find it anywhere else) for $299.99. Had I purchased the ring along with an Amazfit Smartwatch, I could have gotten the ring for $149.99 only, as it is part of Amazfit’s bundle deal.
RingConn is cheaper than Helio. I got it for only $279.00 from RingConn’s official website. During sales, the ring is available at a discounted price of $259.
When it comes to app subscriptions, both the Zepp and RingConn apps are free to download and use. This is a relief because after spending nearly $300 USD on each ring, I am also in no mood to pay a yearly or monthly subscription.
However, while the free version of the Zepp app is workable to a certain extent, I had to pay extra to get access to all my health data like sleep assessments, weekly or monthly reports, readiness insights, Zepp AI coach, etc.
Since I was only testing the app in the beginning, I only got a monthly subscription. The kind of health related data I got, greater sleep and workout details and insights made spending on the subscription worth it for me.
Final Verdict
During my investigation, I discovered that both Amazfit Helio and RingConn have strengths and weaknesses. Amazfit launched more than a month ago, and testing anything requires more time than that.
But over the past month, while testing the two rings, I have concluded that Amazfit Helio is better than RingConn. Even though Helio is not as sleek and shiny as RingConn, it feels more comfortable, has more advanced sensors, and is more accurate. These are some of the main things that I need from a smart ring.
However, I still wish that Amazfit Helio offered more colors to choose from and worked on its battery life. Furthermore, even though its accuracy is better than that of RingConn, it is still not fully accurate in terms of heart rate monitoring or activity tracking. So, I hope they work on this. Not to forget, the Zepp app could use a little work to improve the user interface, too.
But again, we must not forget that Amazfit Helio is relatively new in the market and there’s still a lot about the ring that is yet to come to the surface. So, if and when I discover something new about the ring— a cool feature or even a flaw—I will update the article accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wrap Up
Okay, then, people! That was my experience comparing Amazfit Helio and RingConn. Trying out these two rings was quite fun but also annoying at times. I’d feel overwhelmed sometimes having to manage two rings at once and analyze their data using not-so-user-friendly apps simultaneously.
Anyway, my time with the rings has genuinely left me amazed at how far we have come in the wearable technology field. I hope that both Amazfit Helio and RingConn work to make their rings even better. If and when that happens, you can expect an updated review from me.
