When we first covered Garmin’s HbA1c patent, the idea was pretty easy to understand. The watch would shine several different wavelengths of light into the wrist, read the PPG signals and use that to estimate glycated haemoglobin. So this would not be live glucose tracking like a CGM, but more of a longer-term view of where your glucose levels have been.

This goes beyond one glucose patent

There has been some movement since February. Garmin’s HbA1c patent application remains pending and received a non-final USPTO Office Action in March, meaning the examination process is now underway.

That is not an endorsement of the technology, and an Office Action can include objections or rejected claims. What is more interesting is what shows up when Garmin’s other optical-sensing patents are viewed alongside it.

A separate Garmin filing called Pressure compensation for wrist-based pulse spectrometry explicitly discusses HbA1c measurement. It describes compensating for the pressure a watch applies to the wrist, because compressing blood vessels and tissue can alter the optical signals used to calculate physiological measurements.

The filing goes into considerable detail, including pressure compensation across multiple optical wavelengths between roughly 600 and 1,000nm. It also describes calculating glycated haemoglobin from three PPG signals at different wavelengths, and two of its inventors, Paul MacDonald and Christopher Kulach, also appear on Garmin’s dedicated HbA1c patent.

That is a more interesting clue than another generic mention of glucose in a patent. Garmin appears to have been working not only on how to calculate HbA1c, but on one of the practical problems that could make those calculations unreliable on an actual wrist.

There is another piece of the puzzle. Garmin’s wrist-worn optical cardiac monitor patent describes sensor arrangements using three optical transmitters with different wavelengths, as well as configurations operating across several red and infrared wavelength bands.

The HbA1c patent also requires three separate wavelengths travelling along substantially the same optical path. That does not prove these filings describe parts of one future Garmin sensor, but the overlap is difficult to ignore.

And then there is Fenix 9

The timing makes Fenix 9 particularly interesting. Garmin’s HbA1c work claims priority back to June 2023, the pressure-compensation filing dates to October 2023, and the optical-monitor work goes back to 2022, so these projects have been underway long enough to influence a 2026 hardware generation.

We already know Garmin is preparing new high-end watches. Our Garmin Connect 5.27 teardown uncovered six coordinated outdoor-watch records that could belong to a future Fenix 9 family, although Garmin has not confirmed their identity.

There is also Garmin model A05170, an unannounced premium wrist-worn device that recently appeared at the FCC with LTE and satellite connectivity. Fenix 9 or Pro version of the same is one possible identity for that watch. But the filing keeps its external and internal photographs confidential, so it tells us nothing about the optical sensor on the back.

And that sensor is now the bit worth watching. If Fenix 9 arrives with a substantially redesigned optical module, particularly one with additional red and infrared emitters, the connection with Garmin’s spectroscopy work becomes much more interesting.

Why Fenix 9 is still a long shot

There is still a big gap between Garmin researching wrist-based HbA1c estimation and putting the feature into a shipping watch. So far, we have found no public evidence of clinical validation, regulatory work or anything else that ties the technology directly to Fenix 9.

Garmin’s wider interest in metabolic health is clearly growing. In May, Garmin Health published a Diabetes Insight Report looking at Garmin wearable data alongside CGMs, AI platforms and third-party diabetes programmes, but that is separate from Garmin measuring glucose or HbA1c itself.

Even if Fenix 9 introduces a new optical sensor, that alone would tell us very little. Garmin could redesign the sensor for better heart-rate accuracy, Pulse Ox, ECG performance, power efficiency or entirely different health metrics.

What would make the HbA1c connection more interesting is evidence that a new sensor uses the sort of multi-wavelength optical setup described in Garmin’s patents. Until we see something like that, linking Fenix 9 directly to glucose tracking would be mostly guesswork.

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Amazon has a separate stack of Garmin deals, so there is quite a bit to pick through. Rather than list everything, these are the offers I would actually look at first.

Fenix 8 finally gets a nice discount

If you have been waiting for Fenix 8 to come down, this is probably the deal to look at first. The 43mm AMOLED version is $749.99 instead of $999.99 on Garmin’s website, so you are keeping $250 in your pocket.

That feels much healthier than paying a grand for it. You still get the full Fenix package, including maps, Garmin’s deeper training tools, solid battery life and the newer sensor hardware, but the price no longer feels quite so brutal.

The Fenix 8 Pro MicroLED gets the biggest cut of the lot. Garmin’s website is showing the 51mm Sapphire version down from $1,699.99 to $1,249.99, which is a chunky $450 saving.

