The Cirqa is Garmin’s entry into the category Whoop built, a $200 fabric strap and electronics module worn on the wrist or the bicep. It tracks sleep, stress, heart rate variability, skin temperature, blood oxygen and VO2 max, starts a workout on its own when it notices one, and runs about a week and a half on a charge. Dana Wollman wore it for two weeks for Bloomberg and came away unsure that Garmin understands why anyone buys one of these.
The sensors were never the hard part of this category. Whoop ships bundled into a paid membership, and the membership is the product. Garmin is selling the other arrangement, and the Cirqa works with no subscription required. Garmin is the brand people buy for GPS and sports watches, which makes the reading of the numbers the strangest place for it to come up short.