• daddy32@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Oh, for fuck’s sake. We just bought our first Garmin watches two months ago. I felt uneasy about our new relationship with yet another american corporation, but we loved the watches and the app… And now what?

    • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      Don’t worry nothing has changed at all, this is a paid tier same as any other land grabbing company on the planet for new tech.

      Nothing compares to their battery life and feature set for health data as a whole. Garmin seems to have tbe most comprehensive health data coverage of all smart watches.

      They are a stand up company anytime I ever needed support which has been many times for family as well.

  • Porco@feddit.org
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    4 months ago

    I’m using a Garmin watch with Gadget Bridge from f-droid. Works well even though I don’t like the app’s look that much.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I just tried it with my Fenix 6 and it does not appear to work at all despite being listed as partially supported. My watch can’t even be discovered by the app, even after factory resetting it and removing all of the Garmin apps from my phone.

      That’s a shame. I’ll go back to wearing my mechanical watch for a while, I think.

    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      AFAIK gadgetbridge is not even close to a replacement WRT functionality? Last I checked it only supported basic data import, has that changed?

          • refreeze@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            You cant use it to create or manage workout plans. It is feature complete for the health data as far as I can tell (HRV, sleep, etc).

            • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              4 months ago

              You cant use it to create or manage workout plans

              Bummer, that’s a pretty significant reason for owning a sports watch I would say, probably one of the most important features actually.

              Is workout tracking feature complete?

              • refreeze@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Yes workout tracking works fine, not quite as polished as Connect but it is functional.

  • LiveLM@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    Not even Garmin can resist the temptation?
    Oof, better hold out hope for Repebble I guess

  • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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    4 months ago

    There it is.

    So glad I skipped out on buying one of these.

    I got a used dumb tracker for $8 (looks like it’s gone up since). No internet, no synching. Perfect for workouts.

  • NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk
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    4 months ago

    I recall an app called endomondo doing similar. I’d bought the Pro version for lifetime only to find them move to a Premium option.

    That was fine as I still had what I had paid for… until take up wasn’t good enough and slowly key features moved behind the paywall.

    Im fairly certain this is the direction this is going. I wonder if there’ll be a class action if so to force buy back of the hardware

    • Myro@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Oh yeah, Endomondo brings back memories. Let’s see what’s next for Garmin, though this is not a good sign. Unfortunately, there’s no real alternatives out there if you consider batters life.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Pebble, but neither of their upcoming revived models have the same spread of sensors shoved into them as Garmin does if that sort of thing matters to you.

        I would happily buy something just like my Fenix without the stupid pulse ox/heart rate monitor, but I understand I am in the minority there. I’d keep the GPS, compass, temperature, altimeter, and barometer functions. But then, I’m probably the sole person on Earth who would be the first to buy a phone without a goddamned selfie camera on it, either.

  • Crashumbc@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    JFC, is nothing safe?

    I was just talking about dumping Fitbit as Google destroys it and jumping to Garmin…

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    A parallel comment to my rant yesterday, I see the pushback has already begun in Garmin’s reviews against this nonsense. All of the recent reviews of their Android app are now overwhelmingly complaints about the subscription addition, and I suspect iOS is the same. If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to blow Garmin up over this on any platform you can get your grubby hands on.

    I know posting this here is probably more like spitting on a forest fire; I’m sure the seven or eight nerds here on Lemmy dedicated enough to care have already put Garmin on blast for this (myself included), but it never hurts to make sure.

    • MemmingenFan923@feddit.org
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      4 months ago

      I agree to leave a review on the Appstores. However Garmin can censor the negative reviews if they want. So i recommend in addition to that leavkng comments on social media, review webpages, videos where Garmin can’t delete the comments.

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      What’s crazy is I’m on the fence about a beeline moto because they have subscription for basic shit like traffic, thinking Garmin would be better.

      Welp.

  • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    For all those clammering to sell and throw away, stick on the shelf, I will keep, buy, or what have you all your Garmin watches so long as they aren’t trashed and are relatively newer models.

    Yes I am serious. PM me so we can discuss further if your done with Garmin.

  • Bruncvik@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I just saw DC Rainmaker’s video on this, and I’m not impressed. In any case, I’ve bern using my Garmin watch mainly for running, and I’ve been more interested in spot data than history on Connect. Still, I’m on my last Garmin watch. The hardware itself seems to last for only 18-24 months before problems start piling up, so I decided that my next watch will be Coros. I’m under no illusions that the hardware would be more reliable, but it costs half of what I’ve paid for my Garmin.

    • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      I’ve had and seen several last for years with daily use and never had an issue. Their support has been top notch anytime I had an issue I’ve gotten a new watch or several bands free of charge. They even paid for the return shipping of my old device.

      • Bruncvik@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        My old FR 110 is still working. Since then:

        • Vivoactive HR - 2 years in, the casing broke at one of the points where the wristband is attached. Material fatigue. Out of warranty.
        • Vivoactive 3 - 2 years in, altimeter went haywire. Also, battery life decreased to one day. Just out of warranty.
        • Fenix 6 - 1.5 years in, GPS got really bad. As in, drift of over 200m from route. Within warranty, so I contacted them and they sent me a replacement watch. That one is still working, and I hope it will for a long time.

        By now, I developed a certain expectation of the life of Garmin watches. I divided their price with expected lifetime, and compared that with similar data for Coros. Coros is simply better value for money.

        • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          I’ve had several Garmin Venu’s and GPS devices inside the car. But for specifically health trackers I have yet to find a more comprehensive coverage of overall health data. That’s easily accessible to anyone. I seen you mentioned spot data is what you prefer. A Polar H10 might serve the niche better for heart data. Self hosting options for them.

          Sure I’d like it fully open source and more on device functionality rather than APIs and algorithms in the cloud. But pound for pound Garmin still runs the fitness and health tracking sector. There are some newer companies popping up with promising options but the tech and IP just isn’t mainstream yet.

  • SeeFerns@programming.dev
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    4 months ago

    Hopefully Coros watches avoid this but I’m not holding my breath. Coros makes a solid running watch for cheap and I’m hoping it stays that way. It’s got what I need and nothing else.