That does not suddenly make it cheap, of course. I also would not buy the MicroLED version just because the discount looks impressive, as battery life takes a hit compared with AMOLED. Our Fenix 8 Pro MicroLED specs are worth checking before going all-in, but if this is the version you already wanted, $450 off is hard to ignore.

There is also the Fenix E, which is now $649.99 on Garmin’s website instead of $799.99. I have always thought the E was a slightly awkward sell when it sat too close to the full Fenix 8, but a $150 cut makes the cheaper model easier to understand.

You lose some of the higher-end hardware and features, but if you mainly want the Fenix look, AMOLED and the core outdoor experience, it becomes more interesting at this price.

Forerunner 265 is probably the best buy for runners

The Forerunner 265 is the one I would point most runners towards. It has dropped from $449.99 to $349.99 on Garmin’s website, which puts it into a much nicer spot.

You get AMOLED, multiband GPS, training readiness and most of the serious running tools people actually use, without spending extra on maps and outdoor features that may never leave the menu.

If that is still more than you want to spend, the Forerunner 165 is worth checking on Amazon. It gives up a few of the 265’s more advanced training features, but not enough to make it feel like a budget watch. Our Forerunner 165 vs 265 comparison is probably the quickest way to work out which one makes more sense.

The old Forerunner 55 is also discounted if you just want something simple and cheap for running. At the other end, the Forerunner 965 is on sale too, and that is the one to look at if you want maps, a bigger screen and more of the high-end stuff without moving into Fenix territory.

Instinct 3 looks much better below $300

The Instinct 3 AMOLED has slipped under the $300 mark on Garmin’s website, with the 45mm version now $299.99 instead of $349.99.

That is a good price for it. If you want something tough, long-lasting and a little less serious than a Fenix, this is probably the sweet spot. You still get the rugged 10 ATM build, AMOLED screen, flashlight and strong battery life, without paying for every feature in the catalogue.

Instinct E goes cheaper again. It is a more basic watch, but that is also why it works. If you want the Instinct look and core GPS features without paying extra for AMOLED, solar or a pile of training extras, its price is much easier to swallow.

A few more worth a look

Epix Pro is probably the sneakiest Amazon deal here. It is no longer the newest thing in the range, but it still gives you AMOLED, maps and most of the high-end outdoor toolkit, so the right discount can make it a much smarter buy than automatically reaching for a newer Fenix.

Vivoactive 5 is the opposite sort of watch. If you mainly want health tracking, gym sessions, sleep and everyday smartwatch features, there is no point paying hundreds more for maps and ultra-running features you will never touch.

Enduro 3 is also worth a mention. It is down from $899.99 to $749.99 on Garmin’s website, which saves $150. I would still pick Fenix for most people, but if huge battery life is the whole reason you are shopping, Enduro does its job very well.

And finally, there is Venu X1. That one is a strange watch by Garmin standards, but that is part of the appeal. It is very thin, has a huge 2-inch AMOLED screen and looks nothing like a Fenix or Instinct. If you want something closer to a conventional smartwatch, have a look at our Venu X1 coverage.

There are more deals live, including Lily 2, Instinct Crossover, Quatix and Tactix models, but I would start with the watches above. Our live wearable deals tracker has the full list, while the Garmin brand page is useful once you have narrowed things down and want to compare specs.

The post Garmin watch deals are seriously good right now with up to $450 off appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

A new Garmin filing in Indonesia has thrown up something unexpected. The model name is listed as “CIRQA SMART RING,” suggesting Garmin may be looking at taking CIRQA off the wrist and onto the finger.

Garmin only launched the CIRQA Smart Band a few weeks ago, so seeing the same name attached to a smart ring is unexpected. It could still turn out to be an administrative mistake. But there is enough here that it should not be dismissed as one without further evidence.

The certification actually says CIRQA Smart Ring

The entry comes from Indonesia’s telecommunications certification database and was issued to PT Garmin Indonesia Distribution on August 12, 2026. It lists the device category as “Fitness Product,” the brand as GARMIN and, most importantly, the model as “CIRQA SMART RING.”

The marketing-name field separately says GARMIN, while Taiwan is listed as the country of origin. The certificate number is 125338/DJID/2026. And the entry appears alongside several other Garmin products certified on the same day, including marine and diving hardware.

That distinction between the fields is worth paying attention to. “CIRQA SMART RING” is not being generated from the generic product category, and it is not merely appearing somewhere in a descriptive note. It sits directly in the model column.

