As someone who has tried her fair share of health and fitness fads over the years, I’ve shifted from having raw garlic first thing in the morning and celery juices, to testing out health and fitness trackers.
I have unexpectedly come to love a few, and some have missed the mark. But today, I’m pitting two of the more promising wearables in the market- the Oura Ring and the Fitbit Charge 6.
Specifications
| Specifications | Oura Ring Gen3 | Fitbit Charge 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 4-6 g | 37.64 g |
| Dimension | 7.9mm width, 2.55mm thickness | 36.83mm length x 23.11mm width x 11.18mm height |
| Sizes | 8 sizes (6-13) | Small: Fits Wrist 130mm – 170mm in circumference. Large: Fits Wrist 170mm – 211mm in circumference |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 4.0 | Bluetooth |
| NFC | No | Yes |
| Battery Life | Up to 7 days | Up to 7 days |
| Charging Time | Up to 80 mins | 2 hours |
| Charger | Size-specific charger with USB cable | Charging Cable |
| Water resistance | 100 m | 50M (5 ATM) |
| Compatibility | iOS 15 and higher or Android 9.0 and higher | iOS 15 or higher, Android 9.0 or higher |
| Free Sizing Kit | Yes | N/A |
| FSA / HSA Eligible | Yes | No |
| Warranty | 1 – 2 years | 1 year |
| Memory | 7 days | 7 days |
| Operating Temperature Range | -10°C – 52°C | -10° – 45°C |
| Compatible With Other Apps | Yes | No |
| Price | Starting $299 | $159.95 |
| Subscription | $5.99 USD/month (first month free) | $9.99/month or $79.99/year (first 6 months free) |
Design and Comfort
In today’s day and age, I believe that choosing a fitness tracker should be about blending into two things- your lifestyle and your wardrobe. While Oura has nailed the design and comfort, the Charge 6 is a traditional band with a touch-screen face.
The Charge 6 has a haptic button and comes with 2 strap sizes, mine is the smaller size in porcelain.
While the style of the Charge 6 is not bad in any sense, it looks quite good, but only with my workout wear, and I do sometimes stretch it to my casual loungewear, but with the Oura Ring, I never have to worry about it looking odd with my whatever I’m wearing.
When it comes to comfort, the Oura Ring, because of its form factor, is far more comfortable to sleep in than the Fitbit. Not the most uncomfortable, but a watch is not my preferred gadget to sleep in.
Speaking about comfort, the Oura Ring takes a couple of days to get used to initially. I was acutely aware of the chunky, new ring on my finger, but come day three, it was barely even noticeable. This, sadly, is not the case for the Fitbit. It could be a lot different for you, but I’m not much of a watch person anyway, so my POV comes with that bias.
Both are water-resistant and comfortable to wear during the day; however, I did occasionally get annoyed with the silicone strap on the Fitbit (again, not a watch person), and I prefer taking my Oura Ring off during weightlifting.
Sensors
| Sensors | Oura Ring Gen3 | Fitbit Charge 6 |
|---|---|---|
| PPG Module/Optical Heart Rate Monitor | ✅ | ✅ |
| Temperature Sensor | ✅ | ✅ |
| 3-axis Accelerometer | ✅ | ✅ |
| Infrared LED | ✅ | ✅ |
| Green LED | ✅ | ❌ |
| Red LED | ✅ | ✅ |
| Vibration Motor | ❌ | ✅ |
| Ambient Light Sensor | ❌ | ✅ |
| Multipurpose Electrical Sensors Compatible with ECG app & EDA Scan App | ❌ | ✅ |
Accuracy
- The company claimed Fitbit Charge 6 to be 60% more accurate in calculating metrics for workouts- HIIT, Rowing, and Spinning than the Charge 5.
- Fitbit Charge 6 has improved accuracy for Awake time detection but struggled to push sleep stages accurately into the ECG range.
- Overall, Oura performed better than the Charge 6 in terms of Deep and REM sleep.
- Oura overpredicted deep sleep a lot, but the Fitbit Charge 6 didn’t.
- A study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco, concluded that the Oura Rins could detect signs of fever and illness in 76% of people by studying the temperature changes.
