Garmin Cirqa review: sorry Fitbit, but this is 2026's best screenless smart band

Date:
Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:24:50 +0000

Description:
The best screenless tracker overall, beating out the Whoop and the Google Fitbit Air.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Garmin Cirqa: One minute review (Image credit: Future) Ive spent a week with the Garmin Cirqa screenless fitness tracker, wearing it constantly during sleep, exercise and rest to determine how comfortable it is in everyday life, and measuring it against an electrical heart rate monitor and other wearables to determine accuracy.

After all my testing, I can confirm the Whoop and Google Fitbit Air have got serious competition. While some people will still want the AI-powered
coaching from Whoop and Google Health, and others will want the screen-based interaction and notification features available on the best smartwatches , most users looking for a simple but high-quality screenless fitness tracker will be just fine getting the Cirqa. If youre reading this review wondering how it compares to the likes of the Whoop MG and the Google Fitbit Air ,
youll already know what to expect from the design: a fabric band that stretches over the fitness trackers plastic puck to create a solid-color screenless wearable. The idea is that you can use it for working out, sleeping, rest and work, get accurate metrics all day, and not glance at it all the time or be distracted by notifications on your wrist. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

Where it differs is in the design specifics. Its quite a large fitness tracker, sitting more obviously on the wrist compared to its rivals, and thus people with very small wrists might want to try it before they commit. However, I like the design overall, especially the inclusion of an actual button on the side of the device. This button is used to start a workout, signified by a strong vibration, and stop a workout, at which point it vibrates again. You can also use it to turn off its vibrating smart-wake alarm. Its so much easier than tapping the Whoops puck, and provides
certainty and security when tracking an activity, so you're not just hoping the device picks it up. Its the perfect level of minimalist interaction for a tracker like this.

I generally found it accurate over my testing period, apart from a single outlier workout in which the heart rate sensor showed a 10BPM difference compared to my electrical heart rate monitor, the Polar H10 my accuracy benchmark . The other workouts I recorded were within 1-2bpm of accuracy, and Garmin Connect correctly showed my wake-up times when recording sleep.

I found myself enjoying running more than I have in months by vibe running: ditching my watch with its pace and heart rate metrics updating me every kilometer and allowing the Cirqa to track in the background, leaving me to focus on my form, the trees, my music and my thoughts. Its no good for specific training for timed runs, new courses, intervals and the like due to the lack of on-wrist information, but for wellness tracking, it works nicely.

Its going to be a real boon for cyclists using Garmins Edge series of cycling computers. Many of the best Garmin watches double-up on the cycling
computer's GPS features, so the Cirqa allows cyclists to add wellness metrics without a more expensive watch. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Garmin Cirqa at Amazon for 179 Watch our video review of the Garmin Cirqa here: I spent a week with the Garmin Cirqa, and its my clear winner over Whoop and Fitbit Air - YouTube Watch On Garmin Cirqa review:
Price and availability (Image credit: Garmin) $199.99 in the US 179.99 in the UK AU$299.99 in the AU The Garmin Cirqa fitness tracker costs $199.99 in the US, 179.99 in the UK and AU$299.99 in Australia. Theres no subscription fee at least, no mandatory one but Garmin Coach features are locked behind the Garmin Connect+ paywall in the app, which costs an extra $6.99 / 6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / 69.99 / AU$120 annually. A bicep band for the Cirqa comes at an added extra too.

You can get along just fine without the subscription, if you dont want the coaching features. Live heart rate broadcasting was also originally locked behind this paywall, but Garmin rolled that back after an outcry. The free tier of Connect is an excellent training aid, and isnt as stripped-back as
the free tier of the Google Health app you use with the Google Fitbit Air. However, the Cirqa is also twice the price of Fitbit, so this is reflected in the price, and Connect (being Garmins app for all its devices) lists some stats you dont get access to via the Cirqa if you dig a little deeper,
leading to some annoying friction moments.