Garmin has not announced a CIRQA Smart Ring, and its Indonesian website currently promotes the existing CIRQA Smart Band. Garmin’s own July announcement also describes CIRQA specifically as its first screen-free smart band, with wrist and upper-arm wearing options.

So there is a clear mismatch between Garmin’s public product range and this new regulatory entry.

A typo is possible, but the wording is oddly specific

Regulatory databases are not immune to mistakes. Product names can be entered incorrectly, fields occasionally contain marketing terminology rather than hardware identifiers. Plus, information supplied during certification does not always match the final retail naming.

That remains the main reason for caution here. It is entirely possible that someone intended to enter CIRQA Smart Band and somehow ended up with CIRQA Smart Ring instead.

Still, that would be a rather specific error. “Smart Ring” is not a minor spelling difference or slightly different translation of “Smart Band.” It describes an entirely different wearable form factor, and Garmin already has an established CIRQA Smart Band name that would have been straightforward to enter.

There is also some logic to Garmin expanding CIRQA rather than creating another completely separate brand. Before the Smart Band launched, Garmin’s CIRQA trademark filing used broad language covering body-worn electronic sensors and physiological monitoring rather than limiting CIRQA to something worn around the wrist.

At the time, that language made sense for what eventually became the Smart Band. In hindsight, it would also give Garmin plenty of room to use CIRQA as a wider family of low-profile health and fitness wearables.

A Garmin smart ring would fit surprisingly well

A Garmin ring would not need a new software platform. Most of the difficult part already exists inside Garmin Connect. This includes sleep tracking, HRV Status, Body Battery, stress, skin temperature and recovery-related metrics.

The recently launched CIRQA band shows the company is also willing to separate those capabilities from the traditional smartwatch format. It tracks health continuously without a screen, sends the data into Garmin Connect and provides many of Garmin’s familiar training and recovery features.

Moving some of that experience onto a finger would make sense. It would put Garmin into a category currently occupied by Oura, RingConn, Samsung, Ultrahuman and others. Our best smart rings comparison shows just how broad that market has become. Most of these devices lean heavily towards sleep, recovery and passive health tracking rather than serious workout recording.

That could actually suit Garmin rather well. A ring could collect overnight and everyday health data while a Forerunner, Fenix or Edge handles workouts, GPS and live training information. Garmin has already adopted a similar two-device idea with CIRQA, which can work alongside the company’s watches and cycling computers.

There would be plenty of technical questions, though. Optical heart-rate performance during exercise remains difficult for smart rings, battery capacity is much more constrained, and Garmin would need to decide how much of CIRQA’s training functionality makes sense on such a small device.

More regulatory appearances would quickly clear that up. A Bluetooth qualification, FCC filing, additional Asian certification or reference somewhere inside Garmin’s own software could establish whether there really is separate ring hardware moving towards release.

Until then, the interesting part is the wording itself. Garmin has just entered the screenless tracker market with CIRQA, and less than a month later the CIRQA Smart Ring name has appeared in an official certification database. That is not confirmation of Garmin’s first smart ring, but it is certainly enough reason to start looking for one.

Source: e-Sertifikasi (via GarminNews)

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Boop is the latest example. The free iPhone app connects directly to compatible WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG bands, processes selected measurements locally and sends information to Apple Health without requiring a WHOOP account.

It is not the first project of its kind. NOOP and OpenStrap also work with WHOOP bands, Cracked Oura provides a local dashboard for exported Oura information, and Gadgetbridge supports watches from Garmin, Amazfit, Xiaomi, Huawei and other brands.

The pitch is simple. You bought the hardware, so why should it become useless when a subscription ends or you stop using the official app?

Garmin is a good example of the gap

Garmin users already have plenty of ways to take their data elsewhere. GarminDB downloads and organises information from Garmin Connect, GoldenCheetah analyses imported FIT files, and Gadgetbridge can replace Garmin Connect as the companion app for some watches.

These tools can store workouts, produce charts and help users explore their own data. What they cannot reproduce is the complete Firstbeat system behind Body Battery, Training Readiness, Training Effect, Recovery Time and Garmin’s other physiological metrics.

Garmin Connect Essentials shows how tightly these features connect. Sleep Score, Body Battery, Training Readiness and HRV Status all draw on different measurements, personal baselines and previous days of data.

Even something such as Garmin Acute Load goes beyond adding up workout minutes. Garmin estimates EPOC for each activity and then weights recent training to work out how much load the user is carrying.

The number on the screen comes last

Third party apps and developers cannot replicate the multi-million dollar research these brands have put in on developing the algorithms. Sure, reading heart rate over Bluetooth is easy. But optical data contains movement noise, missed beats and false peaks, so software must clean the signal before it can calculate anything useful.

