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Garmin Buying Tacx.


Razors Edge

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...which is interesting to see.

I don't quite see the connection, but I guess they have a broader customer base, and see a growth in the indoor trainer segment as a good place to dive in.

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Garmin Ltd. announced Tuesday that it has reached a deal to acquire Dutch indoor smart trainer company Tacx. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2019. The terms of the deal will not be disclosed, Garmin stated.

"Tacx brings an entirely new product category to Garmin's fitness portfolio that expands our reach into the indoor training market," said Cliff Pemble, Garmin president and CEO. "Together with Tacx, Garmin will offer a seamless, enjoyable and motivating indoor and outdoor experience for cyclists all year long."

Tacx is based in Wassenaar, Netherlands, with a distribution center in Vogt, Germany. The company employs nearly 200. Those employees will become part of the global Garmin team. To further leverage the growing market for indoor bike trainers, Tacx is undergoing a capital investment project to expand its R&D and production capacity, Garmin stated.

"We are excited to have the support of a technology leader like Garmin," said Koos Tacx, CEO of Tacx. "With Garmin's extensive R&D capabilities and global distribution network, we look forward to working together to further enhance our indoor training products and technologies, and bring them to cyclists around the world."

Tacx's line of smart trainers includes the NEO 2 and NEO Bike, which measure speed, power and cadence. Tacx smart trainers connect wirelessly to training apps as well as Tacx's own software/training app offering training plans, data analysis, video of scenery around the globe, and live opponents.

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1 minute ago, JerrySTL said:

Garmin probably needs to diversify. With most smart phones having GPS and things like Garmin Maps, it's probably cutting into their GPS sales.

I'm guessing Garmin "used" to be an auto & plane sort of company. Then grew into the handheld GPS units - expanding to the active/outside market.  Then portable car GPS grew them a bunch, and adding the cycling and running stuff as well.  But I am not sure what their true "core" strength is these days. Is it still selling to cars and planes manufacturers? Or is athletics? Or do they see one dying, and needing to grow the thriving side? 

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36 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

Garmin probably needs to diversify. With most smart phones having GPS and things like Garmin Maps, it's probably cutting into their GPS sales.

 

Perhaps, and smartphones make obsolete what used to me many items. Personally though, I'd take my Garmin over having my too-big phone on my bars :wacko:

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1 minute ago, bikeman564™ said:

Perhaps, and smartphones make obsolete what used to me many items. Personally though, I'd take my Garmin over having my too-big phone on my bars :wacko:

My big issue is that I replace a phone every 3 years or so, but also end up replacing my Garmins almost that much (maybe every 4 or 5?), and a phone is about 30 different "tools" while the Garmin is a couple?  It will get hard to decide on my next Garmin vs maybe an Apple Watch.  I love the 520 I have, but I have had a 305, a 500, another 500, and then this 520, so that's a lot of Garmin's just to track all the stuff that I think the Strava App might also be able to do using an Apple Watch.

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7 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

My big issue is that I replace a phone every 3 years or so, but also end up replacing my Garmins almost that much (maybe every 4 or 5?), and a phone is about 30 different "tools" while the Garmin is a couple?  It will get hard to decide on my next Garmin vs maybe an Apple Watch.  I love the 520 I have, but I have had a 305, a 500, another 500, and then this 520, so that's a lot of Garmin's just to track all the stuff that I think the Strava App might also be able to do using an Apple Watch.

My 500 is still going strong (bought it in 2013), and I like the ≈20 hours of battery (non-continuous). If I completely charge it and ride a century, my battery is at ≈66%. Very good IMO. The new ones w/ color backlit displays take more juice I hear from other people that have them. The 500 records my ride data, and being able to upload TCX files for directions works decent.

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Just now, bikeman564™ said:

My 500 is still going strong (bought it in 2013), and I like the ≈20 hours of battery (non-continuous). If I completely charge it and ride a century, my battery is at ≈66%. Very good IMO. The new ones w/ color backlit displays take more juice I hear from other people that have them. The 500 records my ride data, and being able to upload TCX files for directions works decent.

My first 500 was great. My second not so much - battery definitely had issues. But yeah, the 500 was probably the best mix of simple/complex - not too much of either.

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1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

My first 500 was great. My second not so much - battery definitely had issues. But yeah, the 500 was probably the best mix of simple/complex - not too much of either.

Its basically a GPS based bike computer. The screen is a bit small, but now w/ my prescription Oakleys I'm good  ?

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18 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I love the 520

That's what I'm using now. I even went with custom maps for just the area I ride in. My battery is getting a little weak. To complete a century I have to turn off Bluetooth and the Russian GPS system. I wish that the altitude change screen was customizable. It only keeps the last few miles of climbing on it.

I also have an old 705. That thing cost more than a lot of bikes that I owned.

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1 hour ago, JerrySTL said:

That's what I'm using now. I even went with custom maps for just the area I ride in. My battery is getting a little weak. To complete a century I have to turn off Bluetooth and the Russian GPS system. I wish that the altitude change screen was customizable. It only keeps the last few miles of climbing on it.

I also have an old 705. That thing cost more than a lot of bikes that I owned.

I find it interesting that folks like Wahoo have essentially closed the gap completely on Garmin. It used to be that there was Garmin and there was everybody else and it was no comparison.  Now, the Wahoo Element is mentioned in the same breath consistently, and, of course, Wahoo has their own line of trainers.  Makes the Tacx purchase a little more understandable. 

Getting back to the 520, though, mine is still easily able to handle a century+ on a single charge (no "low battery/20% warning).  It is also connected to all sorts of stuff simultaneously which my 500s & 305 were never doing - Di2, Powertap, my iPhone, GLONASS, etc - so I am pretty happy overall with the battery. With the 305 and 500s, I was ALWAYS connecting it to my computer after a ride, so it got a ton of recharge cycles (good or bad???), but the 520 is mainly charged only when I get the low battery warning or prior to a century since it uploads via my iPhone Garmin app.

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5 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

You probably finish a century ride about 1.5 hours faster than I do.

Maybe. But probably still at least an 7hr elapsed time for a century - from turn on to turn off.  Pretty nice amount.  If I recall, though, the 520 ought to be able to be run off one of those small "power banks" too.  So it could run for many many many hours (days?) off one of them.

Image result for power bank

image.png.7cb7ad0a430fe4bc8286a9838201f4dd.png

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1 hour ago, bikeman564™ said:

Its basically a GPS based bike computer. The screen is a bit small, but now w/ my prescription Oakleys I'm good  ?

This is what mine is.  Easy to pop off one bike and put on another. I haven’t downloaded data in years.  

I have my display set for speed and distance only so the numbers are big.

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3 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Easy to pop off one bike and put on another.

Yep - a huge PLUS.  I even temporarily attached the "safety lanyard" to mine so I could attach it to my backpack for tracking hikes.  

It got a little wonky at the end as we were on the beach as looking for shells (or, my wife was, at least).

image.png.0a2606b83fcbbb3457ca9d9217f3d0e4.png

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Just now, Razors Edge said:

Yep - a huge PLUS.  I even temporarily attached the "safety lanyard" to mine so I could attach it to my backpack for tracking hikes.  

The main driver for me is nearly impossible to mount a standard type cyclocomputer on a mtn suspension fork.  The rear wheeled ones were about 1/2 the price of the deal going on the Garmin at the time so I just got the Garmin .

i don’t like having to charge as often but it works for me

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