Garmin's Screenless Tracker: Could It Be WHOOP's Most Serious Rival Yet?

Garmin, the brand most of us know from GPS watches for runners and cyclists, is apparently gearing up to enter the screenless fitness tracker market—and right out of the gate with what could be the most expensive device in its category. For those of us wearing WHOOP, that's interesting news. We might finally have a competitor with serious hardware chops.

What Cycling Weekly Is Reporting

According to Cycling Weekly's May 20, 2026 article, Garmin is working on a fitness tracker that would mirror WHOOP's design and concept—a screenless device focused on continuous physiological monitoring. Cycling Weekly calls it potentially "the most expensive fitness tracker on the market" (their words, not mine).

Specific specs aren't confirmed yet. The article mentions Garmin leaning on the advanced sensors already in their premium watches (Fenix, Enduro)—next-gen optical heart rate sensor, SpO2, skin temperature. What actually makes it into the band is still up in the air.

Important caveat: Garmin hasn't officially confirmed anything. I'm going off what Cycling Weekly published, and it's fair to say some of this could be based on leaks or educated guesses.

Price: Where Are We Looking?

Cycling Weekly mentions "the most expensive fitness tracker on the market" but doesn't give a number. So there's no point in me guessing.

For context—WHOOP runs on a membership model. Current pricing on whoop.com is $239/year, with the WHOOP 5.0 included in your membership. There are monthly and two-year options too. Garmin traditionally sells hardware as a one-time purchase with no monthly fees, so any comparison really depends on whether Garmin goes the subscription route or does their own thing.

Why This Matters for WHOOP Users

I've been wearing WHOOP since 2024—about a year and a half—and before that I had a Garmin Forerunner 255. I know both brands from real use, and they're coming from completely different angles:

• WHOOP is the "invisible" sensor. No screen, no notifications, everything in the app. It's all about recovery, strain (daily load), and sleep. You pay monthly.
• Garmin builds watches with GPS, maps, navigation. You pay once for the hardware. Garmin Connect is free, but the analytics aren't as deep as WHOOP's (heart rate variability—HRV—is kind of a side metric for Garmin, but it's the foundation of WHOOP's whole system).

If Garmin actually makes a screenless band, that's a major conceptual shift for them. Garmin's hardware and sensors are excellent, but their software has never been as focused on coaching and daily decision-making as WHOOP is. The real question: can Garmin pair strong hardware with comparable software?

What It Means for the Market

Over the past few months, we've seen signals that the "screenless tracker" segment is growing. Google's working on Fitbit Air (I wrote about that recently), now Garmin. WHOOP isn't the only player in a category it basically created anymore.

For us as users, that's good news. Competition pushes better features and fairer pricing. WHOOP has the edge in software and community, but hardware was never its strongest suit—and that's exactly where Garmin could win.

My Take

Right now it's mostly leaks and speculation. No point jumping ship on a train that might not even leave the station. But I'm watching closely. Garmin is one of the few companies that could actually compete with WHOOP because they have their own sensor tech, manufacturing capacity, and a massive athlete base.

Once there's an official announcement, I'll dig deeper. Until then—WHOOP stays on my wrist and Garmin stays in the drawer. But I'm checking that drawer more often than I used to.