Garmin

Originally founded in 1989 as ProNav, Garmin's history in GPS technology dates back to when the company sold its first product, a $2,500 GPS unit for use in the marine market. Since then, Garmin, a portmanteau of the names of the company's Kansas-based founders Gary Burrell and Min H. Kao, has continued to specialize in GPS products for the automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor, and sports markets. Garmin is now also a serious competitor and top brand in the wearables space with GPS smartwatches, activity trackers, and other fitness- and sports-related devices. With profits in the millions, Garmin has grown into a successful publicly traded company with a wide range of products (and apps) focusing on fitness, GPS, and peace of mind.

Garmin smartwatches and activity trackers

Garmin is known mostly for its wide range of smartwatches and activity trackers that focus on specific sports, from golf to running, as well as everyday health and wellness tracking.

The most popular sub-brands include the vivofit trackers, the Instinct solar GPS watch, Venu, and vivoactive GPS watches, fenix and Forerunner running watches, Approach golf watches, and the Lily fashion-focused smartwatch. Most of Garmin's smartwatches boast premium features like the ability to track specific sports and drill down to the nitty-gritty performance details for each, along with a built-in heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, and more. From sporty to stylish designs, there's an option for everyone.

In the activity tracker space, Garmin has its vivosmart and vivofit lines that feature rectangular trackers in thinner bands for those who don't need the bigger face of a smartwatch and all the added tracking features, detailed smartphone notifications, app access, and more. In both categories, Garmin also has options for kids, including its vivofit jr. 3 that focuses not just on step and activity tracking but also logging things like chores, delivering fun rewards and badges.

Garmin vehicle technology

Garmin continues its expertise in GPS technology beyond smartwatches and activity trackers with products that can be used in vehicles, including mini dash cams and portable GPS units.

Ideal for older vehicles, portable GPS units like the Garmin Drive and DriveSmart come with downloadable maps and built-in GPS technology to help you navigate from Point A to Point B without using data from your smartphone. You also get live traffic updates, helpful alerts, and details about points of interest along the way. With Bluetooth in some units, you can also manage incoming calls by connecting the unit with your smartphone. Garmin even has an all-terrain motorcycle GPS navigator.

The dashcams* provide peace-of-mind while driving, recording footage in the event of an accident, theft, or on the road dispute. Once again, they leverage Garmin's expertise in GPS with automatic capturing and recording of video when an incident is detected along with the time and location details.

* Some jurisdictions regulate or prohibit use of this camera device

Other Garmin products

Garmin sells other related products, too, including a fishfinder, sonar device, cycling computer maps, golf GPS devices with detailed maps of top courses, smart scales that can pair with the company's smartwatches and fitness trackers, as well as GPS devices for specific vehicles, like trucks and motorcycles.

Garmin also sells a line of handheld GPS navigators with maps, which are ideal for those who go hiking or on other adventurous outdoor excursions and want to keep informed and on top of their exact locations at all times as they navigate to their final destinations.

When it comes to GPS technology, Garmin is a leader. And the company has leveraged its expertise for a number of key product categories relating to fitness, sports, and outdoor adventures. Whether you're on foot, in a boat, or on-road vehicle, Garmin has you covered with the technology that can help you get to your destination, give you peace of mind, and log important data.