A Garmin sleep band has been a standard request on the Garmin boards and subreddit for years. Some hate carrying a cumbersome Garmin watch to mattress, however do not need to miss out on Physique Battery knowledge. Others need the identical Garmin health knowledge with out the watch type issue, preferring to put on luxurious watches through the day.
It seems these Garmin followers will lastly get their want, as The5krunner (by way of Garmin Rumors) experiences being “100% certain” {that a} Whoop-like Garmin armband will arrive by July or August 2025, primarily based on a supply, with some key particulars of what to anticipate from it.
Basically, this “Garmin Sleep Band” — the identify comes from a “supply doc” — will use LED indicators as an alternative of a display. Faucet gestures will disable the silent vibration alarm or examine the battery life. Just like the Garmin Vivoactive 6, this Sleep Band would use an optical sensor to detect a light-weight sleep stage inside your alarm window earlier than waking you.
The leak is not complete, as we do not know pricing, design, or whether or not it will require a Connect Plus subscription just like the Whoop Band does. However it might match a brand new area of interest for Garmin, which has caught to chest straps just like the HRM 200 till now.
A primary backup or fully-fleshed gadget?
Garmin can take a number of paths with its Sleep Band, beginning with one which sticks to its namesake and solely provides sleep monitoring with an optical sensor. For individuals who hate wearing a watch to bed, that will clear up the issue and (hopefully) maintain the value low due to its specialization.
Ideally, the Garmin Sleep Band would have the latest Elevate v5 sensor discovered within the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970, since that will ship probably the most correct HR and pores and skin temperature knowledge, together with commonplace Garmin in a single day knowledge like blood oxygen, coronary heart charge variability (HRV), and the newest breathing variation metric.
Ideally, the Garmin Sleep Band would seize lively ECG or passive coronary heart rhythm knowledge, as effectively. Whoop even provides blood strain knowledge on its new, costly Whoop MG, however I do not suppose Garmin wants to focus on “medical-grade” accuracy for this gadget.
On the subsequent stage, the Garmin Sleep Band would assist all-day well being monitoring, with the intention to correctly measure issues like Physique Battery, each day readiness, and restoration. That looks like an apparent option to substitute for a watch, even in case you should examine the Join cell app for the outcomes.
However would this gadget routinely detect and observe exercises just like the Whoop Band? Most exterior Garmin sensors should pair with a watch, although the latest Garmin HRM 600 chest strap does standalone exercises.
Arm-based optical readings are typically extra dependable than wrist-based ones. The Garmin Sleep Band may hypothetically enhance your exercise accuracy, with or with no watch. It won’t match a chest strap’s precision, however it might actually be extra comfy.
That mentioned, I doubt this Sleep Band would supply built-in GPS, an altimeter, or different Garmin watch perks. If it has an accelerometer and IP68 mud and water resistance, it will probably ship the fundamentals that folks would need out of a health tracker.
Hoping Garmin would not mess this up
I am intrigued by the concept of a Garmin Sleep Band. I really like my $79 COROS HRM armband for its HR accuracy and light-weight consolation at simply 19g or 0.67oz. I may see this new Garmin product becoming the area of interest of a smart ring at a extra inexpensive worth whereas staying hidden in your bicep, leaving your wrist and fingers for non-tech equipment.
Nonetheless, the query is whether or not this Sleep Band is merely an adjunct or a real competitor to the Whoop. A Whoop band is “free” however prices $200/12 months with the necessary subscription. Garmin may simply undercut Whoop with a subscription-free rival band, however its priorities have modified not too long ago.
Garmin watches are getting pricier than ever. In Garmin’s latest earnings call, it talked about discovering methods to counterbalance tariffs, similar to elevated costs. I am involved that Garmin would possibly make it too dear as a “backup” gadget or emulate Whoop with a compulsory Join Plus payment, propping up their membership numbers and earnings in a single swoop.
In the mean time, the Join Plus paywall is just for optionally available options like AI summaries, offline trails, and superior knowledge charts. So I’ll assume, till instructed in any other case, that Garmin will persist with its regular enterprise mannequin.
And in that case, the Garmin Sleep Band will make loads of long-time customers comfortable by letting them take off their Garmin watches with out dropping entry to the information they depend on.
