A year ago, users of the best Garmin watches were really angry. They took to platforms like Reddit in droves and filled the comments sections (and my inbox) with their fury.
Because? Garmin had announced its then-new premium tier, Garmin Connect+, which asked users to pay $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually in exchange for exclusive access to new AI features like Garmin’s Active Intelligence feedback, along with an improved LiveTrack service, a performance dashboard and other bits.
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The results
As you can see, most users are still not happy with Connect+. Of 1,325 Garmin users, 80% of respondents (1,061) “never bothered” to sign up for Connect+. Only 12% of respondents tried Connect+, but returned to the free tier and did not continue with the service. A measly 5% of respondents, 67 people in total, answered “yes, I use it and it’s good.”
Our smallest group of respondents was reserved for those people who were so angry about the change that they actually switched watch brands, with 36 people of the original 1,325 ditching Garmin entirely in favor of an alternative.
We also received some comments and emails from people telling us why they voted the way they did and how they felt about Connect+.
One commenter said: “Garmin’s shitified app will never get my hard-earned money on top of the high cost of the hardware. The hardware is great, their software is poor. I’ll move on to another brand on my next purchase.”
Meanwhile, Max said, “I’ll stick with the free tier. If they push any harder, I’ll switch to another brand.” This approach seems to reflect the majority of Garmin users, according to our survey.
Via email, Linda said that, as a decade-long Garmin user, she would “take the hit and move to Withings” if Garmin put her favorite features behind a paywall.
The best Garmin watches for all budgets
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