HRV adds another problem because the app needs reliable intervals between individual heartbeats. Sleep is harder again, since a wrist wearable must guess whether someone is awake, in light sleep, in deep sleep or in REM without directly measuring brain activity.

This is where smaller projects hit their limits. NOOP openly says its WHOOP metrics are approximations, while OpenStrap warns users not to expect the same results as the official WHOOP app.

Cracked Oura works slightly differently because it imports information that Oura has already processed. It can provide a better dashboard or extra analysis, but it is not rebuilding Oura’s sleep and readiness algorithms from raw ring signals.

The established brands have years of data to work with. Oura developed its newer sleep algorithm using more than 1,200 nights recorded alongside sleep-lab equipment, while Google used more than 3,000 human-scored nights when developing its latest Fitbit and Pixel Watch sleep system.

Of course, that does not mean the big brands always get it right. It’s an ongoing process.

Open alternatives are still useful

Apps such as Athlytic and Bevel show that a smaller developer can create useful analysis from data stored in Apple Health. The Amazfit Helio Strap’s HRV export allows these apps to calculate their own recovery scores using measurements collected by Zepp Health hardware.

Open-source projects also offer privacy and transparency that the major platforms often lack. Users can inspect the formulas, keep their information locally and continue using hardware after official support disappears.

But access to the data is not the same as recreating the product. These apps may replace the dashboard and read basic sensor data. The harder job is replacing the research and algorithms behind it the analysis.

The post Why replacing the WHOOP or Garmin app is harder than it looks appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

The filing gives away the important part

The FCC equipment authorization was granted on August 5 following an application submitted one day earlier. Garmin describes A05170 simply as a portable digital transceiver, but the accompanying SAR evaluation report explicitly calls it a wrist-worn device that supports no other use conditions.

Inside is a radio package covering LTE-M bands 2, 4 and 12, along with NB-NTN satellite bands 23 and 255. The device also supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ANT/ANT+ and NFC, according to Garmin’s antenna data sheet.

The report says LTE-M can be used for voice transmissions, while the satellite connection is limited to data. That points to phone-free calling when cellular coverage is available and satellite-based communication when it is not, although the documents do not spell out the features Garmin plans to offer.

Garmin tested the device with silicone, heathered black nylon and vented titanium straps. That combination makes a premium outdoor or multisport watch much more likely than a small fitness tracker, but the commercial product name remains absent from every public document.

There is no GNSS transmitter listed, but that does not mean the device lacks GPS. Location receivers generally do not transmit and therefore would not necessarily appear in this part of the FCC filing.

Enduro 4 or Fenix 9?

The filing does not reveal the watch’s commercial name, but Enduro 4 and fēnix 9 are the two most plausible candidates. Our Garmin Connect 5.26 teardown found an Enduro 4 entry with internal ID 5179, although nothing in the app connected that watch directly to LTE or satellite hardware.

A05170 now confirms that Garmin has another wrist-worn device using both technologies, but it does not link the regulatory model to Enduro 4. The similarity between the numbers 5170 and 5179 is interesting, but Garmin’s FCC model numbers and app identifiers do not necessarily match.

Fēnix 9 is just as credible, and perhaps the more natural fit. Garmin introduced LTE calling and inReach satellite communication with the fēnix 8 Pro, so carrying that hardware into the next full fēnix generation would make sense. If A05170 is Enduro 4, it would be the first Enduro with this capability.

What remains hidden

Garmin says the tested unit has the physical, mechanical and thermal characteristics expected from production hardware. That suggests development is well advanced, although it does not confirm that manufacturing has started or that a launch is imminent.

The external photos, internal photos and owner’s manual are being kept confidential until February 1, 2027. Garmin could announce the watch before then, release the documents early or request an extension, so that date should not be treated as a launch deadline.

For now, there is no reliable information on the display, case size, sensors, battery life or price. The solid takeaway is narrower but still interesting: Garmin has another phone-free LTE and satellite watch in the pipeline, and its identity is the only major piece still missing.

This article originally appeared on Gadgets & Wearables, the first media outlet to report the story.

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GRMN reached an intraday high of $304 on July 29 before ending the week at $293.78. Even after pulling back slightly, the company is up around 20% over the past five trading days and roughly 42% over six months.

From $187 to $304

It’s quite a remarkable turnaround.

Garmin shares closed at $187.10 on November 20 last year, after falling as low as $186.67 during the session. At the time, we covered the sharp decline as Garmin lost billions of dollars in market value following concerns around Outdoor growth and the timing of its Fenix launches.

