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As a daily reader of my work, you possible know I am a fan of Garmin watches, particularly for the built-in LED flashlight I exploit every day.
I have been hoping for a wise ring that would sync with Garmin Join, permitting me to assemble key metrics for restoration and coaching standing with out sporting a cumbersome watch to mattress. Whereas a wise ring is not but an possibility, Garmin has launched a single-purpose wearable to fill the void: the Index Sleep Monitor.
The Index Sleep Monitor is designed to trace every week of sleep and combine that information into your Garmin Join ecosystem and smartwatch. Whereas you should use the monitor with no Garmin watch, you will be restricted to viewing sleep particulars within the smartphone app.
The system consists of an ultra-comfortable band that measures 2.5 inches broad. Two various lengths can be found, relying in your higher arm circumference. The L/XL dimension matches my arm the perfect, however there’s additionally an S/M dimension accessible.
The band weighs solely 16 to twenty grams, relying on the dimensions, and I can’t stress sufficient how extraordinarily comfy it’s to put on each night time. That facet of the product could also be its most vital, contemplating it will substitute one thing simply as refined as a wise ring.
The Index Sleep Monitor module can be gentle at 14.5 grams (0.5 ounce) and expenses up with a regular Garmin charging cable. Garmin advertises as much as seven nights of sleep monitoring with eight hours of sleep. I usually sleep about 7.5 hours per night time, and the marketed battery life has been correct.
I hold the Index Sleep Monitor on my nightstand and slide it on after I go to mattress. I check a whole lot of wearables, however my desire is to not put on a watch after I sleep since I roll, and watches generally get hung up beneath me, inflicting me to lose sleep information.
The Venu X1 has been nice to put on to sleep with its ultra-thin type issue, however my sleep has been even higher when I’m solely sporting the Garmin Index Sleep Monitor.
Past its sleep monitoring capabilities, the Index Sleep Monitor options an alarm with a “Good Alarm” perform — a functionality additionally discovered on the Venu X1 and Vivoactive 6. This function can wake you gently throughout a light-weight sleep section as much as half-hour earlier than your scheduled time.
The alarm itself is a vibration with three adjustable depth ranges. A double faucet on the monitor will snooze the alarm for 10 minutes, whereas 4 faucets will cease it solely.
The Index Sleep Monitor captures a complete set of metrics, together with complete sleep, phases, motion, respiration disturbances, resting coronary heart price, coronary heart price variability, blood oxygen, and pores and skin temperature. This information is vital, because it feeds immediately into Garmin’s Physique Battery, restoration, and ladies’s well being calculations.
Whereas the monitor gives a solution to accumulate these insights with out sporting a watch to mattress, its $150 worth level is tough to justify on condition that many Garmin watches present comparable performance. A worth nearer to $99 would make its worth proposition extra compelling.
At its present worth, the Index Sleep Monitor might function greater than only a sleep tracker. Its smooth design and band are well-suited to perform as a coronary heart price monitor for actions the place a watch is not allowed or optimum, corresponding to basketball or soccer, capturing important efficiency information.
After a number of weeks of use, the monitor has constantly supplied extra correct sleep information than a watch, which generally confirmed gaps. This newfound accuracy, together with the consolation of not sporting a watch to mattress, permits me to totally decide to the Garmin ecosystem, not needing to complement with a wise ring for key metrics.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Sporting a watch to trace sleep can result in irritating information gaps, undesirable battery drain, and discomfort. The Garmin Index Sleep Monitor gives a extra comfy and correct system for capturing key well being metrics. The gadget feeds this information into the Garmin ecosystem, offering a holistic, full-body standing report that has vastly improved my outlook.
I simply want the gadget had been extra accessibly priced, as its $170 sticker tag could make it tough to justify for some shoppers, particularly for being a single-purpose gadget.





