- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
You must log in or register to comment.
I have a Fenix 5x and was looking to get a 7 or 8 but now I will just stick to my 5X. I am so tired of all the enshitifacation of every fucking thing.
Ugh, and so the enshittification begins…
It really sucks, they’ve been spared from noticeable enshitification so far but I guess the line didn’t go up enough anymore…
Oh no, good thing gadgetbridge exists
I just tried it with my Fenix 6 and it does not appear to work at all despite being listed as partially supported. My watch can’t even be discovered by the app, even after factory resetting it and removing all of the Garmin apps from my phone.
That’s a shame. I’ll go back to wearing my mechanical watch for a while, I think.
AFAIK gadgetbridge is not even close to a replacement WRT functionality? Last I checked it only supported basic data import, has that changed?
My Forerunner 165 is well supported, nearly the same as the official app.
What features are you missing?
You cant use it to create or manage workout plans. It is feature complete for the health data as far as I can tell (HRV, sleep, etc).
You cant use it to create or manage workout plans
Bummer, that’s a pretty significant reason for owning a sports watch I would say, probably one of the most important features actually.
Is workout tracking feature complete?
Yes workout tracking works fine, not quite as polished as Connect but it is functional.
It depends of how well supported a specific model is
Yay more shit that nobody asked for.
I just saw DC Rainmaker’s video on this, and I’m not impressed. In any case, I’ve bern using my Garmin watch mainly for running, and I’ve been more interested in spot data than history on Connect. Still, I’m on my last Garmin watch. The hardware itself seems to last for only 18-24 months before problems start piling up, so I decided that my next watch will be Coros. I’m under no illusions that the hardware would be more reliable, but it costs half of what I’ve paid for my Garmin.
I’ve had and seen several last for years with daily use and never had an issue. Their support has been top notch anytime I had an issue I’ve gotten a new watch or several bands free of charge. They even paid for the return shipping of my old device.
My old FR 110 is still working. Since then:
- Vivoactive HR - 2 years in, the casing broke at one of the points where the wristband is attached. Material fatigue. Out of warranty.
- Vivoactive 3 - 2 years in, altimeter went haywire. Also, battery life decreased to one day. Just out of warranty.
- Fenix 6 - 1.5 years in, GPS got really bad. As in, drift of over 200m from route. Within warranty, so I contacted them and they sent me a replacement watch. That one is still working, and I hope it will for a long time.
By now, I developed a certain expectation of the life of Garmin watches. I divided their price with expected lifetime, and compared that with similar data for Coros. Coros is simply better value for money.
I’ve had several Garmin Venu’s and GPS devices inside the car. But for specifically health trackers I have yet to find a more comprehensive coverage of overall health data. That’s easily accessible to anyone. I seen you mentioned spot data is what you prefer. A Polar H10 might serve the niche better for heart data. Self hosting options for them.
Sure I’d like it fully open source and more on device functionality rather than APIs and algorithms in the cloud. But pound for pound Garmin still runs the fitness and health tracking sector. There are some newer companies popping up with promising options but the tech and IP just isn’t mainstream yet.
For anyone else wondering, you can export all your Garmin data .Use the “Export All Garmin Data Using Account Management Center” option here https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=W1TvTPW8JZ6LfJSfK512Q8 The output is json files so you can use any json editor or anything that can import json. I use a little tool called JQ https://jqlang.org/ to extract just things I need. Then I can analyze in whatever tool I want such as a spreadsheet
There is also a Python module to pull your data.
deleted by creator
Garmin is being eaten alive by Apple and Samsung, it’s their last grasp for some air. They refused to change their business model for a decade and it’s a payback time.
I would not put them in same category. Apple and Samsung make smartwatches. Garmin is offering sportwatches. If Garmin is really trying to compete with smartwatches, they are dumb.
Garmin is not trying to compete, but Apple and Samsung came and took the market by storm.
Which is odd because their stuff is really good for sensors, and has weeks of battery life vs other smartwatches that struggle to last a day.
They’re stuck with 1990-s mentality and refuse to change, sadly.
What would you like them to add?
I don’t want them to add anything, I want them to switch from making a thousand models and selling software features as hardware revisions to making one model which can go do everything and to have a proper app store instead of a joke they have right now.
Gotcha, one model for everything would be quite expensive though given all the extra sensors, better displays, solar charging and stuff the higher end ones have yeah?
What kind of apps do you want to use?
