Connect +

why improve anything for free if they can charge for it?

You will be in good company

Dear Garmin Team,

After many years of intensive use of various Garmin products, I would like to express my disappointment today – a disappointment I share with many of my friends and training partners.

For over a year now, the ELV4 heart rate sensor has been delivering completely useless data during training when used without a chest strap. For a company that promotes high precision in sports and health data, this is absolutely unacceptable. The fact that this well-known issue still hasn't been fixed is extremely frustrating.

The Garmin Connect app has also significantly declined with version 5. While the previous version was clear and intuitive, the current one feels cluttered and complicated – a sentiment shared by numerous users in reviews and forums. Yet Garmin stubbornly continues to stick with this controversial version.

However, the main reason why my family and I will no longer be purchasing Garmin products is the introduction of the premium subscription. Charging an additional €8.99 per month for features that were previously included is, in my view – especially for long-standing and loyal customers – completely inappropriate. We have already invested significantly in Garmin products such as the Edge 1030 Plus, Forerunner 945 and 955, Edge 1040, FR255, FR945, multiple heart rate monitors, Radar, and the Venue 3s.

We increasingly see Garmin heading in a direction that no longer aligns with the wishes and expectations of its customers. Therefore, we will be looking into alternative providers in the future. Personally, I will be keeping an eye on Coros.

I have recommended Garmin watches to many people out of conviction, and many followed my advice. But now, I won’t recommend Garmin to anyone anymore. I’m extremely disappointed and regret ever endorsing this company.

By the way, I’m not the only user who has had enough of Garmin: www.reddit.com/.../

Disappointed regards,
Frank
P.S. No need to reply and tell me nothing will change. Of course things will change – new features will simply be paywalled in the subscription model. Years ago, you also promised not to introduce a premium tier.

It's a real quality issue.

There is so much that could be done with AI and training software, but all Garmin does is using AI to simply rephrase existing data.

dcrainmaker makes a valid comparison in his newest podcast: Active intelligence is like making a screenshot of your newest training data and send it to chatgpt.

And I'm adding: it's missing all the possibility to put training data in a bigger context. How does it relate to my racing goal later the year? What should be corrected, looking at what I want to achieve?
That would be useful.

I've just got the "invitation" to join + some minutes ago

Hope Garmin is not thinking to put a subscription model and take away from us all the data from the connect app.

I have been very tired with all the late issues in edge 1040 solar, in venu2, I had two vivoactive that had to be trashed after a year of use as "there was nothing to be done" by garmin support. I even got sold on a tacx neo, they said there was no subscription for the app, lying to me.

Here in argentina each device costs 150%-200% more than in US, a 1040 solar is 1000USD

looks like they are going for the all abusive model. I won't tolerate this anymore.

I have been using Garmin devices since 2007. I currently own and use daily 2 Enduro watches, 1 Fenix watch, 2 Foretrex devices, 2 GPSMAP devices, and 2 Inreach devices. I have no intention to purchase premium devices and then also have to pay for basic ecosystem features. If long-lasting customer loyalty is worth less than 100 euros a year, then it's really time to move away from Garmin! Next time I need an upgrade, I'll be looking at Suunto and Corus watches, then gradually replace all my other Garmin devices with alternatives from other brands. 

We'll pay 89$ a year to be a beta tester for another tool? No, thanks.

For the price I paid for my Fenix 8 I could buy 3 Apple Watch'es or I could buy AW ultra and invest the rest of the money on something else. However, I preferred buying Fenix 8 thinking my almost all data is in Connect and I'm used to these watches and battery life. Connect was one of the first tools that made me justify the price of Garmin products. Yeah, I paid 5 times the price of a similar hardware but in the end I was getting a good platform, a good website that I could easily use on my computer too. I knew I was paying for it while buying the watch.

However, now, the things are changing. Garmin is lagging behind different features from competition. Almost releasing not ready to use products to customers etc. Instead of solving all and give us a better platform they're trying to get more money from us.

I was using Strava with paid features during my active times and free when I'm not racing anymore. For casual running, cycling etc. Connect was more than enough. However, they started this subscription thing and started limiting things. Now, I simply use it as a back up for my activity data. Not consuming time as in the past. 

After this situation I can follow the same with Garmin too. We're already paying price for everything while we're buying. No subscription is logical atm...

I've been a Garmin user since 1995. I have owned multiple Garmin devices for aviation, wearables, and the home environment. Garmin devices of all types come with a primum price point. Every new device... every new software update... has multiple issues. Some times those issues get resolved... some times they don't.

My LAST Garmin purchase was the Enduro 3. I was hesitant, but made the jump from Epix Pro Gen 2, based on "reliable" reviews. Big mistake, and really changed my opinion of two long-trusted reviewers. At that time, I really did not know that the Enduro 3 would really be my last Garmin purchase.

To Garmin (who probably doesn't care about any of our outrage)... this is an absolute slap in the face to the majority of your long-term and dedicated customers. I have always recommended your many products... aviation and wearables. No more. I am now looking at alternatives for the future.

I seriously doubt Garmin will role this back. This could have been released completely differently... like, one-year included with the purchase of a new device (still ridiculous) or lower the price point of devices to be more affordable to a larger customer base.

I am not going to pay extra after I have already paid a premium. Seriously disappointed, but not completely surprised, given Garmin's history.

I came off Suunto due to them retiring the web page.

Still too early to change to another brand, however this is a similar step to what Suunto took and I don't think it worked out well for them.

Wait and see how it plays out. They've made a decision so I guess the don't want to loose face.