In my health and wellness era, I’ve enlisted the help of a variety of wearables and fitness trackers. What caught my attention were the Garmin watches. Pretty looking and boasts a number of health and fitness features. Sign me up.
But with the comfort I’ve experienced with my Oura Ring over the past year, I was curious to see if it can measure up to the sleep and wellness area we know Oura has aced.
If you’re looking to upgrade your wearable or getting started with your wellness journey and thinking of investing in one, I put the Garmin Vivoactive 5 and the Oura Gen3 to the test to find the best one for you.
Specifications
| Specifications | Garmin Vivoactive 5 | Oura Ring Gen3 |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | 4 colors- Metallic Navy Aluminum Bezel with Navy case, Cream Gold Aluminum Bezel with Ivory case, Slate Aluminum Bezel with Black Case, Metallic Orchid Aluminum Bezel with Orchid case | 6 colors – Silver, Black, Stealth, Brushed Titanium, Gold, and Rose Gold |
| Battery Life | Up to 11 days (5 days display always-on) | Up to 7 days |
| Battery Size | N/A | 15mAh – 22mAh |
| Charge Time | 98 mins | Up to 80 mins |
| Display | AMOLED Touchscreen Display (optional always-on mode) | N/A |
| Water-resistance | Swim, 5 ATM | 100 m |
| Wheelchair Mode | Yes | N/A |
| Material | Lens- Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3, bezel- anodized aluminum, case- fiber-reinforced polymer | Titanium with PVD coating |
| Dimensions | 42.2 x 42.2 x 11.1 mm | 7.9mm wide, 2.55mm thickness |
| Sizes | 1 size | 8 sizes (6-13) |
| Sizing Kit | N/A | Yes, free |
| Weight | 23 g (36 g with included band) | 4-6g |
| Display Size | 1.2″ (30.4 mm) diameter | N/A |
| Charger | Garmin proprietary plug charger | Size-specific charger with USB-C cable |
| Memory | 4 GB | Up to 7 days |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth®, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® | Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Notifications | Yes | No |
| Find My | Find my Phone, Find my Ring | Find my Ring (iOS) |
| Compatibility | iPhone®, Android™ | iOS 15 and higher or Android 9.0 and higher |
| Vibration | Yes | No |
| Warranty | 1 year | 1 – 2 years |
| Price | $299.99 | Starting $299 |
| Subscription | Yes | Yes |
Features
| Features | Garmin Vivoactive 5 | Oura Ring Gen3 |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep Score | Yes | Yes |
| Blood Oxygen Sensing | Yes (spot-check, and optionally all-day and in sleep) | Yes (during sleep) |
| Payment | Yes | No |
| Music Storage | Yes | No |
| HR | Yes | Yes |
| RHR | Yes | Yes |
| HRV | Yes | Yes |
| Respiratory Rate | Yes (24×7) | Yes (during sleep) |
| Fitness Age | Yes | Yes |
| Body Battery/ Readiness Score | Yes | Yes |
| All Day Stress | Yes | Yes |
| Relaxation Reminders | Yes | No |
| Immobility Reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Guided Meditations and Breathing | Yes | Yes |
| Audio Prompts for Activities | Yes | No |
| Sleep Coach/ Guidance | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep Stages | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep Latency | No | Yes |
| Nap Detection | Yes | Yes |
| Exertion | Yes | No |
| Hydration | Yes | No |
| Period Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| GPS | Yes (inbuilt) | Yes (via phone) |
| Body Temperature | Yes | Yes |
| Activity and Workout Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Incident Detection During Select Activities | Yes | No |
| Auto Goal (Learns Your Activity Level and Assigns a Daily Step Goal) | Yes | Yes |
| Calorie Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Intensity | Yes | No |
| High / Low HR Alerts | Yes | No |
| VO2 Max | Yes | Yes |
| Golf and Swimming Specific Features | Yes | No |
Looking at the overview of the specifications and features of both devices, it is evident that the Garmin watches are more focused on activities and fitness, and the Oura Ring is wellness and recovery forward.
Design
The key difference between the two wearables is primarily the form factor. The Oura Ring is a ring resembling a jewellery piece with powers. It features 3 tiny sensors on the inner surface, which sit facing your palm, and a stunning, sleek exterior in six different colors and finishes.
Surprisingly comfortable, the Oura Ring feels like a piece of jewelry and doesn’t mess up my outfits like a smartwatch does.
Garmin is surprisingly pretty for a smartwatch. Supporting a silicone strap, which is not a personal preference, they have the option of customizing and choosing from a selection of various materials, styles, and colors of bands.
Despite being the prettier of the smartwatches I own, the Oura Ring is still my preference because it’s so comfortable to carry throughout the day, even while sleeping, which is not the case with smartwatches.
Activity Tracking
Right off the bat- if you’re focused on activity and fitness, the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is your go-to.
The Oura Ring and the Garmin Vivoactive 5 track all the essentials when it comes to activity and workouts – steps, calories burned, distance, heart rate, etc. Where the Garmin takes the front seat are the additional features. From the comfort of my wrist, I have a total of 34 preloaded sport activities to choose from while starting my workout.
At the push of the start button, a clean menu with types of workouts appears. Upon choosing my workout, I now have the option to download custom workouts from a third-party app such as Training Peaks or use the three default options to choose from.
