Garmins are incredibly expensive and not everyone wants a fitness tracker. Garmin's UX is also very disjointed between devices for how expensive they are. Plus, battery life tends to be garbage for smartwatches. I just sold my Apple Watch for a Coros because I was tired of trading battery life for features I didn't want/use and Garmins also require yet another subscription for some features. As someone who just spent the last month deciding on a new fitness wearable, much of the market is full of bloated devices that don't do everything right, but instead do a handful of things right with a laundry list of caveats.
There's still a strong market for dumb watches too, so a long-lasting "smart" device that does some things but not as much as an Apple Watch, Garmin, Coros, etc while still serving as a general information displaying wearable sounded enticing. Unfortunately Apple's lockdown of the iPhone for the previous Pebbles (which I think might still be a thing) and my need for fitness tracking are what prevented me from buying a Pebble.
> Garmin's UX is also very disjointed between devices for how expensive they are.
Yeah... I bought an Instinct 2S hoping it would scratch the same itch as Pebble, but the UX is really awful.
The Pebble OS UX is really something special because it's so... obviously correct. Vertical menus just a few layers deep. You can set shortcuts on long-press but they aren't required to do the basic functions. It boggles my mind that Garmin cannot make an interface that doesn't require a lot of memorization in remembering all the right buttons to press/hold.
I want to join in with a Garmin rant. I also made the switch to a Coros after owning 3 Garmin watches. Each Garmin seemed to last almost exactly 3 years before abruptly dying. Each time I wanted to buy essentially the same watch only to find the new watches had more features and a higher price. The last round the "upgrade" more smart watch features, fewer sport watch features, and less battery life. The lower priced watches were always carefully missing select features that I wanted. I was doing triathlons which I guess Garmin thought they could coerce me into buying separate bike/run/swimming devices or paying 3-4X to get that extra 4mm of screen to show an extra data field. Garmin priced and segmented themselves out of a customer.
The new Pebble is very similar to the Coros Pace but without the GPS but with hackability and that makes me very interested.
I have an Instinct 2 that cost me under $200 new, goes 2+ weeks between charges, and handles all activities I throw at it quite well.
I agree: their launching of a subscription service is disappointing, because (1) it was wonderful having a no-recurring-cost ecosystem before, and (2) presumably that's where they'll be investing their product dollars. But, it's not required, and to date, it's not particularly high value.
I looked at the Instinct 3 with Solar because I really wanted the best battery life out there, only to find out Garmin neglected to include topo maps (I wanted a device for hiking and backpacking so that's disappointing) in the Instinct 3 and despite being $400+ the casing is plastic. Odd choices for that price. I feel like the Garmin interfaces are also just... not great. Way too busy for such a small screen. The Coros watch face I'm using right now includes: time, date, day, elevation, steps, calories burned, heart rate and battery level all on a simple, uncrowded and easy to read b&w face... It's called Particular but I can't find a screen shot of it. It's leagues easier to read than what I've seen of Garmin and Apple (which for some reason still has their faces so locked down it's restrictive).
There's still a strong market for dumb watches too, so a long-lasting "smart" device that does some things but not as much as an Apple Watch, Garmin, Coros, etc while still serving as a general information displaying wearable sounded enticing. Unfortunately Apple's lockdown of the iPhone for the previous Pebbles (which I think might still be a thing) and my need for fitness tracking are what prevented me from buying a Pebble.