LTE on a Fenix?

C.sco said:

It really makes me laugh when I see people saying they NEEEEEED to be able to get reached by people if they're out running, or they NEEEEEED to be able to reach someone else while they're running. My oh my, how in the world did anyone survive running before cell phones?

I agree.  If anyone really, truthfully, absolutely NEEEEEEDS to be able to get reached, then they really, truthfully, absolutely NEEEEEED to carry their cell phone with them - problem solved.

gaijin said:

then they really, truthfully, absolutely NEEEEEED to carry their cell phone with them - problem solved

Or use LTE - problem solved. I love how people decide what others need to do.  If you don't want LTE on a watch, don't buy a watch with LTE on it.  It's really that simple.  How are you going to tell someone that needs the ability to be contacted and if LTE is an option that they need to carry a phone? 

C.sco said:

And her hospital is fine with her using a Garmin fitness tracker as her only means of being reached?

I'm sure her hospital doesn't care if it's by cell phone, landline, LTE on a watch, or a string with two cups as long as she can be reached in an emergency. 

Who knows, really appalled and sorry to hear what you and your wife experienced with the car!! I've almost been hit by people backing out of their driveways, but running on the sidewalk in the burbs, it's almost understandable that a runner seemingly appears out of nowhere (especially with tall hedge rows and trees along some homes). Still quite startling.

Having a constant LTE connection during an activity is definitely one use case, and maybe the most intuitive. That's really like an Apple Watch (watch is really a miniature phone), and I expect most people would expect LTE to work this way. 

I also think it's the more polarizing use case. Because if your watch can receive and make calls, texts, notifications, email, etc., you're solidly stepping into smartwatch territory, and also probably the <10 hour battery life during activities. And if LTE is enabled outside of activities, I would expect standby battery life to drop from weeks down to 2-3 days max. Clearly, not a lot of Fenix users would get on that train.

I'm personally more interested in the "half-assed" use case: LTE reserved for emergencies, so you can feel more comfortable leaving the phone at home during routine activities. For that, you don't need to receive calls, texts, or notifications. You just need things like incident detection emails, panic mode, and maybe a manual SMS send/receive widget. Clearly not a fully-functional LTE phone, and not what your wife would be able to use on call. For that, I might consider $5/mo for something like 10 SMS a month + unlimited incident detection/panic mode usage.

But judging from the responses here, doesn't look like many people agree that this would be enough in an LTE watch. So it seems once again, I'm kind of an odd duck in my product desires!

K2 said:

I'm personally more interested in the "half-assed" use case: LTE reserved for emergencies, so you can feel more comfortable leaving the phone at home during routine activities.

That would be my preference too. These days I have almost no need for a mobile phone anymore and I enjoy not having one on or around me all the time.

One of the reasons I don't like carrying my phone while running is that it is so bulky, so I'm thinking of getting a prepaid SIM for an old, very small lightweight Nokia that can make a call to a predefined number when long-pressing a key. 

K2 said:

But judging from the responses here, doesn't look like many people agree that this would be enough in an LTE watch. So it seems once again, I'm kind of an odd duck in my product desires!

I wouldn’t say you were an odd duck in your product desires. It’s just that your needs/wants are different to others. That’s why Garmin provide so many (too many?) options. We all have our reasons why we want/do not want a watch with LTE. Let Garmin decide whether or not to incorporate LTE in a watch. Let the individual choose whether or not purchase it. 

I thought I would revive this thread briefly based on the new 945 LTE release. It seems like Garmin might be moving in the same direction I was originally thinking, that an LTE-enabled fitness watch won't be full-featured with calls and text and internet browsing support, but would rather enable a few Live Tracking, Incident Detection and emergency response functions, at a nominal monthly fee. 

I know this isn't what the majority of users were expecting or wanted, but I'm surprised at how in-line the strategy is with what I was originally thinking.

Excited to see if there will be a Fenix 7 LTE SKU. My 6X Sapphire is still brand new, but with this kind of connected integration, I would upgrade for sure.

C.sco said:

Remember, there was a time not that long ago, about 25 years or so, when almost nobody had phones outside of their house. Somehow, we all still went outside for exercise, and survived unscathed.

In some ways, I think technology has enabled people to become more lax about safety and preparation. Certainly where I live in the English Lake District, mountain rescue are always moaning about unnecessary call outs because of folks relying on their phones or technology, and having no knowledge of how weather conditions change in the mountains, or how to read a map and use a compass.

And in this sort of area, having a phone signal can be quite unusual, so I doubt LTE would even work here. But there is obviously a use-case in a genuine emergency (if one is lucky enough to have a signal)

5135968 said:

In some ways, I think technology has enabled people to become more lax about safety and preparation. Certainly where I live in the English Lake District, mountain rescue are always moaning about unnecessary call outs because of folks relying on their phones or technology, and having no knowledge of how weather conditions change in the mountains, or how to read a map and use a compass.

I'm honestly a little guilty of that myself - I bought an InReach so that I (and others) can feel safer about me going solo into the backcountry knowing that I can reach out to help (or be reached from home) or at least have my last known location pegged on a map, if there's an emergency. As a result, now I go solo into the backcountry a lot more than I would have before I got the inreach.

In a way, everyone is a little guilty of that, to different extents. We'll voluntarily send ourselves down the highway in a 130km/h missile, trusting that modern technology will help us if something goes wrong.