Jared offers this 1-Carat Round Brilliant Cut diamond ring for $3,499.99. But you can get a better diamond ring for less than half the cost by smart shopping. I show you exactly how. James Allen’s prices are $2,465 (earth-mined diamond) or $1,605 (lab-created diamond … and yes, lab-created diamonds are 100% authentic, same as earth-mined diamonds, and even are graded by major diamond labs such as the IGI.)
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The Jared offer: $3,499.99
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 $2,465 (earth-mined) or $1,605 (lab-created).
Earth-mined for $2,465:
Lab-created for $1,605:
Once more, James Allen has the better deals.
How to get the James Allen deals
At James Allen, you build a ring yourself. (All online. They actually build it. You just choose the diamond and the setting.)
- 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 of buying “loose diamonds.” 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.
The Jared ring’s specs don’t specify any lab certification for the diamond. So, I wouldn’t buy it. (Anyway, it’s enormously more expensive than the diamonds you can find, certified, at James Allen.)
On the other hand, both of the James Allen diamonds have certificates. One from the GIA, and the other diamond from the IGI.
So what? Well, 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. That’s the diamond cut designed by science, as it turns out, to maximize the amount of sparkle from a diamond.
(Thus, knowing the Cut Quality, which determines how well a diamond will sparkle, is extremely important. But the Jared diamond makes no claim at all about Cut Quality. Read on …)
Carats
All three diamonds have 1-carat diamonds.
Clarity
The Jared diamond is of I1-Clarity. So is the earth-created diamond in the James Allen deal that I’m comparing equally, to show the difference in price.
Let me be clear: I1-Clarity is not a good clarity score.
(In fact, I don’t recommend buying any I1-Clarity diamond. Not even the James Allen diamond that I’m using as an apples-to-apples comparison.
Instead, buy the lab-created SI2-Clarity diamond for much less. You’re getting a better diamond for much less money.)
The lab-created diamond from James Allen in this comparison article is of SI2-Clarity. It’s not wholly clear on the diagram, but that’s two entire clarity grades higher.
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Color
The color of the Jared diamond is I-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 I-Color.
However, it costs a lot less than the Jared diamond. So, if your budget really is $3,5000, 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 $3,500 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 … G-Color. (That’s 2 entire grades better. For less than half the price. Don’t be fooled by a high price at Jared. This James Allen lab-created diamond is 100% authentic, 100% identical to an earth-created diamond. But it’s $1,605.)
Cut Quality
Jared doesn’t seem to tell us the Cut Quality of this 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 mention of certification.
That alone is a deal breaker, for me.
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 will not disappoint. They will sparkle.
Conclusion: This Jared 1-carat diamond solitaire ring is not a smart 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 you can trust it.
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.
