CONNECTING TO NATURE

by Brad Fitzpatrick

Garmin’s product list reads like the catalog of items in some superhero’s secret lair. There are watches that offer ballistic solutions in the field, satcomm devices that allow you to communicate when there’s no phone service for miles, and shooting trainers that track your shot and recommend corrections. Whether your customers are after blacktail deer in Alaska, trailing bear hounds in Maine or pursuing plains game in Africa, there’s a Garmin product leading the way. Perhaps more than any other company, Garmin has integrated itself into the community of outdoor enthusiasts by offering cutting-edge technology that’s versatile, portable and easy to operate.

With so much cutting-edge technology available to hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, it’s easy to assume that Garmin is a relative newcomer to the outdoor market, but that isn’t true. Since the company was founded in 1989, Garmin has offered products for outdoor enthusiasts, and over the past three decades Garmin has developed products that allow us to make the most of our time on the range, in the field or on the water.

Electrical engineer and Garmin co-founder Gary Burrell was born in Kansas and studied at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. After graduation, Burrell began working on classified satellite navigation products for an employer who was contracted by the U.S. Department of Defense. While on the job, Burrell met Min Kao, who was born in Taiwan and had graduated with a doctorate degree in engineering from the University of Tennessee. Burrell and Kao believed that the satellite projects on which they were working could revolutionize activities such as aviation and boating and later hiking and hunting. Their employer, however, didn’t agree that entering the civilian market was worthwhile. Eventually, Burrell and Kao left that company and founded Garmin, which is an amalgamation of the two men’s first names.

Today Garmin is headquartered in Kansas, but has more than 80 locations worldwide and more than 17,000 employees. Research and development have always been key components to the company’s success. Garmin is vertically integrated, which means the company has control over most aspects of product development, and this cooperation of experts in a variety of fields is one reason why the company currently dominates the market space. Because Garmin’s engineers working on long-life batteries worked alongside engineers working on watches, for

 The Garmin Alpha 10 is a compact dog tracking and training device that provides an easyto-use display for seeing a dog's distance, direction, and running status.  The Garmin handheld Alpha 200i multidog tracker and trainer helps make training and tracking dogs easy. instance, it was much simpler to create running watches that could go long periods between charges while maintaining the light, streamlined profile that runners wanted. By combining experts in a variety of fields, Garmin has been able to create products with an unmatched level of compatibility, which has been critical to the company’s success.

Garmin’s array of products works together seamlessly. Their dog-training devices equipped with inReach satellite communications can send messages to other devices thousands of miles away via the Iridium satellite networks. If you’re injured in the field, you can send an SOS message from your inReach Mini via your watch even if you can’t access your device. If you fire an arrow using Garmin’s new Xero A1i Pro bow sight, the sight can send a GPS coordinate to your watch or handheld GPS. That information can tell you exactly where you were aiming when the arrow was released, greatly simplifying tracking the animal.

It’s this ability to communicate that makes Garmin products so invaluable. While other outdoor technologies communicate — rangefinders that speak to riflescopes, cellular trail cameras that transfer photos directly to your phone — Garmin has taken synchronization of multiple devices to an entirely new level.

“We call them ecosystems,” said Rehan Nana, director of outdoor recreation for Garmin International. “We help customers leverage technologies and have those technologies communicate with one another.”

Just how vast is the Garmin ecosystem? The company’s compact inReach Mini communicates with more than 80 different products including ATV/ UTV navigators, chart plotters and watches. Because the Garmin ecosystems overlap, hunters, anglers, hikers and athletes can overlap technologies; this is what makes the universe of Garmin products so essential to outdoor pursuits.

“There are technologies that hamper the outdoor experience, and technologies that enhance an outdoor experience,” said Nana. “If a new youth hunter is on a phone playing games to pass the time instead of appreciating time spent outdoors, that’s an example of technology hindering an outdoor experience. Technologies such as inReach that help you stay safe and communicate with loved ones when you are outside of cell service, bow sights that provide precision aiming and remove pin gapping, or dog-tracking devices that can help you focus on the hunt while always knowing your dog’s location are examples of technologies that enhance the outdoor experience.”

Garmin's inReach Mini is a lightweight and compact satellite communicator that can send SOS alerts, a vital service for backcountry hunters.

