Garmin regional arm leak reveals first images of Index Sleep Monitor

One of Garmin’s regional arms has jumped the gun and posted details on the upcoming Index Sleep Monitor. The 1 minute Youtube video reveals a sleep-specific wearable with core tracking features, a vibrating alarm, and a 7-day battery life. It’s not meant to replace your watch, but to complement it.

We stumbled across this by chance. The page is down now, but we’ve included a few screenshots in this article. The existence of this device was no surprise. Leaks have been circulating for a while, including one most recently from Fitness Tracker Test.

What the band actually is

As reported earlier, Index Sleep Monitor straps around your upper arm with a soft Velcro band. It’s a screenless, buttonless wearable. Tucked inside the band is a pocket housing Garmin’s familiar optical heart rate sensor.

It’s not trying to be a smartwatch. This is a purpose-built device for tracking overnight metrics. That includes heart rate, blood oxygen, HRV, skin temperature and the newer breathing variation data. The last of these is worth noting. In our opinion, it is likely part of a bigger push toward sleep apnea tracking.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

Since it sits on your upper arm instead of your wrist, you’d expect more stable data capture. Less movement and a snugger fit usually help with optical signal quality. That’s probably part of the thinking behind the design.

Why this might appeal

There’s a smart alarm built in. It vibrates lightly to wake you up during a light stage of sleep, which is supposed to make mornings easier. Because it doesn’t make noise, it won’t disturb anyone next to you.

Battery life is listed at 7 days, which is less impressive. Many Garmin watches manage far more. But that tradeoff might be acceptable if the data quality is noticeably better.

Garmin doesn’t position this as a standalone replacement. It’s for people who don’t like sleeping with a bulky watch. If you wear a Garmin watch during the day, this sleep band can take over at night. Both devices will sync with Garmin Connect, and sleep data from the Index Sleep Monitor will also appear on your watch display.

There’s still no launch date. But with info leaking left right and centre, it can’t be far off. Earlier leaks suggest a price of around 170 euros.

This article first appeared on Gadgets & Wearables, where the story was originally reported.

Note: We do not include links to independently surfaced source material in some cases, in order to protect the integrity of our research. We always link to public filings and official sources where available.

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