Every once in a while I will share stuff I love with you. Those are items that I own and use regularly and am happy to recommend to others?.
Today I want to share something I want. Every once in a while I will run across something and go, “I want that.”?. We all do it, regardless of whether it’s actually practical or not. In this case, I believe it’s very practical. However, I can probably get just as much performance out of a watch less than a quarter of the price, and from the same manufacturer.
Garmin’s MARQ line of GPS watches does the same stuff their other ones do, they just look better while they’re doing it. The line is now six deep with variants for sailing, flying, driving, mountaineering, working out and this new tactical model. Each boasts a distinctive case as well as onboard apps.
The Commander boasts a 46mm-wide by 14.4mm-thick Titanium case that is DLC coated. It also has a sapphire crystal, knurled buttons and a tritone black jacquard-weave nylon strap.
Features include dual-format GPS coordinates (military grid reference system or degrees/minutes/seconds), built-in topographical maps, UTC bezel, Night vision goggle compatibility and the Garmin Jumpmaster app.
For when you aren’t off storming the castle, the Commander also embeds all-day stress monitoring, Emails, texts and alerts as well as music storage and streaming services such as Spotify. It also equipped with Garmin Pay, in case you need to pick up some extra gear.
Finally, it will run for 12-days on a single charge in smartwatch mode.
Now, the sticker shock. It’s $1950. But, what the heck. It’s my birthday, and my wife may see this and say to herself, “sure let’s blow a house payment on a watch for my husband.”? Of course, you and I both know that’s not going to happen, but a fella can dream. On the other hand, some lucky guy might get one. If you do, let me know what you think. I can always put it on my “if I ever win the lottery, I’ll get this ” list?
I always recommend that SSD readers source their Garmin systems from our friends at Strohman Enterprise. Joe is a retired Marine and LEO and one of the best guys you’ll know.
Yup…definitely want!
It is awesome, and definitely tickles the consumerist nerve in all of us.
I’m still holding out hope Suunto will bring out an equivalent model, since they still manufacture in Finland. I’d like to support that.
Suunto might still be made in Finland, and they make great watches, but the company is now Chinese-owned (along with Salomon and ArcTeryx). Take a look into the commitment/legal relationship between Chinese gov and business ownership and then [perhaps] reconsider what/whom you’d like to be supporting.
Agreed, this is a great looking watch. I differ on the Suunto though. They are owned by a Chinese company and just something about providing them with gps/loc data hits a nerve.
I’ll take one too. 🙂
A whole lot of want there, I just worry about the support as it ages. My Fenix 2 is basically bricked because they don’t support it as well with updates since they want you on the latest model.
Who wears a 3-piece suit+overcoat over just a t-shirt? This guy does not make me want to buy this watch…
Sooo… It’s a tactix charlie with spotify and garmin pay? Tacticool.
+$1200 USD over a tactix charlie for
Ti case
Extra software features (that may or may not be useful)
Airplane mode
Different strap
Nv mode (which we already had on all previous Tactix, bravo + charlie)
You decide if it’s worth that
Oh yeah, and on a $2k USD watch, 2 year warranty like everything else. Subpar.
The bogieman knows when your in his AO based on the Bluetooth, Ant+, and Zigbee signals coming off these smart watches. He can kill you, track you, or exploit the device with a rf/ cyber attack. The aforementioned can is also easily be done with rf dongles and a directional antenna. Please be careful out there.
“Of course, you and I both know that’s not going to happen, but a fella can dream.” …still laughing. True, so true.
Of course we’d spend that amount or more on her because we know what she likes/wants.
The sad truth is, most spouses, especially service members’ and veterans’ spouses (and times 10 for reservists) don’t have a clue about the type of trinkets that make us happy.
Garmin hoppin on the “Make something so expensive people want to buy it because its expensive” train.