Garmin Instinct Rugged GPS Watch – Graphite
| Dimensions: | 4.57 x 1.52 x 4.57 cm; 49.9 Grams |
| Model: | 010-02064-00 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | Garmin |
| Department: | Men’s |
| Dimensions: | 4.57 x 1.52 x 4.57 cm; 49.9 Grams |
This is a great smartwatch for tracking activity and genuinely a battery that lasts 5+ days. The watch is great value and looks great! No touchscreen on the watch and traditional buttons but heighly customisable display! Would reccommend
Uninstalled garmin connect and installed again has suggested works for a very short period, Problem solved ,If you activate the battery saver it disconnects from the phone, So now I’ve discovered this I am changing my review Great watch long battery life lots of features I like ,Buttons take a little bit of getting used to but once you get the hang of them 🙂 A really good watch
I needed a rugged fitness tracker as opposed to a smart watch. Thankfully the Garmin’s smart capabilities are minimal and can be turned off. This has the advantage of maximising battery life well beyond the 14 days suggested. So far: strimming, chopping logs, grass cutting, hedge trimming, rubble loading have all gone without a hitch. The altimeter is flakey, today it has me at -127 feet when I am 387 above sea level. The sleep monitor is beyond optimistic. But everything else seems ok.
Like the watch, bad quality strap. The strap keeper loops broke after about a year, strap slots failed recently. Spoke to Garmin customer support – because I’ve had in 2 years 6 months they won’t replace the strap (2 year warranty)
Was fed up of my Apple Watch, constantly having to charge it. I play golf, love the Garmin golf watches so thought I would get this. It’s great, looks great, feels great, and 31 days battery life!!
It’s a fairly standard sports watch but the solar glass means that I only charge it every few weeks which to me is great. Just to be fair and honest If one was using it to track long days hiking it would need charging more frequently but for me the solar glass is a real bonus.
I’m a slow learner but I soon got the better of it and have to say I am perfectly satisfied.
I got very disappointed with receiving the product not sealed; when reaching out to Amazon support, they suggested me to return the watch. I really didn’t want to return the watch but I think that it’s pretty unfair to pay for a new product and receive what I don’t know whether it is a 2nd hand or what.
I use the watch everyday without fail and pretty much wear it 24/7 unless I’m charging it! Mainly I’ll record hikes, including mountain hikes and the odd bike ride, so this is when I’ll record the activity via the built in GPS, then download the activity to the Garmin app and Komoot.
I used the watch to record hiking activities extensively last year whilst travelling in our campervan, spending 3 months in France, 3 months back in the UK, then 3 months in Spain. So what I’m saying is that the watch is used a lot.
The battery life is fantastic, not using the GPS, I’ve had a couple of weeks out of it with battery power left over, I think I’d get up to 3 weeks. When the GPS is activated it will last all day, I believe up to 16 hours. I’ve spent all day on mountains in the UK, Spain and France and there’s always been plenty of life left in the battery once the activity has ended.
The watch is not bad to look at and is very clear and simple to use, it also sits nice on the wrist and is very light.
The only gripe I have is the fact you can’t see the steps on the face during a recorded activity, it just means you have to wait until you’ve finished.
Overall I love the watch, it’s been totally reliable and the best Garmin I’ve had by far. I would definitely buy another.
UPDATE: One thing that is really annoying if you are a regular user of a heavy backpack: the watch buttons seem to always, always snag when you put the backpack on or take it off – leaving the watch set in random biking or swimming modes or trying to find the weather or GPS or whatever, sometimes for hours if you don’t remember to check. Bit of a usability/design flaw for a sport watch I think.
I stayed away from this watch for a while until the instinct 2 came out and the price dropped.
This is the type of watch that you can wear everyday and forget that you have it on you. In a nutshell, this watch is very accomplished as it has so many features that will satisfy the climber, the runner , the explorer
What I really love about this watch is it’s looks, and great readability in any light, and not to mention how amazing the battery life!
The ABC is flawless, Storm alarm is on point and for any of you out there wondering what setting to use for early change in weather pattern, I experimented with many settings and the 3hPa drop per 3 hours works the best as it warms you that a L front is making land in the next 6h to 12h. Heart rate is by the far the best I have found to match my S6 during swimming!! During running and cross fit is also accurate. I am very impressed with this watch despite my wife’s comment on how ugly it looks
The Garmin once fully charged will run 21 days if you’re not doing many tracked exercises (so, notifications and the likes) and it’s winter. In summer, if you’re in the sun for any time at all you’ll get well over a month from a charge.
Accuracy is excellent, better than the two Android watches I mentioned, and marginally better than the Apple Watch. The Garmin app is very good too, all information is presented clearly and accurately, and it’ll sync with Google Fit if that’s your thing too.
