Garmin’s official quarterly figures were released a coupleĀ of days ago along with some commentary (my thoughts below):
“Fitness:
“The fitness segment posted revenue growth of 9% in the quarter reflecting strong growth of our Garmin Elevateā¢ wrist heart rate technology products within our activity tracker and running categories, offset by lower multisport revenues. On a year-over-year basis, gross margin and operating margin declined to 51% and 12%, respectively. The gross margin decline was driven by product mix within the quarter. The operating margin decline reflects the continued investment in advertising and research and development to support our long-term goals in the segment. Our recently launched vĆvoactive HR and vĆvofit 3 are shipping and we feel we are well positioned with our 2016 product roadmap.” Source: Garmin
So it looks like Fenix 3Ā and 920XT sales are slowing off as those product cycles peak. General running-optical seems buoyant and that would tie in with what I know about TomTom Runner 2/Spark sales in specific retail outlets – which are going very well too. People want optical HR despite its problems.
Hopefully May/June will see a significant Garmin Sport announcement before a summer lull. Is that 930XT finally going to hit the shops or maybe just an upgraded 920XT…ie 925XT. either that or a Swim 2 or Edge 820. Of course these things won’t just be introduced because 920XT sales are flagging a bit…they would have been planned months ago but possibly delayed this year for the usual round of bug fixing.
Last Updated on 29 April 2016 by the5krunner
tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.
hmm did you make that heart rate strap show a bike only?