I am always on the lookout for a new gadget to crown as the next best smart wearable. I take two smart rings, wear them together, and see which one is better of the two. Recently, I tried my hands on Oura Gen3 and Circul+.
I wore both of them together on different fingers for a good six weeks, and now I am ready to deliver my verdict. So, if you want an in-depth comparison of the rings and see how I arrived at the champion ring, keep scrolling through!
Design & Colors
Oura Gen 3 comes in two different variants (Horizon and Heritage) and several different colors. I purchased Horizon in silver; it’s sleek and round and goes really well with my overall aesthetic. Unlike my Oura Ring, the Circul+ isn’t completely circular in shape. It’s flat at the bottom (the part where sensors are located).
Because black is my favorite color, I wanted to get the Oura Ring in the beautiful Stealth color. But it was $100 more. Oura does this thing— it increases the prices of rings based on their color and finish.
I didn’t face any such problem with Circul+. It comes in a matte black finish only, and that works just fine for me since black is usually my first choice. But Oura has some highly appealing color options, so I can get a ring in later if I want to. I won’t be able to do so with Circul+ because of the lack of options, though.
Because of this, I prefer Oura Gen 3 in terms of looks over Circul+. It comes in different finishes and colors, whereas Circul+ doesn’t. And even though I am going to choose the cheapest option available, it is nice to know that I have so many options.
Comfort & Durability
One would expect a smart ring to feel bulky on the finger, but no. My Oura Ring is made up of non-allergenic titanium, weighs roughly 5 grams, and is, therefore quite comfortable to wear; I just put it on my finger and forget all about it!
On the other hand, the Circul+ is a ring built to make its presence felt at all times. Remember the flat bottom part I just told you about? It makes it difficult for me to bend my fingers when I want to; the ring is movement-restrictive.
Plus, I never want to draw extra attention to my finger and make people think that I am wearing something extraordinary. So, the fact that the Oura ring is only around 2.55 mm in thickness is a relief. It looks like just about any other ring on my finger. But, Circul+ isn’t like that; people notice it because of its out-of-ordinary design.
Circul+ has something that I haven’t seen in any other ring before: A spring-loaded mechanism that makes it easier for me to put it on and take it off. It also allows me to adjust the size of the ring a bit on the days my fingers feel a wee bit swollen.
But then there’s one important thing that gives my Oura Ring an edge over the Circul+. Oura seems to be more durable than the Circul+. While both the rings can get scratched, Circul+ is still more scratch-prone.
Oura is made to withstand a variety of temperatures, allowing me to carry it with me wherever I go. So, I can have it on during my morning plunges in the ice-cold water or post-workout sauna sessions, too!
Furthermore, Oura Ring 3 is built in a way that never once made me feel uncomfortable. But, I was tempted to take off Circul+ time and again, especially in the beginning, and it took me a good amount of time to get used to it.
All of this makes Oura more comfortable and durable in comparison to the Circul+. This is why, for someone who is as clumsy and sensitive as me, Oura is a better choice.
Battery Life & Charging
Although Oura boasts a 7-day battery life after a full 80-minute charge, in my experience, the battery lasts only for around 4-6 days. Furthermore, when blood oxygen monitoring was enabled, the battery lasted only about 3-4 days.
Regardless of this, I’d still prefer Oura Gen 3 over Circul+. Because Circul+’s battery lasts for only up to 16 hours, it can track continuously only for 12 hours! That’s seriously not enough for any smart ring.
| Charging Details | Oura Ring | Circul+ Ring |
|---|---|---|
| Official Ring Charging Time | 80 minutes | Less than 2 hours |
| My Ring’s Charging Time | 80-100 minutes | Around 2 hours |
| Official Battery Durability | 7 days | 16 hours |
| My Ring’s Battery Durability | 4-6 days | 12-16 hours |
There have been times when Circul+’s battery died out in the middle of the night, thereby letting go of the purpose of sleep tracking altogether. However, I never had to face any such problem with the Oura, which is honestly great because I hate having to put my devices on charge over and over again.
Furthermore, putting my Oura on charge is pretty simple. The ring came with a charging dock, and I only had to put my ring on it and connect the charging dock to a power source via a USB cable, leave it so for around 80 minutes, and that’s it. But, the same simplicity doesn’t apply to the Circul+.
The Circul+ comes with a USB drive-like charging device. I have to connect the ring to the USB drive in such a way that the lower inside part of the ring is in contact with the charging points on the drive. The USB drive can then be connected to my laptop or a wall adapter and left alone for a good two hours.
