Connect +

FlowState said:

I guess the big difference is that some ppl are openly saying they'd be ashamed to be seen with a Connect+ star on their profile pic.

That's an interesting point you may have about how some users may feel "ashamed". I'm interested in understanding why this might be. Could one reason be about how these individuals might be viewed within the Garmin community, whom most are not in support of this corporate move?
Thanks for your thoughts.

I bought a venu 3 some time ago and was thinking about upgrading to a Fenix 8. Now with the introduction of Connect + I will certainly not do so. Spending 1000 Euro for a watch and then find out down the line that functionality gets removed behind a paywall. Not needing a subscription was one of the reasons to go for Garmin. Some of the functionality has already disappeared. On the overview page on Connect I had my body battery and stress graphs for that day. Now they are gone. Recovering from Covid this is kind of important data to me. I can only see it on my watch now.

The big uncertainty is what will be missing in a month from now. Do we have to make our own data by connecting the watch on the usb every day or.... (not a nice customer experience).

I agree with your caution buying a Garmin watch now, but your missing data on the overview page is a configuration issue. Both body battery and stress graph for the day can still be added to the overview page.

Thanks for the tip

donovanhallnz said:

That's an interesting point you may have about how some users may feel "ashamed". I'm interested in understanding why this might be. Could one reason be about how these individuals might be viewed within the Garmin community, whom most are not in support of this corporate move?

Thanks for the condescending sarcasm, but I understood your original point fully and I think you understood mine: having a pfp badge to indicate some kind of premium membership / special status is nothing new, and obviously many users actually like it.

Obviously the ppl who are ashamed of the Connect+ badge are ashamed because they know others hate Connect+. So to me it's not the idea of a premium badge per se that's dumb, it's the idea of Connect+ itself.

To me, the implication (or in some cases, the explicit statement) that the presence of the badge is the only thing stopping some ppl from trying Connect+ actually is kind of interesting though. It means they value the opinions of others about Connect+ more than they value their own desire to try it out. It also suggests that they are perhaps a bit more open-minded than the ppl who would judge them for having the Connect+ badge, yet they are afraid to act on such open-mindeness.

I don't like Connect+ either, and I have no plans to pay for it or even try it. Getting rid of the badge wouldn't change my stance. I also wouldn't judge anyone who wants to try Connect+.

If the presence of the Connect+ badge is the only thing stopping some people from trying Connect+ and potentially paying for it...well I don't wanna call that "hypocrisy" but it's something. It means that they sorta agree that "Connect+ is bad" (as in they would be ashamed to publicly use it), but they might also be ok with using Connect+ if they could do so in secret. Or maybe they don't actually agree that Connect+ is bad at all, but they would never publicly admit it.

Ngl, I pay for Strava and I am kinda embarrassed about the Strava subscriber badge. But otoh, idc enough to cancel my Strava subscription.

In conclusion, yes it may be dumb for Garmin to "mark" users who might otherwise pay for Connect+, since Connect+ is so unpopular. But imo, the fix for that would be to make Connect+ popular/desirable, not to get rid of the badge. And if they can't do that, maybe the fix would be to not offer Connect+ at all. But I'm sure that ship has sailed.

Oh and obviously Garmin wants Connect+ to be popular/desirable and are going in with the assumption that it will eventually be so. Otherwise why launch Connect+ at all? So from their pov, having a premium badge isn't stupid at all. If they actually assumed out of the gate that Connect+ sucks and nobody wants it, it would be smarter to have never launched Connect+ at all.

Thanks for your reply and for explaining your reasoning. I agree with your conclusion that the core issue is that Connect+ needs to be more desirable. I also appreciate your insights into why some users might feel ashamed of the badge.

Anyone that has a good alternative to store all data from my Garmin device?
I do sync activities to Strava++ but it doesnt sync the health data. 

I got the Fenix 8 a while ago, and am not planning to change hardware in some time. But I would be interested in changing platform for where I get all the insights, if Garmin moves more behind a paywall. I would rather pay subscription to a company that is hardware agnostic.     

Maybe this is an option. www.trainingpeaks.com/.../

Haven't used Training Peaks for a few years. When I checked it last it only had exercise data and not the health data. Still syncs the excercises using sync your runs, rides & more • tapiriik from garmin to TrainingPeaks as well. 

On the bottom of the page i read it has date like resting heart rate and HRV .