Sunday
In this weekly chronicle, the editor of the portable devices of Android Central talks about the world of portable devices, applications and fitness technology linked to racing and health, in its quest to become faster and more fit.
The Garmin Foreunner 570 and 970 are more expensive than their predecessors. The other Garmin 2025 watches jumped new features to maintain low prices, so I’m happy that Garmin does not withdraw to his precursors. But it has also become clearer than Garmin does not feel the need to compete with the features of other brands – only against itself.
The jump between the precursor of $ 599 965 and the early 970 of $ 749 is important. You get the new generation V5 high for better HR precision, ECG and skin temperature readings, pocket lamp, microphone and speaker for calls and controls, protection of sapphire crystals and new measurements such as racing tolerance.
Or if you weigh the forerunner of $ 549 270 against the precursor of $ 449 265, you also get the Gen5 HR precision boost, the brightness of the dubbed screen on a larger display, the same microphone and the same speaker and the skin temperature with heat acclimatization.
Instinct 3 and the Vivoactive 6 stayed at the latest generation HR sensors, walking in water on equipment so that Garmin can keep them in their fixed price ranges. I feared that Garmin does the same with his precursors, making us wait until 2027 for real changes.
This is why I am excited for precluding 970, but I also feel frustrated by the way Garmin retains intermediate level watches like the precursor 570.
As prices increase, the retained features are more difficult to accept
Instinct 3 of $ 499 did not have offline cards despite an “Adventure” watch, while cheaper rival watches like the Coros Pace Pro and Suunto Race S of $ 349. I complained at the time, but Garmin did not give him a storage space for the cards, prioritizing a light CPU for the life of the battery.
The pioneer of $ 549 570 do Have a storage space for cards and no need to hold the processor. There is no logistical reason should not support cards; Even if they are not pre-led by 970, Garmin could allow you to download the topo data from a specific region, at least.
The only real explanation is that their absence makes people more likely to pay for the 970.
The same goes for the 570 health sensors. I obviously appreciate improved HR accuracy and skin temperature. But all the other Gen5 watches have ECGs, including the 349 $ 449. And apart from Garmin, the ECGs are the norm, from the mainstream watches to the fitness rivals such as the Coros Apex and Polar Vantage series.
But Garmin ignores the context of his rivals; The only competitor that counts is the precursor 970. This must stand out, so the 570 is missing. Heart health warnings are becoming a $ 750 negotiation program.
It is a fairly common strategy for Garmin. With the excellent precursor 165, you cannot see your training charge even if it is clearly calculated Load in the background to determine your VO2 Max, your recovery time and your training suggested daily with aaerobic or weak aerobic fireplace. Blocking of this data sells you to forecasting the precursor 265.
I accepted that Block of artificial characteristics because the 165 cost $ 249 and the training load is always quite niche. But Garmin Watch’s prices continue to crawl. It is more difficult to swallow blocked features when these intermediate level models cost much more than a galaxy or an Apple watch.
With the Garmin watches, each component has a price
Smartwatch “third” are sufficiently common today, and each company wants to check you. But they are also selective on the features locked by prices, because they know that it will seem bad if a competitor offers something for much less.
You obviously pay more for the steel or titanium housing, or other hardware increases such as better battery life. But if not, they serve most of the features in the main line model while sticking at the same price each year (apart from the occasional inflationary boost).
With Garmin, each new feature to modernize its watches comes with a price bump. Mip-amoleum display exchanges for ranges of precursor and instincts cost another $ 50 to $ 100 at the usual price. To the Fenix 8, adding AMOLED collectively, better sensors and a microphone and a speaker added $ 200 at the price.
You will not find the double band GPS on a $ 300 or less watch, nor offline cards on a watch less than $ 600. And even if Garmin’s Gen5 HR sensors were released in 2023, it will continue to use Gen4 sensors on “cheaper” models like the $ 500 Instinct 3 today.
I don’t know how much the components cost Garmin, but he wants We To know that this will pass this cost on us.
Other factors such as tariff concerns also increase prices. But Garmin 2025’s strategy establishes a previous light Garmin: once a watch costs a certain price, you should not expect new equipment at this price, or features already established at the flagship level.
The next version will cost the same thing, but will perform minimum upgrades, add new tools and cost much more.
Garmin treats any new feature as an opportunity to ask athletes more money in exchange for more value. And he can do it because he does not feel as much pressure to assess his fitness watches in a competitive way as the other brands.
Garmin users love its ecosystem too much – or are too invested there – to leave. And so Garmin accepts the negative press around Connect + Walled features and prices for new coolest features, because its loyal customers will pay $ 750 or more for them, even if they grow on this subject.
If you think that the precursor 970 and 570 is too expensive, then you at least know that the latest generation Garmin watches are still available – and reduced for the Memorial Day, so a precursor 965 costs $ 50 less than the 570.
Otherwise, we must accept this new standard with new Garmin watches.
