![]() Garmin Connect being on the easy end (but with less information being available for analysis), while programs like Golden Cheetah being on the opposite end with having incredible analytic capability, but at the same time being harder to get up to speed on. There exists a fairly clear relationship between how complex the software is to understand with how much information it can provide to the end user. And this jives with the feedback I get from most of you around the different training program offerings out there. They admitted that it’s not always easy to provide heavy analytic information in a package that can be easily consumed by entry level users. One of the challenges they pointed out is finding middle ground between a product that a non-technical beginner runner can easily use, with one that more advanced users might use. Now, that’s not to say that we should expect Garmin Connect to become the next Training Peaks or Golden Cheetah. This is because as Garmin moves into offering products aimed at at more advanced users (the Vector power meter) it will by associate drive some of the changes we’ll be seeing soon – “With rollout of Vector later this year expect some changes, more data fields and information – comparable to what other power systems have that are out there today.” It turns out though that the Metrigear acquisition may actually be driving some changes in the future. I prodded about whether they saw themselves adding more advanced features, noting that the majority of advanced athletes don’t use Garmin Connect simply due to the lack of real analysis power behind it. Given that IT development is always a simple balance between functionality and cost, I think this is the right direction since I don’t thing anybody has any real issues with how GC looks form a UI standpoint, but rather would prefer the features to be more advanced. In other words, don’t expect to see a shift in how Garmin Connect looks when you login, but rather the development time is being pour into adding new functionality and capabilities (as well as likely bug fixes). However, he went onto say that the Garmin Connect team was “On the brink of a major set of changes – not necessarily aesthetics though, but rather focusing on features”. This slowdown in new features was undoubtedly tied to a significant setback in staffing/resourcing when the vast majority of the Garmin Connect team (previously from Motion Based) elected not to move to Olathe, Kansas from the San Francisco area, instead choosing to leave Garmin. But they’ve definitely been working on improvements and listening to feedback from users”. ![]() Garmin’s Justin McCarthy agreed, saying that “The emphasis lately has been placed on stability, the Connect team has done a great job ensuring stability compared to points over the last year and a half or so. ![]() ![]() And while the updates are certainly interesting (and a few of them are really big), some of the discussion we had around the goal and direction of Garmin Connect was actually equally as interesting, if not slightly more.ĭuring our discussion I led off with the question around where there were any planned updates to Garmin Connect (GC), noting that it’s been about 18 months since we saw anything significant – with most of the work since largely being maintenance items. That item would be around Garmin Connect. So this is really more of a minor update to follow-up on that. I mentioned last week in my Garmin update post around Vector and new watches that I had one more item of note from Garmin, but needed to wait to more to discuss it.
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