Sun
28
Feb '10
Dear Garmin…
by Frank Spychalski filed under outdoor, Rants

Dear Garmin,

I don’t know if anyone told you that you build pretty good hardware but your firmware SUCKS! It’s Nearly March 2010 and your customers still have to fight with an embarrassing Y2010 bug in your code, the UI is horrible and getting anything on or off the device is a pain. I am the not-so-proud owner of an eTrex HCx but I can’t remember the last time I actually used it. Why? Because a Nexus One with My Tracks is way better than anything you have to offer. No need to jump through hoops to get tracks off the device, no proprietary drivers that work with one and a half operating systems and I carry it anyway…

Do you want me back as a customer?

Build the eTrex Android.

Specs:

  • rugged version of the Nexus One (same screen, processor, etc.)
  • replaceable batteries (with a tiny battery in the device to let me switch batteries without shutting it down)
  • better GPS antenna & chips
  • tiny solar panel on the back

If you or any other company would build a device like that, you could ask ANY price and I would buy it. So please build it. Please…


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