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Great article. I've owned a bunch of Garmin devices. Right now I'm not sure if any of them even support Connect IQ. When I tried Connect IQ the apps rarely d

Great article. I've owned a bunch of Garmin devices. Right now I'm not sure if any of them even support Connect IQ. When I tried Connect IQ the apps rarely did anything I much cared about. If I cared about that kind of thing I'd be wearing an Apple Watch. I like the Garmin devices cause they're so much simpler and does the specific built in sports functionality very very well. They are also far more tailored towards being functional whether or not you have internet connectivity. I would far far prefer Garmin to make Garmin Connect on iOS/Android work without internet connectivity than almost anything else. It's ridiculous the devices (this is not just watches) can't sync to the phone for you to review data on the phone if you there is no internet. What they do right now is send everything from the device right to the cloud, then have the phone download something else from the cloud. In my case one of my devices (Edge 1030) is completely capable of mapping and navigation without any internet connectivity but you can't do anything on the phone with the data till you return to internet connectivity. Garmin even has another app (Explore) that has mapping on the phone without internet connectivity once you download the maps. The mapping data in that app is amazing. Yet Garmin Connect only works with Apple Maps data, not Garmin's own map data. When you're on the Garmin device you get a vastly superior map compared to what Apple maps can provide!

xur17 3y ago
> I like the Garmin devices cause they're so much simpler and does the specific built in sports functionality very very well. They are also far more tailored towards being functional whether or not you have internet connectivity. I wholeheartedly concur with your point. Garmin watches excel at sports tracking as their primary focus, with notifications and messaging features taking a backseat. Conversely, Apple and Google watches prioritize communication functions. Previously, I owned an Android Wear watch, primarily for monitoring my runs. Although it sufficed, I found myself wearing it exclusively during runs. The device required daily charging, had an irritating touchscreen, and lacked navigation capabilities without being paired to a phone, despite its built-in LTE modem. A few months ago, I opted to purchase a Garmin Fenix 6 watch. Upon using it for several days, I recognized that this was the device I had initially sought. The battery life spans two weeks—although heavy GPS use reduces this to about one week—and the watch includes maps for the entire United States. I have found it invaluable for hiking, running, and more, and its exceptional performance has led me to wear it continuously rather than solely during activity tracking.

xur17 3y ago

> I like the Garmin devices cause they're so much simpler and does the specific built in sports functionality very very well. They are also far more tailored towards being functional whether or not you have internet connectivity. I wholeheartedly concur with your point. Garmin watches excel at sports tracking as their primary focus, with notifications and messaging features taking a backseat. Conversely, Apple and Google watches prioritize communication functions. Previously, I owned an Android Wear watch, primarily for monitoring my runs. Although it sufficed, I found myself wearing it exclusively during runs. The device required daily charging, had an irritating touchscreen, and lacked navigation capabilities without being paired to a phone, despite its built-in LTE modem. A few months ago, I opted to purchase a Garmin Fenix 6 watch. Upon using it for several days, I recognized that this was the device I had initially sought. The battery life spans two weeks—although heavy GPS use reduces this to about one week—and the watch includes maps for the entire United States. I have found it invaluable for hiking, running, and more, and its exceptional performance has led me to wear it continuously rather than solely during activity tracking.