Garmin

By Bayle Emlien

Back when someone thought that 3 computers ought to be
enough for the entire nation, Garmin earned its reputation
by providing navigation for airplanes. Garmin has evolved
to provide navigation for each of us, and we wear more
power on a wrist than NASA used to get to the Moon and
back.

Some of that power was on display at Pepcom’s Holiday
Spectacular in San Francisco on October 28. The recently
released vivoactive 3 and vívomoveTM  HR were featured.
Each gives the user an impressive range of choices: telling
time, of course; activity counters, oxygen and heart rate;
payment; etc. etc. etc. Who thought one could cram so many
widgets onto a watch face. Each also offers a selection of band
material and color, to fit with your personal style.

Smartwatches for kids are a somewhat newer product on
the market. While kids may not need GarminPay, this device
has several child-centered features. The vivofit jr 2 is Garmin’s
offering to this audience. First of all, the choice among Minnie
Mouse (Disney); BB-8, The Resistance, or First OrderTM (Star
Wars); or Captain America and Avengers (Marvel) bands seems
to be geared to a younger crowd. The bright, colorful bands are
stylish (if you’re in elementary school) and do not scream “special
reminder” the way the first products in this market did.
Nevertheless, the watch has parental controls that include a
time-budgeting app that helps kids earn rewards by staying
physically active. Parents can build task/chore reminders into the
reward system; depersonalizing the reminder can go a long way
to taking the nag out of keeping kids on task and on time. This
reporter’s personal favorite feature: the specs for the battery
say it will last for over a year and is user replaceable; probably
another one of those parental features. Excuse me while I
hunt up my metric tape measure and see if my wrist qualifies.