After wearing smart rings for over five years, I’ve become convinced that I deserve one minor luxury whenever I’m traveling with one: a charging case. Even when I’m at home, a charging case is more convenient than a post-style charger. Just before a recent vacation, I got myself a $30 charging case that I like even better than the one Oura sells for $99.

Why charging cases matter for smart rings

Charging cases are handy for a few reasons. Chief among them is that it feels precarious to have your expensive ring on a little stand, attached to a long USB cable. I’m pretty much guaranteed to snag that cable at some point, potentially knocking the ring onto the floor.

But with a charging case, you not only have the ring in a more secure position, you can also do away with the cable. (The charging case has its own battery, which needs to be charged with a cable, but only once a month or so). I also love that I can put the ring in its charging case, and slip the case into my pocket. When the ring is charged, it’s already with me—no going home to go get it from my desk or nightstand.

Several smart ring makers include a charging case, or have one available as an extra purchase. That’s a big plus to me when I’m evaluating what you get for your money. RingConn gen 2 and 3 come with cases that have a generous battery; the Ultrahuman Ring Pro has a nice big case as well. The Samsung Galaxy Ring has a clear little case, and so does the Luna ring. Oura rings don’t come standard with a case, but the 4 and 5 generations have a charging case available as an extra purchase. 

Oura sent me a charging case when it was a new product, but it only fit the Oura Ring 4 and not the 5 I’m currently wearing. I tend to do short trips without a charger (since the ring’s battery lasts about a week) and bring the dock on longer ones. But as I was organizing my supplies for a recent vacation, I decided I was going to solve this problem once and for all—I was going to try one of the third-party chargers I keep seeing online, the ones that can fit any charging dock. I bought this Tensea charging case.

How I used the Tensea case on a recent trip

I picked this particular charging case for a few reasons. First, it can fit a variety of Oura docks, and would probably also be able to fit other brands. As a bonus, it has a numerical display to tell you exactly how charged the case is, and a clear lid so you can tell at a glance whether the ring is inside and whether the dock is showing its own charging light.

These are features that I wish Oura’s own charging case had. Instead, it’s got one LED that changes color to indicate charge level, but sometimes it’s telling you about the ring and sometimes about the case itself. The Tensea case also has a substantially bigger battery than Oura’s. At 7.4 watt-hours, it’s about three times the size of Oura’s 2.5-Wh case. Oura says its case can charge the ring five times, so the Tensea should be able to do around 15 charges. I’ve used it once and the battery level is only down to 96%. I’ll be able to use this for a while.

Now, this type of case is not a complete replacement—it requires you to add your regular charging dock. The one I bought is made for Oura rings, and it’s sized so that you can pop in the charging dock that came with your Oura Ring 3, 4, or 5. Flip up the case’s hinged USB-C connector, plug in the dock, then hinge the dock down into the case.

This design should be able to work with any charging dock that has a USB-C connector and fits in the case, so I tried it with the Ultrahuman Ring Air. I would charitably say that it works with the Ultrahuman, it just doesn’t fit. The ring charged but I couldn’t close the case to slip it in my pocket. If I’m just leaving it on a hotel nightstand, though, it would get the job done without needing a cable. (That’s how I tell myself that this is a versatile item that I can use with many different rings—we will see whether it works with any others I end up testing.) 

In any case, the Tensea did its job, sitting in my backpack waiting to be used. I didn't need it until the day I returned home, but then I was able to quickly find it in my bag and start charging my ring without having to rummage for a cable or find something to plug it into. I'll definitely be using this case for future travel, and I like it as a cable-free nightstand charger at home, too.