Health Trackers does anyone else use one?

[Samanator]

A friend of mine and I have exchanged birthday gifts with each other over the years. We generally try to find something unique for each other. This year he sent me two links and said take a look at these and figure out which one you want and I'll buy it for you. The links where to a bracelet health tracker called Whoop and a ring called Oura. I've been wearing a basic Fitbit for five or six years now and I'm on my second apple watch that only gets worn when I run or bike. When I got the chance I read about 30 articles on these, watched about fifty video reviews of them either individually or compared against each other. Both of these monitor and record immense amounts of data for all kinds of things including sleep. They can detect if your getting sick or had a drink the night before and piles of other things. Some pro sports teams are using them to make starting player decisions based on data and NASCAR used them as part of their way to monitor drivers health when they went back racing.

The Oura ring tracks a few extra things around your breathing, blood oxygen level and resting respiratory rates. The ring uses infrared sensors that are suppose to be more accurate and the position on the finger is stated to be preferred for the reason why hospital equipment use sensors on the fingers. The battery life is claimed to be 7 days and is charged in 1 hour on an inductive pad. The ring integrates with apple health and the apple watch to obtain and record more data. The Data is all in apple health and the Oura app. I believe it also links to the Android health app, but no android watch. Ring has continual updates, but less than Whoop. When you purchase they first send out a sizing set fo you to decide size and which finger to wear it on. They provide suggestions, and the size wrings have bumps where the sensors are on the wring to be accounted for when choosing a size.

The whoop uses the green sensors like and apple watch measured on the wrist two inches up from the wrist bone. It has more of a social media type app that displays the recorded data and allows more sharing with others. It has a piggyback charging module the clips on top of the bracelet to recharge it without removing it from the wrist. This unit then plugs into a USB cable to recharge between charging. Users say there are generally several software updates per week as things are developed based on input from users.

Price wise you choose from a pay up front model for the Oura Ring (about $300), or a $30 per month subscription model for the Whoop bracelet (Bracelte provided as part of subscription)with a minimum 6 month commitment. The are some options on finish of the ring that can raise the price, and the Bracelet has many strap options you can choose as accessories.


I choose the Oura ring for a few reasons. The Oura has more breathing functions which is an area of concern after my blood clot in my lungs scare three years ago. I always hate wearing the Fitbit strap on my other wrist and the Whoop is four times larger. I'm not a social media type of person so I see that as more of a negative for me and I prefer to commit and not do a subscription. I'll admit there are good arguments for the Whoop that did not make this an easy choice. I just think a ring fits me better. The research is kind of fascinating to me which is why my friend let the choice to me since he knows I have a very scientific approach to these things. The ring just arrived this evening.

Does anyone else use one of these and if so what are your experiences. Sorry if this a discussed topic elsewhere.

Whoop


Oura ring

[Dan R]

Maybe I am too old, but sometimes I feel that we over measure our systems and try to react to the instant readings, which them becomes over reaction. Just like what I studied int he late 70s early 80s in instrument control classes. I take my BP once in the AM after getting up and the O2 then if I feel like it. If five days are more or less equal, I skip sefveral. Many a race was won with leas measuring.

[Kronos]

I wear a Garmin Vivosmart 4 on my dominant wrist. (I wear my watches on my non-dominant wrist.) It tracks steps, heart rate, has a GPS capacity when linked with your phone. It has a Pulse Oximeter, which I don’t think is super accurate and it measures VO2 max during activities, which, sadly, seems fairly accurate and demonstrates how much I have let myself go.

I’m curious to hear about your experience with the Oura.


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[litlmn]

I have an Oura ring and also use a Garmin Vivoactive 3. I had an Apple Watch, but honestly never used half of the apps/features. I use the watch mostly as a silent alarm and to track my runs and workouts.

The Oura ring is pretty cool in that it tracks respiration as well as heart rate and body temp. My metrics are pretty accurate. I think the Oura does a better job of sleep tracking as compared to the Garmin. No workout comparison as I don’t wear it to the gym, or my wedding band. Downside is wearing another ring, as I’m not really a jewelry guy.

[tribe125]

I have zero interest in tracking my health. Medicalising your everyday life seems kind of nutty to me.

[crownpuller]

Does anyone else use one of these and if so what are your experiences.

My wife has a 'fitbit' - All she ever does is complain about it: "I've done more than that !"; "This thing isn't working properly !"; "It's been plugged in for hours and isn't charged!"; "Nothing's happening when I press the screen/button"; etc., etc..

Personally: I'm kinda with Mr Tribe... There are already too many 'authorities' trying to run my life; don't need another gadget policing me, thanks very much.

[Fantasio]

I usually track my activities with Suunto sports watch, and my sleep with 1st gen. Oura ring. Neither one of them is necessary, but they give interesting information.

I don't feel they are "policing" me, I can easily ignore their advice.

[Samanator]

That is one approach, but having the Fitbit on showed conclusive proof of continual activity after being discharged from the hospital and four days later being readmitted with the blood clots. My brothers word and my data proof blew major holes in the doctors theories rather than just assume I’d been inactive. This force them to look for the actual cause rather than guess. So I believe having data is a good thing.

The ring collects more and is tested to be far more accurate.


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[Perseus]

I wear a small fitbit, primarily to track my sleep. The fitbit is not as accurate at tracking exercise as my Garmin, nor does it provide helpful information when training. I won't get another one when it breaks or becomes obsolete.

[Kronos]

My wife has a 'fitbit' - All she ever does is complain about it: "I've done more than that !"; "This thing isn't working properly !"; "It's been plugged in for hours and isn't charged!"; "Nothing's happening when I press the screen/button"; etc., etc..

Personally: I'm kinda with Mr Tribe... There are already too many 'authorities' trying to run my life; don't need another gadget policing me, thanks very much.

I don’t feel policed. I think its just information — like occasionally stepping on a scale. It also helps cut through a certain amount of denial about how active I’ve been and/or how much sleep I’m really getting.

Amazon is touting its new “Halo” device. They claim, among other things, that it can accurately measure one’s percentage of body fat. That’s likely a more useful metric than one’s weight.


A few generations down the line, these gizmos may have a meaningful role to play in preventive medicine.


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