Garmin’s long-rumored Cirqa smart band health tracker could be even closer to users wrists after details of important features were accidentally leaked on one of its own websites this week.
The device was mentioned in the support section the company’s Romanian website on Tuesday and referenced the Health Status feature in Garmin Connect which creates a personalized baseline for five key overnight health metrics (heart rate, HRV, respiration, skin temperature and Pulse Ox).
Any device with Health Status metrics must be equipped with the sensor technology to record all five data points and Cirqa was listed along with Forerunner, fenix, Enduro and other devices that support the feature.
Other Garmin support pages in other languages from regions like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain did not have similar pages on their website and the Romanian page that contained the leak was quickly removed but not before the screenshots were widely circulated on social media and technology blogs.
This is the second definitive accidental leak that seemingly confirms the Cirqa device could be released this year.
In January a reference to the band, part number, sizing, colors were leaked on the company’s website and quickly pulled. A trademark filing from February 25 suggesting that the Cirqa name was not just a placeholder even as specific details like if the track would have no display like Whoop trackers or Fitbit Air.
Garmin could be seen as a noticeably a late entrant to the simplified band style tracker arena despite helping define early blueprints of the segment alongside Fitbit in the early more than a decade ago.
The company introduced Vivofit in 2014, which featured a small curved screen that displayed important information like steps and heart rate and wasn’t as configurable as its watches. But the device spawned three generations and was a predecessor to the now aging Vivosmart 5 which is still on sale for $150.
But despite having the resources to scale up a device with fewer hurdles that other manufacturers could face, Garmin has invested and leaned heavily into its lucrative roster of sports smartwatches. Last year the company released the Forerunner 970/570 duo of running watches as part of strong 12 months where is shipped 20 million devices that also included the fenix 8 Pro series and Instinct 3.
Garmin would ride its robust wearable sales to a record $7.25 billion in revenue on an all-time high operating income of $1.88 billion as each of its business segments — fitness, outdoor, aviation, marine and automotive — posted new annual highs.
In short, the company’s more sophisticated stable of watches meant that placing a target on Whoop, Fitbit and their clones was less of a priority as sales of the Forerunner and fenix families keep soaring.
If Cirqa’s release is imminent it will have to be priced competitively, with Google’s Fitbit Air arriving in May for $99 with no subscription and backed by a revamped Google Health ecosystem. That’s significantly cheaper than Whoop’s 5.0 and MG models that have annual plans that start at $199 and top out at $359 for the year.
