Garmin CIRQA will change how I review sports tech.

In a way, this is a sad week as it marks a turning point in the reference devices I’m likely to use going forward. My trusty Polar SENSE is still accurate, but it keeps failing to turn on without a reset in the power cradle and will no longer sync via FlowSync to Polar FLOW due to ‘ecosystem improvements’. Put simply, using it wastes too much of my time, and Polar’s recent LOOP product isn’t an option for me because it lacks a way to manually set the start and end times of a workout.

So my right bicep will say goodbye to Polar during workouts. Consequently, Polar FLOW will no longer be a (pseudo-)up-to-date platform for my sports data.

Assuming CIRQA is accurate for the biceps (almost certain), that will fill the physical gap left by SENSE. CIRQA’s motion sensor doesn’t work for identifying biceps workouts and activities, so that I will lose that particular feature, but that doesn’t concern me. I’ll get the workout HR and might end up wearing CIRQA instead of a watch when in the house, although outdoors it’s unlikely to take the place of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 as my smartwatch, which I need to buy things with, make calls and use other advanced features that CIRQA will never do.

A second interesting side effect will be that CIRQA populates my Garmin Connect data for sports and activities in many cases, so I won’t need to wear my Forerunner 970 on many occasions. I quite like the FR970 as a sports watch but won’t miss it at all for non-sports usage. This means that I’ve now freed up some wrist space, at least during sports. That definitely won’t go to a somewhat ugly Coros, so Suunto and Amazfit become obvious replacement candidates. There’s supposedly a Suunto Race 3 and 3S coming soon (I’ve seen recent leaks reported by others, but don’t have a Race 3 myself yet or any official word). I like the Amazfits. The brand name is a bit rubbish (they should use the owner’s name – Zepp), but I like their watches and some of their watchfaces on the whole. Another consequence of using Amazfit more would be spending more time with their extensive smart features, which I need to get to know in more detail.

CIRQA – the normal use case

For most people, CIRQA will be a way to keep collecting activity, wellness, and sports data for Garmin Connect at times when they don’t want to wear their Garmin watch. Of course, there will be some people who see CIRQA as a cheaper Whoop alternative and a way into the Garmin Connect ecosystem; fair enough, they may end up disappointed with the app experience. Time and expectations will tell.

Cyclists keep being forgotten. CIRQA offers a superb way for Garmin Edge owners to get accurate sports HR data piped directly to their Edge, with the option to wear it outside of sleep to monitor recovery and sleep. The biggest wins for these people are in data and info.

You?

How will CIRQA change your specific sports tech routines, if at all?

Quick answers

Will CIRQA work as a reference HR device on the bicep during testing?
Almost certainly yes for heart rate accuracy. The bicep is a flatter surface with less motion artefact than the wrist, and Garmin officially supports bicep wear with a dedicated band. Automatic sport and activity detection is unreliable from the upper arm because the algorithms are trained on wrist data. Still, for structured test sessions started manually, that limitation does not apply.

Can Garmin CIRQA replace a sports watch for Garmin Edge cyclists?
For HR and recovery, yes. A cyclist using a Garmin Edge as their primary device can wear CIRQA on the bicep during rides to broadcast accurate heart rate to the Edge via ANT+ or BLE, then continue tracking sleep and recovery the rest of the day. There is no GPS in CIRQA, so route and distance data still come from the Edge. No Garmin watch is required at any point in that setup.

Does wearing CIRQA mean I no longer need to wear a sports watch all day?
If you are already in the Garmin ecosystem, yes, in practice. CIRQA feeds recovery, sleep, HRV status and Body Battery into Garmin Connect continuously, which is the main reason to wear a watch during non-sport hours. Your primary sports watch can then stay on the wrist only for training sessions.

Last Updated on 29 July 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID