The world of “smart rings” wasn’t one I was familiar with until Samsung announced the Galaxy Ring at the start of this year. It was then that I learned of the Oura Ring which had been around for a while. While reviewing my own Samsung Galaxy Ring I searched to see what else was out there, and find a Kogan.com product called the Aura – get it? So I bought one.

$99 plus I bought the $39.99 Kogan Aura smart case – that made it more like the Samsung because of the simple way to charge the ring.

First things first, when the parcel arrived, I got an Aura ring, and a Samsung SmartTag – no case. Strange and ironic stuff up in the packing process there, but whatever – points off for accuracy but the ring comes with a wired charging cable, I’ll just use that.

The charging cable attaches easily to the ring, and in my testing, the battery on the Ring lasts 6 days or so, and I’ve had it charge for an hour or so and seemingly got another week out of it.

Interestingly, like my time with the Samsung, there was no real warning about the battery here, so I did let it go flat a couple of times. I feel like these products need a subtle LED ring around them to glow based on low battery state. All of them need that.

I chose a Size 11, thanks to Samsung’s sizing kit, and while it seems the exact same size as Samsung’s Galaxy Ring, it feels a touch looser, so perhaps it’s not as thick. It’s not visibly noticeable though.

What IS noticeable is how “silver” this is. It’s more shiny, like chrome, far more than the Samsung which is more a washed out matte grey/silver – which was one of my criticisms.

This thing LOOKS like a ring, not a plastic toy. It is however thicker and larger than both the other normal rings I wear, so it stands out.

For a cheap product, I’ll be honest, my expectations were low. Remember, Samsung’s Ring is $699. The Oura is over $500 – and has a monthly subscription.

What I got with Kogan’s Aura shocked me,

The “QRing” App is outstanding. A really nice presentation of data.

Sleep:

Steps:

Heart Rate:

Blood Oxygen:

It’s the whole package.

For about two weeks I wore the Kogan Aura and Samsung Galaxy Ring on the same finger.

The data was similar. Not the same, Similar.

Steps were varied by up to 100 or so per day, sleep varied 20-40 minutes, but when you look at the chart and the quoted actual sleep time it was more like 10-15 minutes.

I’d err on the side of Samsung’s accuracy because they have a notch on the ring that allows you to ensure the ring is properly positioned (with sensors under the finger).

Kogan I don’t know where the sensors were.

But – what matters is trends. Did I walk more today than yesterday, which day did I sleep best and what contributed to that. No one’s actually counting their steps and checking the data, so it’s all about a single measurement tool and the changes over time.

Quite frankly, this is one of the best products I’ve ever bought on Kogan.com. It’s cheap, it does what it says it will, and bang for your buck – it’s impossible not to recommend.

If you’re deep in the Samsung Ecosystem, sure the Galaxy Ring compliments that – and yeah, I’ve no doubt they would show evidence that the accuracy of Galaxy Ring is greater than all of them – but why are you wearing a smart ring?

To keep an eye on your fitness and sleep habits.

Kogan’s Aura does that for $99, the extra for the case is worth it (if you get it).