Garmin, plz stop disappointing your customers!

Understand there are 3 fairly distinct types of Garmin watches.

There the venu/va - general purpose, "life style" watches.  Lost of features, but not the greatest at every thing.  When the very first va came out, DCR referred to it as "The jack of all trades but the master of none"

forerunners - their name even says "run".  Running watches

fenix - generally the top end, more focused on outdoor in general, but also has the running features of forerunners.

It's not like competitors that basically only have one class of watch.

• Unfortunately that has nothing to do with what I said.

it would be very easy to implement all softwarebased features in one watch. This primarily is a sales tactic. If you offer cheap and expensive goods, people tend to buy in the middle range and a happy with that. But all in all, i am pretty sure, that none of the single watches are fully worth their price.
Who uses the IQ Shop? This seems more like a playground for hobby programmers, than an AppStore with useful apps from known developers. No Microsoft, google, etc.

you can compare that with having to choose between different laptops, which all have similar hardware. But the manufacturer locks features on every single Modell. On the first one you can’t install office Programms but games. On the next one you can install office but not internet browser and so on. 
but you can buy a laptop which is not locked at all, but for this Modell you have to pay 3 times the price of the locked ones, although you won’t get better hardware with that. 

Estoy en total desacuerdo contigo: 

El Fenix 6, o 945 son dispositivos enfocados al deporte e incluyen TODAS las características de un VA4. ¿Cuál es entonces la diferencia entre una gama y otra? 

Incluso recientemente en el Fenix 6 han incluido una nueva pantalla con análisis del sueño. Esta característica, ¿no sería más propia de la gama Vivo Active? 

Incluso en la última actualización de software los fénix y FR945 han recibido una nueva interface en muchos de sus menús y multitud de cosas nuevas.

Yo sólo saco una conclusión: 

Garmin sólo se preocupa en mejorar sus últimos modelos de relojes de más de 500€. 

If you want all the features, look at a fenix.  If you want more running orientated features, buy a forerunner or Fenix.

There's a whole bunch of things you'll not see in a va/venu - like bike power, open water swim, running dynamic, training effect, etc. (actually a whole bunch that you wouldn't know about unless you did the research)

One thing to keep in mind is that garmin watches are primarily sports watches with smart features,  Not smart watches alone.

Have you ever used any CIQ apps?  I really have a feeling you haven't or really even look around the store.  Did you know there are things there that have been downloaded 1-2 million times?  Do you understand what many do?  Watch faces are the main thing people see, but there is a great deal more.  What kind of apps do you think are missing? (you can suggest them here: https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/app-ideas)

Missing known developers?  You mean like Styrd, Strata, Lift, Amazon Music, Samsung/Smart things (and many more partners)?  Look in the store.

Understand that Google and MS have or had their own watches.  Why would they develops for Garmin? 

I think you didn't know what you were buying when you bought, even in the Garmin devices.  Maybe you shout sell your watch and buy something else.

The reality is watches like the f6 have many more features than the va/venu.   More features, more costly.  Would you expect a $20k car to have all the features of a $50k car?

Garmin's commitment to its customers stops at the point it sells a watch to its customer.

Jim_m_58, it's not about features. Garmin is great at adding features. It's horrible at creating something that's stable where these "features" actually work reliably. Half the features on my EDGE 530 are a joke. For me, the only reason I still have it is its great battery life. 

Alone, how many of Gamrin's devices have GPS as part of its CORE feature or function set... yet so many people are pulling out their hair in frustration. Long standing Garmin fans have moved brands because of Garmin's lack lustre approach to looking after it's existing customers who just want a product that works as advertised. We don't even get that... half the time, the first year of a products existence in the market place has its users simply act like public beta testers for unstable software, hardware and or firmware...

I'm very close on the brink to ditching Garmin. So are others. There is nothing special about a Garmin F6... it has more features but it also has issues. Browsing these forums, it's not hard to see a pattern, across high and low end devices. In reality too... I know people with a fair spread of Garmin devices and the feelings aren't brand patriotic either.

Completamente de acuerdo. Es una marca elitista que utiliza los usuarios de gamas mas baja como conejillos de indias y desatiende completamente sus necesidades a pesar de hacerles sufrir todos los bugs del software. Han desatendido completamente a todo el mundo por su mala gestión de seguridad de servidores y nos devuelven el favor complicando más la vida y pidiendo dinero. Garmin es una completa decepción.

Several times because as a VA4 user I have been suffering GPS issues permanently, battery drain and no to mention the server hack they have had and we have been waiting.