Honest Question! Is Garnim still viable in 2026 or is it a unitasker or even a DECENT unitasker? Thoughts? I'm not completely AGAINST unitaskers, but they're not free, sometimes they're not light or compact, and SOMETIMES they're not even all that good at their ONE task. I do have SOME uni-taskers, a 15th century mechanical watch would be a good example but a GNSS (GPS) receiver??? UM......they're pretty ubiquitous, and from MY chair it seems like Garmins usually do stuff that everybody else does.....'better.' Thoughts?
LOL...your cellphone is "better" because it does more is like arguing you NEED one of these because it does a little of everything - but exceeds at nothing I'm guessing that when the millennials hit their 40's and start needing to wear reading glasses they may no longer be the cheerleaders for viewing the world through a myopic postage stamp sized cellphone screen window.
If the 1990s want theirs back too, they can HAVE mine. It's been useless since the week-number rollover in 2019.
I'm in the mountains a lot; so it does work better than a cell phone that doesn't work at all; unless you climb a ridge. Cell phone coverage has been getting better throughout the years; but they mainly cover the major highways and easy to access places. If you want to get off-grid and your not covered in tree canopy 360 degrees - my garmen works. PS; you can get a high-end used one on Ebay for around $30. Lifetime maps and traffic still works; thought traffic updates are slower if you don't link it to your cell phone. Budget a replacement battery; I've already had to replace mine twice. This is also cheaper than annual Toyota map updates; since it's tough to get your hands on paper maps now.
I'm seeing Garmins being used by the 'outdoorsy' type (inReach) for SOS comms......and I'm seeing some older gym rats use Garmin watches....but these are all things that cell phones currently do BETTER. One of the things that keeps MY company crapping their trou is the explosive developmental rate of Direct To Cell. SO.... There's a 'thing' in emergency Comms called PACE. Primary. Alternate. Contingency. Emergency. If you're in the weeds, or humping a ruck....WEIGHT MATTERS, and so you may just be good with just a primary and a backup, but because cell phones are NOT uni-taskers and they're light.....and cheap you can bring more than one. I use GNSS for HF digital comms - and so there "might be" times, situations, and places where you do not want to do the internet thing.....or the internet might be down. Garmin's good for precise time, right? Yup.....but for $10......
I was talking about the automotive Garmins. I've been looking at the inReach; but it's pretty expensive - then monthly connection fees. Most newer and younger ruck-sackers forget the backup battery and placing the cellphone into airplane mode then manually turning on the Bluetooth link to the inReach. Most kids tend to gloss over things unless it's on tik-tok. Then again; most newer high-end cell phones are emergency satellite compatible. I'm thinking a new satellite compatible phone will be the correct route for the long run; since I usually buy 2-3 year old unlocked phones and go with a very cheap MVNO plan. The high-end cell phones with screen burn are cheap. I just change them to "dark-mode".
I like the Garmin in my '26 just fine. Mostly drive with infotainment display off. Less distracting, more visible. Of course, not perfect routing, but navigates in cell-less areas.
I like the Garmin in my '26 just fine. Mostly drive with infotainment display off. Less distracting, more visible. Of course, not perfect routing, but navigates in cell-less areas. View attachment 302560
I like the Garmin in my '26 just fine. Mostly drive with infotainment display off. Less distracting, more visible. Of course, not perfect routing, but navigates in cell-less areas. View attachment 302560
