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None of these 3 problems have anything to do with it being a smart ring. Same problems that regular rings have, yet people still wear them. 1. Adulting: buying
by Supermancho 11d ago
None of these 3 problems have anything to do with it being a smart ring. Same problems that regular rings have, yet people still wear them.
1. Adulting: buying rings that are the right size. eg My tungsten wedding ring cannot be resized either.
2. Most people don't even lift. Those that do, dont mind taking off jewelry. I can see how this would be a problem for someone who wants to wear a smart ring for lifting. Sounds like an issue that should have been noticed earlier.
3. Adulting: moving the ring up and down your soapy finger and washing your hands properly.
- catigula 11d agoA health and fitness tracker that cannot be worn during a common health and fitness activity seems highly problematic as a form factor, especially since competing form factors do not have this problem.
- muti 10d agoNot necessarily common, but I imagine most form factors would have issues with _some_ activities. I have a fitness watch that I don't like wearing when rock climbing. A ring also isn't suitable, but an armband worn further up would be.
- catigula 10d agoIt’s a little intellectually disingenuous to compare something you don’t like wearing during a niche sub categorical activity to a category of tracker you CANNOT wear during a categorical activity.
- dcss_gardener 11d agoMost people do not wear tungsten wedding rings. A wedding band can be resized and it's typical to have it resized several times during a long marriage. This is a legitimate downside of smart rings that is only shared with one niche-but-overrepresented-here option.
- someguynamedq 10d agoThis is not typical
- rolisz 11d agoCobalt Chrome ring wearer here (and my wife). Not so niche I guess
- ChrisClark 11d agoTrue, a sample size of 1 means it is extremely common
- Supermancho 11d agoRings that can't be adjusted are ubiquitous. Walk into almost any store that sells rings, most open-air stands that sell rings, and you will find some. It's true they aren't usually preferred, but they are common.
- tlavoie 11d agoTWO! Mine's cobalt as well. My wife picked it out when I'd lost my original gold ring (temporarily, cough). Besides looking interesting, apparently it was much less expensive than gold is these days.
- nexus6 11d agoMy experience with devices with very small batteries is that they lose capacity (below 80%) quickly after a couple of years of daily use. By the time you need the ring resized, the battery might be worn out anyway. It’s in reality a disposable product unfortunately, unlike a wedding band.
- rconti 11d agoThe advantage of my tungsten wedding ring is I have 5 of them, some in different sizes, and it cost me less than $100 for them.
- deleted 11d ago
- phyzome 11d agoI don't wear my wedding ring for similar reasons as described in this post. (Mostly reason #1.) But my wedding ring was $75, can be resized pretty cheaply if I'd like, and is harder to damage because it's just solid metal. An Oura ring appears to be $400, easy to damage, can't be resized. Lots more room for regret there.
- world2vec 11d agoPeople wear wedding rings but take them off for pull up bars and so on. But a fitness tracking device you need to take off to... Do some fitness exercises... Is not a smart idea in my book.
- rtkwe 11d agoI'd question the utility of the data from a ring for weightlifting, cardio sure but just lifting weights there's not a huge need to track your heart rate, you're not moving a lot for steps, etc.
- pastor_williams 11d agoLifting weights definitely causes your heart rate to change.
- jerlam 11d agoIt's usually not the primary benefit of the exercise. You are not going to maintain zone 2 (120-140 bpm) while lifting.
- rtkwe 11d agoOf course it does but it's barely relevant to the goals of the exercise though so tracking it is minimally useful beyond the vague curiosity of cataloging and measuring every moment.
- Aurornis 11d agoAgree. I thought this article was going to be about smart rings, but it was a rant about rings. His first exposure to rings was a smart ring, but that's it.
- monster_truck 11d agoA tungsten wedding ring is a pretty silly/unsafe thing to have. I'll readily admit it's cool but I like my fingers too much to worry about degloving one of them. That said using it as an example of or point of comparison for most anything is pretty unrealistic. Similarly I am not willing to wrap a LiPo battery around one of my fingers. Absolutely not. I suspect this is in part why we have not seen more smartwatch bands doing the same.
- dpark 11d agoWhy would a tungsten band increase the chances of degloving your finger? A tungsten band is a lot harder than a gold band. But a gold band is already way harder than your flesh. Jimmy Fallon was wearing a traditional platinum band when he nearly lost his finger. If you want to reduce your risk, you should either not wear a ring or wear a silicone band.
- kenniskrag 11d agoIn a hospital, they may need to remove the ring quickly for example, if your finger was injured and begins to swell.
