Smart rings are the trend du jour. Yes, we still love our smartwatches and rely on them for health, wellness, and fitness tracking. But many who are on the cutting edge are investing in smart rings as well. This category has been around for some time, led by Oura. But as of late, several other brands are joining the mix, from big brands like Samsung with its Galaxy Ring to smaller ones like Circular with its Ring Slim (which I reviewed earlier this year). Another brand is Amazfit, owned by Zepp Health Corporation. The company is known for its premium yet affordable smartwatches that get rave reviews (stay tuned for a review of one of the latest models). Does the Amazfit Helio smart ring live up to this reputation? I’ve been wearing one for the last several months and here’s my take.
What is The Amazfit Helio Smart Ring?
First, let’s go through the basics. The Amazfit Helio Ring is the first for the brand. It’s designed for athletes, aimed at helping with recovery support, monitoring, analysis, and guidance. It can accurately monitor data related to your mental and physical condition, then convert this data into a daily readiness score that helps you determine if it’s time to get active or relax and recover.
The smart ring leverages Zepp Health’s AI ecosystem through the Zepp Aura rest and wellness service. The idea is to wear the Amazfit Helio Ring either on its own or alongside an Amazfit smartwatch. In the latter case, you’ll get data from both devices, providing deeper analysis in the Zepp app.
The Amazfit Helio Ring, which launched this past Spring, sells for US$200 but you can get it on sale for about US$150, or converted to under $300 in Canada. There’s no subscription required as there is with competitive rings like the Oura Ring. So, you get everything out of the box. It works with Android 7 and above and iOS 14 and above devices.
Amazfit Helio Ring Review
The Look
Unboxing the ring, it’s a stunning device made of skin-friendly titanium that boasts up to 10 ATM water resistance. It’s ultra-comfortable: I easily forget I’m wearing it. I shower and wash dishes with it and it can stand up to the moisture.
I made sure to test sizing to get the right fit, which is crucial to the experience. The size 8 ring (there’s 8, 10, and 12) is perfect. At any time, I can easily pull it off with a bit of coaxing, but it won’t ever fall off.
There’s a tiny, faint vertical line on the underside so you know how to position it. The line is tough to see in the dark, a challenge when the ring would rotate on my finger, especially during times of the day when my finger wasn’t as thick as usual (yes, your fingers change size throughout the day). But it wasn’t a big deal to reposition.
The dotted pattern design is stylish and there’s an inner resin ring. I love that this colour matches with just about anything, a minor but important detail for those who are worried the ring might stick out like a sore thumb (rather, finger). The circular charging dock is cute, with a bright light that indicates charging status. A notification is sent to my phone through the app once it’s fully charged (and conversely, when the battery is running low). I wish the circular charger would sit more firmly on a flat surface, however. I found it challenging to get the charger to sit flat: it would fall off the side table as the cord twisted. A bit more heft to the charger would do the trick.
After setting up the app and placing the ring on my finger, I went about my day as I usually do, checking in periodically to see the stats.
Tracking Activities and Health
I was disappointed to learn that you can only track four workout types: running, walking, cycling, and treadmill. Keep in mind that this ring is designed for athletes, particularly elite runners who want to keep on top of their performance metrics like training load, sleep, and recovery. So, if you are someone like me who does strength training or other cardio workouts more often, you might want to look elsewhere unless you’re using a separate smartwatch or activity tracker to track those.
A representative tells me that Amazfit expects to add more workout types in the future, but there’s no timeline. For now, in order to get the exertion data the ring can calculate, you can select any of the available workout types, regardless of what you’re actually doing, just to capture the heart rate data. This isn’t the most accurate way to keep track of workouts (and you’ll get a hilariously scribbled on map if you choose “running” when you’re really lifting weights). But for now, it’s a viable workaround. Plus, the ring is designed more to track recovery in the background after your workout versus track the workout itself, making it a complement to, not replacement of, a smartwatch.
This leads me to exertion load, which is one of the latest features for the ring. This measures total energy through the day based on your activity as well as moments of elevated heart rates. From there, you get a Daily Exertion Target, which advises if you should get active now or your body needs rest. It’s similar to features like Readiness Mode in smartwatches, or Apple’s new Training Load for Apple Watch.
Speaking of elevated heart rates, I was pleasantly surprised to receive app notifications from time to time advising that it detected an emotional response to something. It might be while I was reading a particularly troubling news article or feeling stressed. This is a great way to alert you to breathe, calm down, and be aware that your vitals are elevated and your body is reacting to whatever you’re doing or however you’re feeling. From there, you can also log the emotion, like excitement versus anger, to keep track. It’s pretty spot on: while I was getting a pedicure, for example, and the technician hit a sensitive spot making me jump, the ring flagged my emotional change.