However, ensuring that the ring aligns with the charging cradle properly has been quite a task. There have been times when I thought that I had made the connection properly and left my ring to charge, only to find out that it was still out of battery after a few hours. See? Didn’t I tell you it wasn’t as straightforward as Oura?
But I have gotten past that stage now and can make the perfect connection between the ring and the cradle in just one try. However, the 16-hour battery life and around two hours of charging time are still something that I won’t be able to adjust to. And this is why I’d choose Oura over Circul+ when it comes to charging.
Sensors
| Sensors | Oura Ring 3 | Circul+ Ring |
|---|---|---|
| PPG Sensor |  | |
| Red LED/ Blood Oxygen Light Sensor | | |
| Temperature Sensor |  | |
| Accelerometer |  | |
| Infrared LED | |  |
| Green LED | | |
| ECG Lead 2 Sensor | | |
Oura Ring 3 is all about offering comprehensive health insights. Oura has IR PPG sensors for resting heart rate, HRV, and respiration; green LEDs for 24/7 heart rate monitoring; red LEDs for measuring blood oxygen levels while I sleep; and NTC sensors for measuring nighttime skin temperature trends.
While all this sounds great, Circul+ has a significant advantage over Oura. Circul+ offers ECG readings through blood pressure/ ECG Lead 2 Sensor — something that Oura doesn’t offer- for detailed heart health monitoring. I have also used my Circul+ to measure my blood pressure. Again, this is something that I couldn’t have done with Oura.
But apart from these differences, the Circul+ offers readings similar to those of Oura. It also has SpO2 sensors and skin temperature sensors.
However, the NTC sensors of the Oura Ring still do a better job. They pick up on the tiniest of changes in the skin temperature. This comes in handy as my Oura Ring is able to predict that I might fall sick way before I realize it, and it also provides me with important input about my menstrual cycle, something which Circul+ doesn’t do.
When it comes to activity tracking, Oura uses a 3D Accelerometer, whereas Circul+ uses a 6-axis accelerometer. I found Oura’s sensor technology to be more advanced in comparison to that of Circul+’s here, too.
So, again, while Circul+, too, has really advanced sensors, I’d prefer Oura over it, just because Oura’s sensors can cater to my needs better than Circul+ does. Circul+ does offer advanced heart health monitoring and SpO2 tracking sensors, too, but given my age and current requirements, I’d rather have detailed general wellness insights.
Accuracy
Everything kept aside, accuracy is probably the most important thing for me. I’d rather have my smart rings measure just one thing and measure it accurately instead of measuring ten different things inaccurately.
Lucky for me, both the Oura Ring 3 and Circul+ offered me impressive accuracy during the time I was trying them out. It’s just that they were accurate about different things and did not always show the same data for the same things.
For example, the Oura provided me with detailed insights into various health metrics like sleep, heart rate, temperature trends, and more.
The Circul+ provided me with detailed continuous SpO2 monitoring and other heart health-related metrics, such as ECG and blood pressure. Since Oura doesn’t offer ECG and blood pressure measurement, I can’t compare the reports to it in the first place.
Furthermore, I found Circul+’s SpO2 measurement to be more accurate in comparison to that of Oura. But given that Circul+’s SpO2 is FDA-approved, and that of Oura isn’t, I had no reason to doubt its accuracy in the first place.
This still doesn’t mean that the accuracy of the Oura Ring was disappointing. The sleep stages insights that I saw on the Oura Ring app are well defined; the sleep duration I saw is in accordance with what I felt within 15-20 minutes of the record. This was way better than what Circul+ showed since the latter’s data had inaccuracies in accordance with not just Oura’s data but also what I experienced.
I found Oura’s activity-tracking mechanisms to be far more advanced than those of Circul+. Oura was able to pick up on my activities automatically without me having to manually start one via the app. This was quite convenient to me as I’d often forget to start a new activity sometimes, and as a result, it wouldn’t get registered.
The Oura Ring tracked even the smallest skin temperature changes (different from thermometer temperature, and it was still not the exact numbers, mind you), which is why I could trust the temperature trends and other health reports and illness detection on the basis of that with my eyes closed.
However, temperature measurement is not something that the Circul+ is known for in the first place. And so, I couldn’t even rely on Circul+ for that.
Overall, I’d give brownie points to Circul+ for measuring SpO2, blood pressure, and single-led ECG. But, when it comes to other things— things that matter more to me, like activity, detailed sleep tracking, temperature trends for Cycle-related insights, illness detection, and more, I’d choose Oura.
