Originally Posted by
kingston
I don't have an opinion on drones or cameras or whatever, but let's use the wahoo element bolt as an example, because I have one, I'm familiar with it, and this is a cycling forum not a general electronics forum. You have to pair the bolt with your phone to connect it to the internet the first time and to set up the pages and metrics you want to see on each page. Both of those things would be super clunky if you had to do it with the arrow buttons on the unit, and the thing wouldn't work at all if it couldn't connect to wifi. It's just much easier to do that with my phone than to have to connect it to the laptop every time I want to connect to a new hotspot or modify a page view. I have been at the start of a brevet, realized that I loaded the wrong route, connected to my phone and loaded the right one in under 5 minutes. I would have been screwed with an etrex in that situation. I'm all for privacy and everything, but I still don't get it with a gps headunit that essentially can't function the way they are intended without being connected to the internet.
Garmins can be setup, and used, without needing to connect to the Internet or to pair with a smartphone. All their general functions work, including tracking your location, speed, pairing with sensors, and so on. A smartphone and Internet connection makes things convenient, and certain functionality may require one or both, but that's whole world of a difference between "this thing cannot be used until you pair it to your phone and connect to the Internet" and "this thing can be used, but for certain things to function you may need a phone or computer, and Internet".
But regardless, I was merely responding to your text wondering about the aversion to phone/Internet pairing and stating my stance in that matter - and to me it's the general principle of the subject rather than any specific device concerns.