If you're keen on tracking your sleep without strapping a gadget onto your wrist, Garmin says its new armband is just the thing – and it's designed for all-night comfort.
Made from a stretchy, lightweight, and breathable combination of nylon and spandex, the Index Sleep Monitor is meant to be worn on your upper arm. It's plenty wide so that it doesn't bother you through hours of your slumber.
The screenless device can sync either to a compatible Garmin smartwatch or your phone, meaning you don't have to have other gear from the brand for it to work. The Index tracks a bunch of metrics, including sleep duration, sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep), heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, breathing variations, and skin temperature changes.
It'll use that data to deliver insights in the app, like a personalized sleep score from 0-100, how calm or stressful your sleep is, energy levels, menstrual cycle, and overall health through heart rate variability.
The tracker also includes a smart vibrating alarm along with a snooze function that can be activated with a double tap. Garmin says you can expect to get seven days of battery life out of a single charge. The armband itself comes in two sizes, and is machine washable.
The Index is priced at US$170, which isn't exactly cheap for a sleep tracker without a screen or any other functionality. For what it's worth, you don't need any additional subscriptions to see regular insights in the app. As an alternative, you can consider the Whoop 5.0 fitness tracker that starts at $199 and includes a year's subscription to its app – but you'll also need a $54 bicep strap to go with it. Polar and Amazfit are expected to drop armbands soon too.
If the Index sounds like your kinda tracker, you'll need to wait five to eight weeks for it to ship. Check it out on Garmin's site.
Source: Garmin