It’s quite a big watch, like a Casio G-Shock, but it’s very light to the point where you forget you’re wearing it, even when compared to a 40mm Apple Watch. I’ve not been kind to the Garmin either, and there are no marks or scratches on it, despite me wearing it through months of DIY home renovations. The strap (a very dark greeny-grey) is starting to discolour a little, but only noticable if you really look hard at it.
Very highly recommended. Anyone want to buy an Apple Watch or a Galaxy Watch 4? 😀
The Instinct does everything the Vivo does with the exception of VO2 Max, which is rarely mentioned. It’s slightly ridiculous that it doesn’t generate VO2 Max in app, but it doesn’t. It also can’t use the Garmin ConnectIQ app store, although in my experience that’s of limited use anyway and the Instinct comes with the most useful ‘widgets’ ready to go anyway.
However, it does offer a bunch of additional features including turn-by-turn navigation (although no maps) and the important one for me; body battery.
Garmin has had the body battery feature around for a while now on some devices and its useful to have it on the Instinct. If you wear the watch 24/7 and allow it to monitor your HR and Sleep etc, then it produces some really interesting data on your overall energy levels which are genuinely proving quite useful for planning training and rest.
The watch is a good size and doesn’t look too chunky even on a small wrist and the screen is VERY readable in all conditions. I really prefer the buttons to the touch screen display of the Vivoactive which was forever changing screens accidentily. I’m not a big fan of standard holed straps and quickly switched it out for a simple velcro one (most 22mm straps will fit).
I will admit to initially feeling a bit underwhelmed by the Instinct Solar. It looks fairly unexciting, it has a black and white screen, it’s missing V02 Max and it almost felt like a step back from the Vivoactive. However, having used it for few weeks, especially due to the body battery feature, the watch has become a really useful tool that i now wear 24/7 and am really pleased I switched to it.
If you want a rugged GPS watch for general road and trail running plus something with a larger battery that will work well for longer events and hikes etc then this seems an ideal choice. Just be aware that you are missing some specialist running metrics and the screen is not as big as some other watches.
I bought it for my partner , he is very happy whit this watch.
Handy for nav checks on ex to get a cheeky grid ref perfect for the price.
A great watch. Recently upgraded and does exactly what I need and a lot more.
Thoroughly recommend this watch
Looks good yet not in your face, so far so good
Bought this for my husband and he absolutely loves it. Fantastic watch. Highly recommend
Just buy it if you walk hikke or mountain climber … you will love i
North to south bike packing ride Wales. Good back up, with solar charge, battery lasts for ever.
very happy with watch,navigation isnt as good as i thought it would be
Looks a bit like a CASIO G Shock, but with great functions that connect to you mobile phone.
I like that its has Solar, so I do not have to change the battery that much. Its very light to wear also.
And it has made my Samsung Galaxy watch 4 classic redundant and setting in my bedside cabinet drawer.
– hr – it’s not a chest strap, but 95% of the time is 5 bpm within a manual reading during exercise so I can’t fault it. Use it during HITT, weights and general cardio, as well as football 5 a side.
– build – seems super durable which was essential given how clumsy i am. Banged it, dropped it, kids claw at it, not so much as a scratch. Built like one of those old army nokia phones that were indestructible. Couple of people have iphone watches and the screens on them are always breaking at the slightest of knocks or drops!
– features – loads. I don’t use them all but its nice knowing they’re there if needed
– smart watch? – if your priority is exercise then this is the one for you. If you want to use it to ring, view texts etc don’t even bother.
– app – seems ok, gets the info i want. Can it do more? I’ve no idea, does what i need it to (show hr over a session, on a graph etc, keeps track of days trained on a calander).
– Battery – took this on holiday with me, went to the beach etc and all was fine. It had 16 days on it (battery saver mode on), a week later it still had 16 days as it had been charging via the solar panels. Probably had 2/3 hours of sun on it maximum a day but probably didn’t even need that. I only use the hr and features when training, otherwise i just use it as a everyday sturdy watch.
There’s probably loads more you can do on this watch that I’ve not even looked at, i wanted a watch for training and something that wasn’t going to break when I’m out with the family etc. Love the watch and it hasn’t disappointed. I did look at another model that was double the price, glad i bought this one instead!
Charging point is odd though, why not usb c? Only flaw i can think of really
Update : i now use the gps for cycling which seems accurate and useful.
Hr can give inaccurate results if the strap is too loose, something to be mindful of. Tighten it up slightly and it’s good to go
Fits well easy to use . Does need charging..at the moment every 3-4 weeks. Seems very accurate.
What it does do, firstly the surf version i bought in the white/marine blue looks awesome. I wanted something other than the generic black watch, got one of those. This ticks that box perfectly. Garmin has as much clout as samsung and apple in this badge snobbery universe. But i think it has a little extra here and above all, its still a watch. Not a phone extension, a genuine use on the wrist tell the time watch.
