Garmin's new subscription AI feature is hilariously bad (so far)

(Image credit: Future)

The backlash and furor surrounding the new Garmin Connect+ subscription service has been so intense since its announcement that no one has really taken a step back to see if the offering is any good.

Garmin fans, furious with the move, seem most upset with the general shift to a subscription-based model for new features. Given that the best Garmin watches are often mightily expensive, those high list prices make an extra subscription service very difficult to stomach.

So, the ethics of subscriptions aside, is Garmin Connect+ any good? As you can imagine, the new AI-powered insights are a headline feature and seem to be drawing the most attention. I did some digging to find out just how good the new Active Intelligence offering is, and I'm afraid I may have some bad news.

Rounding up all the earliest offerings I could find, my initial impressions of Active Intelligence are extremely poor. With the important caveat that Garmin says insights will get more tailored over time (and that the feature is still in beta), my early overwhelming verdict is that the information provided is extremely generic, sometimes wrong, and not all that helpful.

What's more, there's good reason to believe a lot of the insights are pre-determined. Here are all the Garmin Active Intelligence insights I've found posted by users since the service launched, mostly taken from the Garmin subreddit.

1. Generic sleep data

Amazing power of AI. Really worth the paid subscription. from r/Garmin

This summary involves a roundup of sleep data, and as you can see, it doesn't really say much of anything. It might be marginally easier to read a sentence about how your sleep score matches your baseline, but the line about "main sleep components" seems very generic and nothing much else in the summary adds any value.

"It fascinates me, that we have technology and GUI design, that allows us to understand a large chunk of information from just a few numbers, graphs, colours and icons, that all in just a few seconds, yet somehow they decide to make it all annoying, inconsistent, bloated and slow to read, just to create an illusion of it being more "personal"," one user commented.

2. Basic math

Garmin’s first premium content after I signed for their subscription from r/Garmin

This user shared insight into their intensity minutes. Two thirds of the summary is the "AI" subtracting 115 from 300 to get 185. Noting that vigorous activity counts for double could inspire and motivate some users, but not enough to stop this poster branding it a "gimmick."

3. Keep up the great work

They want $7 a month for this??? from r/Garmin

Most of this insight is just a summary of easily readable data from Garmin's app. Any user can see their activity data to glean their miles, time, and heart rate metrics. Also, anyone who has spent hundreds of dollars on a Garmin probably knows that being active helps maintain cardiovascular health.

4. Data, but with words

Thanks, Garmin AI! from r/Garmin

This AI insight, similar to the mountain biking instance above, is really just a formulation of basic data points into a couple of sentences, along with another generic platitude about how walking is good for your health. Seriously?

5. Flawed floors

That's not even alpha quality from r/Garmin

Perhaps a user struggling with their fitness or trying to make an impression might appreciate a pick-me-up every now and then, but how much value does this provide to a premium-paying Garmin user?

6. Aquaman, is that you?

AI needs some work for diving... from r/Garmin

This is the first unhelpful/incorrect insight I found. User Joshua apparently clocking a single-gas dive that lasted "an impressive 41 days and 6 hours." Unless Joshua is Aquaman, he probably didn't spend all of March underwater.

Follow-up posts showed a slight improvement, with dives only lasting 35 days and 14 hours. Despite the daily activity screen showing dives up to max of 61ft, the insight claimed Joshua had been 1.05 miles deep, however.

7. Getting tired, explained

Post your 'best' Connect+ Active Intelligence Insights from r/Garmin

In theory, Active Intelligence Insights should synergize well with a feature like Body Battery. However, this insight really just says that as the day goes on, you feel more tired. It's not wrong, but do you need to pay $7 a month to learn that?

"With three hours and twenty-one minutes until your typical bedtime, you have some time remaining before sleep." Not "some time" for rest, exercise, meditation, a nap... just "some time." Thanks, Garmin.

8. Sleep stress

Comment from r/Garmin

This sleep stress insight was actually fairly good. I can imagine it would be helpful to get a bit of a warning if sleep stress was elevated, given how important sleep is to overall well-being.

I was more curious to note at least one response that said "I got that exact one this morning, albeit with my numbers obviously," hinting at a much more generic and predetermined approach to these insights than the AI label would suggest.

9. More step math

Comment from r/Garmin

This insight can be generously described as helpful math, with Active Intelligence simply subtracting the number of steps completed from the step goal target, identifying the difference, and then telling the user to walk more.

It's not wrong or even necessarily unhelpful, but again, I have serious questions about putting this behind a $7 paywall.

Comment from r/Garmin

Another user reported similar, although I definitely wouldn't file 19 steps out of 6,250 as being "well on your way."

Garmin becomes like Apple ? from r/Garmin

Here's another very similar and generic step count summary. Subtract the number of steps taken from the target goal, then tell the user to keep walking.

10. Couch to... couch?

I was constantly criticizing the AI messages from Connect+, and I got this 🤣🤣🤣. from r/Garmin

One rarer complaint I saw was from a user who simply got a "you're all caught up" message from Active Intelligence. "I received messages from AI throughout the day, and I can say that they have no practical or informational benefit for me," they noted, adding that without periodically logging in to Connect, they get no updates at all.

Garmin Active Intelligence: The verdict

Unimpressed AI expert

John-Anthony Disotto

Garmin's AI subscription model isn't grabbing the most positive headlines, and that's because it's a great example of yet another company wanting to force AI into its product.

Garmin Connect+ has very basic features, and generic AI responses that you'd be able to get from any chatbot on the planet, and for free. AI insights in fitness products can be powerful tools, but I'm yet to be convinced by any AI personal trainer found in a product's app.

Whether that's Garmin or even Oura, chatting with AI and getting told information that you can see in a. well-designed app anyway, feels like a cash grab for the sake of being able to market AI features in your products.

I want to reiterate the important caveats about Active Intelligence. It's a beta feature, and Garmin says the feature will get better over time.

The trouble is, I can't really understand how evolving artificial intelligence would improve any of these insights, and it doesn't feel like many of the offerings have tremendous potential. Many of them seem to be data injected into sentences to make it more readable, and I have a deeper concern.

As one user noted above, there's a distinctly generic and seemingly repetitive quality to some of these posts. Popular blogger the5krunner claims to have peeked into Garmin's inner workings, claiming "Garmin certainly does use pre-canned responses in some scenarios," having noted the insights are "effectively glorified templates to show the results of predetermined insights."

They branded the feature Grammarly for Garmin, and I can't think of a more apt description based on the yield so far.

Of the six features that make up Garmin Connect+, Active Intelligence is really the only one that would have made sense behind a paywall if the added value was there. Right now, it simply isn't, and I think these insights prove that a large part of Garmin's user base is upset about the subscription because of its enormously thin offering.

We'll keep an eye out on Garmin's Active Intelligence feature, and the broader storyline of Garmin Connect+ over the next few weeks.

Have you used the feature? Leave your comments and example below or email me: stephen.warwick@futurenet.com.