From The Verge: Garmin announced a new smart band today designed to track “advanced fitness and wellness features” without a screen to eliminate distractions and push its battery life to up to 10 days between charges. Similar to competing products like the Whoop 5.0 and Google’s recently announced Fitbit Air, the Cirqa uses a combination of heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature, and motion sensors to monitor your health and activities around the clock, but without any subscription fees.
The Garmin Cirqa is available now through the company’s online store for $199.99 and comes with an adjustable fabric strap in several different colors that can be worn on the wrist or as an armband. Google’s Fitbit Air is $99 with an optional $99/year annual Google Health Premium subscription that unlocks advanced features, while Whoop’s latest hardware is only available with subscriptions that start at $199/year.
The smart band can track more than 80 different activities such as running or yoga that are selectable through the accompanying Garmin Connect app or using its single side button as a shortcut to your favorite. Through the app you can monitor your training progress including the effectiveness of a workout and whether your body is ready for your next training session or would benefit more from a rest day.
When worn day and night the Circa can keep tabs on health metrics including your heart rate and blood oxygen saturation that can help detect conditions such as asthma and sleep apnea. In the morning it can provide a detailed breakdown of your sleep stages, breathing, and heart rate that contribute to an overall sleep score so you can compare the quality of your rest to previous nights. Women can also use the Cirqa’s skin temperature monitoring to track their menstrual cycles for “better period predictions and past ovulation estimates.”
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