What Else You Get In The App
When logging onto the app, which irritatingly appears to have to reload every time you open it (thankfully, it only takes a few seconds), you get useful data like physical and mental recovery, training status, and detailed sleep data, with scores for each so you know if they fall into the optimal and normal ranges or what you need to work on. It tracks VO2 Max and analyzes data from your runs to generate race predictions, great for those training for a marathon. Since I don’t run and only did leisurely walks alongside my regular at-home workouts, I wasn’t able to generate this figure.
Sleep data is relatively in line with my Apple Watch Series 10, but I love that it also tracks naps. While I don’t often take daytime naps, on the few occasions when I did, the ring tracked them accurately. That’s one piece of data, I should note, the Apple Watch doesn’t track, and not all smartwatches do.
Data for activities like casual walks was slightly off, with the Helio Ring recording a larger calorie burn than the Apple Watch and the pace slightly faster. But overall, the data was pretty much in sync. Ladies will appreciate that you can log menstrual cycle tracking in the app as well.
The app is a tad overwhelming with a lot of data presented in blocks, tabs, and graphs. But the overview tab provides a nice picture of the key metrics from day to day with a daily readiness insight. For example, on the day of this writing, I was informed that my heart rate variability improved so it’s a good time to do a workout or other enjoyable activity with all my extra energy. Several days prior, I was informed that my heart rate variability needed improvement and was given suggestions to help, like engaging in stress-reducing activities and healthier sleep habits.
However, I found that I wasn’t calling up this app as often as I usually do with other similar devices, like my Apple Watch or even my smart scale. I couldn’t find a compelling reason to check in every day, though that could be because I’m spoiled for choice when it comes to gadgets that track my health, wellness, and fitness. But I also feel this is mostly because of the lack of ability to track additional workouts: I’ll often forget to track strength training from the ring (as a “running” or “walking” workout) and that discourages me from relying on the data overall since I know so much is missing. Additional workout types would make all the difference.
What To Know About Zepp Aura
Also included the the Helio Ring app is a feature called Zepp Aura with customized sleep sounds that adjust based on how your body responds to them. My suggested sleep sound was slightly ominous, like it was right out of an episode of Stranger Things. You can switch to another one if you don’t like the initially suggested one. There are also Relax sounds, like a peaceful stream, fingers dancing on keys, and Himalayan night sky.
Within the Zepp Aura tab in the app, you can access a chatbot that analyzes your sleep and can answer wellness related questions. You might ask if diet can impact your sleep, or for tips on how to help you get to sleep faster or experience better deep sleep. You’ll get the expected answers you’d get from any other source, but it’s a nice touch to be able to ask them right in the app and get an instant response to your query.
You can also, it should be noted, ask Aura to customize a sound for you. I asked for wind blowing the trees with birds chirping and got exactly what I wanted. I tried to trip it up with something more complex: a baby giggling with water splashing and it got the water splashing part right (more like a faucet running) sans baby. I even tried an orchestra playing and it delivered.
Other Notable Observations
I did notice that battery life depleted far more quickly than the stated timeframe. A rep advises that SpO2 and EDM are two functions that tend to be more superfluous for users and suggested toggling these off to conserve battery life. I track both those metrics with my Apple Watch, so I was fine eliminating that from the smart ring, but I didn’t notice a marked improvement in battery life after doing so.
Bottom line: expect to charge this ring every 2-3 days to keep it going. I often found it would be dead for days before I noticed.
Should You Buy The Helio Smart Ring?
Compared to other smart rings, this one is ultra durable thanks to the 10ATM rating and it’s incredibly comfortable to wear. It looks stylish, too and goes with just about everything. But keep in mind that it only comes in the one finish: you won’t get basic black or silver. The limit to just three sizes also means that those with thicker fingers may have to look elsewhere.
The data provided is useful, but if you’re looking for a smart ring to track your workouts and replace a smartwatch versus use in tandem with one, this one isn’t the best choice. While it tracks all the health and wellness metrics you could want, it’s limited in the activities.
This is a good smart ring choice for runners specifically based on the metrics that are specific to people who engage in that activity. It’s affordable and tracks your runs while also providing useful data to help you improve performance and ensure you get the proper rest.
I would recommend the Amazfit Helio smart ring for runners, especially those training for a race. It’s a nice complement to your smartwatch and even third-party running apps. It won’t break the bank either, especially if you find it on sale. The only downsides are the inability to track more than four activities and the battery life that leaves much to be desired. If you don’t do other types of workouts or track them elsewhere, however, and if you are OK charging every few days, the Amazfit Helio Ring is a worthwhile alternative to the bigger, more expensive brands.