Almost 10 years back, when I was still in school, I remember sitting on the first bench when my teacher suddenly asked me the time, pointing at the band on my wrist.
Gabit Ring
Rs 14,500
What Is Good?
- Lightweight and comfortable for all-day and sleep tracking
- Excellent battery life - around 8 days of use on
- Detailed health and wellness tracking
- Period and menstrual-cycle tracking
What Is Bad?
- Not ideal while weightlifting as it can interfere with grip
- App could have been better
I was a little scared as to how to explain to my very strict Hindi teacher that this thing doesn’t tell time, because what I was wearing wasn’t actually a watch. It was a fitness tracker, one of those early Mi Bands without displays that had just started showing up in India back then.
Cut to this weekend: I was driving when a friend from the back seat suddenly went, “Dude, there’s a light blinking in your ring.”And I found myself in the exact same position again, explaining that it wasn’t just a ring.
The only difference this time was that now I have built a career around explaining tech, and no one’s confiscating my gadgets anymore.
Somewhere between those two moments, fitness tracking has quietly gone full circle. From bands with no screens, to smartwatches that do everything, and now back to something that doesn’t even look like tech.
The ring in question is the Gabit Smart Ring, which I have been testing out for the past couple of weeks, sitting right in the middle of that shift. So, here’s how my experience went with it.
Wearing It, Forgetting It
You will agree with me, especially the women out there with comparatively smaller wrists, that wearing smartwatches feels bulky, always there, and it is also not very comfortable to sleep with. That’s one reason why smart rings have always fascinated me.
With the Gabit Smart Ring, the first thing that you notice is…how little there is to notice, and that’s the best part. Sure, the ring feels a little bulky and awkward for a day or two, but then you get used to the fit and forget about its existence, unless someone like my friend points it out.
This also happens because there is no screen, no buttons, no constant notifications, even when your phone isn’t around. It is also pretty light, lighter than you would expect for a band with a titanium outer shell and resin lining. Plus, it is really comfortable to sleep, rather, live with.
One important thing here, you need to choose the perfect size. There are two ways to do it- you either take your own ring size and place the final order, or second, get a sizing kit first, see which dummy ring works for you, which finger you would want to wear it in, and then place the order. I would recommend the latter, because it gives you an idea of the weight and feel of the ring.
You should preferably wear it on the index finger of your non-dominant hand, but I did keep switching between fingers here and there, sometimes out of pure restlessness, and other times it can get sweaty underneath because the band is thick, so give my finger a little air.
That said, it is not like you will totally forget it all the time.
Gabit says that you don’t have to take off the ring while washing hands or anything because it is 5ATM water resistant. I tried to follow that, but there are some practical limitations to it. If you wash your hands with the ring on, you will have to take it off to wipe off the water that gets underneath it.
Also, at the end of the day, it is a thick band, which you would not rub against your sensitive facial skin. Other than that, I also found myself taking the ring off while lifting weights because it hampers the grip a bit.
My review unit is in Black colour, and despite being very careful with it, it has gathered some scratches, which is bugging me. You can pay an additional Rs 350 to get a skin for your ring, but I feel it will make it feel a little more bulky.
Other than these few issues, which are more of a smart ring issue rather than a Gabit issue, the wearing experience is pretty seamless.
A Different Morning Routine with the Gabit App
I am not promoting it, but I am one of those people with a bad habit of checking their phones first thing in the morning. Earlier, it used to be office messages and emails; now I want to see how well I slept. A bit of an upgrade, isn’t it?
Jokes apart, I have been struggling with sleep for months now, so now every morning when I get up, I get a detailed report of my sleep score, recovery, if there was an increase of stress in my body. So, I know what my energy is going to look like throughout the day, and I love that morning ritual.
Speaking of a detailed report, the Gabit app doesn’t hold back on data at all. Sleep, heart rate, HRV, steps, stress, skin temperature, calories, along with a lot of stuff more, you get it all on the app. It also gives you information about what needs to be fixed, how you can get better scores, better sleep, and it also has an AI coach.
A few things that I really liked:
1) There’s an inbuilt calorie tracker with a lot of Indian dishes which you can edit based on your portion size. Calorie tracking is never exact unless you’re measuring every meal that you’re having, but gives a fair idea.
2) Once I was pretty stressed, I opened the app, and it asked me to play a little video. Wasn’t too much, but an animation for controlled breathing. Small things count too.
3) Women can track their periods, see which phase of the menstrual cycle they are in, and understand the physical and emotional changes commonly associated with each phase.
You can track all of this once you figure out the app, which feels a bit overwhelming and cluttered at first. On the Home screen itself, there are multiple sections, features, and ads, which confuses even me, someone who tries out a new app every single day.
Then you spot the “Ring” tab, ignore everything else, and just open that. On most days, the data that the ring gives you is pretty bang on. But on some rare occasions, the data can feel off. Like, for example, one night I could feel that I am stressed and anxious, but the app said that I was calm. Once, I was driving, and it detected a workout, and once when I was actually working out, it didn’t.
Also, the ring seems to get disconnected with the app almost every time I open it even when it is paired on Bluetooth. The app would show me older data and I would have to refresh it a couple of times, before it would load the latest data. Bit of a hassle that is.
This makes me feel that the Gabit smart ring is still in its initial days and there is still room for improvement. However, the best part is still that there are no constant notifications, reminders, or stressors throughout the day. You engage with the data when you want to, and it is pretty calming. And that also means that if you want to change something about that data, the responsibility lies on you
The Parts You Don’t Think About
I have already mentioned how easily I would forget I was wearing the ring, as it gradually became part of my routine. Its design and form factor deserve much of the credit, though the Gabit Ring’s excellent battery life plays an equally important role.
For the last few weeks, on Mondays, the battery would reach 20%, which is when the app reminds me to charge it. I take off the ring and put it in its case for about an hour and a half, then come back; the ring is charged to 100%. So, roughly 80% battery lasts me 8 days. Smartwatches don’t stand a chance here.
P.S. The battery size varies according to the ring size. As you go up the sizes, the battery size also increases. The data here is for my review unit, which is a Size 09.
Who is the Gabit Ring for?
Let me be straight with you, if you are an athlete, or a fitness junkie, or someone who wants to track all of their workouts and runs, this might not be the best device for you. Also, a heads up for runners, the ring doesn’t have GPS, so its metrics can be off and it only links up with Apple Health and not with Strava. This ring isn’t dedicated for those kinds of things and you might be better off with Whoop or Apple Watch and the likes.
So, who is this for? For a person like me, who wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle with their busy work life. Someone who sits down to work for long hours, and barely gets any steps in. Someone who is struggling with sleep and wants to understand that. Also, someone who hits the gym, works out, wants recovery and calorie data, but not at a competitive level.
I picked up the Gabit ring to help me maintain a better lifestyle. I see the number of steps I have walked in a day, and I naturally feel the urge to walk more. I see my fitness score and sleep score over the week, I feel motivated to maintain that. It reflects your patterns back at you and raises awareness about your own habits. Rather than a fitness device, I see it as a lifestyle and health buddy. And at Rs 14,500, without any additional subscription fees, when I compare it with the likes of Oura and Ultrahuman rings, I think it is a good deal.
I only wish the app was as calm and as clean as the ring design was. There are too many things that you don’t want. A lot of data to look at when you just want to see your steps. Hopefully, the Gabit team improves the app experience soon.
