F7 Series - lack of Feature Update compared to FR x55/x65

2529455 said:

People are buying/upgrading like wildfire. There really isnt the strong dissatisfaction signal you guys think there is.

Is there any basis for this or is it just your assumption?

Mark_Antony_8 said:

Is there any basis for this or is it just your assumption?

Yea it's right there in the quarterly results. Garmin state: 

"Revenue from the outdoor segment increased 29% in the fourth quarter with growth led by adventure watches. Gross and operating margins were 67% and 40%, respectively, resulting in $251 million of operating income."

Year on year the growth is 16%. It was quite a large jump from the last few quarters and a very strong new model launch compared to other prior new model quarters. People seem to be pretty happy to both upgrade or move over from another brand.

Link to quarterly: www.garmin.com/.../2024-Q4-GRMN-Earnings-Release_Final.pdf

2529455 said:

No I fully accept that you guys are super p*ssed about not having your expectation met. What I'm trying to do is explain why it's happening based upon Garmin's likely strategy.

I just stated facts. Which you once again cannot directly overturn with arguments so you go into another direction trying to steer discussion away from them in effort to defend Garmin. 

Also, you repeatedly mentioned emotions in your posts and now you are saying someone is "super p*ssed" - it sure looks like you are the one who finds this discussion emotional. 

Garmin's strategy is clear to me, and I have previously voiced this perspective, receiving similar responses from those who interpret any criticism of Garmin as emotional. The company has prioritized short-term profit over user satisfaction. While this approach yields short-term results, success at one point (and one parameter) does not justify every decision made.

This is precisely why I believe it is important for Garmin users to be informed. Many assume that Garmin offers the best support in the market, while in reality, the company sells premium-priced watches that it later neglects in terms of feature updates. When users seek answers, they are met with silence.

Bro, no one's attacking you. I understand you're upset - that much is clear. I'm not even telling you that you're wrong for feeling the way you do. How could I, they're your emotions after all. I'm simply sharing my own thoughts as to why Garmin may be doing what they're doing, nothing more. Big breaths and relax.

Vizi said:

The company has prioritized short-term profit over user satisfaction. While this approach yields short-term results, success at one point (and one parameter) does not justify every decision made

Know that this is all purely subjective. It's your opinion and not a fact. Whilst it might annoy you that there's a lack of clarity around which features get ported to older models, there's a very large contingent of Garmin users who understand the tradeoff and appreciate that they're able to put down a single payment on a device and use it to its fullest capability for a decade or more without putting down any more money.

But by means, keep posting here. Get up in Gamins face and get your voice heard and maybe you'll change Garmin's operating model to something that better suits you and folks like you.

Once again you're trying to shift focus away from the facts to emotions. You implying that my criticism is driven by emotions instead of facts is just failed attempt to dismiss facts without addressing them. 

Facts remain: Garmin has backported features to lower-tier models while withholding them from premium-priced devices, despite user inquiries. It has neither communicated a clear policy on feature updates nor gave any reply let alone engaged meaningfully with its customers on this issue. Thus, users cannot know how long their devices will be supported by meaningful feature updates.

Raising awareness about this issue is not about ‘getting in Garmin’s face’ (although I see it is getting into your face for some reason); it’s about advocating for transparency since I believe that it is important for users to know about this Garmin's practice since it is obviously intended behavior. 

Stay angry my friend and keep up the good fight.

Still deflecting, I see. Too predictable.

Over the last 8 years, I have been an early adopter of plenty new devices, Instinct, Fenix, Epix and even Venue as well as Edge. I spend thousands of dollers/euros, even though I recuperated some when I sold the older devices...but at the end you always lose. That line was broken with the release of the F8...in the beginning I was waiting for the new Tactix but after reading all the reviews, I realized there was almost no new and exiting feature to make me spend 1400+ for a new watch. So I decided to wait for the 8 Pro or even 9. Then Garmin started to treat me (currently on Epix Pro) like the unwanted stepchild...cutting me off from new features and to add insult to injury, now they are introducing a new subscription model which will ultimately make ownership even more expensive. My response is, not buy new models ever again and maybe, one day, ditch Garmin altogether in case its subscription prevents you from even using the most basic features (unless the watch prices reflect the cost for the subscription, which it won't!!). I just bought a Epix Pro S for my wife for about 400 and a Tactix 7 for less than that, both in almost pristine shape. At this price point, I won't be disappointed if Garmin treats me like a reject leper and I will save a shitload of money. I am tired of being a Beta tester for their new devices only to be tossed away when the next new thing pops up. 

2529455 said:

Im also worried that this is the future once Garmin hit a critical price threshold with the Fenix. We might end up seeing a mostly locked watch for a lowish price, but requiring a monthly subscription to fully unlock it. This is something I'd be pushing for this if I were an investor anyway.

Looking at the Garmin Connect+ announcement with a small number of paid functionalities at the start, it seems to me that Garmin is trying to check whether the subscription model has a chance of being accepted by users.

You can see for yourself how this idea is received. But it's no wonder. At the same time, Garmin is maintaining the trend of releasing watches for which we pay more and more, and the changes are basically cosmetic compared to the previous generation (look at Instinct 3, or yesterday's Vivoactive 6).

Additionally, I have the impression that Garmin has been trying to piss off Fenix ​​7 users in every aspect for half a year. More and more errors, lack of contact with the community, feedback from the Beta Program is ignored, due to the unification of the software (between different series of watches), they are not adding practically any new functions to the one and a half year old flagships.

At the same time, Garmin is a company that is generating more and more profits, and they are constantly trying to maximize revenues, even at the expense of the opinions of current customers who are fed up with this approach. The desire to make money is obvious, but I do not understand how they are trying to do it.