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Garmin's –$40B Pivot

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Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#241

Post by nice_scott »

petee wrote: post #112

We'll have to see over the next couple years how this pans out; early in 2024 they changed their Connect app to be significantly less usable, angering their core use base with many vowing to move to competitors. While some is handwaving, others are definitely not coming back due to how Garmin has handled it. The Connect app was a big part of their watches' popularity. For what its worth they managed to lose 0.4 of th…

I recently got into using the connect app. What were some notable changes that made the app less usable and upset their core user base?

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#242

Post by _mlbt »

ray__ wrote: post #183
_mlbt wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the newer Apple Watches you can just use fast charging. I basically just charge it when I shower and do my night time hygiene routine and it’s ready to go back on my wrist to track my sleep and act as a silent vibration alarm in the morning so that I don’t wake my wife up early. The only time I run into battery life issues is when I go on a weekend camping trip.

Likewise–I pop it on the charger in the shower and occasionally at work if I'm at my desk. The alarms, timers, and reminders access (via Siri) more than makes up for the inconvenience of frequent charging. Notifications for messages and e-mails is just a bonus that sometimes ends up being a double-edged sword. The only downsides for me come on long bike rides, and that it is ugly (and getting too big, coming from a C…

I’ve owned both and the truth is Garmin makes the best fitness tracker that can be a smartwatch and Apple makes the best smartwatch that can be a fitness tracker.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#243

Post by y-c-o-m-b »

lenerdenator wrote: post #107

So, let's review: 1) build headquarters in (relatively) low COL city - in this case, Olathe KS, which is a suburb of Kansas City MO. 2) Have people who actually want to make a product instead of making analysts happy 3) Invest in R&D 4) Bring manufacturing in-house and tightly control processes It's like everything the people actually doing the work at tech companies have been saying for years. Can I have my $10mil/y…

They have some postings for jobs that I might actually enjoy working on also. Too bad they don't offer remote roles.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#244

Post by tcbawo »

criddell wrote: post #209
tcbawo wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My preferred alarm clock is the vibration from my fitness band. I wanted something extremely light with a long battery. Unfortunately, no modern fitness bands target this functionality. The vibration is weak, band is heavier, and the use large display. The best ones I used are probably 6-10 years old now.

Who makes the best (or at least very good) vibrating watch alarm today?

I am trying to figure that out.

All the manufacturers today are trying to sell connected services, so devices are accumulating lots of features and heft. In addition, none of the manufacturers quantify the strength of vibration (what units would that be expressed in?). The lightest bands are the lowest end/value models and have the worst vibration mechanisms.

What I want is: (1) see the current time (2) get a buzz for a notification (3) alarm clock (4) ability to wear for multiple days without charging.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#245

Post by organsnyder »

cozzyd wrote: post #130
dhosek wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ideal charging cycles are either daily or never. With some non-daily cycle, I need to add “does my watch need recharging?” to my cognitive load.

you can still charge it daily if you want...

The advantage of a watch that only needs to charge every few weeks is that it likely doesn't need a lot of time to top it off if you're charging it daily (unless it has a massive battery or only charges extremely slowly). When I wore Pebble watches, charging them while I was in the shower was plenty of time to last until I showered the next day. With my Apple watches, I've gotten into the habit of not wearing them for a while in the evening as well as my morning shower.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#246

Post by subsubzero »

fiftyfifty wrote: post #146
NoboruWataya wrote: post #14

Interesting article. My partner bought an Apple watch a couple of years ago and I was shocked at what a poor value proposition it was. Very expensive and wouldn't even hold a charge for a day. I guess you get used to it but having to charge my watch every day would drive me mad. Obviously there are things it will do better than a Garmin (and things it can do that a Garmin simply can't) but overall it didn't make sens…

I've been using a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch for years, and what I've found I like the most about it is actually the Garmin Connect app on my phone. I don't think Garmin gets enough credit as a software shop. Connect is a great application for tracking your workouts over time. A fair number of runners even use Garmin's workout plans from the app. Even compared to running apps exclusively for iOS and Android I think…

I have the forerunner watch as well, and also the inReach personal gps. Both are quite rugged and the forerunner's metrics collection is great if you want to see your health progress ie. VO2 max and other key metrics. The inReach is for me a life insurance policy in case I twist an ankle out in the middle of nowhere and can flag an emergency responder. I would not part with either device and pay the monthly subscription to the inReach device for years now.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#247

Post by jamespo »

stouset wrote: post #180
MarkusWandel wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-Appleista, what strikes me most is their "silo" mentality. Most of the iPhone /iWatch using fitness types I know log their stuff inside the Apple cloud, and do not crosspost to Garmin Connect or Strava so the non-Appleistas don't see their stuff. Whereas the Garmin/Strava world is relatively open. I can for example take the original Forerunner (pictured in the article) and upload stuff from it to the Garmin…

What strikes me is that I alread have a central authoritative store of health and fitness information on my Apple devices bundled directly into the operating system but every single app in that category wants me to use them as the single database of truth instead. Even when they have integration with Health! Everything goes into Apple Health but individual apps can barely talk to one another. Oura won’t pull heart ra…

What's it like getting data out of Apple Health?

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#248

Post by jimt1234 »

DebtDeflation wrote: post #124

I do a lot of deep wilderness hiking. I have two Garmin products - an InReach Mini 2 and a Fenix 6X watch. There are a couple of big benefits over the Apple/Android ecosystem. 1) Battery life. 21 days (more with the newer models). 2) No dependence on cellular/wifi data availability (though they have been doing their damnedest to require it for syncing you watch to your Connect app). I'd love to see them merge the fun…

I had an InReach for years, mostly just for the satellite messaging. I tried this feature recently out on the trail with my iPhone and it worked great. So, I got rid of my InReach, and now my iPhone and AllTrails subscription is all I need. Battery life hasn't been an issue for me on the trail - I usually just turn off my iPhone when I'm not using it.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#249

Post by Hoefner »

world2vec wrote: post #143

Slightly offtopic but my girlfriend's smartwatch is falling apart and can't stand it anymore. Her birthday is coming soon and was thinking about a Garmin smartwatch. She runs a lot, gym almost everyday. Loves tracking fitness data and workouts but she's petite. Anyone with good recs on what to check?

I would rather ask about her own wishes and thoughts (about watches), because it's can also be about some style or own preferences

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#250

Post by Kon-Peki »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #186
iechoz6H wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you receive calls without a sim? Or does it have a dedicated sim with a different number to your regular phone?

As far as I know, the watch’s eSIM technically has its own phone number, but the mobile provider does some backend stuff to make it look like it is using your iPhone’s phone number.

We got 3 cellular watches for our kids and set them up on one parent phone using the family connection thing. Each watch used only the phone number assigned to it, for both phone calls and messaging. Maybe they do things differently if you set it up in that way.

As an only device for kids, it was about 80% there and over the course of a few years Apple made 0 progress, so we gave up on it as a concept. Only 1 kid still wears the watch; the other two are e-waste.

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