Other reviewers bemoan the apps you have to download to use it. Maybe im different but it makes sense to me, connect to use the watch with your phone, connect iq (effectively garmins wearable app store) for the tide app i needed finishing with the navigation app. I dont see issues with any of them. Seems logical to me, they are nicely self contained, easy to use (basic to some i suppose) but does what it says on the tin.
Actually using the watch, like i said its a watch, just has more functions. None of that silly swipe business that used to send my old huwawei into palpitations when it rained. Its all button based and a good thing too. The buttons are logical and only needs a day or 2 to be very comfortable with what does what. Anybody who has used one of the function loaded casio G shocks will be very comfortable. Its not as butch as a g shock but is still not a shy flower. Doesent catch on your cufs and the strap is really comfortable. Things like weather, position, compass, mapping, storm warning, blood gas, pulse, exercise it just never ends. How they got it all in i don’t know.
All the functions do take a bit of figuring out and to be honest the manual is, no other word for it crap, it is very much a quick start guide. If you buy one, set yourself down in front of the lap top with a coffee and use the online manual on the garmin website to go through everything. The vibrating alert seems a bit too much at first, especially if you get several alerts at once but when you think on it, if your diving/surfing/biking it prob needs to be a little heavy handed to get your attention and you can turn it off.
The icing on the cake, the simply ridiculous battery life. Mine is a solar and it would appear if you spend a reasonable time outside without pushing the watch too hard you might charge it once or twice a MONTH. I have had mine 3 days now and obviously have been like a kid with a new toy. Worn it 24hrs a day and its just dropped off of full on the battery indicator. The others need to listen to this.
The screen looks blocky compared to an apple watch but it has a no business look i feel. The screen is a black and white pixel screen. Like the kindle screens, prob why the battery lasts so long. Perfectly suits the needs of the watch.
Ultimately i love it, i was not intending to use even half the functions, thinking most to be gimmicks like the huwawei. For the most part i bought it for its looks and the little boy inside loves the gadgets. Now i have it, those gadgets are actually real useable functions not remotely gimmicks and i will be using them.
10/10
I’d heard good things about Garmin watches, but now having purchased one I can say they are amazing. Everything from the functionality to comfort to the app are brilliant. I’m currently dieting and it is really helping me track my exercise, food intake and sleep. I’m still learning and there are still functions I have yet to use. But I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Light and easy to wear. Displays all essential information. A good buy and easy to set up
The watch was easy to set up, as I am sort sighted I did struggle as the writing is very small. It’s a good job I have a young teenage grandson who had the watch up and running in less than 5 mi
Had it a few months now, 3? Really good battery life. Only charged it twice. Great features, works well with the app. Simple display. Nice and light, not bulky like touchscreen smart watches. Doesn’t feel like a gimmicky gadget. More of a practical watch which does all the fitness tracking, navigation, notifications etc that you need. Great value.
My dad was also worried about smashing a glass screen on a smart watch and for that reason didn’t have one. This is perfect for him, and he’s not taken it off since i bought it for him. The battery is way better than my apple watch. When my apple one dies I will probably look for a Garmin myself.
I like to keep track of how far I walked because I’m 71 years old and check on my heartbeat and maps and cycling and paddleboarding.
I chose this watch because it incorporated a number of smart features and a digital compass. It doesn’t have a touchscreen or a colour screen but it’s perfect for camping and other outdoor activities. Battery life is good. I know there is a newer model but if you don’t want to pay the money for the updated version then this will definitely do the job.
Had a few Garmin watches in the past and have always been really impressed.
I’ve been interested in this one for a while, the solar charging was a big plus for me along with its sturdy look.
Watch is fantastic, would say it’s actually smaller than it looks in the pictures – I’ve small wrists but it fits perfect.
Screen is bright and clear and the buttons make it really responsive – possibly more than a touch screen one.
Would highly recommend this watch.
Faultless product. Does everything I could ask of it, tracks my runs, tracks when I play football. Keeps me up to date with me sleep pattern. Durable, battery life is fantastic, have had it on for 9 days before it needed charging. It’s a fantastic watch and one I highly recommend
Great watch, rugged for sure. Looks great!
Battery life is long but around 15 days if using smart notifications and the occasional workout – less if using GPS in activities.
I’m not sure sleep tracking is accurate though as often thinks I’m in a deep sleep when watching TV with my new baby on my lap (I’m getting about 5.5 hours a night but the watch assumes 8-9hours).
I’d like to see the solar charging and battery life charts on the app dashboard.
Looking forward to using the watch for more activities!
This watch was amazing, did everything I wanted, bought it to replace a Rip Curl Surf watch. Disappointed with a non colour screen but I think that may be to help the battery life.
I cycle a lot and go to the Gym and found it easy to use with accurate readings and lots of useful data including heart, sleep and stress data.
