Garmin’s Sleep Bracelet Does Exist After All
When I wrote yesterday about three different Whoop-type bands rumored to be coming soon , I had no idea how close we were to one of them actually launching. Today, Garmin’s Index sleep monitor officially launched on its website, retailing for $169.99 and shipping in five to eight weeks.
What is this device?
Index is a wristband that you wear on your bicep while you sleep. It can track your heart rate like a smartwatch, but it doesn’t have a screen. The most prominent photo on the product page is of a woman sleeping peacefully while her phone and watch sit unused on her nightstand.
The band is 2.5 inches wide — significantly wider than a Whoop band or a typical watch band — and Garmin says it’s made of lightweight, breathable fabric. In photos, it looks soft and comfortable. The band appears to have a hook-and-loop closure. The band is machine washable, but you’ll need to remove the device, which is a small container measuring 1.6″ x 1.5″ x 0.3″, before washing.
The band length is listed as 12.8 inches for the small/medium band and 17.8 inches for the large/XL band. You need to choose the band size when you buy the device; it doesn’t come with both. You can buy additional bands, but they cost $49.99 each .
What does the Index do?
The Index has an optical heart rate sensor, similar to the green light on the back of a smartwatch. It includes a blood oxygen (SpO2) sensor, and based on the sensor’s appearance in the photos, the heart rate sensor appears to be the latest version of the Elevate — the same one Garmin has installed in the Forerunner 570 and 970, as well as the Venu 3. (I found this sensor to be even more accurate than the previous generation .)
It also has accelerometers to detect movement while you sleep and can measure skin temperature. The battery lasts for seven nights with the SpO2 sensor turned on, assuming you get eight hours of sleep per night.
From this data, you get the same information that a Garmin watch would give you about your sleep. This includes:
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Sleep duration, stages and sleep scores (although I never trust sleep stages from wearables)
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Resting heart rate
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Respiratory rate
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“Body Battery” (a number calculated by Garmin that is ideally around 100 when you wake up and depletes throughout the day depending on your activity and stress levels)
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Ovulation assessment and cycle tracking
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Changes in breathing during the night
Index sends this information to the Garmin Connect app on your phone, where it also appears on your compatible Garmin watch.
The Index also has a smart alarm, a feature we first saw on the Vivoactive 6. Unfortunately, the smart alarm never worked for me, which I detailed in my review . I see other users saying it didn’t work for them either — here’s one Reddit user wondering if they’re the only one, and a YouTube user who had the same experience. The smart alarm asks you to set a 30-minute window during which the device will look for light sleep to wake you up. In all three of our experiences, the Vivoactive only woke us up at the last possible moment of the window, which suggests it’s not all that “smart.”
It may be an armband, but it’s definitely not a Whoop killer.
The Index is pretty much what I expected from the rumors, but I have to say I’m disappointed by its limitations. Since the Index has (actually does have) a heart rate monitor, you’d think it wouldn’t be a big deal to provide a wristband that you can wear while you’re working out. Polar and Coros have popular wrist-based heart rate monitors that many users find more accurate than a watch and more comfortable than a chest strap. Garmin’s new Index costs almost as much as both of those devices combined , and it still can’t measure your heart rate while you’re working out.
Also, this goes without saying for those familiar with Whoop, but Whoop’s strength is in its app. You can read here what it was like for me to fully embrace the Whoop way of doing things, logging my habits and using a chatbot coach to help me choose my workouts for the day. An armband like the Index may physically look like a Whoop armband, but it doesn’t provide the same experience that Whoop actually provides. This may be a plus or minus for you personally — not everyone wants the Whoop experience or an ongoing subscription, and I can respect that.
Does this price make sense?
The one-time price of $169.99 is certainly better than the $239/year subscription that Whoop offers, and Garmin probably hopes you’ll feel that way. But you can’t wear the Index for workouts, so that cost is added to the purchase of a Garmin watch. (Whoops users often wear sports watches, but Whoop can still track workouts without one.)
And since the Index doesn’t provide any metrics that your Garmin doesn’t already offer (except for the smart alarm, which was previously exclusive to the new Vivoactive 6), you’re essentially paying $169.99 to wear a device on your arm rather than your wrist while you sleep.
One Reddit user commented : “Now the question is: can we upgrade this to a smaller band and get all-day metrics? Since no one asked for a sleep-monitoring band, but rather an all-day band that can be worn with a regular watch.” (It’s unclear how long the battery would last when worn 24/7.)
If Garmin is smart, they’ll release a fitness tracker for this thing and offer the ability to start and stop workouts from your phone. Right now, the only way to get workout data on your phone while you’re working out is with a Connect+ subscription , which costs $6.99/month. Interestingly, the $169.99 device plus a $69.99 annual subscription costs almost as much as Whoop Peak’s $239/year subscription . Just saying.
I could definitely see this as a future direction, but I feel like it doesn’t fit with the vibe of this product’s name, Index (the same name Garmin uses for its smart scales ), and it wouldn’t allow them to call the band a free subscription. Overall, I’m not thrilled with what Index offers, but I wonder if there might be a future product or update on the way to make it more like Whoop.