From that November low to last week’s $304 peak, the stock has climbed about 62%. Even using Friday’s slightly lower closing price of $293.78, Garmin is still up roughly 57% from that trough.

That recovery did not happen in one go. By February, the stock had already climbed back towards $238 following Garmin’s full-year results, extending a rebound that had started around the holiday period. The share price then continued higher through the spring before breaking decisively through its previous record last week.

Before the latest move, Garmin’s previous all-time high stood at $273.32. The July 29 rally took the stock well beyond that level.

The company is now valued at around $56.7 billion based on Friday’s closing price.

Earnings provided the final push

The immediate trigger was Garmin’s second-quarter report on July 29. We have already gone into the wearable side of those results. The short version is that the underlying business remains strong enough for Garmin to increase its guidance, and investors responded far more enthusiastically than they did after several previous earnings reports.

There is an interesting contrast with last October and November. Garmin was still posting record revenue then, but weaker expectations around Outdoor were enough to send the stock sharply lower. Investors were paying more attention to what might happen next than to the numbers Garmin had already delivered.

This time the forward-looking message worked in Garmin’s favour. Management raised expected 2026 revenue from $7.9 billion to around $8.05 billion and increased its adjusted earnings forecast from $9.35 to $10 per share.

A very different Garmin from 20 years ago

The all-time chart also puts Garmin’s transformation into perspective.

Garmin went public in December 2000 at $14 per share, equivalent to $7 after its subsequent stock split. The company then became closely associated with standalone car navigation, and its nüvi products alone accounted for around 64% of total revenue in 2008.

That could easily have become a problem once smartphones made dedicated navigation devices far less important. Instead, Garmin gradually built sizeable businesses around fitness, outdoor products, aviation and marine electronics.

Wearables now sit at the centre of that shift. Garmin’s Fitness division generated $757 million in revenue during the latest quarter, while the company continues to expand beyond traditional GPS watches with products such as CIRQA and its growing training ecosystem.

There will inevitably be more swings in the share price. Garmin went from around $260 to $187 in little more than a month last year, so the recent run is a useful reminder of how quickly investor sentiment can move.

But $304 is now the number to beat. For the first time in Garmin’s history, the company has traded above $300 a share, completing a rather dramatic recovery from where things stood only last November.

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Garmin’s Fitness business had another strong quarter, with revenue rising 25% to $757 million. Outdoor moved in the opposite direction, falling 2% to $483 million, partly because of weaker sales across the adventure watch category.

That is not a dramatic decline on its own. The more interesting detail is Garmin’s explanation of what comes next.

New launches should lift Outdoor sales

Garmin expects stronger Outdoor revenue during the second half of 2026 because of the timing of upcoming product launches. It made a similar point earlier this year, when the company outlined a launch-heavy second half for its Outdoor division.

The latest earnings call shows that plan has not changed. Garmin still expects full-year Outdoor growth to improve compared with 2025, despite revenue declining during both the first and second quarters.

No specific watch was mentioned. Garmin did not confirm the Fenix 9, Enduro 4 or a new Instinct model, and it offered no launch dates.

Still, Enduro 4 currently looks like the most concrete candidate. Our Garmin Connect 5.26 teardown uncovered an Enduro 4 device entry, complete with internal ID 5179 and category flags for fitness, outdoor, golf and wellness.

That does not tell us what the watch will look like or when it will arrive. However, Garmin is clearly preparing its software to recognise the device, while its financial guidance assumes stronger Outdoor sales later this year.

The Enduro series has also followed a fairly tidy two-year rhythm. Enduro 2 arrived in August 2022, followed by Enduro 3 in August 2024. An August or September 2026 release would fit that pattern.

CIRQA demand beat Garmin’s expectations

The call also provided Garmin’s first proper comment on early CIRQA demand.

An analyst pointed out that the screenless band appeared to be sold out, with estimated delivery times stretching to between five and eight weeks. Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble said the delays were being driven by both supply and demand, but confirmed that the response had exceeded the company’s forecasts.

Pemble described early demand as ahead of anything Garmin had imagined. The company now expects to spend some time working through back orders, while initial device registrations have also been strong.

We recently covered the long CIRQA shipping delays across different regions. The earnings call now confirms that Garmin did not simply assign conservative delivery estimates. Actual demand has come in above its expectations.

Garmin also clarified how subscriptions work with CIRQA. The band includes the normal health, fitness and recovery features available through Garmin Connect without requiring a subscription. Connect+ remains optional. It adds extras such as AI features, nutrition tracking and other tools Garmin plans to introduce later.

