Oura Ring Vs Garmin Fenix 7 Pro | Should You Buy A Smart Ring Or A Watch?

I have trusted smartwatches to help me track my life for the longest time. And when smart rings came into the picture, I gave them a try, too. But then came the obvious: Which smart wearable is better, a ring or a watch? It’s an important question, don’t you think?

To arrive at an answer, I wore both a smartwatch, i.e., Garmin Fenix 7 Pro – Sapphire Solar, and a smart ring, the infamous Oura Gen 3, for around two months and compared them across several parameters. Below, you will find not just my verdict but also how I arrived at it. So, keep scrolling!

My Verdict

Both Oura and Garmin proved to be strong contenders, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, and use cases. After a month of experience with the two smart wearables, I concluded that Oura Ring 3 performed better overall than Garmin Fenix 7 Pro.

I am sure this will raise just as many questions for you as it will answer. Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is a really powerful smartwatch; how could Oura be better than it? Well, the rest of this article covers just that.

Specifications

Design & Colors

With Oura, you could never tell that I was wearing a smart wearable that was hard at work collecting my health-related data. It’s simply designed to mimic a normal, everyday piece of jewelry. It’s completely circular except for a flat top and is black in color.

Oura is known for being discreet—which is how I prefer a smart ring to be—and well, being only 2.55mm thick and 7.9mm wide, it is so. If you haven’t guessed it already, I have the Heritage Black variant of the Oura Ring 3.

On the other hand, a watch like the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro- Solar Sapphire edition (that’s quite a mouthful, I know) is much more noticeable. I got the watch in its 47mm variant, and as someone with slender wrists, the watch with its large round face (i.e., a 33.02 mm display) and round buttons on the sides stands out.

But you know what? The watch is all black, has a rugged build, looks rad, and wearing something that heavy makes me feel badass. So, I don’t really mind that it doesn’t complement my floral dresses that well. Plus, when people ask questions about the watch, I proudly launch into its long list of marvelous features, and that somehow makes the watch look even better.

Unlike Oura, Fenix 7 Pro only offers two different color options, which works well for me given that both of the available color options are to my taste.

Plus, Garmin does offer the option to change the watch’s bands. I can choose from various band colors and types. I can order these from the original website or other third-party sites. The latter option presents me with even more options.

And so, quite often, I can be seen wearing the most eccentric color options available (think black and pink). This is why, even though I like my smart wearables to be discreet, I quite like styling my Garmin Fenix 7 Pro.

Materials, Comfort & Durability

Given looks aren’t everything, I also had to compare the build quality, comfortability, and durability of the two smart wearables I had.

Oura is made up of durable titanium and comes with a PVD coating on top of it. So, I wish I could tell you that this ring is the strongest and most scratch-resistant thing I own, but no. Even with normal everyday chores (or a bit of heavy gardening and falling off the bicycle mid-hike), the Oura had a few minor scratches at the place of the impact. However, these scratches aren’t really visible until you’re super close to the ring, so I don’t mind them.

In comparison to the Oura ring, the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is so much more durable! Over the course of the month, the Fenix Pro had to endure the same falls and heavy chores as the Oura Ring, but I still couldn’t see a single scratch on the watch’s screen —and that’s on the watch’s Power Sapphire lens.

Given that the watch already has a rugged and tough look, I don’t mind the scratches as much. But I still wish the watch was truly as tough as it looked.

One of Oura’s main goals has always been tracking sleep. So, naturally, I expected the ring to be very comfortable when I wore it to bed. And well, it was! Given that the ring is lightweight (4-6 grams), I could barely ever feel it there.

The ring doesn’t dig into my fingers ever (but that’s on choosing the right size) and doesn’t move up and down either; it simply stays there. I will go as far as to say that the Oura Ring 3 is probably the most comfortable ring— smart and otherwise— that I own.

