July 10, 2013

Garmin -- How I hate thee

Last night, I did laundry and dishes and went on a walk and talked with my childhood best friend for an hour or so.  The garmin recorded the 1.45 mile walk and all was well.

Today, when I tried to head out for my longer mid-week run, the watch just couldn't find the satellites.  AT ALL.

Fast forward.  In between a ridiculous work-day and tending to tortoise and husband and general life needs, I've auto-located.  Rebooted.  Soft-reset.  Hard-reset and removed all user data.  You name it, if it's on a FAQ or forum, I've done it.

And yet, like every Garmin I've ever had, this one seems to have decided that it's time to give up the ghost.  Right around every 1.5 years or so.

Seriously -- when will I learn?

(Also, when will Garmin learn to put a reasonable watch strap on the watch that isn't the size of a cell phone and/or doesn't result in a metal pin that pulls out and explodes with the watch springing off your wrist?)

So, whereas before I had some of the best GPS data of all of my running buddies.  Now, I've basically got a stop watch that shows lots of screens indicating that it's "waiting for satellites".  With gmap-pedometer, this isn't the worst thing in the world.  I can live with a stopwatch and a well-mapped running route.  I may just try to make it work for a while.

But, really?  REALLY?  Garmin, you are making American products look bad.  You need to show a little class and offer a product that doesn't completely fall apart at month 18 (or before).  Come on.

2 comments:

Jen said...

Sorry to hear it. My Garmin froze on me last Saturday. Luckily, a hard reset brought it back to life. I've had it for 16 months -- hope it lasts past 18!

Angela Knotts said...

Yeah, I've been through this a lot recently as well. Mine is now at the 3.5 year mark, so I suppose I can't complain to much. Still, how long can you stand there staring at your wrist before people just think you're a moron? :P