- A study by the National Library of Medicine stated that the Oura Ring is accurate in terms of measuring HRV based on time-domain parameters; therefore, the use of this parameter for tracking sleep and general health monitoring is deemed accurate for day-to-day use.
- GPS on the Fitbit Charge 6 was pretty accurate in calculating the path I took for my runs.
Features
| Features | Oura Ring Gen3 | Fitbit Charge 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Heart Rate, RHR & HRV | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep latency | Yes | No |
| Sleep pattern | Yes | Yes |
| Movement during sleep | Yes | No |
| Sleep Score | Yes | Yes |
| Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications/AFib Assessment | No | Yes |
| High & Low Heart Rate | No | Yes |
| Blood oxygen levels (SpO2) | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep Tracking & Nap Detection | Yes | Yes |
| Bedtime Guidance | Yes | No |
| Respiration Rate/Breathing Rate | Yes | Yes |
| Workout Intensity Map | No | Yes |
| Blood Glucose Tracking | No | Yes |
| Skin Temperature | Yes | Yes |
| Steps | Yes | Yes |
| Distance | Yes | Yes |
| Calories | Yes | Yes |
| Active Minutes | No | Yes |
| Activity Intensity | No | Yes |
| Standing Time | No | No |
| Inactivity Time | Yes | No |
| Workouts | Yes | Yes |
| Menstrual Symptoms | Yes (logged manually) | Yes (logged manually) |
| Period Logging | Yes | Yes (logged manually) |
| Fertility & Ovulation Prediction | Yes | Yes |
| Pregnancy Insights | Yes | No |
| Mood and Energy | Yes (via Tags) | Yes (logged manually) |
| Insights Feature | Yes | Yes |
| Daily Summary | Yes | Yes |
| Personalized Goals | Yes | Yes |
| Blood Glucose Tracking | No | Yes |
| Stress Score/ Graph | Yes | Yes |
| EDA Scan to Assess Stress | No | Yes |
| Recovery | Yes | No |
| Cardio Fitness Score | No | Yes |
| Cardiovascular Age | Yes | No |
| Daily Readiness Score | Yes | Yes |
| Wellness/Health Report | Yes | Yes |
| Share Report | Yes | Yes |
| Health & Wellness Reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Call, text, and app notifications | No | Yes |
| Google Wallet & Maps | No | Yes |
| YouTube Music | No | Yes |
| Timer & Stopwatch | No | Yes |
| Smart Wake Alarm | No | Yes |
| Do Not Disturb & Sleep Mode | No | Yes |
| GPS | Yes (phone connected) | Yes (phone connected and in-built) |
| Find My Phone/ Ring | Yes (iOS) | Yes |
Because of the tiny display, they have another added feature, zoom in, for people who might have a hard time reading the text on the tiny screen. With a triple tap, the screen zooms in for clearer text
Sleep Tracking
Oura’s proactive approach to sleep health is what made me realize the importance of a good night’s sleep in the first place. Before Oura, I was tracking my fitness and workouts and never thought twice about tracking my sleep.
This tiny device not only monitors my sleep cycle, but works relentlessly behind the scenes on improving it. It’s like a personal health coach and cheerleader compressed into a tiny ring form.
Oura has put sleep insights and tracking at the forefront, and it shows. I love getting a crown on my sleep score (>100), which makes me take a quick glance and know how last night’s sleep went. It tracks metrics such as – sleep stages, resting heart rate, total sleep, latency, movement during sleep, and sleep efficiency, all from the lens of recovery.
This is also used to give a Readiness Score, just like the Fitbit, in order to tell me how ready I am to take on the day. While the Oura Ring excels in sleep tracking, the Fitbit isn’t far behind. It also gives me a sleep score, sleep time, efficiency, resting heart rate, and stages. Apart from the sleep score, the insights are hidden behind a paywall for the Fitbit Premium.
In my personal tracking of sleep on both these devices, the Oura Ring tracked more REM Sleep, and the Fitbit, more Deep Sleep. But since the sleep stages are never completely accurate for fitness trackers, it doesn’t bother me much.
