Clicked the link. Saw the price. Clicked back button.
Photography Courtesy Garmin
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Clicked the link. Saw the price. Clicked back button.
In reply to Vajingo :
I had to know. But it comes with a remote camera.
*back button *
Time for someone to build an app for this! Your cell phone has all the components needed to do it. Camera, accelerometer, GPS and recording. Please someone step up and put Garmin out of business ! I would do it but I'm building a SIDS warning device.
f1carguy said:Time for someone to build an app for this! Your cell phone has all the components needed to do it. Camera, accelerometer, GPS and recording. Please someone step up and put Garmin out of business ! I would do it but I'm building a SIDS warning device.
No, it actually doesn't. The GPS in the phone isn't anywhere close to as good as the one you get in a dedicated data system, and the camera in most cell phones is much too wide angle for this application. Also, the part of this that's expensive *is* the software. Software isn't free, it takes many hours to write and perfect. You need to pay that back (and make a profit!), and the market for this sort of product is small. The fewer people who buy something the more each of them needs to pay in order to have the numbers work out.
• Global smartphones sales revenue | Statista
The number of smartphones sold worldwide reached over 1.5 billion units in 2019.
Some phones now have 5 cameras and the GPS chip is the same so if you want to the price to come down use a cell or off the shelf tablet NOT a low volume dedicated platform. Garmin could make more money by selling the software alone.
In reply to f1carguy :
To comment on Garmin's hardware decision as someone who's worked too long in mobile software/hardware - "it's not that simple" - and I'll leave it at that.
f1carguy said:Garmin could make more money by selling the software alone.
Broadly speaking, consumers won't pay for software.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:f1carguy said:Garmin could make more money by selling the software alone.
Broadly speaking, consumers won't pay for software.
I'm not saying I agree with the argument that they'd be better off selling just the software. But have you heard of solostorm, the $200 autocross gps data app? People at least in this market will certainly pay for the software. And there's alternatives that are free-$20 and 90% as functional...but tons of people still pay up for the best one.
On topic, I do rather like my catalyst, I agree it's a bit expensive, but it "just works" and passing it around after a session and getting feedback from other drivers is fantastic. It's had some great software updates lately, and if they get the in depth analysis down, it'll be a great set-up with no laptop required.
accordionfolder said:On topic, I do rather like my catalyst, I agree it's a bit expensive, but it "just works" and passing it around after a session and getting feedback from other drivers is fantastic. It's had some great software updates lately, and if they get the in depth analysis down, it'll be a great set-up with no laptop required.
I haven't used one personally, but I've watched someone use it. I'm impressed with the video integration, the ability to quickly navigate to particular corners on particular laps, etc. I was surprised to see it didn't offer the ability to export the data for offline analysis though.
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