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A general conversation about the future of MIP for our watches..

7828711
over 1 year ago

Just got the 955 Solar.  Love it.  That said, I see Garmin has made great strides in the AMOLED offerings.  I would love to get ahold of their K1 annual reporting to see how they are affecting sales from a financial standpoint, but I am sure it's great for Garmin as many just want the pretty look on the screen (totally get that).   Personally, I was tempted by the Epix myself but living in Maimi, FL where I have bright, non-stop sun every day the MIP display is just amazing.  I love that it "feels" more like a regular watch vs a typical "smart watch" in that sense.  

Anyway, the question I have (which I know none of you can answer, lol) is do we think that Garmin will continue to offer MIP's in the future?  I saw one post on Reddit where someone thought that maybe phasing them out.  That would make me sad (and others I am sure).  But, I can't help but see a pattern in their product offerings that appear to support both types moving forward.:

The base, you have the 45 / 55 (which I am sure may be consolidated to just the 55 in the future).  This of course is MIP screen.

Then, I feel like the 245 will stop and the 255 is really that replacement (also MIP).   The 265 is the dedicated AMOLED version.

Same with the 955 / 955 Solar.  MIP, but the 965 AMOLED version.

Then with the Fenix.  You now have all MIP and all solar.    The AMOLED version would of course be the Epix line.

In fact, the only real place where I don't see an option anymore is on the Marq line.  Now all AMOLED.  Also the other lines like the Venue etc (II dont even pay attention to them, not my style) seem to be going all AMOLED.

What are your thoughts?  Again, this is not a knock against the AMOLED watches.  I am sure they are great, just truly wondering how Garmin will move forward.

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to Bitti
    Bitti said:
    When I transitioned to Forerunner 965, I was blown away by how much easier it was to read maps (or any other screen with small detail).

    For sure AMOLED is unquestionably better for mapping and anything else that would benefit from higher resolution, additional colors and a higher refresh rate. Obviously AMOLED allows for much nicer looking watchfaces compared to MIP.

    For example, on Apple Watch it seems that devs can get away with using smaller text (in some cases) than on a MIP watch, which makes it possible for devs to implement things such as a tiny QWERTY keyboard that fits on the display. Apple Watch and AMOLED Garmins also have much nicer animations at certain places in the UI and in certain apps.

    Another thing I've seen in the forums is that some older ppl seem to prefer AMOLED because they feel that the additional brightness makes it more readable. Personally I'm fine with either MIP or AMOLED (except for the part where the display dims after a few seconds), but I can't discount the experience of others.

    Bitti said:
    I wouldn't call the AMOLED advantage as "beautiful", but rather "clarity".

    I think ppl unfairly discount the important role of aesthetics in consumer products. Windows laptops used to be ugly plastic bricks until everyone started copying Apple. I doubt anyone except for hardcore Thinkpad fans wants to go back to that old era. Similarly, it was Apple which pushed high-res screens in laptops, phones and tablets, with a focus on UX. (Windows laptop manufacturers tried high-res screens before Apple, but they didn't apply scaling to the UI, which meant that all the buttons and text were so tiny that they were basically unusable for the average customer. It was Apple which came up with the idea of scaling the UI so everything would be roughly the same size as on a lower-res display, but much sharper.) Now almost every consumer device has a high-res screen, and they implement scaling at the OS level.

    Garmin's own advertising site said people buy things for emotional reasons, not logical reasons (despite how we may rationalize things after the fact.)

    [https://creative.garmin.com/styleguide/brand/]

    Purchase decisions are based on emotion and then rationalized by logic.

    Every piece of consumer-facing advertising falls at a certain point along the Garmin consumer journey. Purchase decisions are based on emotion and then rationalized by logic. Therefore, the Garmin advertising philosophy is to be emotional at the first consumer touch point and rational at the point of purchase.

    Things that look good make people feel good, whether they tell themselves that it's for themselves or for others.

    I know a runner who bought a white and gold Fenix simply bc she loves the way it looks. I don't think there's anything wrong that tbh.

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to FlowState

    FlowState said: "Another thing I've seen in the forums is that some older ppl seem to prefer AMOLED because they feel that the additional brightness makes it more readable."

    I'd hazard it's probably not so much brightness but rather better contrast (blacker blacks). I'm 55 and can still read both MIP and AMOLED, but I find latter clearer regardless of brightness.