However, for most people, its better value than Whoop, which requires an annual subscription starting at 169 / $199 / AU$299 and going up from there. With Whoop, you never actually own either the device or the data you collect, merely rent it. With two years of the cheapest Whoop subscription, you could also buy a cheap Garmin running watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165 as well as a Cirqa and alternate between the two of them for many years. While
serious athletes such as CrossFit and Hyrox enthusiasts will want Whoops vast swathes of unique metrics such as the Strain score and AI-powered workout building features, the Cirqas subscription-free tier is much more affordable and better value for most, despite the relatively high price of the tracker itself compared to some of Garmin's more feature-rich running watches. Value score: 3.5/5 Garmin Cirqa review: Design (Image credit: Future) Choice of
four colors Screenless form factor Tactile button The Garmin Cirqa is a
simple design. A fabric band with four color options Mauve, French Grey, Captain Blue and Black wraps around a plastic puck with Garmins Elevate V4 heart rate sensor array. The puck is slightly curved to mimic the wrists shape, and as previously mentioned, it includes a ridged button on the side
to start and stop workouts.

The design is very simple, and the button is the only way to interact with
the puck. Its very comfortable to wear, weighing only 21g, and light enough and comfortable enough that I often forgot I was wearing it during the week. That made wearing it for sleep and exercise a frictionless experience, and
the band is soft to the touch.

Its quite large for a discreet band due to the size of Garmins Elevate V4 sensor, but not uncomfortable at least, for my wrists. Those with very thin wrists may struggle, but I was told the more up-to-date Elevate V5 sensor would have made the puck even bigger.

Ive always been a fan of the Garmin Connect app, and its design is really comprehensive. It can be difficult to navigate at first due to the breadth of information on offer, meaning some stats and features get lost in the mix,
but once youre used to it, its easy to access a lot of detail along with community features such as challenges. Design score: 4.5/5 Garmin Cirqa review: Features (Image credit: Future) Deliberately hardware feature-light Plenty of detailed metrics Not as many as a full Garmin watch, or Whoop There are very few interactive features on the Garmin Cirqa puck; you can start and stop workouts, or stop an alarm, but thats more or less it. However, the information the Cirqa collects and shows you in the app aren't lacking in detail.

The Garmin Cirqa tracker collects data on sleep stages, heart rate
variability (HRV), pulse ox and provides Garmins Training Readiness and Body Battery scores. Garmins Sleep Coach feature can recommend bedtimes and sleep length, letting you know if youre in a sleep deficit, and smart wake alarm using the devices haptic sensors buzzes on your wrist in a light sleep stage to wake you within a pre-prescribed window.

Automatic activity detection means the Cirqa quietly records activities lasting longer than 15 minutes, such as walks, which become more accurate if you amend the detected activities in the Garmin Connect app, including extending or trimming the duration. Alternatively, you can simply press the button to start a timed activity, and again amend in-app.

While you wont get advanced running features like many Garmin watches, such
as cadence, stride length, Hill Score (based on elevation) and so on, you still get generic training information like heart rate, VO2 Max and Training Load, which can help you tell you if youre under or overtraining. Garmin also carries features like Fitness Age, which uses heart rate and activity data to tell you how well your body performs compared to its actual age. Whoop has a similar feature named Whoop Age another example of the Cirqa eating Whoops lunch here.

You get quite a lot for your money. There's a small value issue, though: its not packing quite as many features as the premium Whoop subscriptions, nor a watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165, which gets you all of the above plus dedicated GPS, running and notification features for the same price. But it also comes with a screen, which you might not want. The Cirqa avoids bloat, prioritising the fitness and recovery metrics users want to see and eliminating the interactive features that screenless wearables fans don't
want at all.

As well as the Garmin Coach features, AI-powered photograph-based nutrition tracking and AI-generated training insights are also available as part of Garmins premium Connect+ tier. Features score: 4/5 Garmin Cirqa review: Performance (Image credit: Future) Accurate workout metrics, aside from one outlying workout Sleep tracking was competent Comfy and easy to wear I tested the Garmin Cirqa for around nine days, performing several workouts compared against a Polar H10 heart rate monitor, tracking my sleep, and draining the battery. If youre working out three to four times a week and enabling auto-detection for walks and other activities, it lasts a solid week between charges I topped mine up on day seven of testing.

