Hi all,
Just got a Forerunner 15 as a gift. I run a lot, long distances, ideally trail running, so I used to bring my smartphone with a GPS app to get run infos. That worked however it's not that convenient to bring a Samsung S3 everytime you go for a run, you can't really check it while running, etc. Overall a GPS watch does work a lot better.
On the other, I have to say I was quite disappointed to see how Garmin seems to view data management. On my phone, I could just plug it through USB, get the CSV file (or some apps also had KML right away) & get my data in Excel right away - or Google Earth or whatever. With Garmin, I can have none of that. I HAVE to go through your proprietary data format, and export THAT to whatever I want later. I think this is a shame: a company that deals with data of all sorts in so much of their products SHOULD realize the value that open, compatible, universal data type can bring. By using your proprietary data type as a gateway, you're going against that objective. If every informatic-related product would think the same way you do, informatics would be a mess to use: just imagine if every single company insisted on using their own proprietary datatype for everything.
Don't get me wrong, I think that Garmin Connect looks pretty cool & has lots of great functionnialities - it's just that I don't ALWAYS want to HAVE to be online, connect through it, export/convert the data before I can view it. Sometimes you'd just like to get a quick check, and that can be done just fine with a simple Excel/CSV files. Not to mention that, if anything goes wrong, I have to find a solution through your proprietary data type (so most likely a Garmin solution). With a CSV or other open format, you can most likely recover any data so long as you can still access your device.
I think Garmin needs to rethink this approach. For a comparable product, I would absolutely choose the more open-data approach. While Garmin might dismiss this as "yeah, a few geeks will say so, most people won't care", then think about this: Apple & the iPhone ruled for a long time in the smarthpone market. They also have a very similar view of data management (actually even worst than Garmin's), forcing people to go through their own proprietary stuff every time they want to do anything. But if you look at Android-based sales compare to iOS-based devices, you'll quickly realize that Apple is getting its ass kicked by the an open-source, free data approach. It's not so much that people buy the product BECAUSE the approach is open, most people don't even realize that: it's just that it opens so many more possibilities that Apple can't really compete for Apps & so forth.
The futur is open data, Garmin. That might also be your path from good to great....
Franck