Garmin is still exploring other wearable formats

When asked whether the company planned to enter other wearable form factors, Pemble declined to discuss the product roadmap directly. He did say Garmin regularly explores new categories and described its current roadmap as very rich.

That is not confirmation of a Garmin smart ring, sensor patch or another specific device. It does, however, show that Garmin sees CIRQA as more than an isolated experiment.

The initial demand gives Garmin a reason to keep exploring. A screenless band lets existing Garmin users collect sleep and recovery data without wearing a large sports watch around the clock. It also opens Garmin Connect to people who may not want a watch at all.

Sources: Garmin’s Q2 2026 earnings release, Q2 2026 earnings call.

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Garmin CIRQA is the better buy for existing Garmin users and anyone who wants detailed training metrics without another mandatory annual payment. Whoop remains the stronger recovery coach, but it now has to justify a subscription costing at least $199 every year.

Garmin’s entry into the screenless tracker category was always going to invite this comparison. CIRQA covers much of the same ground as Whoop, including continuous heart rate, sleep, recovery and workout tracking, but the two companies take very different routes once the data reaches the smartphone.

The biggest difference is not the hardware

CIRQA is essentially a Garmin sports watch without the screen, GPS chip and most of the controls. It records the familiar Garmin metrics, sends them to Garmin Connect and works alongside the company’s watches and cycling computers.

CIRQA also sits between cheaper screenless trackers and more coaching-focused platforms. Our Garmin CIRQA vs Fitbit Air comparison looks at how it stacks up against this simpler and more affordable alternative.

Whoop starts from a different place. The band collects the data, but the real product is the app and the way it connects Recovery, Strain, sleep and everyday behaviour.

That distinction became clear during my Whoop review. The hardware was comfortable and easy to forget, but the more useful part was how Whoop encouraged me to pay attention to recovery instead of constantly chasing faster times and a higher VO2 max.

That opinion still applies. Whoop presents its numbers as a daily plan, while Garmin gives you a larger collection of metrics and leaves more of the interpretation to you.

CIRQA is much cheaper over time

Garmin CIRQA costs $199.99. Its main health, sleep, recovery and training features work without a Garmin Connect+ subscription.

Connect+ remains optional at $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year. It adds features including Active Intelligence, expanded dashboards and access to some coaching tools, but CIRQA does not stop working when the subscription ends. Plus, you don’t really need the subscription.

Garmin CIRQA

Screenless tracking with no required subscription

View on Amazon View on Garmin

Whoop takes the opposite approach. The tracker comes with the membership, but an active plan is required to continue using the platform.

Whoop One starts at $199 per year, while Peak costs $239. The $359 Life plan includes Whoop MG and its additional heart features.

Whoop

Recovery, strain and sleep coaching with membership

View on Whoop

That makes the long-term calculation fairly brutal. Three years with CIRQA can cost $199.99, while three years of the cheapest Whoop plan costs at least $597.

The difference grows to $717 with Peak and $1,077 with Life. Whoop therefore needs to provide continuing value every year, rather than simply offer a slightly better app.

Whoop is easier to wear and charge

CIRQA is lighter, but it takes up more space along the wrist. Its body measures 47mm from end to end, compared with 34.7mm for Whoop 5.0.

Whoop is slightly narrower but thicker, so neither device wins the comfort comparison purely from the numbers. Wrist shape, band tension and where the sensor sits will probably have more influence than a few millimetres.

CIRQA’s length looks more intimidating in comparison images than its weight suggests. It comes in at a little over 20 grams with the band, while Whoop 5.0 weighs around 26.5 grams.

My experience with Whoop suggests its woven band should remain comfortable during continuous wear. The low-profile shape also works well during activities where a normal watch becomes awkward.

Whoop has the clearer advantage when charging. Its battery lasts more than 14 days, compared with up to 10 days for CIRQA.

The Wireless PowerPack available with the higher Whoop memberships slides over the tracker while it remains on the body. CIRQA uses Garmin’s familiar charging cable and needs to come off the wrist, creating a small gap in the data each time.

Garmin gives you more conventional training tools

CIRQA supports more than 80 activity profiles, automatic workout detection and connected GPS. Its physical button can also start and stop one favourite activity without opening Garmin Connect.

The band feeds into Training Readiness, Training Status, VO2 max, recovery time, workout benefit and Garmin’s wider training-load system. It can broadcast heart rate over ANT+ and Bluetooth, which gives it a useful role alongside other Garmin devices.