Given the chunky look, silicone band, and 73-gram titanium body with bezels on the side, I was quite skeptical about how comfortable I would be wearing the Fenix 7 Pro. I had expected the band to cause me discomfort so much that I’d be tempted to peel the watch off my hands.

But no. The watch was more comfortable than I had imagined it to be. It was obviously not going to be as light and barely there as Oura. I did feel its presence while going to sleep, and the first week was quite difficult for me. But over time, I started minding the watch less and less.

However, if I had to choose a wearable on the basis of durability and comfort, I’d pick Oura without a second thought.

Battery Life & Charging

While Oura is a smart ring with its advertised 7-day battery life as one of its strongest points, the Fenix 7 Pro still tops Oura by a wide and huge margin because Fenix comes with a 22-day battery life! Can you believe that?

I was super impressed when I first heard about the official battery capabilities of both the wearables at hand. But, in all actuality, Oura usually lasted only about 4-6 days. Meanwhile, the Fenix Pro 7 did manage to give me about 18 days of battery life, which could even go up to 22 days with solar charging involved.

But that’s not all. If I were using GPS mode with music, too, the battery would last around 57 hours and around 73 hours with solar charging.

Given that the battery durability of Fenix Pro 7 outlasts that of Oura Ring 3, I have to charge the ring more frequently than the watch. It’s okay, though.

Charging the Oura Ring 3 is not a hassle at all. The ring comes with a charging dock and a USB-C cable. All I am required to do is put the ring on the charging dock and connect the dock to a power source via the cable. A full charge takes around 80-100 minutes, but I don’t always wait for the ring to drain out completely before I refill it with battery. Instead, I keep putting the ring on charge for around 10-20 minutes every now and then.

When it comes to Garmin, I have two ways of charging the ring. I can either charge the watch by connecting the charging port on the watch to a power source using a USB cable (I use Garmin’s proprietary plug charger here), or I could rely on the good old sun.

You see, I use the “solar” edition of the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro. This means the ring comes with a Power Glass™ solar charging lens that’s present in the watch’s display itself. The lens helps in converting the sun’s energy into electricity energy that fuels my watch. So, being outside doesn’t just give me tan lines anymore. It also charges my watch.

Garmin says 3 hours of direct sunlight everyday can help in giving me a longer battery life, i.e. up to 22 days. What I do instead is go out on morning walks and run with my Garmin on, and that does give me around 22 days of battery life. However, when I used the GPS feature and listened to music, the battery only lasted me just a little over 2 weeks.

Sensors

Sensors	Oura Ring	Garmin Fenix 7 Pro
PPG Sensor
Elevate Wrist Heart Rate Monitor
Skin Temperature Sensor
Thermometer
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Barometric Altimeter
Pulse Ox Blood Oxygen Saturation Monitor
Infrared LED
Red LED
Green LED
Photodiodes
Ambient Light Sensor

Accuracy

As you can see, both my Oura Ring 3 and Garmin are packed with really advanced sensor technology. But, my main concern remained whether the data they collected was accurate.

Sleep

My first impression of the Oura and Fenix 7 Pro was that both of them presented me with similar sleep-related data. But, after further investigation, I concluded that Oura was still more accurate than Fenix Pro 7.

For example, once, I had gone to bed early but lay awake in bed for quite a while before finally falling asleep. In the morning, Oura aptly told me that I had only slept for around 7 hours and 21 minutes, whereas the Fenix 7 Pro told me that I had slept for around 8 hours and 46 minutes.

Similarly, there were several other instances where the two differed on sleep durations across stages or total time, and Oura was more often than not accurate.

Heart Rate

When it came to heart rate-related stats, both the Oura Ring 3 and Fenix Pro 7 were near accurate. In fact, Fenix had additional stats like ‘maximum heart rate’ and ‘heart rate zones’ to present to me, but given that Oura didn’t have something similar, I couldn’t compare the two. However, the data still looked promising to me.

