Garmin launched Cirqa on 22 July (announced from its headquarters in Olathe, Kansas). It's the brand's first "screenless" health band, unlike the Garmin watches we're all used to. The concept is to wear it all day and night without checking a screen, then look at a summary in the Garmin Connect app in one go. What Garmin pushes hardest in this round of marketing isn't a feature but the words "no monthly fee", aimed squarely at Whoop and Fitbit Air, whose main features are locked behind a subscription.
▶︎ Meet Garmin Cirqa (video from Garmin)
Why Garmin is going after this market in Thailand now
According to PwC's Voice of the Consumer Survey 2025 – Thailand Snapshot, as many as 79% of Thai people already use at least 1 type of health app or wearable, averaging 3 apps/devices per person, and almost all say these technologies genuinely affect their daily routine. Interest isn't limited to fitness or looks any more. It extends to living longer with quality, disease prevention, sleep quality and stress management. Cirqa is therefore positioned for people who want in-depth health data without a screen distracting them in daily life.
Screenless, but not dataless
Cirqa measures health 24 hours a day: heart rate from the wrist, Body Battery (the body's energy reserves, calculated from HRV, stress, sleep and the activities you do throughout the day), blood oxygen saturation (Pulse Ox), stress and skin temperature. All the data can be viewed back in the Garmin Connect app, both daily for 7 days and over 4 weeks.
For sleep, the app summarises it as a sleep score with an explanation of why you got that score (for example "well recovered"), and breaks down sleep quality and duration by stage, plus HRV and breathing rate through the night. Women can also track their menstrual cycle and pregnancy, with more accurate cycle predictions and retrospective ovulation estimates from skin temperature during sleep.
The interesting part is that it detects workouts automatically without any button press (it supports more than 80 activities, or you can press the single side button to pick a favourite activity from a list you use regularly). Then you edit/confirm afterwards in the app. The more often you edit, the more accurately the system classifies activities, as if it's learning our exercise habits as it goes.
10-day battery, wear it on the wrist or upper arm
The band is fabric and light at just 20 grams. It comes in 7 colours (the device-and-band sets sold in Thailand come in 4 colours: Black, French Gray, Captain Blue and Mauve), in both fun and plain tones: Citron Gray, Mauve, French Gray, Dark Olive, Captain Blue, French Blue and Black. It's designed to be worn either as a normal wrist strap or on the upper arm during workouts/sleep (extra bands can be bought separately: wrist band THB 1,749, upper arm band THB 1,990). It's water resistant to 5 ATM (50 metres), and the battery lasts up to 10 days per charge, noticeably longer than a typical smartwatch because there's no screen eating power.
Advanced fitness features that are unusual for a screenless band
What sets Cirqa apart from typical screenless fitness bands is that it brings over the full set of features from Garmin's top smartwatches: Training Readiness (tells you whether your body is ready for a hard session today or should ease off, with a breakdown of the factors used such as sleep score, recovery time and HRV status), HRV Status, VO2 Max and Training Status for tracking long-term fitness progress, plus Workout Benefit and Recovery Time, which tell you the result of each session and how long your body should rest before the next one. This level of detail is normally found in much pricier smartwatches, not in an affordable screenless band.
Good to know before you buy: no built-in GPS, you need your phone
Cirqa has no GPS chip of its own. To record your route accurately when walking, cycling or running outdoors, you need to turn on Connected GPS and link it to the GPS of the iPhone or Android smartphone you carry with you. And if you want people at home to follow your location in real time during outdoor exercise, you can use the LiveTrack feature through the Garmin Connect app too. If you often run or ride alone, you always have to carry your phone. You can't just wear the Cirqa and head out the door.
The real selling point: no monthly fee
This is what Garmin focuses on most in positioning the product. All of Cirqa's core health and fitness features work in full after a single purchase, with no mandatory monthly/annual subscription. That's unlike Whoop, which requires a membership before you can unlock any health data (in the US/UK, Whoop's full package runs about USD 300-360 a year). Overseas review sites such as Tom's Guide worked out that with Cirqa's starting price of $199.99, you could use all the features for more than 2 full years before the cost equals just one year of Whoop membership. One more thing to know: Garmin does have an optional paid Garmin Connect Plus subscription too (overseas price about £6.99 a month), but it only unlocks extra AI features (Active Intelligence), not the basic health features that are already free. As for the price of Garmin Connect Plus in Thailand, we haven't found an official announcement yet.
Missy Yang, Country Manager of Garmin Thailand, said of Cirqa: "Thai consumers today no longer see health technology as merely a tool for exercise. They expect technology to help them understand their bodies and to support everyday health decisions in a natural way."
Price and where to buy in Thailand
Cirqa has been on sale in Thailand since 13 August 2026, starting at THB 6,990, through the Garmin website, Garmin Brand Stores and Garmin Specialty Stores nationwide. If you want an extra band to swap in, the wrist band is sold separately at THB 1,749 and the upper arm band at THB 1,990.
Short version, who should care: if you want a discreet 24-hour health tracker with no screen to bother you, and you're tired of Whoop's monthly payment model, Cirqa is likely better value in the long run (according to the overseas reviews' calculations). But if you often run or ride alone, remember you must always carry your phone because there's no built-in GPS. It's for you to weigh up whether paying once is worth it for your own real usage.
Prices may change. Please check the latest price with an official Garmin store again before deciding.
Sources: garmin.com newsroom (official press release from Garmin Thailand, 22 Jul 2026), dcrainmaker.com, tomsguide.com, trustedreviews.com
