The screenless fitness-band revival has gained another serious contender, and Garmin is arriving with a refreshing approach. The new Garmin CIRQA Smart Band just debuted for $199.99 and offers up to 10 days of battery life while also featuring continuous health monitoring and support for more than 80 activities. It has no display, leaving Garmin Connect to handle every chart, score, and workout summary. Garmin ensures that a subscription is not required to access its features.
Garmin packed its fitness ecosystem into a silent wristband
CIRQA uses heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature, and motion sensors to monitor the wearer throughout the day and night. It tracks steps, calories, stress, naps, sleep, and menstrual cycles, while automatically recognizing many supported activities.
The band also carries over familiar Garmin tools such as Body Battery, Lifestyle Logging, and Garmin Coach. A smart alarm can vibrate during a lighter stage of sleep within 30 minutes of the selected wake-up time. CIRQA works with iPhones and Android phones and is available in two sizes across black, blue, beige, and red finishes.
There is one notable feature that is skipped on this wearable. CIRQA lacks built-in GPS so route, distance, and pace tracking requires a connected smartphone.
Twice the price of Fitbit Air, with more fitness ambition
Google’s recently launched Fitbit Air costs $99.99, making it exactly half the price of CIRQA. It is also screenless and monitors heart rate, blood oxygen, skin-temperature variation, sleep, and automatically detected exercise. Google promises up to seven days of battery life, compared with Garmin’s 10 days.
Most Fitbit Air features remain usable without paying, but Google reserves its Gemini-powered Health Coach and certain guided features for the $9.99-per-month Google Health Premium plan. Garmin, on the other hand, offers established training tools and over 80 activities that arrive without another recurring charge.
Then there is Whoop 5.0, whose detailed Strain, Recovery, and Sleep analysis remains tied to a membership. Digital Trends found its tracking experience compelling, while the ongoing cost made it harder to recommend to casual users. So the CIRQA lands between Fitbit Air’s approachable simplicity and Whoop’s athlete-focused analysis.