Additionally, I can create custom intervals for my walks and runs, create reps for the intervals, and more, which lets me create a structure for my workouts on the watch directly, as opposed to creating them on the Garmin Connect app and then pushing them to the watch.
The Garmin Vivoactive 5 also has many functions and features particularly for swimming and golf. I appreciate the n number of features the Garmin provides with respect to activity and fitness, but so many metrics and settings often times it gets a little overwhelming for me.
Oura, on the other hand, provides a more holistic view of my activity throughout the day, tracking calories burned and steps from the minute I wake up till the time I hit the bed. It measures my daily chores along with workouts such as walking, running, yoga and pilates. I like how I don’t have to put it on consciously to track my movement, I like how it records every step, every activity, without it being “a workout.”
Oura also has a number of workouts it can detect automatically and over 50 that can be added manually via the app on the phone.
If I’m training at the gym and focusing on my workouts and fitness- the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is my go-to. But I’ve learned to appreciate the importance of movement throughout the day and not just at the gym. Therefore, I prefer my Oura Ring for tracking my day-to-day activities.
Sleep Tracking
Garmin Vivoactive 5 has Sleep Coach, which creates a personal baseline calculated on how much sleep a person should get based on their age group and adds or reduces the sleep time based on the same. I don’t really care for this feature as much because the age range is quite broad, and also, it’s impossible to force yourself to sleep for a certain amount of time every day.
I never thought another device would come close to Oura’s sleep-tracking abilities. That was before I tried the Garmin Vivoactive 5. The nap tracking feature, present in both Oura Ring and Garmin Vivoactive 5, was pretty accurate and help me with my Body Battery score (on the Garmin watch) as well.
Both devices provide a Sleep score as well, based on the previous night’s sleep, providing a brief overview of how well I slept. Additionally, they provide insights into my sleep stages- deep, light, REM, and awake. The sleep and awake time and total sleep were also pretty accurate on both.
While in sleep mode, both devices record body temperature, HRV, and respiratory rate, which are further used for calculating various other metrics such as stress, analyzing cycle predictions, and exclusive to Oura- these metrics are used to forewarn me about getting sick.
Oura also provides all this data in an easy-to-read format on the app, along with sleep latency and restfulness. Along with this, Oura also provides a library of guided meditations and breathing exercises to reduce stress and help fall asleep, and so does the Garmin, but I haven’t used either of the two.
Despite Garmin having impressive sleep tracking, I’m not a person who prefers wearing a watch to bed. The Oura Ring is so much more comfortable to sleep in, and it doesn’t scream of its presence.
Additional Features
- Because Garmin is more “fitness forward,” they show a recovery time, which freaked me out at first because it read ‘36 hours’ after a leg day. On further research, I found that this recovery time is recovery till the next “hard workout” and does not mean I have to be on bed rest for this much time.
- Being a smartwatch, the Garmin Vivoactive 5 allows me to download music and podcasts directly on the watch via Spotify, Amazon music, and more and listen via Bluetooth headphones.
- The Garmin Connect app also allows me to add a credit card to the watch and enable contactless payments. In the US, the coverage across major banks is pretty great, but outside the US, it’s a little unpredictable.
- Oura’s integration with the Natural Cycles app amplifies its period-tracking abilities and enables women to keep track of their fertility without the use of hormonal and invasive methods.
- Both devices provide a score based on the previous day’s sleep, suggesting how ready my body is to take on the day. This is called the ‘Readiness Score’ on Oura and ‘Body Battery’ on the Garmin.
- The Garmin Vivoactive 5 provides on-spot blood oxygen sensing, while the Oura does not.
- The Garmin Vivoactive 5 also sends abnormal high/ low heart rate alerts, which the Oura doesn’t.
Data Extraction
Data extraction on the Garmin is so much more complicated than the Oura. From my research, the data can be downloaded via the Garmin Data Management website in a JSON format, which is way above my understanding.
Oura has easy access to data in CSV and JSON formats right from ‘My Account’ on the Dashboard via Oura on the Web.
Price and Availability
The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is available worldwide via their official website and authorized retailers, such as BestBuy, Target, and Amazon, for $299.99 USD. Additionally, Garmin has various subscription models to choose from, starting at $5.99 USD/ month.
The Oura Ring starts at $299 for the Heritage model and goes up to $549 for the Horizon in rose gold. Available worldwide on the official website and authorized retailers such as Amazon, BestBuy, and Target, Oura also has a subscription plan of $5.99 USD/month with the first month free.
Final Verdict
While contemplating which is better- the Oura ring or the Garmin Vivoactive 5, it all comes down to preference and lifestyle. The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a great investment for people who are fitness enthusiasts and want to focus more on their sports and training.
Personally, I found the smartwatch to be too focused on fitness, as if I were an underperforming athlete. Honestly, that’s too much pressure for every day.
Call it wisdom gained with age or just being lazier to hit the gym, I have come to understand the importance of movement throughout the day, and the fact that I can wear it so comfortably during sleep makes Oura Ring my go-to.
I hardly ever take it off, only for charging and certain activities such as doing the dishes and baking. Most of the time, I don’t even feel it’s on my finger. But based on your personal goal, if a smartwatch is the perfect fit for you, the Garmin watches are sure not to be overlooked.