- happyopossum 11d agoIn a hospital setting nobody will be degloving your finger - this is a common situation, and they have pliers that will crack/shatter the tungsten for removal.
- phyzome 11d agoI'm guessing that strongly depends on how big the hospital is. I know someone who lives out in the boonies and it's amazing what isn't on hand.
- Ancapistani 10d agoI live in a town of <15k people, and it’s the county seat. Our hospital can handle tungsten carbide rings without issue. I checked before getting one for this very reason (though I now wear an Oura as my wedding ring).
- hbn 11d ago> Adulting: buying rings that are the right size. He did buy it at the right size. Then he lost weight.
- juancn 11d agoThere aren't many places where a wearable doesn't get in the way, even an Apple watch it's unusable if you do kettlebell training (I severely scratched one doing a kb snatch). I also stopped wearing my wedding ring because of lifting, it mangled beyond all recognition and had to cut it off with pliers and send it for repair.
- Terr_ 11d ago> Most people don't even lift. Those that do, dont mind taking off jewelry. I dimly recall some folks promoting silicone wedding bands, although at that point I think it's more about social-signalling "I'm in a relationship" rather than a durable memento or signalling wealth.
- bluGill 11d agoThat is what I wear - when I bother wearing one at all. Or sometimes the cheaper rubber rings, depending on what is in stock at the store. They are cheap enough that I don't worry about losing them. When (not if!) they break I just get a new one. My gold ring stays hidden at home where I don't have to worry about it. I've never got used to the feel of a ring on my fingers though and now I do without. I know I'm married and girls never "hit on me", so I really don't need it for anything.
- scrumper 11d agoI wear silicone ring in the gym, in my workshop, and working on or sailing boats and a platinum band when I'm not doing manual stuff. I could wear no ring at all, but I don't particularly like the optics of an obviously married man with tan lines on ring finger not wearing his ring: I think it makes you look like there's something wrong with you - recently divorced at best, a sleazy creep at worst. Should I care? No, but I'm not that well adjusted. Silicone is basically as safe as no ring at all for almost any manual or physical activity. Metal rings offer an entire exciting catalog of spectacularly horrible accidents for the low price of one tiny slip. So, yes, it's literally a social signal that I'm in a relationship :)
- DeluluDon 10d agoMen do divorce their wives, just saying.
- aidenn0 10d agoI wear a silicone wedding band. The "durable memento" went missing when I took it off at the gym. My wife bought me a new gold band for our 15th anniversary and it lives in my jewelry box, since I don't want to lose it.
- maccard 11d agoI have a soft gold ring, and I lift. I take my ring off to lift or it would get absolutely destroyed.
- pyrale 11d ago> Same problems that regular rings have, yet people still wear them. In some jobs/hobbies, it is highly recommended to wear soft metal rings, and add a structural weakness to the ring in order to limit finger injuries, in case you forget to remove it. Doesn't mean everyone must do it, but as with this post, it's a good point of view to get before making a choice: not everyone rides horses, but the same injuries can happen in everyday life.
- thih9 11d ago> Most people don't even lift. It’s about any physical activity involving hands and friction. Rock climbing, basketball, tennis, etc. Perhaps this depends on intensity. Still, much more than just lifting. People who don’t usually wear rings might not realize this.
- Morromist 10d agoI think what we might be moving towards is the idea that rings are kinda dumb. Rings make our fingers less mobile, harder to clean, get in the way of our delicate hand-tasks, scratch things our hands are manipulating, yada yada. Earings make much more sense. Or bracelets. What about Torques?
- nkrisc 10d agoMy wife and I both just stopped wearing our wedding bands, and it turns out you’re still married even if you’re not wearing the ring. Also we just have simple gold bands so we never spent much on them in the first place.
- chabska 10d agoThese are problems with it being a smart ring RELATIVE to a smart watch. - wrist size changes far less dramatically, and even if it do change, a strap swap for a smartwatch is far cheaper and easier than a whole-device change for a smart ring - wristwatch doesn't interfere with any hand activity - wristwatch far less likely to trap debris from your activities.
- GJim 10d ago> My tungsten wedding ring You do realise that in the (admittedly unlikely) event that needs to be cut off in the Emergency Department, they wont have a chance?
- quickthrowman 10d agoPlace the tungsten ring against concrete, hit the top of the ring gently with a hammer and increasing the force with each hammer blow until the ring cracks. Search YouTube for “break tungsten ring” for examples.