Steps & Activity Tracking

I’ve had Oura track my steps inaccurately many times. For example, even when I did nothing but watch Netflix on the couch the whole day, Oura would still show that I’ve walked around 3k steps, which is a lot for me. Although I like hitting my 10k daily, I don’t like being awarded with the steps that I didn’t even walk.

The Fenix 7 Pro was so much better than this in this regard. Although it, too, would track more steps occasionally, its data was never as inaccurate as that of Oura. This is why I came to trust the number of steps I saw on the Fenix blindly.

Furthermore, not just in terms of features but also in accuracy, Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is the way to go when it comes to tracking activity. First of all, Fenix Pro gives me the option to track a wide range of activities that Oura doesn’t.

For example, given that Fenix uses GPS for tracking outdoor activities, it did a much better job recording the stats of the hiking trip I went on than the Oura Ring. It recorded my heart rate, distance traveled, calorie burn, total time of the hike, etc., way better than Oura.

Features

Features	Oura Ring 3	Garmin Fenix 7 Pro
Heart Rate
HRV & RHR
Abnormal Heart Rate alerts
ECG
Blood Oxygen Levels (SpO2)
Sleep Analysis & Nap Detection
Sleep Guidance/Sleep Coach
Jet Lag Advisor
Respiration Rate
Skin Temperature
Steps
Calories
Active/Inactive Minutes
Distance Traveled
Maps
Automatic & manual activity tracking
Activity Intensity
Move Alerts
Auto Goal
Workouts
Daily Suggested Workouts
Fitness Age
Period Prediction
Menstrual Symptoms
Fertility & Ovulation Prediction
Pregnancy tracking
Energy Monitoring
Body Battery
Readiness Score
Endurance Score
Rest Mode
Health Reports
Set Personalized Goals
Real-time Stamina
Stress Tracking & Recovery
Guided Sessions
Chronotype
Cardiovascular Age (CVA)
Body Clock
VO2 Max
Illness Detection
Incident Alert Detection

As you can see from the table, the Fenix 7 Pro offers way more features than the Oura Ring 3 does. While both the wearables manage to cover the basic fitness tracking just fine, Fenix goes ten steps ahead and also tracks other things like ‘hill workout stats,’ ‘Altitude and heat acclimation,’ and other things that will be of great use to you if you are an outdoorsy person.

I like to think of myself as a homebody who mostly likes to go out for walks and runs just to get some movement in. Sure, Oura can do it just fine, but the Fenix, with its GPS capabilities, Maps, Body Battery, Endurance Score, and Maps, is much more equipped to support me on my runs. Given that the watch has a screen where I can view the route, I don’t have to check my phone again and again if I am running on a new route.

In fact, if I particularly like a route I once traversed, I have the option to save it for future use! This comes in quite handy as it adds so many more interesting variations to my routine.

The only drawback is that, even though the Fenix 7 Pro is now equipped with a brand-new MIP display that’s supposed to make it better for outdoor use, it is still not enough for me. A lot of times—especially with sunglasses on—I have had a hard time deciphering what the screen reads.

I have also started doing strength training recently because cardio in the form of walks and runs is not enough. Given that Garmin Fenix 7 Pro can record and track different kinds of workouts, it can support my strength training better than Oura can.

I am really impressed by Fenix’s activity and workout tracking features. They are so much better than what Oura offers.

Companion Apps

With Oura, I tend to pick up my phone to check my Readiness scores and insights to prepare for the day. The problem here is that simply picking up my phone easily sends me on a half-hour Instagram doom scroll. But Fenix 7 Pro helps me avoid falling into the rabbit hole altogether because I get to see the important things, like the morning report, on the watch itself.

But, the thing about having a smartwatch is also that I am literally carrying my phone on my wrist. I get all the notifications on my watch in addition to getting them on my phone, and that can be distracting, but I tweaked the settings a bit, and the watch is less distracting now.

