Garmin was founded in 1989 by electrical engineers Gary Burrell and Min H. Kao. At first, they called their fledgling company ProNav. A few years later, they changed it to Garmin by combining their first names together. The company’s big idea was to “popularize GPS and change the world.” At the time, no one could have foreseen GPS strapped to a wrist, much less a robust series of Garmin watches!
Between 1973 and 1993, the Department of Defense launched a series of satellites to implement GPS for both military and civilian use. The civilian aspect was promised in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan, following the Korean airline tragedy that shocked the world. The plane had inadvertently strayed more than 200 miles off course, entered Russian air space near some top-secret installations, and was shot down by the Soviets.
Before all the DOD GPS satellites were in place, the Garmin brand was up and running. They started with an all-in-one GPS cockpit device for aviation. Since then, the company has grown, expanding into the marine, automotive, outdoor, and fitness markets. Today, Garmin watches, wearables, and outdoor/fitness products account for more than half of the company’s worldwide sales!
Garmin watches cover the gamut of styles, purposes, and price points. Surprisingly though, not all have built-in GPS.
There are sport-specific Garmin smartwatches with embedded GPS technology. Sports include running, multisport/triathlete, water sports, and even golf such as the Approach S10 GPS Smartwatch.
Garmin also makes hybrid smartwatches like the vivomove series. These feature traditional watch hands with a hidden digital interface. They do not have a built-in GPS. Rather, they pair to a compatible smartphone and use its GPS antenna.
And there are vivofit jr kids’ fitness trackers with a watch shape specially made for little movers and shakers. The latest series is vivofit jr 3. These kid-friendly Garmin watches incorporate parental controls and interactive experiences, so a child’s activity unlocks educational globe-trotting app adventures and rewards. They don’t use GPS at all but rather rely on a built-in accelerometer to count steps and distance traveled.
The Approach S10 series is designed for golfers wanting to keep it simple. It lets them stay focused on their game and the golf course. The S10 Garmin golf GPS watch is sleek, lightweight, and easy to use. It provides yardages to the front, back, and middle of the green—as well as hazards and doglegs—on more than 41,000 preloaded courses worldwide! When the wearer completes a hole, it automatically transitions to the next hole while the golfer moves to the next tee box. It also provides a summary of the round with the total distance played, total time, and score. Users can upload scorecards to the Garmin Express desktop application for future reference.
These Garmin watches are water-rated to 5 ATM, which is 164 ft. (50 meters). So, there’s no need to worry about water hazards, rain, or sweat. The Approach S10 is also comfortable as an everyday watch, displaying time, date, and sunrise/sunset times.
The life of its rechargeable battery varies. It ranges from up to 12 hours in GPS mode and up to 14 weeks in Watch mode.
The vivomove series of Garmin watches appeals to those who love the classic style of an analog watch but also value health and fitness tracking. These hybrid smartwatches are stylish rather than being a hunk of tech bulging on a wrist. This makes them appropriate for the board room as well as the workout room.
The real ticking hands on the vivomove move to reveal the hidden touchscreen display. There the wearer can see a full suite of health and wellness tools. These include Pulse Ox, estimated heart rate, Body Battery energy, all-day stress tracking, step count, and even text messages from a paired smartphone (Android and Apple compatible). There are also built-in sports apps such as yoga, cardio, treadmill, cycling, etc.
As mentioned earlier, the vivomove connects to a compatible smartphone’s GPS antenna to accurately track distance and pace. And their lighter weight and slightly smaller size make them especially popular with women and those with thinner wrists.
Battery life is up to 5 days in Smartwatch mode and up to 6 days in Watch mode.
Prying kids away from the computer screen to get some fresh air and exercise or to do their chores can be a challenge. The vivofit jr 3 can help! The latest in Garmin’s vivofit jr series, it’s a watch-like fitness tracker with a parent-controlled app and app-based globe-trotting adventures a child can unlock by staying active.
Watch faces and icons pop on the color display, and the watch-like shape makes kids feel like they have a grown-up smartwatch, just like their parents.
Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales, noted when they were first released:
“Kids are motivated to meet their activity goals to see what happens next in the app adventure. Parents will also appreciate vivofit jr 3 as a tool to add some structure to their child’s routine with the ability to assign chores, set reminders, and reward good behavior.”
The vivofit jr 3 series is available in a variety of themed adventures. This one in Blue Stars, for example, is part of the Garmin series that unlocks World Tour adventures. Other vivofit jr 3 series include Star Wars the Mandalorian, Disney Princess, and Marvel.
The vivofit jr 3 series of Garmin watches are kid-tough, swim-friendly, and has a battery life of up to one year!
GPS has come a long way in the 33 years since Garmin was founded in 1989. GPS was once a highly classified satellite positioning technology used solely by the U.S. Department of Defense. Today, GPS (and its counterparts across the globe) is used in countless civilian devices.
Garmin’s business model has made them one of the most recognizable and highly respected brands in the world. They value the fundamentals and tackle the hardest jobs first. And they use vertical integration for tighter design-and-quality control from start to finish. The result is extremely high customer satisfaction—and a massive share of the consumer GPS market.
If you are a retailer looking to carry an instantly recognizable, hot-selling GPS consumer technology brand, be sure to take a look at Garmin watches as well as all of the Garmin products available through Petra Industries.
And if you are a reseller looking for a wholesale distribution company that provides services that give you a strategic advantage in your day-to-day operations, check out everything that Petra can do for you!