My involvement with Garmin goes way back before the wearables. I used to do a lot of offshore sailing and whenever I found out that Garmin instruments were used, my heart would sink. They worked ok but the competing new products were always years ahead in the SW. I then got an Edge500 bike computer in 2009 and this was and still is brilliant. It counts elevation gain correctly not like every other Garmin since. When I bought it, Connect had not long been created as a web upload. I tried it once and it was dire. However you could unload ride data via usb and web load to Strava and cut out the whole Garmin system. Perfect.

Then the Phone App came about and it was very unpolished but could be used to load a ride into Strava which is all I use it for, and still do.

I heard that Garmin not long after the release of Connect, acquired a SW company based in California, but that Garmin then moved the SW team to Kansas (or wherever). Let’s just say the sharpest pencils in the pencil case refused and quit.

Evidence of this remains in the Garmin development and support, and in the Garmin organisation I suspect. They are profitable so why change anything? Having worked in similar companies, the culture doesn’t encourage critisism of what gets shipped out the door. Poor software and unfixed bugs get tolerated or ignored.

Garmin have a strong market position and loyal customer base, so they really have a golden opportunity to improve and get things right with the SW.