Navionics acquired by Garmin

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A rhetorical question, not an opinion:

Are Garmin's moves all designed simply to improve their product or are some of them predatory and designed to take away from their competitors' offerings?
 
Very good and valid question BandB.

I'd like to think these decisions are motivated by the greater good of the customer but reality has me tending to lean on the cynical side.
 
Rhinoc said:
Very good and valid question BandB.

I'd like to think these decisions are motivated by the greater good of the customer but reality has me tending to lean on the cynical side.
Click to expand...

Well, as a Garmin customer I like it. As a Furuno customer I don't.
 
Giuseppe is gonna buy, or build, the boat of his dreams.
 
Rhinoc said:
Very good and valid question BandB.

I'd like to think these decisions are motivated by the greater good of the customer but reality has me tending to lean on the cynical side.
Click to expand...

It's clearly profit motivated. Garmin is not a non profit corp. And it often doesn't have the best ending for the consumer.

This is not the first time they've bought out the competition.

And, overall, I'm a great Garmin fan, but have seen some of their policies and pricing go nuts.
 
BandB said:
A rhetorical question, not an opinion:

Are Garmin's moves all designed simply to improve their product or are some of them predatory and designed to take away from their competitors' offerings?
Click to expand...

Sounds like Garmin thoughts are “If you can’t beat em buy em”. With Navionics on my IPhone and Nobeltec on my IPad the Garmin gathers dust. And Garmin has a great product but these other guys are / will be eating their lunch.
 
Who does that leave as independent (not tied to a HW vendor) suppliers of US charts? NOAA and C-Map and... Is that it?
 
Navionics charting is superior to Garmin. They update frequently and provide better details. The crowd sourced Sonar charts provide better information than non-updated products. I run Garmin Blue Charts and Navionics on an iPad. The Navionics app lets you select Government, Navionics or Sonar Charts. It has auto routing that works great. Its my OPINION that folks that enjoy Garmin like the looks and the easy interface. The Garmin chart data doesn't stand up to Navionics or even updated NOAA charts. IMHO.:flowers:
 
Personally, I think it is great. Anytime advances in charting and related technologies occur it seems a result from trying to maintain or increase market share. Raymarine's recent tie in with 1000s of Navy vessels can only but create new and user friendly designs.

Any chance Garmin will enter laptop based charting with Navionics? Maybe not as more money involved from mixing it up in the hard wired units sector. They're close though.
 
If Garmin enhances Navionics great! However I think that there is a lot more $$$$$ in selling Garmin products then selling Navionics. I hope that they didn’t buy them to marginalize and then sunset the product. I wonder if the FTC has any interest in this.
 
I’m a Garmin and since I go to the Bahamas often their charts are the best. I have navionics on my iPad but the Garmin is Best. I have no idea why Garmin bought them but certainly Garmin is big and just got bigger.
 
Garmin got into the marine mapping business when their third party marine map vendor decided to drop that line of business about 11-12 years ago. I suspect Garmin realizes Navionics is a better map product and wants to improve the maps in their products with Navionics. Seems like a win-win to me.
 
Now you just ruined the conspiracy theory.
 
Donsan said:
Garmin got into the marine mapping business when their third party marine map vendor decided to drop that line of business about 11-12 years ago. I suspect Garmin realizes Navionics is a better map product and wants to improve the maps in their products with Navionics. Seems like a win-win to me.
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem like a win-win if I'm Furuno. They were actually the first with Active Captain integration and they use Navionics widely.
 
BandB said:
A rhetorical question, not an opinion:

Are Garmin's moves all designed simply to improve their product or are some of them predatory and designed to take away from their competitors' offerings?
Click to expand...

Both. They are good for Garmin customers by presumably improving their cartography. But it also puts the hurt on Garmin's competitors but cutting off (presumably) an independent source of cartography.

I don't see this as much different from Navico buying C-Map.

Collectively, I think it's all bad for consumers. Independent and competing cartography vendors keeps them all on their toes. And electronics vendors that can use any cartography are forced to compete based on their electronics, not their monopoly of a particular cartography.
 
I'm disappointed. Navionics blows away Garmin.

