TechRadar Verdict
Offering a solid feature set at an affordable price, and with no subscription fee, the RingConn Gen 2 Air is easily the best budget smart ring out there. You’ll miss out on its sibling’s sleep apnea tracking and charging case, but for $120 less that’s not a bad trade-off.
Pros
- +
Affordable, with no add-on fees
- +
Up to 10-day battery life
- +
Step, stress and SpO2 tracking
Cons
- -
Imperfect fitness tracking
- -
No sleep apnea monitoring
- -
Limited color options
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
RingConn Gen 2 Air: One-minute review
If you want to dip your toes into the smart ring space with a no-frills, affordable option then the RingConn Gen 2 Air is the best smart ring for you.
Yes, it lacks the sleep apnea tracking and charging case of its fully fledged sibling – the RingConn Gen 2 proper – but it makes up for that with a $120 price cut, and in other areas it performs just as well as the competition.
It can handily track your steps, your sleep patterns, your heart rate and stress levels, and a few other key health metrics, and it comes in a sleek gold- or silver-colored package. What’s more, the stainless steel band is durable – I’ve been wearing it for a few weeks and it looks just as pristine as the day I received it, plus with its IP68 water and dust-proof rating I know it’ll stand up to being underwater for a while.
There are some issues with this smart ring. The charging stand isn’t as useful as the portable charging case you’ll get with the non-Air RingConn Gen 2, and like some other smart rings this one isn’t a great fitness tracker.
It’s too easy to forget to manually start a workout in the app, and currently it only tracks walking, running and cycling, and for the most in-depth tracking you’ll need to take your phone with you. Plus, if you forget your phone not only have you not tracked your run but your stress stats will be affected, as the ring will interpret your elevated heart rate as a negative indicator of how you’re feeling mentally.
Those niggles aside, the RingConn gen 2 air is an excellent budget smart ring, and the one I’d recommend to people who want to see what all the fuss around smart rings is about, but who aren’t, for now, bothered about the bells and whistles you’ll get with pricier options.
RingConn Gen 2 Air: Price and availability
The RingConn Gen 2 Air is available for $238.80 (about £185 or AU$380) from RingConn’s official website, which not only makes it cheaper than RingConn’s Gen 2 ring, which costs $359 (about £275 or AU$570) but also one of the cheapest smart rings out there.
And despite the lower cost you’re not missing out on any essential tracking tools beyond sleep apnea and sophisticated fitness tracking (though those features are absent in a fair few smart rings that cost more anyway).
- Value score: 5/5
RingConn Gen 2 Air: Design
- Comes in gold or silver, sizes 6 to 14
- IP68 water and dust-proof rating
- No charging case
The RingConn Gen 2 Air, like pretty much every other smart ring out there, looks almost exactly like a normal ring. It's perhaps a little thicker but not noticeably so, and at around 2.5 to 4g it’s not distinctly heavier than other smart rings either.
Moreover it shares a lot of design similarities with its sibling, the RingConn Gen 2, although there are a few notable differences.
Starting with similarities, it comes in sizes 6 to 14, in a gold or silver colored stainless steel casing, and with an IP68 dust and waterproof rating. As for differences, it lacks the Gen 2 proper’s black and Rose Gold color options (but comes with seven colors of protective shells including green, pink and black), and boasts a shorter 10-day max battery life, compared to the Gen 2’s 12 days.
This battery-life difference was certainly the most noticeable. I wore both rings all the time (one on each index finger) with the same settings, and I had to charge the Gen 2 Air more often, though once every 10 days isn’t too annoying.
My only gripe with the charging process is that the Air swaps the Gen 2’s sleek charging case for a stand. The case is ideal for traveling, as it can hold up to 150 days of extra charge without needing to be plugged in, and it also offers a secure place to store the ring when you aren’t wearing it. The Air’s stand, on the other hand, must be plugged in to charge the ring, and doesn’t feel as secure as a storage spot.
- Design score: 4/5
RingConn Gen 2 Air: Features
- 24/7 heart rate monitoring, and step counting
- Basic fitness tracking
- No sleep apnea tracking
Features-wise the RingConn Gen 2 Air, as you’d expect, is almost identical to the regular RingConn Gen 2.
While wearing the ring the Gen 2 Air can track all various health and fitness stats – your heart rate is monitored 24/7, alongside your steps, your stress ( based on how your heart rate fluctuates), and your SpO2 levels, and it also offers menstrual cycle tracking.
You can also use the ring as a basic fitness tracker, if you remember to start your workout manually in the RingConn app, and your exercise takes the form of walking, cycling, or running. And through the RingConn app you can also access an AI-powered health program. Admittedly it’s a little basic right now because it’s in beta, but it’s a helpful tool to keep on top of your daily health targets.
The biggest difference between the Air and the full-on RingConn Gen 2 is the lack of sleep apnea tracking on the cheaper model. This kind of downgrade is to be expected given the lower price, and while the feature is certainly handy to have on a sleep-focused tracker, it’s also the feature I miss the least – though I say that as someone who doesn’t have, nor is currently concerned that they might have, sleep apnea.
- Features score: 3/5
RingConn Gen 2 Air: Performance
- App tracks your sleep and vitals
- Includes an AI fitness plan, though it's basic right now
- Can track fitness, if you remeber to manually set it up
The RingConn Gen 2 Air performed well in my tests, with it being as good a tracker as my RingConn Gen 2 proper in the stats that both smart rings measured.
It’s a solid step counter, it did a good job tracking my heart rate levels, and it was able to give me informative insights into my sleeping patterns every night so I can continue to build better bedtime habits. I also found the overall wellness balance the app provides to be super-handy as it allows me to get a quick recap of my health across the four main categories the app monitors.
The only disappointment in the tracking department is fitness. It’s not a terrible tracker as long as you have your phone on you, as it can provide some basic insight into your runs and walks, like tracking where you went and your heart-rate zones, but it’s too easy to forget to manually log it before you begin.
Not logging even walks can then affect your stress monitoring, as the ring can believe your elevated heart rate is due to something stressful and not because you’re out being active.
So if you’re after a fitness tracker, this isn’t the one. But for more general healthy habits this smart ring is a fine choice.
- Performance score: 4/5
Should you buy the RingConn Gen 2 Air?
Attribute | Comment | Score |
|---|---|---|
Value | The RingConn Gen 2 Air is excellent value for money if you focus on what it offers and not what it lacks. | 5/5 |
Design | The RingConn Gen 2 Air doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and while the charging case is absent, the lower price makes up for it. | 4/5 |
Features | The RingConn Gen 2 Air boasts some solid features but misses out on Sleep Apnea tracking, and when it comes to fitness tracking it could be a lot more useful. | 3/5 |
Performance | Fitness tracking could be better, but in every other regard the RingConn Gen 2 Air feels like a capable health monitor, with a clean and intuitive app. | 4/5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider
How I tested the RingConn Gen 2 Air
To put the RingConn Gen 2 Air through its paces I wore it night and day for a few weeks. I also wore it at the same time as the RingConn Gen 2 (I had one on each index finger) so I could directly compare the two models.
I took the Air with me when I travelled, wore it whenever I did a workout, submerged it in water to check the waterproofing claims, and made sure to let the battery run as long as possible between charges so I could could see for myself how long it can last, and how it stacks up against the RingConn Gen 2 proper.
- First reviewed March 2025
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
