Garmin, the company known for its cutting-edge GPS navigation products, started by supplying these GPS products to the aviation industry in 1989. They aimed at helping pilots navigate their way above the clouds. Fast forward to today, Garmin aims to help people navigate their fitness and health, in addition to navigating their way!
Before diving deep into Garmin smartwatches, let us know the industries Garmin makes smartwatches.
Today, Garmin is a renowned leader in aviation, automotive, marine, outdoor and fitness markets. But what makes it stand out? Its focus is on niche markets.
Garmin’s primary focus is not to manufacture products that serve everyone’s needs. It focuses on a niche set of customers and makes excellent products to cater for their needs.
Let us take examples of its smartwatches to understand Garmin’s niche targeting.
Garmin manufactures a variety of smartwatches, including-
- Smartwatches for athletes like runners, swimmers, cyclers, etc., with advanced training metrics
- Smartwatches for truck drivers to support driver health and daily convenience
- Smartwatches for divers who explore ocean depths
- Smartwatches for hikers to explore the best scenic views
- And so on.
From being known for its fitness features, Garmin is now also known for its health features. Let’s dive right into Garmin Smartwatches and know more!
Garmin Smartwatches: A product of quality and accuracy
Garmin is among the early players in the smartwatch market. While other companies like Apple, Samsung etc., started focusing on health features and SpO2 measurements after the pandemic, Garmin introduced heart rate and SpO2 sensors in 2015-2016. Back then, people thought it wasn’t meant for them.
The pandemic stirred health awareness among young and old alike, causing a spike in the demand for smartwatches. People started looking for smartwatches that can help monitor health and fitness while becoming an extension for their smartphones. The market is crowded by players jumping in, but none are able to beat the quality and accuracy offered by Garmin Smartwatches.
Garmin offers a premium range of smartwatches having sleek designs and accuracy in health measurements. If you are looking for a premium quality smartwatch, the Garmin smartwatch should be on the top of your list.
Why buy Garmin Smartwatches?
Garmin smartwatches stand out in the market for two main reasons-
- Years of experience
Garmin has been in the wearables space since 2002 and understands customer requirements better. The company has developed and grown with its customers. Health features like SpO2 measurements, heart rate, sleep, respiratory rate and stress levels have been polished over the years.
Here is a quick snapshot of their 2021 asian health report
India ranks in the Top Three for the Average Resting Calories, Active Calories and Weekly Intensity Minutes category
Key Findings:
India ranks 1st with the highest average resting calories (2,451 Cal) followed by South Korea (2,451 Cal) and Hong Kong (2,402 Cal)
Top three regions with the highest average intensity minutes values are Hong Kong (53 minutes), India (47 minutes) and South Korea (46.9 minutes)
Report highlights “Resting Calories” of both men and women in Asia decreased in the age range of 55 years and above
The average weekly intensity minutes of the older population is more than that of the youngsters in Asia
Asian countries registered fewer “Active Calories” in comparison to the 2020 data. Also, their “Stress Levels” have been amplified due to the ongoing pandemic
https://www.garmin.co.in/event/2021/health-campaign/
- Focus on quality and accuracy
The hardware and software of Garmin wearables have been evolving since 2002. They have refined their systems to provide the best quality products to their customers. Garmin is known for its vertical integration manufacturing process. All its products, hardware or software, are manufactured in-house. Smartwatches are manufactured in-house. As a result, they don’t need to rely on Chinese imports and have a global fault ratio of 0.02 (percentage of products that fail).
Garmin plays on quality and not price. It is laser-focused on quality and accuracy.
Other interesting facts that attract customers towards Garmin are-
- It provides support and substantial software upgrades for its devices for years on end. As a result, Garmin smartwatches last for a long, long time.
- It does not believe in adding impressive features. Only the features that can be measured with accuracy are added to its smartwatches. That’s the reason Garmin hasn’t introduced blood pressure and blood glucose monitoring to its smartwatches.
Health features in Garmin Smartwatches
So, what are the health features offered by Garmin smartwatches?
- Heart rate monitoring
Garmin smartwatch uses an optical heart rate sensor to measure your heart rate and its variability. It measures your resting heart rate throughout the day and active heart rate while exercising.
- Sleep tracking
When you wear Garmin to bed, it helps you understand your sleeping patterns by tracking the quantity and quality of your sleep. Time slept, sleep cycles (light, deep, REM), time awake, and your movement throughout the night are accurately tracked by the Garmin smartwatch.