Whoop supports more individual activity types, but its approach is less conventional. The app concentrates on how much Strain the workout produced and what that exertion is likely to do to tomorrow’s Recovery.

That is useful, but runners and cyclists may find Garmin’s platform more complete. Garmin Connect gives you more recognisable workout records, routes, pace data and performance trends, while Whoop is better at explaining how hard the session was for your body.

Neither band has built-in GPS or a display. Anyone who needs navigation, live pacing or detailed data fields during a run will still need a phone, sports watch or cycling computer.

Accuracy also remains an open question. CIRQA uses a modified version of Garmin’s Elevate Gen 4 optical sensor, while Whoop collects heart-rate data 26 times per second with its newer PPG hardware.

The faster sampling rate does not guarantee better results. Whoop can still struggle with wrist movement and rapid heart-rate changes, while CIRQA needs broader independent testing across running, cycling and strength sessions before it earns an accuracy win.

Whoop still explains recovery better

Where Whoop has made a name for itself is in recovery tracking. Garmin offers these metrics as well, but Whoop connects the info more effectively. Recovery, Strain and Sleep operate as parts of the same system rather than separate numbers competing for space inside an app.

Whoop can show whether you are ready to train, suggest a daily Strain target and adjust your sleep requirement around previous exercise and accumulated sleep debt. It’s simple and it works. The Journal then connects behaviours such as alcohol, caffeine, supplements and late meals with changes in Recovery.

That remains Whoop’s most useful advantage. It turns the tracker into a structured self-experiment rather than simply another source of graphs.

Garmin provides Body Battery, Training Readiness, HRV Status, stress, sleep score, recovery time and Training Status. The information is useful, but there is overlap between some of the scores, and Garmin Connect does not always explain the relationship between them particularly well.

The new Essentials section improves the situation by bringing key recovery information closer to the front of the app. Even so, Whoop remains better at reducing a complicated physiological picture into a small number of decisions.

Health tracking is closer than it looks

Both trackers record continuous heart rate, resting heart rate, HRV, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature and sleep. Each also provides a vibration alarm, although Garmin offers a Smart Wake feature that aims to wake the user at a lighter point in the sleep cycle.

CIRQA includes abnormal heart-rate alerts, stress tracking, nap detection, menstrual tracking and sleep-based temperature data. Most of those features work without Connect+.

Standard Whoop 5.0 does not have ECG. That feature belongs to Whoop MG, which comes with the $359 annual Life membership.

MG also adds irregular heart rhythm notifications and daily blood-pressure insights where available. Those features give Whoop a higher health ceiling, but they sit in a much more expensive version of the product.

For most buyers comparing CIRQA with standard Whoop 5.0, the health sensors are not the deciding factor. The larger differences remain software, training style and cost.

Existing Garmin users have an easy decision

CIRQA makes the most sense as a companion to another Garmin device. It can handle sleep, daily health and background activity, while a Forerunner, Fenix or Edge takes over during serious training.

That keeps the data inside Garmin Connect. Users do not have to compare two recovery scores, maintain separate histories or decide whether Garmin or Whoop should act as the main authority on their training.

It also gives Garmin owners a practical way to wear a mechanical watch during the day. CIRQA can continue collecting health data on the other wrist or upper arm without displaying notifications or adding another screen.

Whoop works with services including Strava, Apple Health and Health Connect, but it remains a separate recovery platform. That is useful for people who mix devices from several brands.

Someone already paying for Whoop and using its Journal regularly may not gain much from moving immediately. Someone wearing a Garmin watch for training while paying Whoop for recovery now has a much stronger reason to consolidate.

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Garmin CIRQA may have only just launched, but buying one in the US already requires a bit of patience. Most colour options come with waits of up to eight weeks, which means an order placed today could still be sitting in Garmin’s warehouse when September rolls around. Black, apparently, gets to skip part of the queue.

Things are not dramatically better elsewhere. Buyers in the UK and several European countries are also seeing multi-week estimates, although a few lucky colour and size combinations can still ship within days.

The tracker has also been made available on Amazon. But the situation is not much better there.

CIRQA may be screenless, but Garmin has found another way to make people keep checking for updates!

US orders could slip well into September

Garmin’s US store currently lists an estimated dispatch time of 5 to 8 weeks for most CIRQA colours. Based on an order placed on July 27, that points to dispatch between August 31 and September 21.

That is the point at which the band would leave Garmin, rather than when it would arrive at the buyer’s door. Depending on the shipping method, the actual delivery date could come several days later.

