Garmin adds period tracking to Garmin Connect, announces three new types of Forerunner smartwatches, starting at $199
The new Garmin Forerunner 45 smartwatch. [credit: Garmin ] — Garmin has been slowly updating its smartwatches and fitness trackers over the past few years, and 2019 appears to be the year of the Forerunner.
Context & Ripple Effects
This launch continues a cadence Garmin has run since the Forerunner 25 in 2015: refresh the entry-level GPS line annually while pushing features downmarket. The 2017-2018 stretch added payments, sport profiles, and onboard music storage — first on the flagship Forerunner 645, then on the mid-priced Vivoactive 3 Music — so each generation's premium feature tends to reappear later at lower price points.
The notable move here is software, not hardware: period tracking lands in Garmin Connect itself, extending the platform from workout logging into general health monitoring without requiring new hardware. That matters because Garmin's long game is keeping users inside its own app ecosystem across a widening price ladder.
First-order effects
- Buyers get a new $199 entry point to GPS running watches with the Forerunner 45, while existing Garmin Connect users gain menstrual-cycle tracking as a free app update rather than a device purchase.
Second-order effects
- Health-tracking features delivered through the companion app raise the bar for screenless rivals like Whoop, which Garmin later targets directly with the $200 Cirqa Smart Band — competition shifting toward what the software measures, not just what the band costs.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — premium features trickling from $449 flagships into $199 models within a couple of years — the entry-level GPS watch commoditizes, and Garmin's differentiation migrates to the Connect platform and subscription-worthy health data it accumulates.
The trend: Wearable makers are competing less on hardware specs and more on the breadth of health metrics their companion platforms track, pulling features like cycle monitoring into mainstream fitness apps.