- Respiration rate tracking
Garmin also tracks your respiration rate, i.e., the number of breaths you take per minute. The metric is tracked throughout the day and night. You can view the results in the Garmin connect app.
- Measuring SpO2 levels
The built-in pulse oximeter in Garmin measures SpO2 or oxygen levels in your blood. In the Garmin connect app you will be able to view a graph depicting the overall percentage of oxygen in the blood. It also shows weekly and monthly trends.
- Stress tracking
Based on your heart rate variability, the Garmin smartwatch automatically records your stress levels throughout the day. It gives you a stress score and encourages you to take up guided breathing exercises.
- Energy tracking/ body battery metric
Garmin offers a unique and insightful metric called body battery. Based on your sleep quality, heart rate variability, stress, activity etc., Garmin assigns you a body battery score that indicates your energy levels. Throughout the day, your body battery increases or decreases based on the activities you perform.
- Activity tracking
Like all other smartwatches, Garmin also tracks your activity. It keeps a track of your exercises, walking, running, sleeping and all other activities you perform during the day.
- Fitness tracking
Apart from health monitoring, Garmin smartwatches also keep a count of
- Steps
- Distance
- Floors climbed
- Calories burnt
- Intensity minutes
- Menstrual cycle tracking
- Hydration
- VO2 max
Note- The health features offered by Garmin vary from device to device. Some smartwatches have advanced features, while some have basic ones. Check out the features and your requirements before buying one.
Effectiveness score of Garmin Vivoactive 4 smartwatch
| Latest model | Garmin Vivoactive 4 |
| Health features↓ | (Out of 10) |
| Activity monitor | 9 |
| Heart rate monitor | 9 |
| Respiratory rate tracking | 9 |
| Sleep tracking | 10 |
| Fall detection | 9 |
| Fitness tracking | 10 |
| Body battery metric | 10 |
| Blood oxygen Saturation | 9 |
Other product offerings by Garmin
- Aviation segment
Garmin provides solutions to aircraft owners, manufacturers, operators and government and defence customers. Solutions like-
- GPS-enabled navigation
- VHF communications transmitters and receivers
- Multi-function displays
- Electronic flight instrumentation systems
- Automatic flight control systems
- Traffic advisory systems and traffic collision avoidance systems
- Instrument landing system receivers
- Surveillance products
- Audio panels
- Cockpit data link systems
- Marine segments
Garmin manufactures and offers
- Handhelds
- network products and multifunction displays
- Fixed-mount GPS
- Chart plotter products
- Fishfinders
- Radar and autopilots
- Very high-frequency radios
- Marine networking products
- Sounder products
- Automotive segment
- Personal navigation devices
- Motorcycle-specific navigators
- Navigation applications for smartphones
- Auto OEM solutions
- Outdoor segments
Garmin offers portable GPS receivers and accessories like
- Lightweight training assistants for athletes
- Integrated personal training systems designed for cyclists
- Handheld GPS navigators with built-in mapping
- Handheld two-way family radio service and general mobile service
- Outdoor handheld devices for hunters, hikers, geocachers and outdoors enthusiasts
- Handheld GPS for golfers
- GPS-enabled dog tracking system.
- Fitness segment
- Compact and lightweight training assistants for athletes with an integrated GPS sensor
- Garmin connect mobile applications
- Garmin Swim
- Garmin Smartwatches
Garmin’s 2021 revenue
- Garmin is a public limited company. Its pro forma earnings per share increased to $5.82, seeing a 13% YOY growth.
- 2021 was Garmin’s sixth consecutive year of revenue growth. It recorded consolidated revenue of $4.98 billion. And all its five segments saw double-digit revenue growth.
- Net sales saw a YOY increase of 19%. 16.6 million units were sold.
- Fitness segment represented the largest portion of revenue at 31% followed by Outdoor segment- 26%, Marine segment- 17%, Aviation segment- 14% and Automotive segment- 12%.
To conclude
The revenue and growth of Garmin are on the rise. The company’s focus on providing the best equipment to help their users navigate their health and fitness, in addition to navigating their way, is helping them attract and retain customers.
Though expensive, Garmin products are preferred for their quality, accuracy and long-lasting life.
It’s finally here! The watch built for every day of the week – the fēnix 7 Series.
Learn more:
Originally tweeted by Garmin (@GarminUK) on January 18, 2022.
In the words of Ali Rizvi, Director, Garmin India, more than building upwards, we focus on building a strong and sustainable foundation.
With this sustainable foundation, we can look forward to new, advanced and customer-centric products from Garmin.
