Garmin has bought Moxy Monitor, the company that makes muscle oxygen sensors, according to a report by Gadgets & Wearables. Garmin confirmed the purchase to the outlet and said it had nothing further to share. There is no newsroom post, no price and no word on what happens to Moxy's products or customers.
Earlier this year Gadgets & Wearables found a Garmin trademark application for Muscle Battery, with a description built around software that captures and analyses muscle oxygen saturation. That is an unusually specific description, and it left Garmin with an obvious problem. A wrist can't give you useful muscle-specific readings. The sensor has to sit over the muscle, which is why Moxy users strap a unit to a quad, a calf or an upper arm.
Moxy isn't a stranger to Garmin. It added ANT+ support in 2014, became an early Connect IQ showcase and later got direct support through the ANT+ Muscle Oxygen profile. Current Moxy sensors already work with compatible Garmin watches and Edge computers, and the data lands in the FIT file next to heart rate, power and pace. So this brings an existing partner inside the company. Garmin gets the sensor, the algorithms and the years of practical knowledge that come with them.
Moxy uses near-infrared light to track changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin and myoglobin in muscle tissue. The resulting data can show how fast a working muscle burns oxygen, how well it recovers between intervals and when local fatigue starts to limit an athlete. That is a different question from the one heart rate answers.
The outlet argues the Elevate optical sensor in Garmin's watches is the wrong home for it, because muscle oxygen is local to the tissue under the sensor. A separate pod or strap that talks to watches, bike computers and Garmin Connect is the more plausible shape. Muscle Battery, going by its name, sounds like a consumer score for how ready a given muscle group is for more work, so athletes wouldn't have to read every rise and fall in the raw percentage.
Garmin hasn't announced Muscle Battery, so all of this is the outlet's inference and nothing confirms a product, a date or a price. What Garmin has confirmed is the deal itself.
Moxy sensors support ANT+, Bluetooth and internal recording, and their Garmin compatibility doesn't depend entirely on a proprietary cloud. Garmin hasn't said whether Moxy stays a separate brand, or what happens to the Moxy Portal and current sensor sales.
Whoop has also explored muscle oxygen sensing and, according to Gadgets & Wearables, acquired Humon's muscle oxygen patents, so Whoop now holds technology from a company that already put the sensing into a commercial sports wearable. Two wearable makers now hold muscle oxygen assets, which suggests this signal is heading toward the mainstream.