Obviously, if we look at total Apple Watch global sales numbers, they easily beat Garmin. Again, we’re just talking people using these for sport. Polar often half of that again.įrom a competitive side, no matter which continent I look at the numbers from – the other brands aren’t even close. And compared to Suunto? It ranges between 25:1 upwards to 50:1. Garmin typically has 10:1 adoption rates compared to Apple in 10KM and above events. In a 5KM event you’ll see higher Apple Watch market share than in a 10KM event, and even less Apple Watches from a marathon. This is especially true the further up the endurance ladder you get. That’s because if we look at the numbers, Garmin absolutely dominates the marketplace in wearables for sporting events (obviously, Apple dominates overall sales, but we’re setting that aside from this sport/fitness focused site).įor example, here’s two major running races recently on two different continents showing Garmin wearables market share: For example, I know that while I might see 5-8 cases of a given problem on a Garmin Edge 520 compared to 1-2 instances of a problem on an Wahoo BOLT, I know that unit sales wise, in that scenario the Garmin actually trends better. But essentially I’m mentally doing a numbers game. The last question though, the ratio, is trickier. I’m trying to figure out if this is a one-off, which may never be seen again, or is this something that’s happening super frequently to a lot of people. There, methodology goes like so:Ī) When was the last time I saw/heard of this issue?ī) What’s the rough frequency of how often I hear of this issue?Ĭ) Is this a super rare combination of factors/environments, or something that should always just work?ĭ) What’s the rough ratio of units shipped to problematic units It’s that last bucket (C) I’m more focused on. But if ultimately the user (even on a technicality) did something ‘wrong’, then that roughly falls into those first two buckets. Perhaps the product user interface was poorly designed, or perhaps the experience was otherwise ripe for failure. That doesn’t mean the company (Garmin or otherwise) is not at fault. Whether or not people want to hear it, the vast majority of items do tend to fall into buckets A & B above.
Said differently, when I evaluate the steady stream of issues that land at my virtual doorstep via comments, e-mails, tweets, and carrier pigeons, I try and question a few things (no matter the brand):ī) Was this already fixed in a firmware update?Ĭ) If this is a legit issue, then is it widespread, or a very limited edge case? Any conversation that skips this isn’t really truthful. Understanding the Scale:īefore we talk bugs though, we do need to talk scale to put things into perspective. It’s about the a cultural problem Garmin seems to have around software stability and bugs, that appears to be ‘features first, stability later’. It’s not about some random bug that Apple, Wahoo, or Polar hasn’t yet fixed. But this isn’t a post about whataboutism. Which isn’t to say these other companies are perfect. Be it hardware or software related issues, the products are just more dependable. It’s because Suunto spends the time to ensure the vast majority of bugs are never seen by customers.
#Garmin compatible software for mac series
The reason someone chooses a Suunto watch over a Garmin Fenix series watch isn’t because Suunto has more outdoors features or even better accuracy these days (they don’t). It’s because they have a product that seemingly has less bugs (and also as everyone points out, because you can configure your data pages via phone app). The sole reason Wahoo has slowly gained market share in cycling GPS computers isn’t because they have a technologically more feature laden or better priced product (they don’t). But the reality is that the ‘Garmin bugginess’ is also true, and everyone knows it. It’s because that person has been bit one too many times by buggy Garmin products.Īnd sure – that intro paragraph might seem unfair, after all I do record the vast majority of my own workouts on Garmin products without issue. In effect, my bet is the vast majority of time a person chooses a non-Garmin product over a Garmin one is not because Garmin lost the features or price battle. Or more specifically, their lack of focus on solving bugs that ultimately drive consumers to their competitors. Garmin’s biggest competitor is themselves. To the casual observer, one might assume Garmin’s biggest competitors are Apple, Fitbit, and in certain cycling circles – Wahoo.
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