Motiv Ring Review

by Mark Ranum · Published March 25, 2018 , 9:13 am · Updated October 22, 2024 , 4:11 am

Active Gear Review is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Motiv Inc. launched their breakthrough innovation in activity and sleep tracking with the ultra sleek Motiv Ring. The ring is the first highly advanced finger wearable device that changes the way people measure activity and sleep. Featuring impressive cutting-edge technology in a slim, ultralight design, Motiv Ring was crafted to be discreet and comfortable enough to keep on all day, in any situation.

“Despite how fast the wearable market is growing, over half of those who buy a fitness tracker lose interest and discontinue use because current solutions are uncomfortable, unattractive and don’t provide truly meaningful insights,” said Mike Strasser, cofounder and CEO of Motiv Inc. “From a hardware perspective, we knew we had to build a device that could be with you all the time. To do that it had to be small, durable, waterproof, allow you to effortlessly measure activity and sleep, and not interfere with daily life.”

At only 8mm wide, the Motiv Ring is packed with some very innovative micro-technology, including a custom lithium ion battery, heart rate monitor, Bluetooth® Smart syncing, a three-axis accelerometer and tri-colored LED indicator for charging and syncing.

Motiv Ring Features:

Sleek and subtle—discreet design that effortlessly blends into everyday life
Comfortable and durable, with ultralight titanium shell
Waterproof up to 5 ATM—no need to take it off when washing hands, showering or swimming
Monitors heart rate with an optical heart rate sensor
Tracks active minutes, activity type, sleep duration, active heart rate, resting heart rate, calories burned, distance and steps
Intuitive app establishes weekly goals and adjusts daily targets based on user’s activity
Easily charge on-the-go; no cords or bulky charging docks required
Up to 5 day battery life *Typical battery life is 3-5 days dependent on use

Find the Perfect Fit

The Motiv Ring is available in seven different sizes (6 – 12) and two colors, slate gray and rose gold. After first ordering the ring, Motiv will send you a set of sizing rings so you can find your Motiv size. This gives you the ability to try on at home and makes it easy to get the correct and most comfortable fit.

After find the best fit, it is recommended that you wear the ring for about 24 hours to ensure that it is truly comfortable. Once satisfied with the fit, you will return to the Motiv website and enter the included code and chosen size of the ring. A couple of days later the Motiv ring shows up in all of it’s micro glory. Contained with in the Motiv package is the Motiv Ring, two usb magnetic chargers and a key chain holder for the usb charger.

Design

The Motiv Ring is wrapped in a titanium shell, making it durable, light, and stylish. The actual form factor of the ring seems almost indestructible, however the outside coating is not. During trips to the gym the ring took quite a bit of abuse, from weight plates smashing against it to steel bar grips scratching it, structurally the Motiv has stood it’s ground, but aesthetically the ring ended up marred.

The obvious thing that I should have done, would have been to wear gloves and keep it protected from the weights. So my advice to any future Motiv customers is protect the ring if you want to keep it looking good for the nights out on the town.

The Motiv Ring is also waterproof up to 165 feet (5 ATMs) and resistant to almost any chemical you’d be brave enough to put your fingers in. The only time that I have taken the ring off has been to charge it, so taking it through numerous showers and even getting it coated in engine oil has resulted in no ill effects.

Performance

First things first, charging the Motiv Ring is simple, plug the included slim magnetic charging dock into any usb powered port and the ring magnetically clicks into place and charges up in about 90 minutes. The red indicator light will stay on letting you know that you have made a good connection and that it is charging. Once it reaches it’s full capacity the LED indicator will turn blue. During testing I would generally get 2-3 days of use from the ring before the app would pop up a notification letting me know that the Motiv Ring had less than 20% battery life left and it was time to charge. Depending on when the notification came up, I usually found it best to plan to charge the ring 90 minutes before my planned bedtime, as this was generally my down time (less active tracking time) and in doing so allowed me to put the ring back on before bed so that it could track my sleep. With the quick 90 minute charging this never became a nuisance or seemed to take anything away from the Motiv activity tracking experience.

All of the data from the Motiv ring is periodically synced in the background via Bluetooth Smart Sync with the free Motiv app, with minimal impact on the phone’s and the ring’s battery. Should you need to sync on-demand, just rotate the ring around your finger a few times, and voila! At this time the Motiv app is only available on iOS devices. The Android app is said to be in development and will be available in the 2nd quarter of 2018.

