Whoop used to be pretty much the only screenless fitness band in town, but the rest of the wearable field is clearly catching on now. The recently announced Fitbit Air is arguably the most high-profile Whoop competitor, but Garmin appears to be eyeing the space, too, and we just got a big hint about what we can expect from its first venture into the ring. Spoiler alert: it’s shaping up to be very expensive.
According to leaks Notebookcheck spotted on a Ukrainian site, the Garmin Cirqa, as it’s been dubbed, will cost (drum roll) around $500. To put that price in perspective, the new Fitbit Air costs just $99, while the screenless/subscription-free Polar Loop costs $199. The listing gives some insight into features (heart rate monitoring, calorie tracking, and support for various activities), but not much. Without fully knowing what the Cirqa is bringing to the table feature-wise, it’s hard to say whether it will be worth that premium price, but the company is definitely playing a dangerous game.
One thing is for sure: at $500, the Cirqa would be wise to take Polar’s approach to fitness bands and ditch recurring subscriptions. For context, if you own one of Whoop’s products, you’ll need to pay $20 to $45 per month to access all its features. Unless the Cirqa is doing something that no other fitness band is, $500 and a subscription will likely be a dealbreaker for even the most hardcore Garmin fans.
Though the full feature set is TBD, in terms of looks, Garmin’s fitness band may be fairly familiar if the leaked images are anything to go by. In addition to pricing, the Ukrainian listing spotted by Notebookcheck also includes an official image indicating that the Cirqa will have a cloth-like band with a sensor in the middle bearing Garmin branding. There’s nothing particularly wild about that design, but that’s also kind of the whole point of screenless wearables like this—they’re designed to be utilitarian, and an app on your phone is where you get all the more complex and practical bells and whistles.
There’s no word on a release date, but leaked listings suggest the Cirqa is close to being announced, so we’ll likely find out whether Garmin can back up its eye-watering price tag soon.
