Not so long ago, last January in fact, I wrote about the COLMi Smart Ring, the smart ring that you can pick up on Aliexpress for about fifteen pounds. In my conclusion I wrote that “I like the design of the ring, but the quality of the finish shows where cost savings have been made to keep the price down.” Now, less than three months later, I am back as that has proved to be highly accurate.
The picture above shows my R06 smart ring after three months of use, and below it an unworn one. As you can clearly see, even after a very short period, the ring looks in pretty bad shape. Basically, the colour coating on the ring has started to come off. This is with what I would call fair, normal use. I wear the ring all the time and only take it off when I am going in the shower.
This was pretty disappointing as I had been happy with the functionality of the ring itself. I therefore have decided to take a punt on a COLMi R02, which has the same functionality but with a stainless steel finish. Once bitten, twice shy and all that, I decided to contact COLMi support to check about the finish on the R02, and this is what they said:
While stainless steel is highly resistant to tarnishing, it’s not entirely impervious and can still tarnish or corrode under certain conditions, such as prolonged exposure to moisture or harsh chemicals.
And to be certain, I asked “and the coating won’t rub off like it has on this R06?” and was told “Yes, that is correct”. So we shall see. While it might not have a coating that will rub off, I can quite imagine that it might scratch, so that is something to be mindful of.
Of course we are talking about a £15 smart ring when the more durable one, at least you would hope so, goes for hundreds so I am willing to cut COLMi some slack and fingers crossed that the R02 lasts a good deal longer than the R06.