It recorded my sleep well and correctly identified wake-up times in the
middle of the night and in the early hours of the morning. If I slept well or went to bed early, the Cirqa correctly identified this and the numbers
matched my energy levels and perceived sleep quality. If I got up in the middle of the night (which I often do several nights out of the week), the Cirqa clocked it. Its sleep stages graph is easy to parse, while Sleep Score and HRV are sortable by the last week, month or year to show trends.

When it comes to measuring workout accuracy, while theres no GPS to draw from other than piggybacking off my phone, the Cirqa closely matched my Polar H10 heart rate monitor during workouts. There was one instance in which it was an average of 10bpm off during a 40-minute strength session in the gym, but
other workouts cleaved very closely to the HRM, within 2-3bpm accuracy (as
you can see below). My guess is that if that particular workout was longer, the readings would have evened out.

Like other Garmin devices using the Elevate V4, the Cirqa is generally accurate enough for anyone who doesnt need elite-level metrics, at which
point theyd be using a heart rate monitor or Garmins Elevate V5. But even record-breaker Sebastian Sawe was spotted using a Garmin Forerunner 55, which uses a V4, during his sub-two hour London Marathon run.

I cant overstate how nice the Cirqa is to wear. I found it a better daily driver than the Whoop band, despite its size, largely due to the Whoops often-detaching clasp. The tactile button gave me a sense of certainty in my recording, and I didnt have to open the app to manually start a workout like the Google Fitbit Air if I wanted to be accurate. The haptics are nice and strong too. Image 1 of 2 Polar H10 electrical heart rate monitor reading (Image credit: Future) Garmin Cirqa reading (Image credit: Future) Image 1 of 2 View Original Image 2 of 2 View Original Performance score: 4.5/5 Garmin Cirqa review: Scorecard Swipe to scroll horizontally

Category

Comment

Score

Value

Sits comfortably between the super-cheap Fitbit Air and the recurring-sub Whoop.

4/5

Design

Thoughtfully designed, albeit a little large for some.

4.5/5

Features

Enough to keep you focused while avoiding unnecessary feature bloat.

4/5

Performance

Accurate and comfortable to wear with great battery life.

4.5/5 Garmin Cirqa review: Should I buy? (Image credit: Future) Buy it if

Youre an existing Garmin user Dont want to wear a chunky Garmin watch constantly, or do you use a Garmin Edge? This is the perfect way to track wellness and fitness discreetly and remain in the Garmin ecosystem.

Youre after holistic metrics Readiness, recovery, and basic workout stats
are enough for most people. This does the job without getting in the way.

You want to own your device Although the product is great, Whoops membership model means the device reverts to an inert hunk of plastic if you stop subscribing. Buying the Cirqa at least means you own your tracker, improving it as a value proposition. Dont buy it if

You need a screen Want updates during your workout? Just get a running watch instead.

Youre on a tight budget If youre not invested in the Garmin ecosystem or youre looking for something cheaper, you might be persuaded by the Fitbit Air or Amazfit Helio Strap.

Money is no object For those who dont mind paying annually in perpetuity, Whoop is a more tightly-engineered product from a software standpoint, tracking a wider variety of metrics. Also consider

Google Fitbit Air

The screenless Fitbit weighs just 5g and tracks the basics, with an intelligent do-it-all AI chatbot tier.

Read our full Google Fitbit Air review

Amazfit Helio Strap

We called it 'a terrific value, generally very accurate fitness tracker with great battery life and no subscription required'.

Read our full Amazfit Helio Strap review How I tested I tested the Garmin Cirqa for over one week, draining the battery down and wearing it constantly during sleep, work, exercise and rest. I undertook multiple workouts, comparing them to a Polar H10 electrical heart rate monitor for accuracy, and compared its featureset to its peers in the screenless fitness tracker
market. First reviewed: August 2026 Garmin Cirqa: Price Comparison 179 View 179 View 179.99 View 179.99 View voucher gift 179.99 View Show more We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/fitness-trackers/garmin-cirqa-review


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