this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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TL;DR: They lied to us, plain and simple. The temptation of Make Line Go Up was enough to make Garmin abandon their promise of no subscriptions and no paywalls.
Nobody outside of the idiots in the boardroom wants this, especially the AI garbage. It's disgusting that $1100 for a Fenix 8 isn't already enough for these greedy assholes. Original features are "free for now," but I guarantee you this will change when nobody signs up and MBA dipshits start leaning on everybody to force users to provide recurring revenue by moving previously free functionality into the subscription tier. This is not a prediction or an "if," it is an inevitability and a "when," unless we nip this in the bud right now.
I am on my second Garmin watch, a Fenix 6. Previously I had a 5x. My wife has a Lily. These will be our last ever Garmin devices, and I'll be sure to let them know it. It's getting to the point where no smartwatch maker can be trusted, unsurprisingly, and honestly the alleged benefits they provide are probably no longer worth it in the long run. Before smartwatches were a thing I amassed quite a selection of normal watches, which I will probably just go back to using when my current watch inevitably cacks it, or the software becomes so borked that it's useless.
Edit: In fact, just now I did let them know it. I also cancelled my inReach subscription and let them know it there as well, and deleted my Connect account (and pulled my watch faces off of their marketplace) and also let them know it there too. When I do something I mean it. I suggest you all do the same; the only ear these companies have is located in their coin purses.
Hopefully things like PineTime, Bangle.js, and the return of Pebble can shake up the market. There's always neat DIY hacks like the SensorWatch too that can still make the space fun even if the major players get enshittified.
I'd be fine with my OG Pebble, honestly. The only functions I really need and genuinely use are custom watch faces to change things up now and again, and notifications going to my phone.
I got my first Garmin after Pebble evaporated because it was quite rugged, had a similar color screen, and most importantly a long battery life. It has built in mapping functionality which I thought I'd use, but I really don't. I have zero interest in the tracking features, health and otherwise, and leave all of that turned off. I personally can't understand why everyone is so obsessed with that all the time, nor anyone in their right mind would trust sending any of that kind of data to a third party for any reason.
HealthyPi will be a too option too. Much more fitness focused than pinetime or banglejs
If gadget bridge paired with a fully featured local analysis tool, I would love that and probably put them on my FOSS donation list too.