Garmin.com (once known as ProNav), a multinational technology company, was founded by Gary Burrell and Min Kao in 1989 in Lenexa, Kansas. Today, the company’s headquarters are in Olathe, Kansas, and it was incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Their first product as ProNav happens to have been a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit that sold for $2,500. Later, they renamed the company “Garmin”, which comes from a combo of the two partners’ names, “Gar” for Gary Burrell and “min” for Min H. Kao. Then, the U.S. Army became their first customer in 1991.
Garmin.com sales figures reached $105 million by 1995, and Garmin.com achieved profits of $23 million. Then sales hit $233 million and the profits $64 million by 1999. By the year 2000, the company was producing a total of 50 different GPS models and saw sales of three million of those devices.
Garmin.com products were being offered by 2,500 independent distributors worldwide and were being sold in 100 countries. By the summer of that year, Garmin.com held 35 GPS technology patents and employed 1,205 people all over the United States, the UK, and Taiwan. And, in December, Garmin.com started being publicly traded on NASDAQ. By 2006, total revenues of $1.77 billion had gone up 73 percent over 2005’s revenue of $1.03 billion. Clearly, Garmin.com had arrived!
What is garmin.com?
It’s the website of a company specializing in GPS technology for everything from automotive to aviation, marine, outdoor, and sports activities. And, because of their wearable technology development, they’ve also been giving smartwatch/activity tracker/consumer wearable developers (like Apple and Fitbit) a run for their money.
What products do they sell?
Garmin.com produces consumer, marine, and professional aviation devices that use GPS for navigational assistance. The company’s devices include hand-held GPS units and in-vehicle units. They also produce sports watches and activity trackers with some recent models adding pulse-oximetry and Bluetooth music playback. Here’s a list of some of their devices:
- Automotive navigation system
- Avionics (like the G1000 all-glass suite for OEM aircraft)
- Dog tracking and training collars that pair with smartwatches
- Garmin Nüvifones
- Handheld GPS devices
- Marine GPS devices
- iQue integrated PDA receivers
- Laptop GPS & mobile apps
- Personal trainers (GPS-enabled like the Garmin Edge & Garmin Forerunner)
- Sonar fish finder (using spread spectrum technology)
- Vector-based maps
- Wristwear (like sports watches & activity trackers for cycling, golf, running, swimming, and watersports)
Pros and Cons
Here are a few pros and cons inherent to Garmin.com products:
Pros:
1. Premium Quality Materials are used in all Garmin watches. Most of them, including the Fenix, Forerunner, and Vivoactive series watches, are manufactured using fiber-reinforced polymer.
2. Garmin.com is launching a new premium smartwatch grouping called the Marq Collection, which will range in pricing from about $1,500 to $2,500, signaling a move into the market of luxury watches.
Cons:
1. Garmin.com had to shut down some of its services on July 23, 2020, due to a ransomware attack that encrypted the company’s internal network as well as some of its production systems, preventing customers from being able to access online services.
2. Much like many multi-sport watches, some of Garmin’s look a bit like plastic toys on your wrist.3. Premium materials mean steep prices.
Customer Service
The Garmin.com Certified Pros are always on standby for resolving your problem in mere seconds. You never end up waiting on hold or talking to robots but just connecting in seconds. They’re available 24/7 and are actual US-Based Pros. Over the phone or via video, you can access remote Tech Support or even online repairs. And you can email Garmin customer service at product.support@garmin.com or you can even Tweet Garmin as well.
Customer Service phone numbers include: ·
(800) 800-1020. USA ·
(913) 397-8200. USA ·
(866) 429-9296 in Canada ·
For Website Issues, you can contact webmaster@garmin.com.
Final Thoughts About Garmin.com
Although Garmin.com is best known for being the leader in GPS technology worldwide, it’s a fact that Garmin.com is also one of the most well-respected premium smartwatch brands available today. They not only look good, but they perform exceptionally well. That’s mainly because of their reliable build quality and their excellent operating system. So, are they a bit pricier than some of their competitors? You bet. But are they worth it? Definitely.