Black is the notable exception. Garmin currently gives that version a shorter estimate of 3 to 5 weeks, putting its likely dispatch window between August 17 and August 31.

For buyers who are flexible about colour, that could remove as much as three weeks from the wait. It is worth clicking through every colour and size before ordering rather than assuming all CIRQA configurations have the same availability.

The table provides a snapshot of the main regional differences on Garmin’s website.

UK buyers have a quicker option

The situation in the UK is slightly better, although most CIRQA colours still show a wait of around 3 to 5 weeks. That would put dispatch somewhere between mid-August and the end of August for an order placed today.

Some Mauve configurations are available to ship in 1 to 3 business days. The same is the case for the French Grey option. That makes the UK one of the few markets where buyers can currently get a CIRQA without joining a lengthy queue.

Garmin CIRQA

Screenless tracking with no required subscription

View on Amazon View on Garmin

Other European countries show a broadly similar pattern. Most versions carry estimates of around 3 to 5 weeks, without the longer 5 to 8-week delay that is effecting the US range.

It is too early to call CIRQA a sellout

The lengthy estimates suggest Garmin’s initial CIRQA stock is limited, but they do not necessarily mean it has been a runaway success. Garmin may simply have played it safe with the first batch, especially as this is still a fairly new type of product for the company.

CIRQA costs $199.99 in the US and combines screenless health tracking with up to ten days of battery life. The real draw is how neatly it fits into Garmin Connect and works alongside Garmin watches and cycling computers. It costs twice as much as Fitbit Air, but it also offers more serious training tools and makes more sense for people already using Garmin gear, as we noted in our comparison piece.

All things considered – CIRQA looks like a decent bit of kit. The problem right now is actually getting hold of one.

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Garmin has confirmed that CIRQA uses its previous-generation Elevate Gen 4 heart rate sensor because the newer module would have made the screenless tracker thicker. The company has also clarified that owners are expected to switch between CIRQA and a Garmin watch rather than wear both as competing trackers.

The explanations come from Garmin product manager Chrissy Wheeler, who answered several questions about the new band in an interview with Forbes. CIRQA recently went on sale for $199.99 and is the company’s answer to the likes of Whoop.

Thinness won over the newest sensor

When CIRQA launched many people found it strange that it packs the Elevate Gen 4 heart rate sensor rather than the newer Gen 5 hardware. Wheeler has now explained that this was a deliberate design decision rather than an attempt to reuse old components.

“The reason we didn’t go for the very latest one is the size of the module,” she said. Using Garmin’s newer sensor would have increased the thickness of a device designed to remain comfortable during sleep and continuous wear.

CIRQA measures 9mm thick and weighs just over 20 grams with its standard band. Which is pretty low-key. Having said that it is very wide, especially when compared to the recently launched Fitbit Air.

That does not automatically mean CIRQA will be less accurate during workouts than Garmin’s newer watches, as fit, placement and movement all affect optical readings. It is not exactly the same Gen 4 hardware used in older devices, either. Garmin has tweaked it to include skin-temperature tracking, which the earlier version did not offer.

CIRQA is meant to replace your watch between workouts

Beyond the sensor, Wheeler also addressed whether people should wear CIRQA and a Garmin watch simultaneously. Her answer was fairly direct, saying there is “no real benefit” to using both in that way.

The intended setup is to make CIRQA the Primary Wearable for sleep, steps and daily health tracking, while a Forerunner, Fenix or another Garmin watch remains the main Training Device. Owners can wear the band throughout the day, then switch to the watch when they need built-in GPS, maps or live workout data.

There is one useful exception. CIRQA can broadcast heart rate over Bluetooth, allowing someone to place it on the upper arm and use it as an external sensor with a watch, bike computer or compatible device from another brand. Which is something that we flag in our screenless fitness tracker buying guide.

A few smaller details are now clearer

Connected GPS works with automatically detected activities, so owners do not have to start every walk or run from Garmin Connect to receive a route map. The band can also vibrate once per hour during a manually started activity, reminding the wearer that recording is still active despite the lack of a screen.

Its vibration motor supports alarms but will not reproduce phone notifications or incoming-call alerts. That keeps CIRQA focused on passive health and activity tracking rather than turning it into a smartwatch without a display.

Garmin CIRQA

Screenless tracking with no required subscription

View on Amazon View on Garmin

Garmin has also repeated that users will not be charged simply to access the data recorded by CIRQA. Connect+ will continue to offer optional extras, while the company has already said that CIRQA’s current heart rate reading will become available without Connect+ following criticism of the launch software.

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