Love how even digital clocks are still set to 10:08 on all promotional materials. It’s become a standard because that way the hands are facing up, are symmetrical and don’t cover the company logo on analog clocks.
I guess there’s value to all digital clocks showing the same digits to easily compare fonts etc, but it’s neat they keep the 10:08 thing alive.
I urge you all to do your homework. All these devices are dependable on GPS (which is EXCLUSIVELY US system and a present/gift to the world) and/or your Android/iOS phone (again, EXCLUSIVELY US Systems).
So… replacing those products, just because they are associated with US companies, does nothing. They are produced in Asia, anyway.
It is like refusing to use american spoon to eat american eggs. The eggs are still american.
Don’t get me wrong, I am proEU and domestic production, but ditching companies like Garmin has nothing to do with empowering EU production and everything to do with spite. Same goes for Tesla (which, quite honestly, really IS a crappy car).
There’s also suunto, which is Finnish
Suunto is owned by Chinese company Liesheng. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suunto
Good to know, Polar shall be my Garmin replacement I recommend going forward. I was otherwise also recommending Suunto
Oof… I got a Suunto smartwatch few years back. Build quality was really good with titanium & sapphire glass. I guess when it’s time to buy a new one, I’ll look somewhere else. Such a shame, the company has a bit of history.
Garmin is very good privacy wise as I understand. How is polar in that regard?
https://believeintherun.com/gps-run-tracking-privacy-policies/
Polar is based in the EU, which has the strictest privacy laws in the world under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, this only applies to data subjects within the EU, so if you’re using a device in the United States, you’re not covered by the GDPR (even if you’re a European citizen). The likely reason Joe Rogan received an updated notice agreement was because he was within the EU borders at the time. Companies based within the United States also must comply with GDPR data protection when gathering data from European data subjects.
Does Polar sell your data? No. According to Polar, “the data is used only to offer you the service in question, nothing else. Polar does not disclose, give or sell your data to anyone unless [they] are required to do so pursuant to a mandatory provision of law. [They] may use some of the data in research and development work to improve [their] services, but for such purposes data is cleared from identifiers to the maximum amount possible.”
According to their policy, data is transferred outside your country of origin because they need the data to give you accurate training metrics and recommendations. All their servers are based in Finland, Ireland, and Sweden, so your information only goes to those servers, all under the EU/EEA umbrella. When transferred, “Your data will not be disclosed or given to any third parties; it is still under Polar’s control and under your ownership.
Now, data may be transferred to Polar’s subcontractors that carry out tasks related to Polar, though it doesn’t say who those contractors are or where they are located.
The good news is that you have a lot of rights under their policy, including access to the personal information they have on you, the right to object to the handling of personal data, and the right to refuse profiling and automated decision-making. There are far more rights granted by Polar than other companies.
