What's bizarre? Per your own statement, "They sold cheap" as soon as they encountered some hardship, so it is quite understandable to not trust they'll behave differently this time around.
As far as I recall, it was sell cheap, or collapse with nothing. Garmin bought cheap and gutted it for the IP. It wasn't a sell to get paid, it was a sell or get nothing. It wasn't just hardship, it was the end.
> "They sold cheap" as soon as they encountered some hardship
Nobody is perfect, and running a small hardware startup is difficult. I'm not saying Eric and co are perfect, but it seems like he's been fairly forthright about the mistakes made at Pebble[1] and what Core aims to do better.
Shit happens, people make mistakes, Apple/Google decide to compete with you and/or lock you out of parts of their garden.