Suunto’s screenless Flex Band may arrive this year for €179

A source has sent Gadgets & Wearables photos of Suunto’s unannounced HR264, and the hardware itself appears to reveal its retail name: Suunto Flex Band. The company is, reportedly, targeting a launch toward the end of the year, with a price of €179.

The HR264 now appears to have a proper name

When we first covered the HR 264 earlier this month, regulatory filings only identified it as a heart-rate monitor. The design strongly suggested something more interesting, though, with a compact screenless module, optical sensors and fabric straps that looked much closer to the new generation of screen-free fitness trackers.

The new photos seen by Gadgets & Wearables add an important detail. The rear of the device is marked “SUUNTO FLEX BAND” alongside HR264. We are not publishing the photos themselves because of potential copyright issues.

But the photos provide a much clearer look at the hardware. There is an optical sensor array on the underside, four charging contacts and a dedicated charging puck connected to USB-C, while the device itself sits inside a soft fabric band. No physical buttons that we could spot.

Another black fabric strap is shown separately, suggesting Suunto will offer at least different strap configurations or sizes. The front is about as minimal as it gets, with a plain dark surface, a small Suunto logo at the bottom and no display.

That keeps the Whoop comparison very much alive. It also puts the Flex Band into the same broader category as devices such as the Fitbit Air, Polar Loop and Garmin’s screenless CIRQA, all of which we cover in our screenless fitness tracker comparison.

€179 would make things interesting

The €179 price is only coming from our source at this stage, but it feels plausible for this type of product. It would position the Flex Band well above the cheapest screenless trackers while keeping it in roughly the same part of the market as more training-focused devices.

The price also suggests Suunto may see this as more than an accessory for one of its watches. A basic optical heart-rate strap at that price would be a harder sell, while a device tracking activity, sleep, recovery and training throughout the day would make considerably more sense.

The big unknown is what buyers actually get for that money. Suunto has been building more recovery and coaching features into its ecosystem, including the new Suunto AI Coach, so a screenless device capable of collecting continuous data could slot nicely into that strategy.

A launch may not be far away

The Flex Band is reportedly coming toward the end of Q4, which would point to November or December. An end-of-year launch would fit with how quickly HR264 has been moving through regulatory approvals.

The device has already appeared in several markets, including South Korea, Singapore and the UAE. Regulatory approval never guarantees an immediate release, but with what now appears to be production hardware carrying the Flex Band name, Suunto looks to be getting pretty close to launch.