Garmin just purchased ActiveCaptain

[jbinbi]

I bike ride as well as boat, and I have their bike computers, and virb camera. Was thinking about one of their smart watches as well. I really like their products. I was told by my lagoon dealer that the boat manufacturers cut massive deals with the electronics guys every so often. Group Benetuea (Lagoon and Juneau) used to have Raymarine, about 3 years ago they went to B&G. I assume this is all price rather than feature based?

[AJ_n_Audrey]

I have Garmin Bluecharts on an iPad - love it. Used the iPad tied on the pedestal guard above the chartplotter (Furuno) in the Bahamas. Cheap "back-up" that I actually used as primary most of the time (put a LifeProof cover on it, btw). Furuno gave me AIS, everything else came from the iPad.

[GulfportBarb]

Garmen purchased DeLorme InReach last year -
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/ou...ext-adventure/

[ocean.jedi]

If i was raymarine, I'd hire some anti trust lawyers to get some assurances that the data base would be open to competitors.

[Capt.Don]

Originally Posted by AJ_n_Audrey

I have Garmin Bluecharts on an iPad - love it. Used the iPad tied on the pedestal guard above the chartplotter (Furuno) in the Bahamas. Cheap "back-up" that I actually used as primary most of the time (put a LifeProof cover on it, btw). Furuno gave me AIS, everything else came from the iPad.

Garmin's Bluechart Mobile already supports ActiveCaptain! Theywere one of the first to incorporate AC data into the iPad navigation app. Purchasing ActiveCaptain makes a lot of sense.
Don

[Cotemar]

‎Jeffrey Siegel‎ to Active Captain--ActiveCaptain.com

May 12-2017 12:20 EST ·

Thank you for the intense discussion, congratulations, and speculation throughout the boating community about Garmin's acquisition of ActiveCaptain.

Please understand that this is a busy time and we can't respond to every question through social media. What I can say is that nothing will change for the foreseeable future except that we are now part of the Garmin team. That means you can expect the same incredible services from ActiveCaptain as you've received in the past, but now with the support of one of the world’s leading marine electronics providers.

In addition, there will be no fees for ActiveCaptain.

We will continue to communicate with you through various channels. And yes, there will still be hats awarded for your contributions to the community.

Give this a chance to unfold. We'll discuss more in the next couple of newsletters. Remember that no one has more passion for this product and community than us. This isn't an end. It's an incredible beginning of many more capabilities.
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[Alita49DS]

There is a lot positive that can be said about Garmin. The interface is good. There are a lot of options on my 751xs. Their support is prompt and tries to be helpful.

Conversely, the charts are way over priced, fail to show some essentials in a visible way and are costly to update. So for close in work I use iSailor which updates FOC on Regular basis and has much better definition and clearer charts.

Worst of all, the expensive Garmin kit is appalling designed as software. On a low level basis. Your computer, which is less critical than a chart plotter, is "sand boxed". If there is a runtime error then only that app fails. With a Garmin the slightest error causes the whole unit to crash.

An example. I have Raymarine instruments and convert SeaTalk (curse all propriety buses) to NMEA 0183. If I start the Garmin with the instruments on it crashes. Dead. If I feed them in later it is fine. How impressive is that?

For the money Garmin should start by making their software more robust. Not buying other operations.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Alita49DS

The interface is good.

Although AC has served us well, the interface is very dated. Its slow, uses Flash, is not pleasing from a design UX perspective, not enough sorting options, and so forth. The API should be wide open so an entire eco-system can be built around it.

The data is all there and that is where the value is right now.

They just need to convert to HTML5 and update the design to be more modern. Maybe update the database schema as well. This is a 4-8 week project with a handful of developers and testers.

[Suijin]

I agree that the design and usability of AC is pretty poor. Then again they got saddled using flash probably have not had the resources to recode it.

I agree also that if they go to a subscription model it's going to change significantly. I think there is a fairly small subset of users who really need and use it a lot. I find it hugely useful and refer to it constantly. But more casual users are probably likely to drop off if they have to pay, which will in turn lead to less user input, which is the point of the whole thing.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. Marine hardware companies are busy snapping up service and data companies in part because of disruption in the hardware segment. In addition to better integration into the offerings, it might just be some bet hedging. I suspect they got a very good deal at least if you look at AC revenue numbers vs. business value.

[Blaine]

Garmin's short product cycle is exactly why I went with Furuno for my new nav gear. My dealer is still getting parts for Furuno gear that's 12 years old.

[Lake-Effect]

There's a number of ways for Garmin to capitalize on the acquisition of AC, without neceassily walling the data off and charging for it. Obviously they will be in a better position to integrate AC data into Garmin products. They can also brand the free offering ("GARMIN Active Captain") and put ads and promotions into it.

I would guess that Garmin can and will fund development efforts for some updates, such as an HTML5 interface. Where should I send my resume?

[jpstevens]

The Siegels surely did not give up their independence for nothing, and Garmin is not known for giving stuff away free, so my guess is that the only freebees going forward will come from sailors who take the time and make the effort to add data to the database.

[wannacat]

I have a Garmin chart plotter and am very happy with it, having used it in the Bahamas for 7 years now. Also have a new Garmin VirBX underwater camera, DeLorme InReach now for 4 years. All great stuff ! The only thing is that when I really needed some one on one with Garmin it was hard to get. Luckily I had the old DeLorme service phone number, getting a number off the Garmin site was impossible for me. However, the old phone number was answered and still able to get personalized service. That will probably change in the future for all they encompass including Active Captain, who have always done an incredible job of answering questions personally or at least tried to! Cudo's to the Seigel's and we all owe a lot to them for the work they've done and now they finally get some compensation for it!!! I think if Garmin screws it up, starts charging , doesn't award our contributions and opens the door, some other techie entrepreneur will slide right in and save the day for us, possibly with something even better. Never fear, the American Dream will stay alive and hopefully we will be the beneficiaries of it!!! Happi thoughts!!!and keep sailing!!![boating]

[viben]

The big question for me is whether or not you and I will continue to contribute to AC if Garmin makes significant profit on reselling the crowd sourced data back to us.

They might be up for a rude awakening if they expect that the data will continue to flow into their servers for free without providing someting useful for free in return.

Why should you and I pay for the data that you and I give them for fee?

If Garmin is not able to manage that balance well, they will soon find that the data they have bought by acquiring AC will soon be outdated and redundant.

[CarinaPDX]

As long as we are speculating...

I think Garmin will include the AC data in their charts, as C-Map began to do last year. It will be a way of justifying their already high prices, but probably not cause an increase. My guess is that they will start charging other companies like C-Map for commercial access if the license allows (it probably does). This needn't have any effect on web access; in fact it likely will result in the end of the flash requirement as some new development money becomes available.

I doubt the sky is falling...

Greg