The sleep duration and time are what were mostly consistent, with only slight differences between the two. Additionally, Fitbit gives a ‘Sleep Profile’ as a part of their Premium feature, which denotes an animal with your sleep patterns. Sleep Profile takes 14 nights of sleep data into account before it can assign an animal to your profile.
Activity Tracking
When it comes to tracking workouts, Fitbit comes through. It was made for this purpose, after all. Tracking 40+ workouts automatically, active zone minutes with time spent in each zone, distance and pace with Google Maps integration via GPS on the phone, and live HR broadcasting, it’s a gym freak’s dream gadget.
What is live HR broadcasting, you ask? Let me explain. Before starting a workout, HR can easily connect to supported gym equipment and third-party apps like Peleton, Runkeeper, and Strava. How cool. Although an hour of workout with this live broadcast impacted my battery drastically, I had no complaints.
The built-in GPS can be used, but by connecting to my phone’s Google Maps, it gave me direct access to directions for a long walk/ run right from my wrist, without pulling out my phone.
In comparison, Oura takes a more inclusive approach to activity by emphasizing movement throughout the day. From tracking household chores like cleaning and gardening to yoga and pilates, Oura doesn’t miss a step.
The answer to which is better for you is really a question you need to ask yourself. What is your goal? Fitness or overall wellness?
Not saying that Oura doesn’t have the ability to track and log workouts, but it isn’t the most comfortable to wear at the gym as opposed to the Fitbit resting at my wrist. From an overall activity standpoint, Oura tracks steps, has the ability to log 50+ workouts, and automatically detects 40+. However, it missed tracking a few of my mat-based workouts, such as yoga and wall pilates.
It also overcounts my steps a little in comparison to the Fitbit since it tracks finger movements as well, but the overall count isn’t so drastic that it will change my view of all that the Oura can do so well.
Another reason why I said Oura acts as my personal coach is because it changes my activity goals based on my recovery, gives me a suggestion to turn on “rest mode”, if my recovery hasn’t been well in the past few days, offering a more intensional approach to activity and wellness.
Additional Features
Both the Oura Ring and the Fitbit provide stress tracking; however, the dedicated EDA sensor on the Fitbit leads me to believe its accuracy over Oura’s estimates based on temperature, HR, HRV, and motion.
The Fitbit provides ECG and AFib detection as well as irregular heart rhythm notifications. Oura has a body clock pertaining to one’s circadian rhythm and cardiovascular age based on the activity and recovery data calculated over time.
Being a smartwatch, the Fitbit acts as a remote control for my phone. While they did include music controls, I’m not happy with the limitations on the same. Only YouTube music in today’s day and age? They do give one month free of YouTube music subscription, but, as a Spotify user, I’m not happy.
Another smartwatch feature is ‘Google Pay’, right from the watch. However, adding the pin is a tedious task on such a small screen. Shelling out $9.99/month post the six months of free Fitbit Premium will also give you access to a library of workouts and guided meditation sessions. The guided meditations are also available on Oura in their ‘Explore’ tab.
Price and Availability
The Oura Ring starts at $299 with a subscription of $5.99/ month and 1 month free of the subscription. Available on their official website and worldwide via their authorized retailers, the Oura Ring is an investment for sure.
The Fitbit Charge 6, with a price tag of $159.95 and a six-month free subscription to Fitbit Premium, definitely feels like a steal. The monthly subscription post the six months will be $9.99; however, I don’t think it’s an absolute necessity to gain the benefits of Charge 6. It is available via their official website and authorized retailers in over 40 countries.
Final Verdict
With a shiny price tag and the additional subscription cost, Oura is definitely an investment, but from an overall health and wellness point of view, it is an investment in your health and well-being. If your goal is to be more mindful about your health in the long run, Oura is a clear choice.
The Fitbit Charge 6, while being an excellent fitness tracker, has its priorities straight. If you’re looking for a wearable, and fitness is your primary goal, the Fitbit Charge 6 is a great choice.
Personally, I have come to value the importance of sleep and movement throughout the day, and wearing a ring is far more comfortable than wearing a watch. Therefore, I’ll be sticking to my Oura Ring. But for tracking my workouts, you know what you’ll find on my wrist.
