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Blood pressure may not be a metric you’re overly concerned about. However, worldwide, high blood pressure is one of the biggest causes of ill health, directly leading to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and dementia. Cycling can lower your blood pressure, so tracking it should be of interest to anyone who cycles for health as well as fitness.

The Garmin Index BPM (blood pressure monitor) is a device that sits at the intersection of wellness and fitness industries, something we’re likely to see more of in the future.

Firstly, as the monitor is mounted directly onto the cuff, it’s awkward to fit as it’s difficult to both stabilise the unit and tighten the cuff at the same time. Perhaps it’s a matter of debate as to how important this is; if you value the more compact design of the cuff-mounted design you may accept this downside. If you accept that a blood pressure monitor is relatively bulky regardless, then you’ll likely find it more annoying.

Regardless of what you think of the cuff-mounted approach, its disadvantage is exacerbated by the design of the cuff itself. The material is quite stiff compared to a traditional cuff and also only has panels of Velcro – rather than a continuous strip – so you have to be more precise as you are pulling the cuff closed. In our testing, this seemed to be an issue on bigger and smaller arms alike.

To measure this, I compared measurements from my Omron machine (British & Irish Hypertension Society verified and approved) and the Garmin Index BPM. With a monitor on each arm, I simultaneously took multiple back-to-back readings, one or two times a day for several weeks. There were no consistent high or low discrepancies between the monitors in either diastolic or systolic measurements with readings varying by no more than 2mmHg for each. Heart rate was within one beat per minute for each reading.