This is because Oura is going to provide me with more detailed insights on all of these fronts, whereas Circul+ might not even offer me many of these metrics.
Specifications
| Specifications | Oura Ring | Circul+ Ring |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Durable titanium, PVD coating | Stainless steel, PVD coating |
| Weight | 4-6 grams | 9 grams |
| Thickness | 2.55mm | N/A |
| Width | 7.9mm | N/A |
| Size | 6 to 13 | 3 sizes: Small, Large, XL |
| Charger | Size-specific charging dock and USB C cable | small dongle-like USB charging platform |
| Battery Life | Up to 7 days | 16 hours |
| Charging Time | Up to 80 minutes | Less than 2 hours |
| Colors available | Brushed titanium, Rose Gold, Gold, Stealth, Silver, Black | Matte Black |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth Low-Energy (Bluetooth Smart®) | Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Compatible With Other Apps | Yes | No |
| Water Resistance | Upto 100m/ 328 ft. | IP65 |
| Memory | 7 days of data (depends on the frequency of use) | Only stores data for 12 hours |
| Compatibility | – iOS devices running on iOS 15 or above – Android devices running on Android 8.0 or higher | – iOS – Android |
| Warranty | One year from the date of purchase | One year from the date of purchase from original purchaser |
| Operating Temperature | -10–52°C / 14–125°F. | -10°C to 45°C |
| EMF-safe | Yes | N/A |
| Airplane mode | Yes | N/A |
| HSA/FSA eligibility | Yes | Yes |
| FDA Approved | No | Yes |
| Sizing kit | Yes (Free) | No |
Features
| Features | Oura Ring | Circul+ |
|---|---|---|
| Heart Rate | Yes | Yes |
| Heart Rate Variability (HRV) | Yes | Yes |
| Resting Heart Rate | Yes | No |
| Workout Heart Rate | Yes | No |
| Blood oxygen levels (SpO2) | Yes | Yes |
| Single Lead ECG | No | Yes |
| Blood Pressure | No | Yes |
| Sleep Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Nap Detection | Yes | No |
| Detailed Sleep Analysis | Yes | No |
| Bedtime Guidance | Yes | No |
| Respiration Rate | Yes | No |
| Skin Temperature | Yes | Yes |
| Steps | Yes | Yes |
| Equivalent Distance | Yes | No |
| Calories | Yes | Yes |
| Activity Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic Activity Detection | Yes | No |
| Workouts | Yes | Yes |
| Cycle Insights | Yes | No |
| Period Prediction | Yes | No |
| Pregnancy tracking | Yes | No |
| Illness Detection | Yes | No |
| Health Reports | Yes | Yes |
| Set Personalized Goals | Yes | No |
| Personalized Wellness Assistance | Yes (on the basis of scores) | No |
| Insights Feature | Yes (on the basis of scores) | No |
| Wellness Trends | Yes | No |
| Guided Sessions | Yes | No |
| Stress | Yes | No |
| Recovery | Yes | No |
| Rest Mode | Yes | No |
| Readiness Score | Yes | No |
| Cardiovascular Age (CVA) | Yes | No |
| VO2 Max | Yes | No |
| Body Clock | Yes | No |
| Chronotype | Yes | No |
Both the Oura ring and the Circul+ offered me automatic and manual tracking. This means both the rings had some features that would get tracked automatically without me having to open the app and turn on their respective tracking feature. For example, both the rings tracked my steps automatically.
However, the automatic tracking was more common for Oura in comparison to the Circul+. Oura would track my workouts– starting from the kind of workout I was doing to its duration automatically. But, Circul+ wouldn’t do the same. If I wanted the latter ring to track my workouts, I had to open its companion app and start a workout manually.
In fact, Circul+ needed manual input for almost all activities beside Oxygen and Pulse rate which made it quite inconvenient for me at times. However, if I turned on Daytime Mode, Exercise Mode and Sleep Mode, then all tracking would be done automatically for 12 hours, but after that the battery would run out.
This makes Circul+ quite inconvenient to me in comparison to Oura.
But then, the Circul+ ring has a feature that blew my mind away— an alarm for SpO2 during sleep monitoring. When this feature is enabled, Circul+ will monitor my SpO2 levels live and alert me via alarm whenever the level drops below a threshold level I have set and remains so for over three seconds. I mean, wow. Only if Oura had this feature, too.
