It’s happened again. After Garmin accidentally leaked its first screen-free fitness tracker on its website at the start of the year, the tech giant appears to have made the exact same mistake for a second time.
Tech’s worst-kept secret, yesterday references to the Garmin Cirqa appeared on Garmin’s Romanian support page for the company’s Health Status feature, before quickly being pulled – something that happened earlier in the year. Garmin’s device is rumoured to launch any day now, and could provide Whoop with even more competition. A screen-free fitness tracker, the Whoop can be worn on different parts of the body, tracking metrics passively and monitoring recovery, sleep and strain without the distraction of a screen.
Since then, regulatory filings for the company’s Cirqa fitness band have continued to appear in trademark databases around the world, including in Canada, Europe and the UK, hinting it may very well be ready for launch. Here’s everything you need to know about the Garmin Cirqa, including release date, features and more.
Read more: Best fitness trackers, reviewed
Garmin Cirqa release date: When could it launch?
Garmin’s Whoop rival doesn’t have a release date yet. But if the trademark filings are anything to go by, it might launch soon.
References to the Garmin Cirqa first appeared on regional Garmin pages and product support pages in late January. While the leaked product pages from January stated that it would ship in four to five months, suggesting it could launch in either May or June, it didn’t rear its head in any of those months. In fact, the company announced two new entry-level running watches in the form of the Garmin Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 170 on 15 May, without even an acknowledgment of the Garmin Cirqa.
According to a report from The 5K Runner, the Garmin Cirqa appeared on the Canadian CIPO trademark database on 19 June, followed by the EUIPO on 23 June. Last week, Gadgets & Wearables also spotted a Garmin Cirqa filing in the UK Intellectual Property Office’s database, which finished its examination of the trademark on 2 July.
The UKIPO publishes new trademark applications every week in the Trade Marks Journal, with new trademarks typically appearing there roughly two to three weeks after being examined. That means it could appear in the journal sometime between 16 and 23 July. This is when the trademark would officially become public.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Garmin Cirqa will be announced then. It’s not unusual for companies to let trademarks become public without actually announcing anything. Still, we’re certainly hopeful. The confidentiality window for Garmin’s FCC filing in the US should reportedly close sometime around 28 July – a similar time frame to the UK filing. This is when trademarks’ technical specifications can go public in the US.
As for price? There are no credible rumours just yet, but I’m hoping it’ll sit somewhere between the Fitbit Air’s £85 and the Whoop 5.0’s £169.
When approached for comment, a Garmin spokesperson said: “Garmin does not provide forward-looking comments on product roadmap or feature compatibility with existing or future products”.
Garmin Cirqa design and features
Described as a “smart band”, the original product pages from January stated that the cirqa was said to come in sizes S/M and L/XL, as well as colour variants in black and French grey.
In April, an FCC filing surfaced, giving Garmin fans more to go on. While it didn’t explicitly name the Cirqa, analysis of the documents by The 5K Runner indicated the product could be a strap-based wearable with optical heart rate tracking and no built-in display. Gadgets & Wearables also discovered a trademark filing from February that described the upcoming Cirqa as more of a recovery-based device, similar to the Whoop, rather than a run-of-the-mill fitness tracker.
In the filing, the company described it as a wearable device that can be placed on the body, stating that it measures “physiological data, bio-signals and bodily behaviour”, as well as metrics linked to “stress recovery, alertness and performance”.
Garmin accidentally leaked the device again on 16 July. Spotted by Gadgets & Wearables, the device appeared on the Romanian website’s support page for Health Status, which listed the Cirqa as a compatible model for the feature. Garmin’s Health Status feature tracks your resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature overnight for 3-4 weeks to determine your baseline. If it deviates from the norm, you’ll be alerted.
If the Cirqa supports Health Status, then it will almost certainly collect continuous overnight biometrics such as heart rate and HRV, even if it has no screen. Presumably, you would then be able to see those changes and review your Health Status in the Garmin Connect app.
Read more: Fitbit Air vs Whoop
Whoop 5.0
You can currently get a one-month free trial of the Whoop 5.0, meaning you get the entire device free of charge for a month without having to pay a single penny. “The Whoop is the best health coach you’ll find outside of a human being and it’s incredibly smart with the way it uses biometric data,” said fitness and wellbeing editor Emilie Lavinia in her review. “It is also lightweight and stylish and has exceptional battery life.”
Read our full Whoop 5.0 review
Fitbit Air
Launched in May, the Fitbit Air is Google’s rival to the Whoop. But unlike the Whoop, the screen-free fitness tracker has no mandatory monthly subscription, though the AI features that come with Google Health Premium are quite useful. Tracking the same metrics as the Whoop, it’s thinner, much lighter and only costs £85.
Read our full Fitbit Air review
For more, we’ve rounded up the best Garmin watches for every kind of athlete
