Garmin® wins back-to-back ICAST Best of Show titles

Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), today announced it earned the coveted “Best of Show” award for its Force™ trolling motor at the world’s largest sportfishing tradeshow, the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST), presented by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) in Orlando, Fla., July 9-12. Prior to being awarded Best of Show, the Force trolling motor, which debuted to the public for the first time in conjunction with ICAST, was voted by media and buyers in attendance as the “Best Boating Accessory” in the ICAST New Product Showcase.

A record-breaking 1,004 products were entered by more than 300 companies, all vying for this year’s overall ICAST Best of Show award. In 2018, Garmin also won the Best of Show and “Best Electronics” for its Panoptix Livescope™, the first live scanning sonar for recreational fishing.

“To be recognized as back-to-back Best of Show winners for two different product categories at an established industry tradeshow like ICAST is truly humbling and reinforces our commitment to delivering the most innovative technology and products available on the water,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “Force is our first trolling motor and the culmination of years of design and creation, so it’s a huge accomplishment to win the category and overall Best of Show against so many seasoned brands. Not only is Force at the forefront of power and efficiency, it’s the most reliable, innovative freshwater trolling motor on the market.”

With 30-percent more power¹ than the leading competition, anglers with Force can move from one dock or brush pile to the next more quickly, throttle back with ease when they need to fish slow, and stand up better to currents. Force is also the most efficient trolling motor available, so anglers can count on it to fish all day. Its high-efficiency brushless motor operates at either 36V or 24V, and when running at 24V, Force delivers comparable thrust to competitors’ 36V motors. And thanks to that unique brushless motor, Force operates with almost undetectable levels of sonar and steering noise both below and above the water.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about the Force trolling motor,” said Fred Roumbanis, Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour and Garmin pro. “The speed on this motor, it’s faster than anything I’ve ever used and not only that, it’s also quieter than any other motor out there.”

Force is the first trolling motor to include built-in industry-leading Garmin CHIRP traditional and Ultra High-Definition ClearVü and SideVü scanning sonars. It wirelessly integrates with Garmin chartplotters and thanks to its built-in heading sensor and GPS, Force offers precise virtual anchor lock to help anglers lock their boat onto their fishing spot quickly and accurately. Force can also be controlled by the convenient wireless foot pedal that provides instant control and responsiveness, or by the included wireless remote that features anchor lock, autopilot functionality and simple point-and-go gesture steering.

“It’s the strongest trolling motor I’ve ever used in my entire life, not to mention all of the great built-in features like compatibility to the Garmin electronics and the remote functionality – I can take the remote, point it any direction I want to, press and hold the button, and it automatically takes me there,” added Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour and Garmin Pro Mark Daniels, Jr.

Expected to be available in August 2019, Force will be offered with a 50-inch or 57-inch adjustable shaft for suggested retail prices of $3099.99 and $3199.99, respectively. It’s backed by a 3-year warranty and a limited lifetime warranty on the shaft. For more information, visit www.garmin.com/force.

Garmin is the world’s leading marine electronics manufacturer² and was recently named Manufacturer of the Year for the third consecutive year by the NMEA, an honor given to the most recognized marine electronics company for support of products in the field. Garmin’s portfolio includes some of the industry’s most sophisticated chartplotters and touchscreen multifunction displays, sonar technology, high-definition radar, autopilots, high-resolution mapping, sailing instrumentation, audio, entertainment and other products and services that are known for innovation, reliability, and ease-of-use. Other Garmin marine brands include FUSION® Entertainment, Navionics—a premier supplier of navigation charts, and EmpirBus™.

For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary business units, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom, contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garmin, or youtube.com/garmin.

¹In compliance with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) requirements for small craft static thrust.

² Based on 2017 reported sales.

About Garmin International Inc.


Garmin International Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN). Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Garmin and FUSION are registered trademarks and Force and Panoptix LiveScope are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.

All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Notice on Forward-Looking Statements:

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2018, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of such Form 10-K is available at http://www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.