These probably seem like dumb questions but the only other smart watch I’ve used was an android wear model, and that was an absolutely miserable experience compare to my garmin. I never found any apps worth using on it aside from normal built in smartwatch stuff.
one model for everything would be quite expensive though given all the extra sensors, better displays, solar charging and stuff the higher end ones have yeah?
That’s the problem with Garmin - it won’t be more expensive. If we ignore optional gimmicks like solar charging, then there are no real hardware differences between VivoActive 5 and Fenix 8 apart from the barometer, which was present in even cheaper VivoActive 3. Depth sensor, for example, is just a software feature of a barometer (you need to calculate depth and altitude differently from the same data).
Garmin is selling software features packaged as different hardware SKUs and charging up to 4x more depending on a feature set. Their product range is extremely large with multiple product families divided into multiple physical products, which all are essentially the same piece of hardware. And today their range is actually more streamlined than it was before.
This is a stark contrast to Apple, for example, where you have one bloody watch and that’s it. Yes, you have different physical sizes to fit different people, you have different materials and finishes to choose from, but when you’re buying an iWatch you’re getting all the features no matter which screen size and arm band you choose.
Garmin should realistically only have two lines of watches - base model which has everything Fenix 8 has for £250-300 to compete with iWatch and advanced model with solar and other gimmicks no one cares about for £650-800 to compete with iWatch Ultra. That’s all.
Solar charging isn’t an optional gimmick. Everything else is opinionated mixed with some facts.
Garmin and Apple watches are very different for the core purposes. The best apple watch costs as much as one of the best Garmin models.
The Apple watch lasts roughly 18 hours give or take before charging. Where as the best Garmins last 1 to 2 months with Solar charging. But again different uses and feature sets too.
I’d argue Apple is the bigger cancer here due to battery and hardware cycles, models, skus, as a whole companies footprint goes. Eco friendliness to Garmin no question. This could go deeper but I’ll leave it this brief. Apple’s to Oranges.
You wouldn’t want to wear a dive watch if you never dive, so why put that feature set on everything? Probably similar thoughts for a lot of these models.
That said, you are correct that they should streamline a little. It’s a ton of nonsense and very frustrating to hide features that are clearly being calculated (HRV) but hidden because you didn’t buy the right model.
One glaring omission for me is the lack of database options in the app store. They have a TINY bit of hard drive dedicated for a third party app. I used to own a Samsung and wrote an app for my gym workouts. It was great, but I like Garmin watches better. But even if I use the available key value pair database on Garmin, it only gives me space for maybe 100 sets before I am out of memory. Useless if you want to track any kind of history for multiple workouts. Same for the disc golf app I made for Samsung. I could technically save enough to play, but my old app has room to let me know all my previous scores per hole at each place I was, etc.
This isn’t a huge amount of space needed for these things. A few MB. But it’s walled away for some random reason. Really limits developers from making good stuff.
As for apps, Garmin store has some useful apps, which show additional data, and additional sport types, etc, but Garmin shop itself is a bloody cancer. If you want to buy something, most developers opt for a separate PayPal payment or bank transfer, then you need to wait for them to mail you a licence, etc. It’s just a cumbersome piece of shit, which leaves you open to scams, etc.
For the android users, just gonna put this here
Thank you. Installed for when I finally find my charger.
Garmin makes toilet paper, right?
Don’t know about tp, but they are certainly making shit now.
Just as I was saying to myself “I’m pretty happy with the Garmin I have, I don’t need a new Pebble,” here come Pebble’s marketing department with a reason!
… What do you mean this is an announcement from Garmin?
The green mile. A great movie for those wondering.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. We just bought our first Garmin watches two months ago. I felt uneasy about our new relationship with yet another american corporation, but we loved the watches and the app… And now what?
Don’t worry nothing has changed at all, this is a paid tier same as any other land grabbing company on the planet for new tech.
Nothing compares to their battery life and feature set for health data as a whole. Garmin seems to have tbe most comprehensive health data coverage of all smart watches.
They are a stand up company anytime I ever needed support which has been many times for family as well.
Don’t worry nothing has changed at all…
Yet
In time we will see, hopefully we keep a solid company around and chop this up to the whole land grab for AI thing.
Damn, I’m stuck with my TicWatch and I was missing my old Garmin… and I was planning to buy again a Garmin by Christmas but now… shit
No reason not to still, nothing has changed for users. This is a paid tier. This is wildly overblown as of right now. Every company on the planet is cramming AI into some trash.
Hopefully Coros watches avoid this but I’m not holding my breath. Coros makes a solid running watch for cheap and I’m hoping it stays that way. It’s got what I need and nothing else.