The only issue for me was it gave me a skin rash where I wore it. I got quite a bad flare up so was unable to wear it any more. Very disappointed. Not sure the reason, but I had no issues with the Rip Curl, after a year of wearing non-stop. I guess I am either allergic to one of the components or maybe the constant LED light caused an issue, but I doubt this as i would think it unlikely to be anywhere near powerful enough to cause an issue. I do get eczema so it has probably inflamed my skin.
If you don’t have sensitive skin and want a good value smart watch with good app and lots of data I would not hesitate to recommend this watch.
If you are prone to skin flare ups, don’t write this watch off, you don’t know until you try (and there are things you can do to reduce the risk) but buy with your eyes open.
I still give it 5 stars as its not the watches fault my skin is sensitive. Also 5 stars for Amazon customer service. Despite having worn it for 3 weeks I contacted them and explained the issue and despite it being ‘used’ they accepted the return and gave me a full refund. Very impressed.
Just gutted I couldn’t keep it to be honest.
Simple to use, good looking watch, light not too bulky, records all the data you need. Initial button/navigation is a bit confusing but soon becomes second nature. Links with garmin connect seamlessly had to force stop/restart the explore app to get it to sync course/tracks but simple enough to do.
dropping a star for the strap which irritates my skin, a few people complain about this so be aware – replacement straps cheap enough on amazon.
Update, bought replacement strap and cured the skin irritations, looks better with black strap also
This is a great long life battery wellness and fitness tracker.
Can use breadcrumb routes too which is handy for running pre planned courses.
The solar is excellent as is the battery life. Loved Body Battery and SPO2 measurement.
However, it’s not a fashion watch, just a fitness one with limited smartwatch features.
I had to return it a the beep sound (pizo speaker) just didn’t work at all and should have. I didn’t reorder as on reflection a Garmin Forerunner 55 or a Garmin Venu 2 (with a splash of colour on the screen) will be a better match for me. I would however recommend it and the Garmin ecosystem.
Colour us a bit lighter than picture making it look a little more childlike than adult otherwise well specified watch. Son is fully up to date with digital stuff and was still impressed and chuffed with his watch. Hopefully it might encourage him to start running again! He likes the messages coming up on screen. Ive had a garmin vivo hr and it is now 3 years old and very reliable.
I was fed up with other smart watches and the touch screen being triggered up my sleeve. This got rid of that problem and so many others. Favourite and most used watch by a long shot, it’s so comfortable I don’t even feel like I’m wearing it! The Garmin app is great, battery is phenomenal for a watch of this capability. Very violent vibration, WhatsApp can feel like a swarm of angry bees on your wrist determined to escape your jacket, but it gets your attention and that’s what it’s supposed to do!
Moved from Fitbit to this watch (Garmin Instinct Solar) and glad I did, so many features, great battery life and works well with IPhone and the health app as long as you have Garmin Connect installed. Takes some time to get used to working the settings, but worth it. No fancy colour screen but that’s why the watch has great battery life. Anything I’m not sure about, I just google the manual for information.
Great watch, does what it says it supposed to. Great bit of kit. HOWEVER in the box it came in was a USB C charging cable, completely the wrong one for the product. I don’t know how that happened but it was really annoying.
I like this a lot more than I expected I would. Not having to charge the battery for many days at a time makes the whole smartwatch experience much more enjoyable. There is nothing worse than using the Garmin golf watches and immediately having to take them off and charge them after a round. Mind you I haven’t been using the GPS heavily for hiking just yet, so that might change my opinion on some things later.
On a day to day basis, the App is also surprisingly addictive. I am sure many elements of the data it measures are really only rough guesses but it is nevertheless very useful to notice which days I am roughly walking more, exercising more, sleeping better. It is certainly a good laugh when arguing with the family over who got the worst nights sleep 🙂
I am most sceptical about the heart rate monitor. I haven’t done much running yet but when I am doing mixed workouts in the gym my heart rate seems to jump around a lot. One minute it is in the 90s and the next it is sitting above 130. The next it is much lower again. Maybe this is normal? I have no idea.
As for the aesthetics, I like the fact that the watch itself is very light, the strap is soft and comfortable with two loops for the strap, and that the face is very easy to read. I defintely prefer it to the oled type faces. It of course tha face itself is endlessly customisable. This really is a kind of Casio for grown-ups if that’s your thing.
Had the watch for a couple of months so far (at the time of writing this) and I have been more than happy.
I have found the HR monitor can sometimes take a few seconds to catch up with itself if you are doing any heart rate training but that’s not a major issue for me.
Battery life is amazing (comparing to the Californian phone company), if you don’t happen to use the GPS you’ll find yourself with a good 14 days minimum without needing to charge.
Build quality is solid as well, use the watch when mountain biking and have no worries about it taking a sneaky branch and it shattering or scratching the face.
The strap was a concern at first because it’s quite soft, but have had no issues and it also adds to the comfort in general of the watch.
