Brassard connecté Index Sleep Monitor S/M - GARMIN

I purchased this sleep monitor because I have a Garmin watch along with one for my girlfriend. We generality like the concept of having the ability to gage the quality of our sleep and track duration, but we've had considerable disappointment in the accuracy and consistency of these devices. From tracking sleep when we're obviously awake to time differences in the multiple hours to when we put the device on and when it said we fell asleep we've had to reset these devices many times to try and get them to record accurately. Even when it does, we often don't get the data due to problems with the upload where we get no sleep data, but our stress and heart rate days shows up in our daily feed. It feels like Garmin rushed this out and didn't even want to support/ improve on the software after release. It's not worthless by any means, but as someone who owns multiple watches, bike computer, bike radar, heart straps, etc. this is by far the poorest execution of Garmin tech I own. Especially for the price. My girlfriend has recently decided she's going to buy an apple watch instead to track her sleep.

I've been using this for a couple of weeks. My sleep is improving, not because the band makes me sleep better, but because it makes me more aware of my sleep habits. I have been able to make adjustments. I enjoy the expanded data, as well.

I bought the Sleep Monitor a couple months ago, to avoid having to wear the Fenix 8 during the night.

Generally speaking the data measured seems to be accurate.

From a wearable perspective, it is a bit uncomfortable when used during the night. The band should be more flexible and the plastic buckle designed in a way that is is more comfortable.

This night the device stopped working, requiring a disconnect from Garmin Connect App and a re-connection. Of course all sleep dat was lost.

Easy to use. Comfortable to wear. I don't notice it on my arm. It's nice to see how long you sleep and the different stages of sleep.

Only records data about 1/2 the time. Pretty disappointed with this product.

This is not a new device. About every 2-3 months it will not link up with Garmin Connect, and the only way I can get it back on line is to disconnect the device so it is no in Garmin Connect, then have it find the device again. I have a number of Garmin devices (computer, radar/camera/light, camera/front light, scale, blood pressure) and Garmin usually does not have this sort of problem. Battery life is also low for something from Garmin, typically 3 nights.

Need more detailed instructions for all basic functions of the device

After a couple of weeks, I'm pretty underwhelmed. I like the form factor for sleeping. My Fenix 7 has been giving me issues at night, I wake up with pins and needles in my hand sometimes. This has totally solved it, at a price:

1. The alarm has woken me up about 75% of the time. I've missed a few workouts, but haven't been late to work. Suspect I'll be really bitten by this at some point.

2. Every single morning, the morning report on my watch is missing half its data for 15 mins to an hour. Sometimes there's no sleep data. Sometimes no HRV. Sometimes neither. Losing either of these means that other morning report pages, like Training Readiness and Body Battery, are also screwed up. Note, I'm not having the "data never syncs" issues other reviews have reported. They eventually sync, but usually sometime after I've started my day. If you like/rely on the morning report on your watch, using this device for sleep data will break it.

3. You can't engage with the device's alarms unless it's paired to your phone. The device sleeps all day w/o a connection, so you can't see what alarm is set, or set a new one, unless you go to the device and wake it up. Eg - I'm sitting on the couch and realize I need to wake up early. With my watch, I'd just set an alarm. I have my phone on me, but that's useless since the device is asleep/not connected. So I have to walk upstairs, wake the device, wait for it to connect, then set an alarm. I don't know why I can't specify an alarm on my phone w/o the connection, and have it set after I grab the device before bed.

4. Similarly, if you don't sleep with your phone within reach (highly recommend), if you go to bed then realize you need to set an alarm, you have to get up and go grab your phone to set one. Don't see any way around this as it is a "configure from your phone" only device, but it's annoying.

5. I get about 7 days of battery life, which is what was advertised. But, given the size of the device, it feels crazy that it doesn't get more.

6. I've had a couple of nights where I absentmindedly put on the sleep band but forgot to take off my watch. Would be nice for the watch to give me a poke in this case. Or maybe a notification in the app?

7. Had one instance of needing to delete the device from the mobile app and re-pair it within the first two weeks. Hopefully that was a fluke, and I don't need to do that every few weeks.

8. The alarm uses 2 taps to stop, and 4 taps to snooze. I find this backwards. I snooze at least once every day, sometimes twice. Why does that take more steps?

Pros:

1. I find the band very comfortable. I've seen other people complain about it, but I suspect most of them are over tighting it. I leave it fairly loose, to the point that it can move a bit throughout the night, and this hasn't caused any issues.

2. Totally fixed the issue my watch was causing during sleep.

3. I get a 10-15 point increase in my sleep score versus my watch, lol.

4. It is very easy to sleep with. I mostly forget it's there in a way I can't with a watch.