Does Garmin's new release signal an industry shift for smart bands?
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What is Garmin’s new $200 screenless smart band and why does it matter?
Garmin is joining the ranks of subscription-based fitness trackers with a new $200 screenless smart band that focuses on health data recovery and long battery life with no subscription necessary. To give us the details on all this, we're joined now by Bloomberg Senior Editor Dana Wollman. And Dana, tell us about this. Is it worth $200? Yes.
So I can't say if it's worth it yet, having not tested it, but I do think that this is going to get the attention of a lot of people. It's worth noting that even though Garmin doesn't necessarily have the profile of an Apple Watch, which I think is a huge household name, the consumers who like Garmin really like it. It has a very loyal following among runners, people like triathletes, serious athletes. And so I think... And I think the readership on this particular story, which has sort of surprised me, really indicates that the brand does have a following.
How does Garmin’s no‑subscription model compare to Whoop and other fitness bands?
And I think there are a lot of people out there who already own Garmin hardware but are very curious about the company getting into this different space. It's not a running watch. It's not a triathlete watch. It is a really direct competitor to the Whoop fitness band, which offers a lot of fitness and personal health data, but in a form that doesn't have a screen. It's not very obtrusive. They usually have long battery life. And those are all reasons that I think the Whoop device has been successful and has inspired a lot of competition, not just from Garmin, but from companies like Google as well.
And they're selling this, the fact that there's no subscription involved. How unusual is that? And how much of an edge might that give them if people like that, that sort of freedom that it gives them?
Why might a higher upfront price be justified without a recurring subscription?
Well, it's certainly getting more common. And I do think consumers are into that. So it's worth noting for the uninitiated that Whoop doesn't make money off of the hardware itself. It gets customers by getting them to sign up for these annual memberships, which run hundreds of dollars a year. And if you do cancel the membership, your device is effectively useless. And I think a lot of companies have recognized that that could be off-putting to some consumers, especially more casual consumers, who expect to just buy a device and be able to own it for the lifetime of the hardware. So first you had Google, which made the subscription optional. So you could pay for a subscription and that just gets you access to more advanced features.
And here Garmin is just doing a no subscription approach, which might explain in part why the cost of the hardware itself is
What health metrics does the Garmin band collect and how are they presented without a screen?
about twice as much as what you would pay for Google's device. Someone in the background had to be doing the math and modeling out how this is going to work and be profitable. I think for Garmin, the balance was charging a little more for the device, or you could say a lot more for the device, but not charging for a subscription for the services.
So talk a little bit about the hardware, as you say. I mean, that's becoming a key thing. And this has no screen. Neither does radio, for that matter. But for the benefit of our listeners, give us a sense of kind of what this thing looks like and what you can do and what you can see without a screen.
So it's really just it's a fabric band that goes around your wrist. In the case of this Garmin device, you could also wear it as an armband, which is how a lot of runners especially are accustomed to wearing sensors or even running with their phones on them.
How can continuous HRV and other data help users detect illness, sleep issues, or over‑training?
So there are those two options here. And with this device, and also, let's say, a Whoop Fitbit Air, what they all have in common is underneath that fabric band, it really discreetly hides sort of a hardware module that rests against your wrist and contains sensors that allow for the continuous collection of health vitals. That includes things like heart rate variability, skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation, maximal oxygen consumption, which is what many of us know as VO2 max. And I think the appeal to a lot of people is that the continuous collection of data gives you a very personalized baseline and helps you understand when something is off.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is Garmin’s new $200 screenless smart band and why does it matter?
0:00–0:55
2
How does Garmin’s no‑subscription model compare to Whoop and other fitness bands?
0:55–1:38
3
Why might a higher upfront price be justified without a recurring subscription?
1:38–2:24
4
What health metrics does the Garmin band collect and how are they presented without a screen?
2:24–3:14
5
How can continuous HRV and other data help users detect illness, sleep issues, or over‑training?
3:14–4:16
6
What marketing and regulatory challenges do screenless health trackers face?
4:16–5:05
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from KCBS Bloomberg Tech and Business Report
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