Exclusive: Garmin Cirqa PM says ‘it just felt like we had all of the pieces in place’ to launch a screen-free fitness tracker

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I’ve been wearing the new Garmin Cirqa, a $199 screen-free and subscription-free fitness tracker for over a week, and while my initial impressions are mostly positive, burning questions about the device persist.So, I reached out to Jill Kaiser, the lead product manager for the Garmin Cirqa, to learn more. Kaiser has been with the Kansas-based brand for a decade, and sees the Cirqa as her ‘baby.’One of Garmin’s more unusual wearables, our conversation touched on the value of customer feedback in the design process, how customization and comfort were also key pillars, why the Cirqa lacks an onboard GPS, and whether or not Garmin plans to roll out more screen-free wearables anytime soon.Why launch a screen-free tracker?

(Image credit: Future)One of the biggest bits of info I gleaned from my chat with Kaiser: Garmin places a high value on user feedback and requests.“We definitely are listening to our customers. We were looking at what our customers want,” says Kaiser. The Cirqa has “all of our training, all of our health metrics, everything that they are wanting in our other devices, just in an option that doesn't have a screen, that doesn't have that distraction for them.”Garmin users have apparently been requesting a screen-free tracker for some time. So why launch one now, especially hot on the heels of the Fitbit Air, a device that promises many of the same features for half the cost?“We've had quite a lot of customer feedback wanting a screenless product for some time, and so it's been on our radar, and [now] just felt like we had all of the pieces in place to be able to support this,” says Kaiser.Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.Of course, launching a successful screen-free wearable requires an equally successful, i.e., user-friendly companion app. Put another way, “there's a lot that goes into not having a screen on your wrist and just making sure that our ecosystem is built for it,” notes Kaiser.An ‘all-day version’ of the Index sleep tracker