Garmin buys Nexus

[deckersr]

I went to the Garmin booth at the Newport Boat show and one of the big screens had a big Nexus logo. I did a double take and asked the guy what that was all about. He told me that Garmin bought Nexus as of Friday.

He didn't seem to know too much about how Garmin intends to leverage the technology but the conversation drifted towards the benefits of instrument systems that use a central processor model.

Press release

 

[deckersr]

On the Chicago Marine Electronics website they have already updated their menu to say "Nexus Marine by Garmin". That was quick.

 

[Black Dog]

I wonder if Jon from JRJ the former Nexus dealer who now works for Garmin had something to do with it?

 

[PeterInTassie]

this is probably preferable to the other crowd buying them i guess. perhaps there might be a custom interface soon for nexus instruments to garmin chartplotters

two heads

I went to the Garmin booth at the Newport Boat show and one of the big screens had a big Nexus logo. I did a double take and asked the guy what that was all about. He told me that Garmin bought Nexus as of Friday.

He didn't seem to know too much about how Garmin intends to leverage the technology but the conversation drifted towards the benefits of instrument systems that use a central processor model.

Press release

 

[Mogle]

Not good! Garmin is on of the brands I really dislike. Had a few of there products - everytime it have been a bad investment.

There will no be Garmin products on my yacht! If Garmin have taken over Nexus - I got a few Nexus instruments for sale.

 

[Tucky]

Not good! Garmin is on of the brands I really dislike. Had a few of there products - everytime it have been a bad investment.

There will no be Garmin products on my yacht! If Garmin have taken over Nexus - I got a few Nexus instruments for sale.

I had the same thought when Raymarine bought Tacktick, but they have done well on the support side for me. Sometimes a manufacturer is trying to learn a market and gets better. Garmin is one of the few companies in the marine market that is a much bigger company in other markets. I suspect they are seeing the market for non marine gps devices shrinking as so many people move to their phone for their cars, hiking, etc. The marine market may look better to them now and they may improve.

 

[Mogle]

Thank you for the support!

It will be interesting to see if they keep Nexus as a separate business unit or chang it / merge it with on of there product lines. It would interesting to find out why it was sold?

I purchased Nexus as a alternative to B&G. Now I know it was a mistake. Garmin got a few interesting products but they can never be a true competitor to B&G. Nexus could!

 

[Ringmaster]

I find some of the replies interesting. Most people's experience with Garmin includes products that work and great customer service. Most people's experience with B&G is expensive product that never works.

 

[Henry the Navigator]

I find some of the replies interesting. Most people's experience with Garmin includes products that work and great customer service. Most people's experience with B&G is expensive product that never works.

Never is such a strong word...

 

[eliboat]

B&G rep is pretty bad. The stuff is nice when it works, but often enough it doesn't. There needs to be more players in this market, and hopefully garmin cash will used well in improving an already decent product, or making garmins instrument offerings more appealing. My experience with Garmin has been good, and they have done a good job updating their products over the years, always improving the user interface from generation to generation.

 

[Soley]

Has B&G not improved since being owned by Simrad?

 

[Mogle]

Let’s get back to the original post. Garmin buys Nexus.

I think it is a very good move by Garmin – I am more sceptical to Nexus future with Garmin as owner. I got a software industry background and too often an excellent product have been purchased just to get a long a painful death! Hopefully it will be different for Nexus and their product range.

It would be good with a forward looking statement from one of the key individual at Nexus? Will Dean Barker and his team still going to be part of the new unit? Or have they taken their money and “gone sailing”? Is development of Nexus still going to be based in Sweden? Long term we can expect some integrations between the two product lines. Nexus is short of chart plotters, radars and a few other bits. When can Nexus customers start the see any benefits from the takeover?

I liked Nexus - they had some great products - and they where small unit.

My interest here is simple. I am a Nexus customer.

 

[deckersr]

I think this is a potentially better situation than the typical software company deal. I would be curious about the market share of Garmin instruments compared to Nexus instruments. Raymarine seems to have the market for instruments in new boats. When a new boat buyer has to select a gps, it is an easy sell for Raymarine.

I think the backing of a large company like Garmin will make Nexus a more attractive option for new boat buyers and then Garmin gains the tie in to their gps business.

 

[svendson]

If this finally means a half decent instrument system that can handle a rotating mast AND talk NMEA 2000 I will be stoked.

 

[percam]

Here is a link to kiwi yachting's press release data september 21.

http://www.kiwiyachting.co.nz/content/garmin%C2%AE-acquires-nexus%C2%AE-marine

 

[Henry the Navigator]

+1

 

[Moonduster]

My guess is that this is all about brand. Garmin realizes that their own brand doesn't mean shit in the world of yacht instruments. The Nexus brand is pretty well positioned and ought to let Garmin make a segue into the club racer and cruising instrumentation market. Integrating well with other Garmin products, especially auto pilots, chart plotters and radar that might get the Nexus branding, lets Garmin fend off Raymarine's top-end and B&G and NKE's lower-end racing customers.

Garmin also brings substantial R&D resources and could choose to drive the Nexus brand right over the top of B&G and NKE at the high end.

 

[artsimons]

Heard very positive things about the Nexus / Garmin relationship from both camps at Mets (Europe's biggest marine equipment show). Nexus will continue and Garmin are going to use their office as an R&D sailing facility, with an eye on new products - both traditional instruments and mobile GPS solutions. All the previous Nexus staff are there and they are going to continue on with their existing distributor network - except in The States where Garmin take over sales.

 

[Mogle]

Good news.

I think the dealer network in UK have changed too. In the past Allspars was the only reseller, they gave the impression that they had an import status for United Kingdom. Nexus list of dealers are now 20+ according to their web site. I assume Garmin Marine dealer are included.