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Comment by Zababa | Hacker News Reader

"Battery that lasts for years" being actually 12-15 hours of recording is a huge turn off honestly.

>How long does the battery last?

>Roughly 12 to 15 hours of recording. On average, I use it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. That's up to 2 years of usage.

They then say:

>Wait, it's single use?

>Yes. We know this sounds a bit odd, but in this particular circumstance we believe it's the best solution to the given set of constraints. Other smart rings like Oura cost $250+ and need to be charged every few days. We didn't want to build a device like that. Before the battery runs out, the Pebble app notifies and asks if you'd like to order another ring.

My oura has lasted ~3 years, I recharge it twice a week usually, and I think it has spent way more than 15-20 hours turned on.

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It's just a big faux pas in this day and age of environmental consciousness really. In my country we used to joke that people would buy a new car because the ashtray was full. This reminds me of that.

I don't really care about the environmental consciousness, my issue is that presenting a product with a battery that lasts for years when it actually lasts 15 to 20 hours makes me feel like I'm being lied to.

If it lasts 15 hours of recording and you record on average 5 seconds at a time, that’s about 11000 activations. I think 5 seconds is a pretty conservative estimate, most things I imagine this being useful for would be more looks 2. Easy to see it lasting years in those conditions, but yes you could drain it faster if you used it very heavily.

This is true, but there's a big difference between saying "15-20 hours battery life, which is 11000 5-seconds activations, which last you a few years with 10 5-seconds activation a day" and "years of battery (btw in small text the real number is given). Especially since they mention that this project is hackable/you can do other things with it, knowing in advance you have something like ~100k button presses means some projects feel perfectly and some others won't really work.

> This is true, but there's a big difference between saying "15-20 hours battery life, which is 11000 5-seconds activations, which last you a few years with 10 5-seconds activation a day" and "years of battery

Same issue Apple had when the iPod was new. How big is 20 gigs? Better put 150,000 songs instead…

Wait, so it can record for 12-15 hours, then it dies and there's no way to recharge it?

That's like, horror game flashlight levels of longevity.

> other smart rings like Oura cost $250+

It's crazy they manage to say this with a straight face when their product still costs $225. Gee, $225 for a disposable piece of e-waste or $250 for a rechargeable device... but hey, at least it reminds you with an advertisement to spend another $225 before it dies!

From the website it seems the ring is $75. So definitely cheaper

The Oura Ring costs $350 now and it has an optional $6/month subscription.

Also, rechargeable does not mean it is infinitely rechargeable. After around four years, the Oura's battery will not hold a charge long enough to be useful (record a night's sleep), so it is also disposable.

We are comparing apples and oranges though because the Index is not a smart ring.

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