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Tips for using Oura with F6

acousticbiker
over 4 years ago

Santa may be getting me an Oura this Christmas and curious how F6 users who have an Oura are using theirs together. My questions include:

  • Do you only wear your Oura when sleeping? I don’t wear my F6 to bed except maybe if I’m traveling, so one of the main reasons I am interested in the Oura is that I’d be willing to wear it to sleep (and by all accounts its sleep data are better)
  • Do you write Garmin data to Apple Health and then have Oura read it? If so, which metrics do you write to Apple Health? I’ve heard Oura is not good at tracking activity/effort since it only uses the accelerometer and not the other metrics it’s capable of tracking. When using Apple Health as an intermediary, does the Garmin activity data provide helpful input into Oura’s algorithms?
  • Is there any way to import Oura sleep data into Garmin Connect? I’m trying to decide which platform/device I use as my go-to for recovery. I currently use Garmin Recovery Advisor but that is only based on my most recent activity (doesn’t accumulate effects of multiple workouts) and also doesn’t factor in sleep. On the other hand, Oura doesn’t track activities well but maybe the imported Garmin data via Apple Health will do the trick?
  • I’d prefer to keep the Oura on all the time (vs having to remember to swap it out with my wedding ring every night and morning). But if I’m importing Garmin data to it via Apple Health, will that double count activity? Maybe I only write ‘Active Energy’, ‘Flights Climbed’ and ‘Workouts’ to Apple Health from Garmin? (this was part of my question above about which metrics to have Garmin write)
  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to acousticbiker

    As long as you get a ring with good fit, information provided by Ōura will be actionable and probably more useful than day-only F6, with two caveats.

    First, you'll have to ignore Ōura activity recommendations as their targets are too conservative. Second, unlike Garmin that has cumulative 7 day load, load balance, and multi day recovery on top of 24/7 Body Battery/Stress, Ōura's deal is tied to the overnight HR/HRV analysis. Unlike, say, WHOOP, they do take your training from previous day and "activity balance" (whatever it means) into account, but I'm not sure how much it really impacts the readiness score Ōura gives you.

    For me, it ended up as watching my HR, HRV, breathing, and body temperature trends as well as sleep to complement the usual self-assessment "of Do I feel like training hard today?" For what it's worth, Ōura is ahead of everyone as far as ease of trending and correlating this data is concerned. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Raul77

    Thanks for sharing these videos - while an impressive level of INDIVIDUAL testing...

    • On sleep tracking accuracy:
      • Rob's testing compares Oura to EEG but EEG is only one component of a full sleep study (or PSG, which also tracks eye/muscle movement and ECG)
      • Oura's own comparison with PSG involving 14 subjects showed 66% agreement with their 1st gen ring and an independent study involving 41 subjects showed 65/51/61% for light/deep/REM sleep (relatively lower deep sleep performance consistent with Rob's finding)
      • While you always have to take a company's own study with a grain of salt, I'm more inclined to use the other studies:
        • They used PSG (not just EEG)
        • More subjects (Rob even acknowledges there's individual variation)
        • A fair assumption that their 2nd gen ring would perform better
        • A few firmware updates since Rob's review which indicate 'performance improvements' (although unknown whether any of these were for the sleep algorithm)
      • Making a buying decision should factor in comparison not only to a gold standard (which should be PSG, not only EEG) but also viable alternatives (other consumer products, since nightly tracking at home is not practical/possible with PSG)
    • On HRV, an individual test using a Polar H10 is in no way comparable or does it add meaningfully to Oura's study (again, not ideal for it to be their own study) involving 50 subjects using an ECG

    If the F6 better leveraged its sleep and HR/HRV data to provide insights like Oura, I'd be more inclined to wear it at night (and save a few hundred dollars) even though bulky/heavy for sleep but that's not the case at this point.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to nickk

    I found this page very helpful in understanding the Oura Readiness Score and it says this about Activity Balance:

    This measures how activity levels over the past 2 weeks may be affecting your readiness. For maximum performance, aim to maintain a good balance with your low, medium and high intensity activities. Your activity balance can drop temporarily during a peak training phase, but it should bounce back to normal as you recover. Staying in balance will boost your readiness and help you stay productive and healthy.

    It seems reasonable to think that activity type, duration, and calories burned from workouts are good enough inputs for this type of determination.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Regarding my remarks about battery size vs ring size, here is a direct reply from Oura Support....

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to eezytiger

    Wow, that’s a pretty significant variation!

    On a related note, given the design of the chargers, are they different sizes also (in order for sufficient contact to be established between the chargers and the ring’s inner surface)?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to acousticbiker

    Charger size is matched to ring size. The label on the bottom of my charger includes the ring size it is designed for. It would be impossible to fit a size 6 ring onto my size 12 charger.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    This was a really interesting thread - hopefully someone may be able to help with a sub-query. I'm a huge fan of the Garmin eco-system, I've got an F6 which is my daily driver but recently I've been wearing more traditional watches again and also wearing a Vivosmart 4 which is a great bit of tech but I hate wearing two items on both wrists. 

    Thinking about getting an Oura for rest days where I can do sleep/calorie tracking. Can you use the calorie tracking with Oura on Myfitnesspal? Can this info be pushed into the Garmin Connect app because currently I think the myfitnesspal data can interact with the Connect data - though perhaps I'm wrong with this? 

    Grateful for any input. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have used Oura for about 1 1/2 years.

    I trust Oura more for resting (nighttime) HR than Garmin.  Garmin is random at best. Garmin does better during daytime. So for me Oura is slightly lower in resting HR taken at night - where Garmin starts a lot higher - but then during the day usually Garmin slides down towards Oura's resting HR - but never as low as Oura.

    Oura is better for sleep monitoring

    Oura is useless for activity tracking.

    Oura have issues with their batteries. They seem to last (on daily use) about 1 1/2 years until the start to fail quickly.

    So I'm on my "replacement" Oura. But if you see brand new Oura's advertised - not in original box - watch out if it is already a warranty replacement. If so remember the Oura might ONLY last for 1 1/2 years post your purchase - and you won't get a 2nd warranty replacement.  So you should not pay more than about 1/2 price for brand new "2nd" Oura's as you should EXPECT to need a warranty replacement during the lifetime.  (I do not know if they have fixed the issues so it could be better now)  

    If you consider ANYWAY to purchase 2nd hand - make certain you get a copy of the original invoice to check how much warranty is left. The battery issue starts slowly and escalates fast. 

    Would I buy a replacement when my current one dies - yes - but NOT 2nd hand - and not until they are on sale... Slight smile

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I got an Oura for Christmas and tried it out for a month but am returning it:

    - The insights are interesting initially but after a few weeks I didn't feel like I was learning anything new (same messages repeating over time)

    - I still found myself using Garmin Recovery Advisor to guide my activity

    - It only incorporates very basic workout metrics (e.g., time, calories burned) into its algorithm

    - Readiness Score reflects one point in time but Body Battery is dynamic throughout the day

    - I didn't like having to be cautious with my ring hand to avoid scratches, etc and also having another thing to charge (especially when charing daily during shower wasn't quite enough to keep up with battery drain)

    - While wearing an Oura to sleep is much better than wearing an F6 (and the main reason I wanted to try the Oura), I realized that wearing an F6 to bed isn't as bad as I thought it would be

    While Oura's sleep tracking is more accurate, F6 with FirstBeat ASM isn't bad and (coupled with more complete integration of workout data on F6) I wasn't convinced Oura was adding enough additional actionable value vs just fully using Garmin's ecosystem. It's also nice only having to go to Garmin Connect Mobile for data instead of also checking the Oura app.