Garmin’s new gadget capitalizes on missing smartwatch feature

Better known for its smartwatches and GPS navigators, Garmin is entering a new frontier of health monitoring with its first smart blood pressure monitor: the Index BPM.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Index BPM (opens in new tab) is a lot bulkier than, say a smartwatch. A likely reason for its size is so the device can fit around your bicep and deliver accurate readings. While there are smartwatches that can measure blood pressure (opens in new tab), the ones that do it with a cuff are not widely available and those that use pulse transit time “need regular calibration with a conventional home blood pressure monitor,” according to Garmin. Plus, Garmin notes, those devices typically can’t “track systolic and diastolic blood pressure” whereas the Index BPM can.