Set up was really easy, being a bit technophobic sometimes it still only took 20 mins after some updates, app downloads, and creating Garmin accounts to set up and have working.
All in all impressed by my first Garmin watch.
Tried to return the product, they told me to keep it and once opened there was nothing inside!!!
except the GPS and Solar are disappointing, so returned. Going to purchase the Garmin Fenix 6 pro instead.
I got this in the Black Friday deals, and glad I did. It’s on the cheaper side of the Garmin range, but still a useful, easy watch to use.
It’s got all the basic things you want on a watch, with the option of having your phone connected, to get smart notifications. I wanted it for logging hikes, steps, heart rate. So, I’m happy with that. It links well with Strava, for those who wondered.
The mobile app is easy as pie. I’ve read about other people not liking it, but it’s easy to follow and sync.
So far, I can’t actually fault this watch. The battery life of 12-14 days is good too.
Once it’s set up, I’d recommend this to almost anyone. It’s so so light as well.
Looks great lots of features, but not as accurate as previous garmin forerunner 630. A bit disappointing, but still a great watch.
I’ve had this for about 6 months now and good god has it been through its paces with me. It’s been through mud, sand, you name it. I even accidentally got paint splattera on it while painting a garden fence which in time I managed to scrape off with my nail. It’s waterproof and I can wear and wash it in the shower. The battery lasts for weeks depending on how you use it and atm I haven’t charged it in a week and it’s on half power. If you are in need of a budget-friendly tough watch, then this is the one for you. The app is pretty easy to use too and I’ve found it useful for logging my activities throughout the day. The one downfall is that it doesn’t automatically track your workouts, you need to start it on the watch in advance, but it’s great for hikes since it tracks you via gps and can give you the weather and your gps location in real time.
I previously had a garmin forerunner which is a nice activity watch in its own way. The one drawback, for me anyway, is wore it in my construction job and it ruined it.
So for a similar price to some forerunner models this is ideal.
Rock solid strap and body, but with loads of features too.
Also if I’m being honest the battery life on my forerunner was pretty poor, especially in its twilight years.
My only complaints so far is there is no vo2 max reading and the gps tracking seems to kick in properly halfway through a run.
However the current pace feature is really useful and you can link it up to apps and other features on your phone.
To surmise a good solid activity tracker for the workers of the world.
Great watch
Even if you don’t use all the functions just as a day to day watch it’s compfy
Was worried it might scratch up easily but I’m a plumber ans it’s taken loads of knocks and no marks or scratches at all
The storm alert is a waste of time in fact it’s quite funny and the fact you have to open the app to have the weather on your watch seems point less
But overall it’s very good
Solar is good so a charge even if your indoors a lot will last about 3/4 weeks if you have sn I phone it’s a bit disappointing not being able to get I messages sent to it but loads of functions and seems very accurate
This watch was exactly what I was looking for. I hated the short battery life on my Apple Watch 4. Hated it. I was used to solar watches for years that lasted ages (albeit those were not “smart” watches). Like the G-Shock Rangeman.
This does a lot of what the apple watch does albeit with some compromises. Battery lasts for ages of course, bloody oxygen level, GPS, heart rate monitor and step counter. Everything I needed is here and it last about a month without having to charge it. The monochrome display will not be for everyone, but it’s simple and full of functionality and I am really enjoying the iOS app too.
If you like longer battery life and like the look of a more rugged watch then this is for you. It is nowhere near as big or as bulky looking as a G-Shock though, so no need to worry about that.
So I had been contemplating the Solar version for a while, mainly for the improved heart rate sensor, and Amazon knocked over 100 off the price! Decision made!
I wear it 24/7 and work as a lorry driver and the only problem was that having bought the yellow version the wristband was getting a little grubby through the week, nothing a quick going over with a kitchen wipe wouldn’t cure. ( Just the band, not the actual watch.) So I purchased the standard silicon strap in military black direct from Garmin. Problem solved.
As for everything else, it just works brilliantly. From tracking my walks to timing my coffee brewing, it’s all on my wrist, perfect.
If I have a complaint, it’s Garmin general not Instinct specific. The sleep tracker is comprehensive as far as sleep states is concerned but they really need to include multi phase sleep and napping. My only niggle.
I initially bought a black version, but the button labels were pretty much unreadable (dark grey on black!) — although this could just be my eyesight! Having swapped to the “Flame Red” (aka orange) the label colour is a far better contrast with the case colour (black on orange).
While I like the small inset window, the face does seem to waste a lot of potential display space by having a large border round it which would be better used to enable the text/digits to be larger – this would help not only for people with failing eyesight, but for reading when on the move, it also does not seem as easy to read as the 920xt!
I have owned several Garmin devices (310xt, 920xt, 520), I find the Instinct interface less intuitive and the owner’s manual (which has to be downloaded as a pdf) is not great, so resorted to YouTube to really start getting to grips with customising the screens etc. – this is still a work in progress though!
