When individuals discuss Garmin, it’s normally about one factor – the best running watches. And certain, that’s the bit most of us see. You purchase a Forerunner or a Fenix, sync it to the Connect app, after which spend the subsequent few years being a bit too smug about battery life, particularly when your mates complain about their Apple Watches dying after a day.
But once I was invited to Garmin’s HQ in Olathe, Kansas for a media tour to coincide with the surprise launch of the new Forerunner series final yr, I used to be excited to see behind the scenes. As a smartwatch fanatic, it was like a golden ticket straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
1. Garmin assessments all its watches in-house to breaking level
The spotlight of the tour for me wasn’t a shiny new watch reveal, it was the testing labs. Not as a result of they’re glamorous (they’re actually not), however as a result of they clarify why Garmin house owners are likely to have the identical gadget for ages.
It was fairly amusing to listen to how Garmin really need their gadgets to interrupt in these labs. But the purpose is, it actually helps them perceive why failures occur, to allow them to repair them earlier than a product goes to market.
The information defined that the entire level of this sort of testing is to get forward of potential “field failures” as early as doable in growth, then maintain rerunning assessments because the design matures. They would a lot somewhat a prototype to crumble in a lab than for a retail unit to die midway by way of a consumer’s triathlon, which makes full sense.
The number of assessments occurring in these labs was additionally fairly spectacular. I used to be proven specially-made chambers for chilly, warmth, humidity and UV-style weathering, designed to speed up the form of sluggish injury that usually manifests after months of solar, sweat and winter runs.
There are additionally salt fog chambers for corrosion, together with one which cycles publicity to imitate real-world situations, and chemical testing for the stuff individuals really get on wearables, reminiscent of synthetic sweat, sunscreen, and even nastier issues like gasoline and transmission fluid.
Then there’s the bodily abuse the wearables bear. Drop testing is a given, however Garmin makes use of rigs that may orient a tool so it lands precisely on a particular level (like a button) again and again, with high-speed footage to allow them to watch what fails in sluggish movement.
Cycle assessments make up an enormous a part of the testing, too, the place elements get actuated hundreds of instances – like straps stretching repeatedly, buttons being hammered, or mechanisms being labored till one thing offers. It’s not nearly whether or not it may possibly survive a fall, but when it may possibly survive getting used how a standard individual would, repeatedly, over months, years, and perhaps even a long time.
I wasn’t allowed to take images on this space, annoyingly (however understandably), however what I’ll say is that experiencing it left a stronger impression than any product slide deck did that total journey. It’s additionally the form of factor that makes Garmin’s, err, premium pricing a bit simpler to swallow. You may nonetheless wince on the value, however no less than you may see the place a few of that cash goes.
2. Garmin’s huge warehouse is principally a super-advanced robotic motorway
If the take a look at lab is the place Garmin proves its merchandise’ sturdiness, the corporate’s warehouse is the place it showcases scale. This space was unbelievably enormous but it surely wasn’t simply its dimension that shocked me, it was seeing every part that occurs right here.
It’s undoubtedly not the horny aspect of tech, however I received to see how the corporate ensures you get your watch rapidly, handles returns effectively, and the way a lot (or little) waste will get created alongside the way in which.
The warehouse operation is maybe probably the most spectacular, because it’s completely filled with automation, using towering machines and robots that shuttle merchandise round in order that employees aren’t continuously trekking up and down infinite aisles or stairs.
The information right here defined that the warehouse robots observe set routes, drive beneath a cellular storage rack, lock into its base and elevate it barely, then carry the entire rack to wherever it’s wanted, all directed by pill requests from employees and chopping out a ton of pointless strolling.
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(Image credit score: Future: Lee Bell)
The most oddly satisfying bit, although, was the packaging line. There’s a machine that measures the peak of what’s in a field, scores the cardboard, folds it down, glues it, and principally trims the packaging to suit.
That doesn’t sound like an enormous deal till you keep in mind that transport is predicated on dimension in addition to weight. When stacked collectively, these small financial savings in area actually add up, that means Garmin is saving emissions by not paying to ship a load of air, leading to fewer journeys.
All this automation and effectivity is very superior, and may clarify the place a few of these excessive asking costs are going.
3. Garmin’s aviation roots imply reliability is its cornerstone
So right here’s the half I actually didn’t count on – simply how a lot of Garmin’s DNA is ingrained in different industries like aviation, not simply health, and the way that feeds into our health watches.
On the tour, Garmin’s ties to aviation have been flaunted as considered one of its foundational areas – one thing the early group was apparently deeply rooted in. And they spoke about it with the form of delight you usually hear when manufacturers speak about their “hero” product class, and never just a few aspect business-to-business aspect hustle.
They walked me by way of the form of techniques Garmin builds into plane, from massive cockpit shows, sensors, GPS, comms, even connectivity for maintaining databases updated, so pilots aren’t manually fussing with backgrounds whereas within the air.
There was additionally loads of emphasis on flight management tech reminiscent of autopilot techniques and security options, together with a one-button emergency operate that may take over, talk, choose a touchdown location and convey the plane down safely if one thing goes flawed.
They even took us up within the air in a few of their planes (sure, they’ve their very own hangar) to indicate us the way it all labored, which wasn’t terrifying within the slightest…
Obviously, that is all worlds away from a Forerunner buzzing your wrist since you’ve drifted out of the Zone 2 coronary heart charge zone, but it surely does clarify that Garmin is obsessive about reliability in conditions the place failure isn’t simply annoying, it’s harmful. Whether you are within the air or out within the wilderness, tech must be dependable. And this – for me – helps reframe the dialog round how costly Garmin gadgets may be.
I now see Garmin as not only a model that simply makes good-quality wearables, however one which builds critical navigation and management techniques, after which brings a few of that mindset and engineering tradition into its shopper devices.
All of the above made the campus really feel much less like a working watch HQ and extra like a weirdly broad tech empire with health, outside, aviation, marine, and automotive all underneath one roof, which, I need to admit, gave me some critical Apple HQ vibes.
I flew there pondering I used to be masking a sports activities watch launch and got here away with a completely totally different perspective on the model. That the rationale Garmin package feels so reliable isn’t simply the watches themselves, it’s the very fact it’s a succesful engineering firm constructed round constructing difficult navigational tech extraordinarily effectively.
So, should you’re about to purchase your subsequent Garmin, it is most likely value remembering these three issues: the watches are examined in genuinely brutal methods; the logistics operation is much extra superior than most individuals realise; and the corporate’s critical engineering roots run a lot deeper than health.
That doesn’t imply Garmin is ideal, however its gadgets not solely stands the take a look at of time, however in addition they are likely to make day-to-day coaching really feel smoother and extra dependable, which is the form of factor that’s onerous to surrender when you’re used to it.
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