Enhancing the outdoors experience is beneficial, but in many instances Garmin’s products serve a more vital purpose when we’re outdoors. There is a level of risk involved with any outdoor activity, and it is important to take steps to mitigate those risks. Getting injured in a remote area beyond cell phone service and away from aid can result in tragedy. Although having to be rescued is rarely foremost in our minds while preparing for a trip to the backcountry, it’s important to have a plan of action in the event of an accident. Garmin handheld devices can trigger an SOS to the Garmin IERCC (International Emergency Response Coordination Center) and can contact local emergency crews and track your location so help can be sent directly to you immediately. This is especially important in vast areas where your location might be difficult to pinpoint or if you become lost. Even if your friends or family know your general location, they might not be able to find you in the event of an emergency. It could be days before you are found.

Accidents don’t just happen in the wilderness, though. If there’s a tragedy at your home, such as a serious injury, fire or death, you will likely want to go home. Without a service that allows you to communicate with your family, you won’t have any knowledge of these events. Garmin has made this level of technology not only available but also

affordable — inReach plans start at about $12 a month, making this the least expensive and most efficient form of insurance against accidents on your outdoor adventurers.

Even if you don’t travel to roadless wilderness areas, you can still protect yourself using Garmin’s products. The impressive level of compatibility between products means that inReach’s life-saving capabilities can be paired with products such as Forerunner and tactix watches, Alpha handhelds, marine chart plotters and Tread offroad GPS navigation equipment.

As a hunter, this level of connectivity is particularly important to me because the products that I use regularly, such as my Forerunner watch, can at any moment send a help message. I live on a farm and routinely trim trees around my treestands with a chainsaw. Accidents happen quickly, and it’s good to know that I have a communication device strapped to my wrist should I ever need it.

Several years ago, a friend of mine was out training bird dogs in some very steep and unforgiving country comprised of sheer bluffs and rock outcroppings. He took an errant step and fell into a rockpile, breaking both of his legs. Because he was more than a mile from his truck and without cell phone service, he had to crawl back to his vehicle, an agonizing journey that lasted several hours. Since I frequently hunt birds in areas with that kind of unforgiving topography I’ve learned that having an Alpha handheld with built-in inReach is more than a luxury.

Technology has changed every aspect of our lives — and that includes our outdoor recreation. No longer are we truly alone when we venture into the woods or on the water thanks to Garmin’s long and growing list of products. Who could have imagined that your watch could help you find your way back home, track your mileage and biometrics and offer ballistic solutions for your rifle? Who would have believed that your dog tracking and training device could send a message for help? Gary Burrell and Min Kao did, and because of their ethos that the best navigation equipment should be available to everyone, we now have an ecosystem of outdoor products that enriches the time we spend doing the things we enjoy. Booth #41755

 Garmin Aero A1 Pro auto-ranging bow sight uses a digital laser to establish precise distances to the target.

(garmin.com)

Garmin Alpha 10: The compact, lightweight Alpha 10 dog training/tracking handheld device allows you to track up to 20 dogs as far away as 9 miles, and yet it’s small enough to fit in the chest pocket of your hunting vest. Using the Alpha 10’s innovative joystick design, you can mark your vehicle’s location, follow the hunt or deliver corrections (18 levels of stimulation, vibration or tone) to your pack. It’s compatible with other Alpha and Astro handhelds, which means other members of your hunting party can track your dogs and send and receive pre-set messages. It pairs with the Tread offroad navigator and the Garmin DriveTrack 71 car navigators as well as the Garmin Explore app. I’ve used the Garmin Alpha 10 to track and train my dogs. It’s the most compact and convenient handheld on the market. What’s more, battery life is exceptional — up to 40 hours. $399.99.

Garmin Xero A1i Pro Bow Sight: The new Xero A1i Pro is an auto-ranging digital bow sight that takes much of the guesswork out of making difficult archery shots. To calibrate the sight, simply set the 20-yard sight pin, input arrow speed and verify by shooting at 40 yards. The Xero A1i Pro then generates a “stack” of LED pins in alternating red and green colors for quick reference when shooting. There’s no need to change your hold when shooting from an elevated treestand, either: The Xero A1i Pro provides an angle-compensated aiming point that will put you on target every time. The sturdy dovetail mounting system allows the sight to be removed in a few seconds. One-year battery life means you won’t find your sight is out of juice when the buck of a lifetime steps into range. $1,299.99.

inReach Mini: The rugged inReach Mini measures just 2 inches wide and 4 inches tall and weighs 3.5 ounces, so it can be carried in a pocket or clipped to a backpack. Despite its small size, the inReach Mini offers an impressive list of features, including two-way messaging from anywhere in the world, location sharing and SOS messaging that immediately connects you with Garmin’s IERCC emergency response coordination team. It even offers weather forecasting for your current location or waypoints you have marked. It’s compatible with the Earthmate app and several Garmin devices, too, and plans start at just $11.99 per month. This is a must-have item for anyone who ventures off the beaten path. $349.99.