
Gary Burrell, Garmin co-founder, has died - tysone
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/business/gary-burrell-dead.html
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VolatileVoid
Garmin is the perfect example of a company that could have been displaced by
the advent of smartphones with built in GPS receivers (which probably
cannibalized the market for dedicated GPS devices in cars) but has remained
relevant due to how they've explored other form factors.

My Garmin FR235 is an indispensable part of my running gear, and no mobile
phone has come even close to replicating it.

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5parks
More than just form factor, Garmin has done an incredible job of using GPS
technology to make products for enthusiasts, rather than the masses. Cycling
computers, running watches, golf range finders, marine, aviation, hunting,
etc. If you're a nerd for any of those activities there's a good chance you
use a Garmin, not an Apple or Android.

~~~
FigBug
I've bought more Garmins than Smartphones. I think I've purchased:

3x Edge 305, Edge 500, 2x Edge 810, Edge 820.

Garmin has the advantage that their products are much more likely to get lost
or smashed. So they get to sell a lot of replacements.

~~~
vanadium
The customer service is also excellent; my son has a Vívofit Jr, and when the
screen went haywire they replaced it—no questions asked. Quite happy with my
experiences with Garmin over the years.

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m-p-3
My old Garmin car GPS still works, and thanks to people using OpenStreetMap
data I still get third-party maps that are up-to-date way beyond the expected
lifetime of the device.

I don't use it often, but it's nice knowing I have a fallback in case my
smartphone dies, etc.

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vasilipupkin
He was 51 when he started Garmin. Never too late !

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alister
Even older actually, 52. (He was born Aug. 1937 and Garmin was founded Oct.
1989.)

> _In 1989, they pooled their savings and persuaded Dr. Kao’s Taiwanese
> relatives to invest seed money. With $4 million..._

That's $8.4 million in 2019 dollars. It takes a lot of money to start a
hardware company, especially something as complex as a GPS. I'm wondering if
Garmin would exist if he didn't have the personal savings and access to family
money. One advantage of being older is having more money (usually).

It was pretty standard that you used savings and/or relatives' money to do
startups in the past. I think that a 20-year-old being about to raise cash
from arms-length investors (like VCs) is a recent phenomenon -- only in the
last couple decades. Jobs and Wozniak built the Apple I with _personal_ cash,
and got Mike Markkula's loan for $250,000 (in 1976) or $1.1 million in 2019
dollars only after getting a large order.

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ryandrake
It's probably a good advantage but not as good as all the experience he
undoubtedly built up in those years. What about those decades of observing
what's worked and not worked? Decades of practice implementing other people's
things while watching out for That One Right Thing?

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madengr
It’s rumored that he asked his (now Honeywell) management at the time for
project funding, who’s reply was “There is no future in consumer GPS”.

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jumbopapa
I've heard this too and I'm glad they didn't fund his project. Garmin is a
much better company than Honeywell!

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madengr
Yep. I worked with several colleagues who went to Garmin and love it there.
I’m still at Honeywell.

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zod50
> which can widely cover areas that Wi-Fi can’t reach.

but my smartphone doesn't need WiFi for GPS, works on mobile data.

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maxerickson
They sell satellite messengers.

GPS should work without any data connection.

