alanb

It is good to see Garmin introduce a new product. That said, the Garmin wearable devices do not interest me at all.

Garmin devices seem to work forever. I have 6 Garmins ... oldest from 2009 and they all still work like new. But without sales of new devices to generate revenue, Garmin will not be able to continue with the "lifetime" map updates, and at some point will also discontinue the Smartphone Link service for traffic. And that will be the end of it. Sure, you can install OpenStreetMaps to get updated maps, but you lose a lot of functionality and features when you do that.

Garmin still has the best user interface for road navigation IMO, but they sure missed the boat by not coming up with a sustainable marketing model for smartphone apps.

Yes, the 7x5 series has this screen brightness problem when not in the powered cradle. My 755T brightness is marginal at best, and pretty much useless in bright conditions when not in the cradle.

Well, I certainly fit into Boyd's identified demographic group! :) And i agree with his assessment. Garmin is not going away, but their automotive devices might be.

And then there’s the Basecamp/Mapinstall bug (or is it a feature?) that prevents you from installing third party maps on your gps ever since the last update. That is driving everyone crazy over at gpsfiledepot.

Sigh! It appears Garmin has mostly abandoned the handheld market too. Too bad as I still value these devices, but it is obvious that sales volume is no longer there because of smart phone apps. I can accept that, but I just wish Garmin would bring the user interface on their devices to a good app. I would be willing to pay a reasonable price or even an annual subscription fee for a good app that included the functions and features of their dedicated devices.