Layout

The Oura app feels friendly, is spaced out evenly, and doesn’t take rocket science to figure out. I open the app and have a quick scroll through it first thing in the morning, and it tells me everything I need to know without overwhelming me. It follows a cool color scheme that is pleasant and easy on my eyes, too.

But I can’t say the same about the Connect app. Although the Connect app comes with a dark theme too, and the app also has a customizable layout, I still felt overwhelmed upon opening the app. A lot of data is packed in a really small space that just makes it all a lot to take in, especially when you’re a new user.

Yes, Garmin does use colorful bars, charts, and pies, but it still doesn’t make the app feel welcoming. However, I did get used to the app in a while and also started finding it really useful.

The Connect app has five tabs at the bottom: Home, Challenges, Calendar, News Feed, and More. I scroll through the Home tab to get an idea of how well I am performing regarding my runs and other fitness goals. Yes, the data looks compactly fit in a small space, but it can be opened for a more detailed view if needed.

The real motivator for me is the “Challenges” tab. Here, I review challenges that I have set for myself, for example, preparing for a 25k marathon and seeing how well I am performing or what else needs to be done pushes me to do better.

Similarly, navigating through the Oura app is no big deal. There are five tabs at the bottom– Home, Readiness, Sleep, Activity, and Resilience. The home screen usually tells me everything I need to know and more, but I quite often delve into other apps like Readiness and Sleep every now and then, too.

Functionality Of The Apps

The functionality of Oura and Garmin is similar in many ways yet different in others. Garmin offers almost everything that Oura offers, including some more.

For example, the Connect app lets me review my activity, analyze and compare it to understand my health stats over time and gain insights into my performance, just like Oura does. But the Connect app also lets me make training plans and workouts for myself to follow through, which I find incredibly helpful. Because this way, I am not only setting goals for myself but also tracking my performance on them. In case I need additional help, Garmin Coach has my back.

The Connect app lets me connect with my friends and enjoy working on my fitness goals along with them. This is a pretty unique feature, but not one I still make use of because my friends don’t share my passion for running.

Both the Oura and Connect app have their own ways of motivating me to keep doing better. For example, Oura often provides me with encouraging feedback when I sleep well, and similarly, the Connect app also offers me virtual badges for my accomplishments that feel just as good.

So, while the Garmin app does take a little while to get used to, it proves to be a lot more useful than Oura….if you’re into sports and want every minute details of your activity and take your fitness goals with utmost seriousness.

Prices, Subscription & Availability

Pricing is where things get interesting. Oura is said to be one of the most expensive smart rings out there, which it sort of is. I got my black Heritage Oura for $299, and this is one of the cheapest variants that Oura has to offer. Furthermore, simply paying $299 isn’t going to be the case because the companion Oura app requires a subscription that costs around $6 a month or $70 a year.

But that’s still okay. Given the whopping $899.99 I paid for my Garmin Fenix 7 Pro, the Oura was still so much more affordable. Furthermore, the Connect app, Garmin’s companion app, is also subscription-based, with plans starting at $5.99 USD and extending upwards from there. So, the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is definitely not a budget-friendly option. 

Which One Should You Buy- Oura Gen 3 or Fenix Pro 7?

Based on my experience with both wearables, if I ever have to choose between the Oura Ring 3 and Garmin Fenix 7 Pro, I will choose the Oura Ring 3, which is why I have already declared it the winner.

You see, the Fenix 7 Pro is perfect if you’re an athlete, a marathon runner, or really into sports. It will give you everything that Oura can give you and more. So, every penny of the $899.99 that you spend on the watch and additional money spent on the companion app will be worth it. But if you want that kind of data and you won’t be overwhelmed by it either, then Fenix is perfect for you.

But for most people, for example, I, who do well with the kind of sleep, stress, recovery, and activity that Oura provides, getting the ring is a better choice. Yes, there can be some step inaccuracies sometimes, but it is still something that can be worked with.

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