I've downloaded the Garmin app a few times and gave always deleted it. Might work great for the intercoastal waterway, but sucked for the Georgia Strait.

Pretty sure Garmin will make Navionics obsolete, and then in typical fashion, install built in obsolescence.

Damn it.
 
Northern Spy said:
I'm disappointed. Navionics blows away Garmin.

I've downloaded the Garmin app a few times and gave always deleted it. Might work great for the intercoastal waterway, but sucked for the Georgia Strait.

Pretty sure Garmin will make Navionics obsolete, and then in typical fashion, install built in obsolescence.

Damn it.
Click to expand...

I've found huge differences by location. I've found Garmin superior to all the others when it comes in inland rivers.
 
In my selfish little Furuno world I have both Furuno Trident and Furuno NN3. For fun and not cruising charting I have Navionics on an iPad. I've no past, current or future need for any Garmin product (nor Ray, Simrad or Lowrance for that matter).

So two questions:
1. How does Garmin's purchase of Navionics affect me?
2. Has Garmin's purchase of AC resulted in a degradation of AC?
 
Navionics charts with Garmin user interface would be the best case IMHO.
 
Probably little to no effect immediately. Garmin has a plan and we will see how and when they roll it out. I don’t think that they will sunset the product as it is a good product. But I don’t think that you will see the pricing that you have today. Think how much business they have lost to IPhone and IPad apps. A weekend boater doesn’t have much need for a dedicated Garmin unit when they can have up to date charts on a smart phone for $10 per year.
 
sunchaser said:
So two questions:
1. How does Garmin's purchase of Navionics affect me?
2. Has Garmin's purchase of AC resulted in a degradation of AC?
Click to expand...

Kind of hard to answer either question. Most likely there is no impact on Furuno if Garmin continues with Navionics being a separate subsidiary but you never know what the egos in corporate offices might decide. Again, Garmin is only in the marine cartography business because they got shafted by their previous map vendor. They want to own a guaranteed source of maps but may consider it a distraction inside their electronics business.

One thing both AC and Navionics are into is crowd sourcing. Wouldn't discount Garmin wanting to acquire the crowd sourcing intellectual properties of both as some real smart people have made the argument that crowd sourcing is the future of cartography and marine electronics.
 
twistedtree said:
But it also puts the hurt on Garmin's competitors but cutting off (presumably) an independent source of cartography.

I don't see this as much different from Navico buying C-Map.
Click to expand...

What has the impact of Navico/C-Map been? I have the same presumption, but Raymarine has just added C-Map support to their latest products. That suggests they believe the cartography will still be available to their users.

twistedtree said:
Collectively, I think it's all bad for consumers. Independent and competing cartography vendors keeps them all on their toes. And electronics vendors that can use any cartography are forced to compete based on their electronics, not their monopoly of a particular cartography.
Click to expand...

Strongly agree.
 
I have a couple of Garmin units, a 4210 on the big boat and a 7 in screen year old number ?, on the Montauk Whaler. Love em both. I saw the new offering
from Apple, the IPad Pro, super bright and huge. Wow!
With a proper program and a depth sounder, what more is needed. Well I guess seamless autopilot integration is one. Any more? With the Garmin blue tooth on the latest models your is another way to go.
Tech is hard to keep up with, it seems, for this grey hair.

Thoughts.
 
Donsan

You mentioned crowd sourcing. NOAA is actively working with Rose Point to download, from users like us, data from our GPS and depth sounders to improve chart data. So Rose Point then is another crowd sourcing data gatherer. To that end, will those who use and enjoy Coastal Explorer be affected by Garmin picking up Navionics?
 
It seems most are afraid of large companies but I can tell you there are economies associated by being large. I suggest we all wait to pass judgement until the future is here. You might just be surprised at how much we may benefit. I remember having a Ross paper recorder back in the ‘60s, all the fishing community loved that machine and complained about how bad the new recorders were doing to be with a glass screen and even color, however we soon learned the superiority of the new technology.
 
I don’t like it. Lack of competition is bad. Just like the American company that bought out our local geothermal heating unit company and shut it down, then stopped making the units themselves so we all have orphans... screw ‘em, I think Garmin is predatory. Less competition is bad.
 
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