I have not measured the battery life in the real world against the claimed spec, but also with the wrist based HRM I must wear it further up my arm than my old 920xt, so it is also harder to ensure it is not covered by my sleeve which will impair the solar charging…
4 stars for the mobile app just because that is standard and unrelated to the Instinct Solar and while pairing it to the Instinct Solar was pretty pain free, I find it a bit clunky.
5 stars for accuracy — I am comparing this with my other Garmin devices and especially the wrist-based HRM compared with a chest-strap, I was pleasantly surprised.
4 stars for battery life only because I have not had the device long enough to make a judgement although with what I have done so far it seems to be good.
Overall, I am happy and it does most of what I want, although it does not appear to work with the foot pod that I use when training or playing sport indoors, that is paired fine with the 920xt.
I was in two minds about whether I wanted to splash out on a new watch. I had a Fitbit Ionic, but I wanted something a bit more feature rich and the Garmin Instinct Solar fit the bill. I do not regret my purchase. While the Solar feature doesn’t get much use in the UK due to our dismal weather, I’m confident it will be really useful to top up my battery when I can travel again to sunnier places. The watch itself is packed with features, such as stress tracking, body battery (eg how much energy the watch estimates you have left to spent), and sleep and sleep SpO2 are some of the features I love. I am also very keen on the fact that the watch can automatically detect exercise and number repetitions during resistance training, which isn’t perfect but it’s very good. The GPS is quick to connect, unlike my Ionic which could sometimes take minutes to get signal, and it’s very accurate. It’s comfortable to wear, well built, and seems ready to take on outdoor challenges. Pairs well with the HRM Pro chest strap. Glad I purchased!
I bought this as a birthday present for my boyfriend, who presented a real challenge to buy a Smartwatch for, as he’s up on all his latest tech, so I had to really do my research, and he also needed something robust (as in, something that can withstand combat training) and with great battery life, that looks inconspicuous/not out of place in a business setting, whilst having some great stats clearly presented, plus the option of either using GPS for helpful guidance or being able to turn it off. This Garmin has all of the above, with the added advantage of having WAY better screen visibility in sunlight than my more elegant-looking, but definitely more useless Fitbit. The only thing I would say is the difference between battery life with or without GPS is every bit as drastic as they say in the reviews, if not more so. My boyfriend has now taken to ignoring the GPS function, as the battery lasts less than 24 hours with the GPS on. You have been warned!
To be fair, I don’t leave the night sleep monitor on nor do I use the blood oxygen analysis – I mainly just use it to record distance, effort and heart-rate on cycle rides and walks. The GPS function is only active when I’m cycling or doing a new walk. I’m therefore only using about 20% of the watch’s facilities but I also use it for telling the time! (There is a guy on YouTube who makes dozens of very concise and instructive videos on this specific watch so if you want to explore all the bells and whistles please check him out).
This watch looks and feels cool and stylish without verging into Startrek transponder territory. I’m very pleased with this purchase.
Had the watch for about a month now and love it. I have had lots of fitness style watches from other Garmins to Apple watches and others in between, this watch is better that all of them by some distance!
Yes the monochrome screen and lack of true smart features will out some off, but for a sports tracker this watch is mustard! Does more that I will ever need plus a battery that goes on and on. In the last month I have charged the watch twice, once when it arrived and then after 3 weeks! 3 weeks battery is amazing!
If you want a solid fitness watch, look no further!
I have been using the original Forunner 305 for a long long time and wanted to upgrade. This is such a delight to use when running or cycling etc. which is why I purchased it. I usually wear a a G-shock and this is not dissimilar in size. Certainly much much smaller and lighter than the 305 but still with lots of features. I did not plan on wearing it for general use but surprisingly I really like the notifications especially the calender reminders and I keep it on much of the time. It syncs seamlessly with Google android and I find the phone app is straight forward to use. It has been lasting 10 days between charges rather than the few hours that the 305 managed. Worth noting that this is the second one I ordered. Alarmingly, the first delivery was an empty box. Amazon did not seem concerned and just sent another!
If you are looking for all the useful features a typical smart-watch/fitness tracker has – but you don’t want to think twice about where you take it or what you do with it – this is the watch for you.
Granted the user interface can take a little while to get familiar with, but once you’ve become accustomed it’s really straightforward.
The only cons are as follows – the strength training feature only tracks your reps on the arm that the watch is on. I’m not sure if that’s the same for all watches, but I end up using the cardio feature for all my training as it’s not vital I know all my reps in each session.
Also, the storm alert feature doesn’t really seem to work on a day to day basis in the situations I’m in. It will alert in a warm shower, when the heating is on in the car, or just in a warm car, anywhere where there is a change of temperature/air pressure, but in those cases that doesn’t mean there’s a storm coming.
The app works really well with the watch. Occasionally have minor issues with the Garmin app connecting to “myfitnesspal”, but I have a feeling that’s “myfitnesspal”‘s issue rather than Garmin.
