< + > RingConn 2 Review

In case you missed it, earlier this year I did a full review of the RingConn Smart Ring.  I was impressed by the ring and the vast amounts of data it collected about me.  It’s a powerful ring at a great price point and I kind of feel like they’re just getting started when it comes to what is possible to do with the data they’re collecting.

As such, I was excited when they reached out to me to try out the RingConn 2. They currently have a Kickstarter going for the RingConn 2 if you’re interested in getting one.  When they asked me if I’d like to try it, I asked if they’d send one that my wife could use.  I thought it would be interesting to have her try it since I tried the first.  I wanted to see how her experience compared to mine.  RingConn was generous and sent me two RingConn 2 so that we could both try them.

With the original RingConn, I tried it on my index fingers.  While that worked fine and I generally got used to it, this time I wanted to try the ring finger to see how it compared.  I was really happy with the choice since it was much less obtrusive for me on my ring finger.  In fact, so much so that I often forgot that I had it on and it often would rotate on my ring finger.  I don’t think that happened as much on my pointer finger because I was playing with it all the time.  I will say that you really have to make sure you get the right size.  I’m no expert on ring sizes, but the size this time only worked on one of my ring fingers and not the other unlike my pointer finger one that worked on both.

The most noticable thing with the RingConn 2 was that it is much smaller.  They told me that it has a 12% decrease in width and 23% reduction in thickness.  This definitely made a big difference which was welcome since I kind of felt like the first generation ring was kind of large and bulky.  I always felt a bit bougie wearing it.  This was a good upgrade to the ring.

The biggest change from a monitoring perspective was the addition of Sleep Apnea monitoring.  RingConn says that in their internal lab it has shown to deliver 90.7% accuracy in identifying OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea).  They’re actively pursuing FDA clearnece for this.  I tried it out and it did seem to give a lot of detail about my sleep.  Happily it didn’t find any major issues when it came to sleep apnea for me.  Worth noting is that this was a test that I had to start and it seemed like it took a bit of battery as opposed to all of the other monitoring which happens with no intervention on your part.  Not a big deal, but was interesting to see.

Another great feature of the RingConn 2 was the extended battery life.  One charge can now go 10-12 days.  You may not think those extra days make a difference, but I basically just didn’t have to think about it not being charged.  I’d occasionally put it in the charger and it was good.  With the portable charging case, RingConn says you can get 150+ days of use.  Definitely the best battery life I’ve heard of with a smart ring and long enough to not be a bother.

This time around I decided to try out the water-proof features since I read that it meets the dust and water resistance standard, IP68.  I did everything with my RingConn 2 from showering to washing dishes to washing my hands and never had any trouble.  I will say that the way it’s designed, I did generally slighltly pull the ring off to dry my hands, but not really an issue.  They say it has 100 ATM water resistance allowing it to function up to 100 meters underwater.  I’ll leave that testing to someone else.

As I mentioned, my wife had one this time as well.  We’d wake up comparing each other’s sleep stats and stress levels which was fun.  She has an iPhone and I have an Android and both worked without issue and seemed to have a nearly identical interface.

One feature of the app that she had was a period tracking app.  I don’t think this used any of the ring sensors, but I’m sure having the data from the sensor together with the period information that’s manually done could be useful in the future.  Plus, it is a nice way for my wife to track her periods.  I’ll admit that when I saw it I was hoping there was a share feature where I could see it in my app so I remember to get her chocolate.

Overall I was impressed by the 2nd generation of the RingConnn smart ring.  Most of the data in the app was quite similar, but the small changes to the size and battery life really make a difference.  If you’re interested in trying one yourself, check out the RingConn 2 Kickstarter for more info and to order one.