'I'll switch to another brand': I polled over 1,000 Garmin users to see what they thought of Garmin's Connect+ premium tier, one year after its launch

One year ago, users of the best Garmin watches were very angry indeed. They took to platforms like Reddit in droves and filled comment sections (and my inbox) with their fury.

Why? Garmin had announced its then-new premium tier, Garmin Connect+, which asked users to pay $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually in exchange for exclusive access to new AI features like Garmin's Active Intelligence commentary, along with an improved LiveTrack service, Performance dashboard, and other bits.

Garmin users were worried about this. While none of the vast swathe of comprehensive features they enjoyed in the base app were going away, many feared this was only the beginning of the process of dropping new features behind the Connect+ paywall. In this scenario, subscribing to Connect+ would eventually become all-but-compulsory, even after shelling out for an expensive watch.

We've seen it happen before: free services get so valuable that, due to shareholder profit demands, the companies begin charging for a once-free service or tanking the performance of the free version to drive up valuable subscriptions. It's a well-documented process that happens to online services, one blogger and internet rights activist, Cory Doctorow, dubbed 'enshittification'.

Garmin users threatened to switch watch brands, there were calls of boycotts, and we covered it all in a live blog, but Garmin stuck to its guns and continued the Connect+ rollout.

So one year on, now the furor has calmed down, we decided to ask 1,325 Garmin users what they thought of the service. Had they tried it? Did it meet expectations? Had they sold their watches and bought a rival from Samsung or Apple?

The results

As you can see, most users still aren't happy about Connect+. Out of 1,325 Garmin users, 80% of respondents (1,061) 'never bothered' to sign up to Connect+. Just 12% of respondents tried Connect+, but returned to the free tier, not continuing with the service. A paltry 5% of respondents, 67 people overall, ticked 'yes, I use it, and it's good'.

Our smallest group of respondents was reserved for those people who were so mad about the change that they actually switched watch brands, with 36 people out of the original 1,325 leaving Garmin entirely in favor of an alternative.

We had some comments and emails, too, from people telling us why they voted the way they did and how they felt about Connect+.

One commenter said: "Garmin's enshittified app won't ever be getting my hard-earned money on top of the high cost for the hardware. The hardware is excellent, their software is poor. I'll be moving on to another brand with my next purchase."

Meanwhile, Max said, "I stick to the free tier. If they'll push any more, I'll switch to another brand." This approach seems to reflect the majority of Garmin users, based on our poll.

Via email, Linda said that as a decade-long Garmin user, she would "take the hit and move to Withings" if Garmin put her favorite features behind a paywall.

The best Garmin watches for all budgets

➡️ Read our full guide to the best Garmin watches
1. Best overall:
Garmin Venu 4
2. Best premium:
Garmin Fenix 8
3. Best budget:
Garmin Vivoactive 6

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