Not every new smart gadget lives up to the hype. The Circular Ring Slim promised a lightweight, slimmer alternative to the usual raft of health-tracking bands and smartwatches, but our testing found it to come with too many compromises to recommend. First, the good bits: the ring’s battery lasted significantly longer than most smartwatches, and the health data it presented was easy to understand. It was, as promised, small and lightweight, to the point where our tester reported forgetting it was there at all. However, that was largely where the positives ended.

With such a limited surface to work with, the Ring Slim only has room for one touch-sensitive button. Our tester reported it being unnecessarily finicky to use, often resulting in the ring repeatedly triggering a morning alarm that, due to incorrectly registering button taps, had only been snoozed rather than turned off entirely. Durability was also a problem, and we noticed visible chips to the ring’s black finish after a month of wear. Perhaps most disappointingly, though, some important health tracking features, such as the stress level monitor and medication reminders, are also partially hidden behind a paywall.

Given that the ring is expensive — retailing on Circular’s website for $293, more than many good smartwatches — this seems like a counterintuitive move. The ring’s primary function is to track health, and if buyers have to pay extra to get the ring’s full monitoring package, they’d be better off sticking with a smartwatch.