Garmin’s $99.99 Cirqa skips the screen and fees

Garmin has launched the Cirqa, a screen-free fitness band built to track health and workouts without the subscription fees attached to some rivals. The company says removing the display helps cut distractions and stretch battery life to up to 10 days between charges.

Available now from Garmin’s online store for $99.99, the Cirqa ships with an adjustable fabric strap in multiple colors and can be worn on the wrist or as an armband. Garmin is positioning it against products such as Whoop 5.0 and Google’s recently announced Fitbit Air, but with no recurring fee. By comparison, Fitbit Air costs $99 with an optional $99/year Google Health Premium plan for advanced features, while Whoop’s latest hardware requires a subscription starting at $199/year.

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The band uses heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature, and motion sensors to monitor users around the clock. It can track more than 80 activities, including running and yoga, selected in the Garmin Connect app or assigned to the device’s single side button as a shortcut.

Through the app, users can review training progress, see how effective a workout was, and check whether they are ready for another session or should take a rest day. Worn day and night, the Cirqa also tracks health metrics including heart rate and blood oxygen saturation, which Garmin says can help detect conditions such as asthma and sleep apnea.

In the morning, the device provides a breakdown of sleep stages, breathing, and heart rate, feeding into an overall sleep score for nightly comparisons. Garmin also says women can use the Cirqa’s skin temperature tracking to monitor menstrual cycles for “better period predictions and past ovulation estimates.”

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