Companion Apps
Oura app matches my vibe perfectly well. It has a dark theme and shows detailed insights about different health metrics in a color-coded and easy-to-decipher way. One look at the dashboard, and I find out my Sleep score, Readiness score, and Activity Score within seconds.
I’m not saying that there’s anything complex with the Oura app, but in comparison to it, the Circul+ app leans towards a more minimalistic design. And since, I am someone who prefers details and designs, the Circul+ app doesn’t appeal to me in the way that the Oura app does.
Circul+ has a clean, white background (I hate the light theme, and the dark one isn’t available) and uses a card-style layout to show me information about different health metrics like heart rate, SpO2, sleep stages, etc.
So, just like the Oura app, Circul+ is easy to understand and navigate, too. It’s just that I wish they had made the app slightly more interesting.
Functionality of Companion Apps
When it comes to functionality and data tracking, both apps have a different focus. While the Oura app shows data on a variety of health metrics and provides me with comprehensive insights into them, the Circul+ focuses on a relatively few metrics. For example, continuous heart rate, blood pressure readings, sleep (which is nowhere as detailed as Oura’s tracking), etc.
In my opinion, Circul+’s offerings might be more useful to someone looking to have detailed heart health monitoring, among a few other things. But for someone like me— a person who needs Activity score, Sleep score, Cycle insights, etc., to be able to pursue fitness goals— the Oura app is so much more useful.
I’d say both apps are easy to navigate and use. However, you need to start activities manually in the Circul+ app, whereas Oura Ring detects and logs them into the app automatically. This makes the Oura app and ring more convenient.
I don’t want to fixate on the theme heavily, but keeping the theme, layout, data presentation, and ease of use in mind, I think that the Oura app is so much better than Circul+.
Prices & Subscription
| Pricing Details | Oura Ring 3 | Circul+ |
|---|---|---|
| Official Price | $299-$549 | $299 |
| Discounted Price | N/A | $249.95 |
| Subscription | $5.99 a month/ $69.99 a year | Free |
Out of all the smart rings I have ever owned, I have to say that the Oura Ring has to be one of the most expensive ones. The ring I bought (Horizon in silver color) cost me around $349, and this number could have gone up to $549 if I had chosen the Rose Gold one.
The price of an Oura ring depends on its style or finish, and as per my observation, the prettier ones always cost more.
Thankfully, there weren’t such choices to make when it came to Circul+. I could afford a matte black Circul+ ring (it’s the only style and finish available) at $299.00 from the official website. If I had bought it with FSA, the ring would have cost me around $249.95…but I didn’t do my due diligence before purchasing. Anyway, the point is that I could afford Circul+ much more comfortably than Oura.
Furthermore, the Oura app is membership-based, too. I could either pay around $6 a month or around $70 a year for the subscription. I found the yearly subscription to be better, so chose that one. Without the subscription, it wouldn’t really be worth having an Oura Ring since the app would only show me three basic scores: Activity, Readiness, and Sleep. I wouldn’t get any detailed data at all.
Luckily, unlike Oura, the Circul+ app is free to download and use. So, I only have to spend money on purchasing the ring, and then I don’t have to bear any more monthly or yearly costs.
But, when I really think about it, I understand why the Oura ring is pricier than Circul+. Oura offers way more than Circul+ does. It comes with more features, advanced sensors, highly accurate data, and still yet more. With this kept in consideration, Oura Ring 3’s price is justified to me in comparison to Circul+.
Final Verdict
From my experience with the rings, I found the Oura Ring to be better than the Circul+ for a variety of reasons. It offered me more colors than Circul+, and it has more advanced sensors compared to Circul+, which results in better health tracking.
Not only that, but the data that Oura collects is more accurate than what Circul+ collects, and this is something that’s most important to me.
When it comes to features, Oura wins against Circul+ by a wide margin. And if I talk about companion apps, the Oura app, with all its aesthetics and ease of use, appeals to me way more than that of Circul+.
Sure, Circul+ is more affordable than Oura, but when you look at Oura’s offering in comparison to that of Circul+, the price difference makes complete sense, doesn’t it? This is why I’d choose to spend money on an Oura ring over Circul+ anytime. I see it as an investment in my health.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wrap Up
So, as you can see, the Oura Ring is much better than the Circul+. Oura offers more features and is more comfortable. And even though it is a little more expensive than Circul+ or other smart rings in the market, I found the price to be justifiable.
But what do you think? Which ring would you prefer? Not going to be jealous if you choose Gucci Oura, but do let me know in the comments!
