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by alexmorley 280 days ago
They are built to last. I've had my Fenix 5 for at least 7 years and it shows no signs of slowing or dying. Battery still lasts 5 days or so with normal use. Think it's just stopped getting software updates.

Admittedly they were a bit cheaper back then (but this will one will be too next year)...
1 comments
bastawhiz 280 days ago
Perhaps I'm being overly cynical, but I have zero faith that any device whose primary distinguishing feature is a subscription connectivity service will be usable in more than five years.
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zymhan 280 days ago
What does Garmin gain by killing off an older device if the owner still pays for a subscription?

Also, it's not like this is a hypothetical question, they've been around for decades. They do have a track record you can refer to, instead of just blind faith.

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bastawhiz 280 days ago
Selling you a new $1200 device.

See: Garmin nüvi.

It's not as though my cell phone will continue working forever. Nest discontinued Nest Aware. I've gotten bitten by this exact phenomenon more times than I care to admit.

I don't care about Garmin's reputation, it's simply a fact that having satellites talking to specialized devices requires a critical mass of subscriptions. There's a chain of vendors that need to all be on board to support all the hardware that keeps those devices online and updated, and at some point they will be discontinued. Probably sooner rather than later, especially when plenty of new phones make the functionality here redundant.

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zymhan 279 days ago
> See: Garmin nüvi.

You'll have to elaborate, that's a wide product line. And they still sell map updates for many Nuvi devices: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1456/pn/010-D0743-00/#devices

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Lio 279 days ago
The oldest still supported Garmin inReach device is the original DeLorme inReach from 2011 (Garmin bought DeLorme).

That at least bodes well for long term support.

I suspect that subscription supported devices will actually get better support than standard Garmin products.

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_xtrimsky 280 days ago
i'm an owner of their Garmin 945 LTE released over 4 years ago. I have paid the subscription since. The device is still working very well, still got an update a couple of months ago. Battery still lasts about 5 days.
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bastawhiz 280 days ago
At least LTE doesn't require involvement on Garmin's part to keep it working.
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