Garmin has always been at the forefront of sports and GPS watches. For years, they’ve catered to everyone, from entry-level watches all the way to their premium multisport GPS wearables, and everything in between. I have used a Garmin for so long it feels unnatural to not be wearing one.
Recently, I have seen a trend of health and sports-tracking products that don’t require a screen. I guess this follows the logic that we always have our phones with us, so why have another screen to look at? Whoop has cut through the market with its screenless wristbands designed to be worn 24/7, tracking things like sleep, stress and recovery. I’m seeing them more and more these days, and it was only a matter of time before others responded.
Garmin’s response is the newly launched Cirqa Smart Band, its first-ever wearable without a screen. An answer to the Whoop, it has a similar form factor, being slim and light, with a comfortable velcro strap.
The Cirqa has some cool functionality as well. It comes with one button on the side, yet it will detect your workouts automatically. The idea here is for it to record your data — including sleep and health vitals — in the background while you go about your day, and you can analyse it later. No distracting you from your business, just the information you want, when you want it. And with a 10-day battery life, you won’t get sick of constantly having to charge it.
One noticeable difference is that Whoop is a subscription-based product, which may turn away a fair few prospective customers. On the other hand, the Garmin Cirqa is a one-off $299 payment for the device, and you are all set. No ongoing fees.
I recently attended the Garmin Recharge Lounge in Sydney to see the Cirqa in person and try it out. Already being a Garmin user made it easy to connect the device to the app and begin using it.
Although I am sure many people will use the Cirqa as their main device, I realised I don’t want to stop using my beloved Garmin Fenix 8. So, I had one big question: how can I use the Cirqa with my existing Garmin watch? My major concern was receiving duplicate data from the two devices. I don’t want a run recorded twice, or the app to think I sleep 16 hours a night. Speaking with Garmin, they assured me there is an ideal way to use both in conjunction, and it’s rather clever.
Within the Garmin Connect app settings, you can control your device priority. In this case, I can set the Cirqa as the ‘Primary Wearable’, meaning it will be the main device to track your daily health stats like steps, sleep, body battery and stress. I can then set my Fenix watch as the ‘Primary Training Device’, which will look after my proper workouts as well as training status and load focus.
I didn’t know these settings existed, but it makes total sense. I can keep the Garmin Cirqa on all the time so my data is always tracked, and only use my watch during the day or when I work out. It seems like they work in harmony, and I will be testing this out over the next few months.
The post Garmin Cirqa pairs cleverly with your existing sports watch appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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