Would absolutely recommend.
This watch is perfect for me as it covers my sports which my old garmin didn’t have. I can track my day and makes exercising more interesting. The only issue I had was I ended up being charged additional port taxes 40, (I was notified when the courier got in touch for delivery) that I had to pay which was not mentioned when I ordered the watch, shame as I could have brought in UK for same price after taxes, so be warned.
Having wanting to treat myself to a smart watch with great features and battery life the Instinct Solar ticked all the boxes. It looks great, is rugged has great functionality and the extended battery life is a plus for me as I often work away all week so need to worry about an extra charging cable.
I moved from a Fitbit as I was having issues with the GPS functionality and this seems to be up to the grade however I have had some issues from day 1 with it not synching my activities saying ‘FileTransferError Timeout’. I raised this with Garmin and they suggested to try all the usual steps such as restarting watch, phone, disabling and re-enabling blue-tooth which after a while makes it synch but has recently gone for nearly 1 week before synching then all my activities came flooding in all at once also populating Strava! Restarting things all the time is not something I will put up with for long so hopefully this issue will resolve ASAP as I do really like all other aspects of this watch and would be sad to have to return it as a failure.
Button functionality follows the same principles of the Edge520, so easy for me to adjust to. I wera it 24×7 and hardly know it’s there.
The big change from the Vivo is the screen type. It is not a touch screen and not colour, so initially feels a bit retro.
Now I am used to it what I do like is the amount of data on tap, linked with the Connect app. – it seems to work better with the app, better than the Vivo (3).
Battery life is a big win – at least a week, depending on activity, up to two without use of GPS etc. There is none of the unwanted ‘light’ at night – the Vivi lights up when you move. The instinct has a light button and clarity is great for that mid night check of the time
So a great functional watch – not flash but defo worth the money and the solar is a benefi
I really like this watch, for the looks, the feel, the hr monitor and all the other features are great and easy to use and setup.
The accuracy of the routes I walked, ran, cycled, including in dense forest areas was excellent via the built in gps.
My only complaint is with the accuracy of the altitude. It uses a Barometer built into the watch which can collect lint and sweat in the port which throws the readings out.
Apparently this is a known issue with the device and I was not able to find a fix for it that worked except for adjusting the elevation gain amount on Strava after it has uploaded.
Great watch let down by distance inaccuracies.
A really nice and tough outdoor watch with great battery life let down by its inaccurate distance tracking. I’ve now tested this watch on various known distance walks, but unfortunately it always gives the wrong distance by adding on about 50 to 100 metres, despite settings my stride length through the Garmin connect app as instructed. To set stride or stepping length, I walked 1.3k counted 1500 sreps, witch have a stride of 0.87 metres. The GPS was set for walk mode and tracking is saved on completion of walk. The tracking is output to Google map and shows the route. It appears that GPS tracking wonder’s intermittently which may be the cause of distance tracking problems. Apparently this has been reported on the Garmin forum, which unfortunately I wasn’t aware of before purchasing.
Update May 13th. Using GPS on the watch drastically drains battery, much more than I expected. Started 4 hour cycle with 4/5 bars of battery, no notifications, everything else turned down, then put GPS on, end of ride, dead! Not good. Looking at Fenix 6 now for better battery.
4/5 purely because it’s sleep tracking isn’t up to the rest of this very impressive watch.
As others have said, there is a steep learning curve to the rather old fashioned in watch menu system, but after 6 weeks or so I’m au fait with it and rather like it’s ‘Casio’ simplicity.
I got this watch pre Christmas for 188, it appears to be more like 225 now, so not sure what’s happened there.
Highly recommended for exercise tracking, the walking tracking (and running) is brilliant, indoor cycling good, I haven’t tried swimming with it yet, but I’m sure it’s good, like most other things with this watch.
The free garmin app is good but could definitely be more in depth, but then I guess it’s a fit all thing that has to appeal to everyone.
Overall, would highly recommend.
I honestly love this watch, the battery lasts ages, even in GPS navigation mode, it’s packed full of features that are actually useful (like the navigation and the ability to control Spotify) and yet it looks like a normal watch.
The lack of a touchscreen is a god send as it doesn’t go nuts when it starts to rain and it means I don’t have to worry about it breaking every time I knock it – which is quite a lot due to my job.
The Garmin Connect app that goes along with it is great. Easy to use, informative and let’s you create routes which you can send to the watch in advance and navigate using waypoints – super easy to do and very effective.
The Garmin Explore app is also worth downloading if you do a lot of walking on footpaths etc as it lets you create routes using an OS style map and send these to the watch, as well as letting you use the app to navigate with more topographic detail offline.
All in all, a great watch supported by great apps!
And I Reckon this Garmin instinct is probably the most comfortable one I’ve put on my wrist It’s so light that sleeping with it on isn’t a problem unlike the heavier Fenix 5 models which due to the size and weight I found uncomfortable.
