GDVC 2022 (Oct 12th)

_psx_ said:

And I think CIQ helps Garmin a lot, strange they doesn't take care of it.

I say this a lot but most runners I know use Garmins and most of them don't care about CIQ (and have probably never heard of it.) Like nobody ever talks about data field apps that they use for training or racing - most ppl just use the native functionality.

I think most ppl just use Garmins because that's what their friends use, not because they necessarily care about all the features. (Most people just want time, distance, pace, and a way to upload their activity to Strava.) And a lot of ppl haven't upgraded their watch since they bought a basic Forerunner 235 years ago.

What happens if and when most of their friends are using something else....

I like Garmin watches for my own reasons but I find it hard to convince the average Apple Watch user that Garmin is better.

Honestly, what I think actually keeps Garmin alive is releasing new watches like clockwork, not supporting Connect IQ. They have added a lot of things over the past few years to stay competitive, especially music (IMO). (Yes, I'm kind of contradicting myself here. I think music is a big exception since it's a must-have for some people, and a huge incentive for others. I never thought I'd run with music until I got a Garmin watch that had music, since I always leave my phone at home.) There's probably also a subset of users who do want to always have the latest watch with the newest features.

As far as end users who actually discuss Connect IQ, the number one complaint I've seen is that the store is full of hobbyist apps (no offense to any of us), not polished, highly useful apps from big-name corporations with lots of time and money.

There's a lot of nice apps in the CIQ store, especially those created by regulars on this forum, but you really can't compare it to the Apple App Store or Google Play. We all know that various limitations and quirks of the CIQ ecosystem make it hard to deliver apps with the ease of use and functionality that users want.

e.g.

- People complain that Garmin provides the "nativeNum" FIT feature (to allow CIQ to override a native metric like speed or distance), but then any value actually written with nativeNum is ignored in Garmin's own platform. Meanwhile, a 3rd-party device like Apple Watch has no problem writing whatever they want to a FIT file

- In a support article, Stryd literally apologizes about the poor usability of their app in the Garmin ecosystem, due to Garmin limitations. Then they go on to say, "but if you use Apple Watch, it's incredibly simple!"