Jared offers this 1-carad diamond solitaire engagement ring in three colors of gold for $7,000. However, you can get the same or better quality diamond ring from James Allen for MUCH less — as low as $1,505. That’s an IGI-Certified diamond ring from James Allen. It’s better than the Jared diamond ring, by the data and specs that I will show you in this article.
The Jared offer: $6,999.99
The item number for this diamond ring at Jared is 151163906.
You can see it live unless or until it is discontinued.
James Allen offers a ring with the same or better diamond specs for $2,355 (earth-mined) or $1,505 (lab-created).
Earth-mined for $2,355:
Lab-created for $1,505:
Once more, James Allen has the better deals.
When you know how to use the search filters there (I’m showing you how, below, and even linking to pre-filtered results), then you’ll save a lot of money.
And you get the same quality or better diamond. At James Allen the diamonds are even certified by the GIA, IGI, or AGS, in virtually every case. Even better, they tell you right on the page which lab certified the diamond.
Why is that important? It’s so you’ll know for sure that they didn’t have it “certified” by an in-house gemologist or by a little-known, little-respected random diamond grading lab.
(Some diamond retailers actually “certify” their own diamonds. Which, in my view, is like grading your own term paper. Even if you’re expert at gradin term papers, you’re likely to at least unconsciously be biased toward yourself.)
Some diamond retailers even rely on little-respected grading labs that are known to give easy grades.
I’m not at all saying Jared does any of that. But I do say — in this case, and in every price compare I’ve done involving Jared up to the date of this writing — Jared doesn’t tell us on the product page exactly what lab “certified” the diamond. In my opinion, that’s a deal breaker. Especially when, as you can see, Jared’s prices are often multiples higher than James Allen’s
How to get the James Allen deals
At James Allen, you build a ring yourself.
You choose a setting (the metal ring, which in some cases comes with accent diamonds).
Then you choose a loose diamond to add to it.
But it’s not as hard as it may seem to people new to the idea. In fact it’s easy.
At least, it’s easy if you have someone walking you through it for the first time.
Here’s how to get these deals (or very similar deals) at James Allen:
1. Select this 14K white gold setting, this 14K rose gold setting, or this 14K yellow gold setting. (They’re all the same price, same design. Just different colors of gold.)
2. For an earth-mined diamond matching the high-priced Jared offer, go to my pre-set James Allen diamond search results and select a diamond from the first 2 or 3 diamonds in the list.
(James Allen diamonds are unique, so I can’t send you straight to a specific diamond. It would sell out quickly. But there are many many others in the inventory. The price will be close to what you see here.
Also, of course the inventory is always changing, so you may see slightly different prices when you search.)
3. For even greater savings, click the “Lab-Created Diamonds” filter. (Use my pre-set James Allen Lab-Created Diamonds search results.)
The specs on the diamonds in this price compare, quickly explained
Diamond Certificate
Never buy a diamond this expensive without a certificate from GIA, IGI, or AGS.
It’s unclear to me what lab certifies the diamonds available for the Jared ring. I already discussed that above, so I won’t go into detail again.
On the other hand, both of the James Allen diamonds have certificates from the IGI. That means you can count on the specs you see in the certificates.
Shape
All three diamond rings in this contest have Round-Cut shaped diamonds.
Carats
All three diamonds have 1-carat diamonds. (The lab-created the James Allen diamond is actually 1.07 carats. That’s 7% larger. Not all that noticeable. But it’s not insignificant either.)
Clarity
The Jared diamond is of SI2-Clarity. That can be a decent clarity grade.
But whether it is or not absolutely depends on where, inside the diamond, the inclusions (flaws) are located. If they’re near the “table” (the top facet), that’s obviously not good. If they are deeper in the diamond, or obscured by a prong, that’s better.
But you need to be able to examine the diamond’s 3D images, so you’ll know. At James Allen, you can. At Jared, you can’t.
Also, about the Jared diamond, we don’t know who graded it. So we don’t know if they were accurate. Or trained. Or competent. Or biased.
With the James Allen diamonds, we know the IGI graded and certified them. So we can trust with a high level of confidence that the gemologist was competent, unbiased, and paid well enough to do the work well.
The James Allen earth-created diamond I chose to compare with is also SI2-Clarity.
The lab-created diamond from James Allen in this comparison is of SI2-Clarity as well.
Color
The color of the high priced diamond is J-Color. That’s getting pretty yellow, for such a high priced diamond.
The color of the earth-created diamond from James Allen in this price compare is also J-Color.
However, it costs much less than half what the Jared diamond costs! So, if your budget really is $7,000, you could adjust the filters at James Allen to spend more and get a much better diamond. You could get a better color, and even a better clarity, for your $7K if that’s really how much you want to spend.
The color of James Allen’s lab-created diamond which I used in this example is … H-Color. (That’s 2 entire grades better. For WAY less in price.)
Cut Quality
Jared doesn’t seem to tell us the Cut Quality of this high priced diamond. It’s not in the specs. It does not seem to be on any certificate. I’m not even seeing a certificate on the page. Nor any designation of which lab certified it.
Are they hiding something? I don’t know.
Or did they forget to mention Cut Quality, which is arguably THE most important quality of a round brilliant diamond?
Cut Quality describes the most important quality of a round brilliant cut diamond — how well it sparkles. Mediocre cut quality means a dull and lifeless diamond.
Good Cut Quality — even if the diamond had a low color grade and a low clarity grade — means the diamond will have brilliance, sparkle, fire, all those qualities that a round brilliant cut is specifically designed to create.
The Cut Quality of the diamonds in this comparison offered by James Allen? Excellent and Ideal cut. Stated right there on the page. As graded by the IGI. These diamonds definitely will not disappoint you. They will sparkle.
Conclusion: This Jared 1-carat diamond solitaire ring is not a good buy. James Allen has better 1-carat prices, as shown in the data and screen shots on this page.
That’s my opinion. But it’s backed up by the data. So I feel very confident you can trust it.
My opinion is also this: You shouldn’t even consider this diamond ring at Jared, because you have much better options (objectively demonstrated) at James Allen.
It’s easy to get great deals on better diamond jewelry — for less money! Here’s how:
- Scroll up to the section on “How to Get the James Allen Deals.”
- Follow the easy directions there.
- Feel 100% confident that you bought the best diamond for the money
How to search this site to save up to tens of thousands of dollars at trusted diamond retailers, vs most any Costco, Kay, Jared, or Zales ring you’re considering
Search and save. You could save enough for a new compact car. Or a honeymoon. Or several expensive dinner dates. Or that guitar you’ve been wanting.
Read this very short note on how easy it is.
