Do we like them?

Do we like Garmin?

Makes GPS devices, smartwatches, fitness trackers, and aviation and marine electronics. Headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Our score: 7 out of 10. A solid, well-run maker of products people like, with no big regulatory scandals in what we found. We'd back it, though the searches didn't cover its environmental or labour record.

Garmin is a Swiss-incorporated company that makes GPS devices, smartwatches and other gear. Cliff Pemble is still its president and CEO in 2026. Its Q1 2026 release reported record revenue of about $1.75 billion.

The big drama was July 2020, when ransomware known as WastedLocker hit Garmin. Reports tied it to Evil Corp. Services were down for around four days. Garmin said there was no sign attackers got customer data. One outlet reported, based on Bleeping Computer documents, that it paid the reported $10 million ransom. Another said Garmin hadn't said whether it paid.

It has also had patent fights. In 2017 a Texas jury ordered Garmin to pay Navico about $38 million for willfully infringing sonar patents. An ITC judge also recommended a $37 million penalty. A later report said a federal court reversed the earlier rulings.

In 2016 a Utah federal judge approved a settlement of a consumer class action. It claimed a Forerunner sports watch model was defective and came apart in use. Overall we found no major recent scandal, so we give it a decent score. It is not a top mark, because we couldn't check its labour or environmental record.