Garmin Connect services were down • Hacker News Board

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#71

Post by mvdtnz » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 10:45 PM UTC

dietr1ch wrote: post #65

hbbio wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike the Apple Watch, or Fitbit (Google), the Garmin watches function properly without being tethered to a phone. You can setup a watch without a phone and without ever activating the online services. They are here only for backup and additional features like social sharing. You can also backup locally with open source software if you want. That's why I chose one and it's one of the best products I ever had.

Yes, but not too long ago they ruined the Android app and made it depend on their servers. At least the watch works fine, but I suspect it's only because the battery isn't large enough to cut lazy devs and hasty PMs from working on harder problems.

No they didn't. Why are you telling lies?

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#72

Post by jamwil » Thu, Jan 09, 2025, 3:31 PM UTC

vincnetas wrote: post #15

hbbio wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike the Apple Watch, or Fitbit (Google), the Garmin watches function properly without being tethered to a phone. You can setup a watch without a phone and without ever activating the online services. They are here only for backup and additional features like social sharing. You can also backup locally with open source software if you want. That's why I chose one and it's one of the best products I ever had.

This makes me wanna buy from garmin. Do they embrace opensource tools or are they reverse engineered and Garmin just does not fight them?

Garmin makes solid products but I will say to be prepared for non-intuitive UX across everything. I am only guessing about watches specifically, but having used an InReach and a Zumo XT motorcycle navigator extensively, I will posit that they are much more an engineering culture than a design culture.

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#73

Post by _spduchamp » Sat, Jan 11, 2025, 3:05 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #63

_spduchamp wrote: post #62

We got a Garmin watch for our daughter when she started walking to school on her own. It works pretty well but communication is delayed and sometimes not reliable on rainy days. When we first got it was very unreliable, but after contacting Garmin support, the did some sort of test over the network, made some change, and it was working much more reliably after that. I have no idea what they adjusted to get it working…

> We got a Garmin watch for our daughter when she started walking to school on her own. How does that work? Does the watch have its own SIM card? Does she need to carry a phone for the Garmin watch to work? Asking for I bought a cheap chinese watch but it's a standalone watch that takes a SIM and, James Bond style, allows to pass and receive phone calls (without needing a lame iPhone in your pocket: the watch is real…

We pay a $150/yr fee for the connect service from Garmin. No phone required.

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#74

Post by dietr1ch » Tue, Jan 14, 2025, 12:41 PM UTC

mvdtnz wrote: post #71

dietr1ch wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but not too long ago they ruined the Android app and made it depend on their servers. At least the watch works fine, but I suspect it's only because the battery isn't large enough to cut lazy devs and hasty PMs from working on harder problems.

No they didn't. Why are you telling lies?

The UI revamp from around January 2024 made the app reliant on internet access to show history and it's something you'd noticed right away if you had spotty and slow internet access as the app started to be pretty blank at startup.