The app tracks active minutes, sleep, resting heart rate and calories burned. This information is displayed as activity cards within the app. You receive an activity card any time you generate 10 or more active minutes, which is when you’re at 40% or more of your aerobic capacity or taking at least 100 steps per minute. The app automatically adjusts your daily targets based on your week to date – kind of like rollover minutes. Miss a workout? No problem. The app will keep nudging you to achieve your weekly goals. The Motiv ring stays on all night so you get a complete view of your sleep and resting heartrate. The app allows you to easily track your progress and know at a glance how you’re tracking against your goals. And to ensure you always get credit for your full efforts, the ability to add and edit activities is incorporated.

With the Motiv Ring there is no need to be tethered to your phone if you want to work out. The ring has two days of on board memory storage without syncing. So, there is no need to drag your phone with you on your morning run. Motiv Ring will automatically sync your data with your phone once you return home.

Resting Heart Rate Tracking

Motiv is the first company to fit an optical heart rate sensor in a ring this size. It detects your heart rate from your finger and because fingers tend to have less hair than wrists, the Motiv Ring has the advantage over wrist-based devices in collecting quality heart rate data. Comparing resting heart rate data between my Garmin Fenix and the Motiv ring, the ring gave a more consistent steady range of resting heart rate where the Fenix does have it’s off days and every once and awhile shows a spike or drop in resting heart rate that doesn’t make sense compared to my training. But all in all they were both congruent on the days that they tracked accurately.

Sleep Tracking

The Motiv Ring is comfortable to wear and most of the time you will forget that you even have it on, which makes it the ideal sleep tracker companion. Sleep tracking is done automatically, no need to open an app or push a button, the ring detects when you fall asleep and wake up. From an accuracy stand point, it fell right inline with the Fenix’s sleep tracker, most of the time to the minute. The one place that it performed better, was on the night’s I was short on sleep and needed to grab an afternoon nap, the Fenix didn’t catch this, but the Motiv ring new exactly what I was doing and recorded it as time slept.

Calorie Tracking

Since the Motiv Ring uses a heart rate tracker the calories burned where generally agreeable with the Fenix and never seemed to be off by more than a hundred calories either direction. While the heart rate tracker in the Fenix tracks every couple of seconds, the tracker in the Motiv ring is set to track during an activity and every so often at when not active to help conserve the battery. Thus resulting in a lesser accurate calorie count.

Activity Tracking

Without a GPS or a start/stop button on board it would be hard to accurately get the exact distance and time spent on an activity. However, in my opinion the Motiv ring does an above average job compared to some of the other activity trackers that I have tried. While the Motiv gives you a step, distance and time count on tracking, it did vary from the actual GPS data, but still held under a differential of 5%, which I consider pretty darn good for such a small non-GPS device .

Specifications

3-axis Accelerometer
Smart LED Sensor
Optical Heart Rate Sensor
Battery – Lithium Ion – Full charge in under 2 hours
Ring Sizes – Available in 7 Motiv Ring Sizes
Colors – Slate Gray and Rose Gold
Active Minutes
Resting Heart Rate
Activity Types
Calories Burned
Activity Intensity
Steps
Sleep Duration
Distance
iOS 9.0 or later
iPhone 5s or later
Works With Apple Health

Final Thoughts

Who it’s for:

Anyone who wants a discreet activity, heart rate, and sleep tracker
Anyone who is unhappy or looking to replace their current activity tracker
Anyone looking for a more comfortably worn tracker

Who it’s not:

Older iPhone Owners – Works with iPhone 5S and newer / iOS 9.0 and newer
People that own and wear a 24/7 high performance GPS tracking device (Garmin, Suunto, Polar)
Anyone looking for a GPS accurate run, cycle or swim tracker

The Motiv Ring is a stealthy alternative to the everyday wristband activity trackers. It provides accurate heart rate, calorie and sleep data that is both informative and useful. And while the price point lands it among some smart watches that can do a bit more, it is a refreshing solution for those who are looking to break free of the handcuff that is a wrist based heart rate tracker. For more information on the Motiv Ring, visit, www.mymotiv.com.