- The Garmin Index Sleep Monitor is rapidly becoming an open secret
- A regional arm of Garmin reportedly released a one-minute video featuring the device
- The video was quickly taken down, but Gadgets & Wearables managed to grab a few screenshots
The fact that Garmin is entering the best sleep tracker race with a new product, said to be called the Garmin Index Sleep Monitor, isn’t news anymore. Several leaks over the last two weeks have all but confirmed the product’s existence. However, this time the leak has apparently come from Garmin itself, as it published – then quickly took down – a video featuring the product. The call is coming from inside the house!
First reported by Gadgets & Wearables, a regional arm of Garmin first posted the video. The report doesn’t mention which region, and as the video has been taken down, we’re unable to work our way back to the YouTube channel that originally posted it.
Nevertheless, Gadgets & Wearables apparently grabbed some screenshots of the video before it was removed, showing the device in action. The shots show a wearable heart rate monitor attached to the user’s upper arm via a Velcro strap, designed to be worn during sleep only. It’s not a Whoop-style screenless fitness tracker as previously thought. You can view those images in the link above.
Gadgets & Wearables confirms the device will pack a vibrating smart alarm as well as a seven-day battery life and Garmin’s usual suite of data collected by its optical heart rate monitor and sensor arrays.
These include heart rate, heart rate variability and skin temperature, as well as a new metric called breathing variation. This is likely a move towards recording instances of sleep apnea.
Garmin’s big bet on sleep
We reported on previous leaks stating the device was likely to cost 170 euros, around $200 / £150 / AU$300. That’s quite a lot of money for an add-on device that does something your Garmin watch can already do, that isn’t a fitness tracker too.
It’s said to interface with Garmin Connect in the same way as your watch, so the intention is likely to wear your watch during the day and the more accurate Index Sleep Monitor at night.
As a sleep-only tracker, the upper arm positioning will allow for more accurate heart rate readings, but we’re particularly interested in the sleep apnoea feature. Apple debuted its Sleep Apnoea Notifications feature on the best Apple Watches last year, and Samsung‘s gone hard into sleep with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
Your bed is rapidly becoming the next big wearables frontier. We’ll know more for sure about the Garmin Index Sleep Monitor when it launches – and if promotional materials have already been leaked, that can’t be far away.
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matt.evans@futurenet.com (Matt Evans)