Sure it’s only a Monochromatic screen but the legibility is second to none even in a dim lit room I can still make out the time where I would be struggling with my Fenix 5
No it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that the higher priced Garmin watches offer But it has all the main Fitness features that I need and then some And the build quality looks like it would take some serious punishment to actually break this Device..
Only had it for a few days but judging by the battery meter which is still at 100% and the fact I haven’t stopped playing with it since it arrived Bolds well for the Manufacturer’s quoted 14 Day using as a Smartwatch I’ve also done 2 GPS activities So colour me impressed
It’s lightweight, and very comfortable, I wear it 24×7 and have had no problems wearing it all the time. It’s rugged and “no nonsense”, the stying suits me. The poor thing has been battered by gardening and the odd bit of render dropped on it when I was repairing the garden wall.
I run three times a week, and am really happy with the running stats its produces and the info and analytics available on Garmin connect.
Battery life is fantastic, and I charge it once every 12-14 days or so. I’ve used it on a treadmill and running outside, as well as to record strength and aerobic workouts.
Brilliant sports watch, and very happy with it.
Its essentially a Casio of the modern age! I really had to think hard about whether to get a Fenix 5 or this, but i don’t really need any of the “smart” stuff on a more expensive watch. Since its fairly new and reviews are not yet flooding in i took the gamble and purchased it (albeit from a non amazon source).
First, what this watch is not…
-This watch has not been designed for looks, its not a “fashion item”.
-It is not designed to replace a smart phone, the screen is designed to give you the basics of information in an easy to read fashion.
With that out the way, here is what it is…
-A watch for serious hikers, hill runners or even just daily exercisers / gym’rs who want accurate metrics on everything from HR, Sleep, Activities, hike tracking (breadcrumb and lots of elevation / pace metrics), accurate GPS etc the list goes on.
-It is a very robust watch, take it out everywhere with confidence that one little knock is not going to smash the entire screen, you drop it face down – no problem, is also water proof.
-Battery life is amazing. – Its frustrating enough having to put a smart phone on charge every night, taking the watch off would mean loosing sleep information and just extra hassle. This watch in “watch mode” i.e, constantly tracking HR, sleep, activity monitor with steps etc but GPS off would easily last 2 weeks, i have only had to charge twice and that was for only 10 mins or so. Having tested the GPS on a hike, i would say it would last up to 20 hours, for regular hiking that’s no problem at all. After a 4 hour hike of using GPS+Galileo to monitor my walk i has only lost one bar of battery (1 out of 5). GPS acquisition takes about 10 seconds if in the open.
-The Garmin app / UI and plethora of information / data available for your activities and other metrics is the best i have experienced. For example, when hiking you can see the terrain profile from start to finish, overlay with HR or pace metrics and other data. The watch is more like a data logger with a basic screen attached, may not be much to look at but its recording pretty much everything about your activity.
If you like your data, this (and i suspect any other high end Garmin watch) is the one to get.
-You can buy additional sensors e.g external temp sensor to monitor the environmental air temp, all displayed on the watch. (The watch itself also measures temperature, not sure how useful it is though).
-Storm warning. The watch has a built in barometer (as you would assume being a primarily hiking watch) which delivers air pressure data and current altitude. The watch will alert you if the pressure starts to drop by a configured amount, say 6hp/hr.
– Map planning. You can import gpx files to the watch, this allows you to plan your route beforehand and use your watch to navigate either using the compass heading or breadcrumb (i.e following a squiggle on the display). Similarly, you can log into your Garmin web account / APP and view a very accurate map of your route and all the associated metrics as noted above.
– Ergonomics – I wear this watch 24 hours a day. Its very light (by smart watch standards) and very easy to sleep with it on. The lightness comes from the fact it is mostly plastic.
– Don’t have a smart phone strapped to your wrist. OK, so this one is maybe just a personal preference but personally i think most “smart watches” are simply an overpriced fashion accessory that are solving a non existent problem. Most require charging every night and will probably end up in a sock draw 6 months later. This watch is at a much more reasonable price and if your serious about mountain climbing or even just exercise in general, there is no reason not to go for this.
There are a few negatives..
The navigation of the menus and buttons takes some learning. Lots of sub menus and its easy to forget where a particular setting is etc. After 2 weeks of use this is becoming less of a problem.
The screens are hard coded to some degree, although you can switch a few things around.
Overall though, this watch has filled a niche in the whole “smart watch” genre i believe. It is VERY rugged, basic but delivers all of the logging and metrics you could possibly want. It works as a daily watch / activity monitor, works great when doing casual exercise or weight training (using the activity modes), but most importantly is excellent when hill walking / hiking. You wont be rushing for a charger every day (even after a days hike), the GPS is highly accurate, its lightweight and unlikely to draw attention from thieves!