Garmin’s screenless Fitbit Air competitor just leaked

The fresh listing revealed the upcoming Garmin Cirqa, a screenless fitness band designed for round-the-clock health and recovery tracking. The wearable was first revealed earlier this year when Garmin accidentally published product pages on its Canadian website, but this latest leak gives us our best look yet at the device, and its potential pricing.

The listing shows a simple black fabric band with a small sensor module that bears the Garmin branding (via Notebookcheck). If the image is real, Garmin seems to be taking the same low-profile path as rivals such as Whoop and Fitbit, opting for passive health tracking over screens and notifications.

This isn’t a surprise, given how screenless wearables are suddenly everywhere. Devices like the Whoop strap, Amazfit Helio Strap, and Polar’s recovery-focused bands are championing the notion that fitness tracking is more effective when it recedes into the background rather than constantly buzzing on your wrist. Garmin has been heading in that direction too, with its sleep-centric wearables.

What is surprising is the reported price. The retailer listing estimates the Garmin Cirqa could cost 22,399 Ukrainian hryvnia, or roughly $509, with a discounted pre-order price of roughly $454. That would make it a lot more expensive than most screenless fitness bands on the market today.

For some context, Fitbit’s Air tracker and the Amazfit Helio Strap are closer to the $100 range, while Polar’s alternatives tend to be far less than what Garmin’s leaked pricing is.

That might pose questions as to whether Garmin would want to gate the key features of the smart band behind subscriptions. The company has traditionally avoided putting core features behind monthly fees. But that changed a little when the company announced Garmin Connect+, its paid premium service. With Cirqa being built from the ground up for recovery tracking and long-term analytics, a lot of users are now wondering whether some features may end up behind a paywall at some point.

The retailer listing itself lists basics like heart rate monitoring, calorie tracking and support for activities like running and cycling although the specs seem incomplete. Given Garmin’s track record in fitness wearables, there is almost certainly more going on under the hood than is currently listed.