I picked up the instinct as an upgrade from a mi band which lacked a lot of the features i needed. The screen is very easy to read and the black on black colour way is just my style of watch. It’s lightweight and comfortable to wear with plenty of aftermarket straps available on the market. With 90% of its features turned on I’m currently getting 26-30 days of usage on a single charge which is brilliant. I’m currently using the watch daily for trail and treadmill running and it’s well suited to the job. The Garmin app is so informative also.

Lovely watch great first 2 days , But then disconnects from phone?
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

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!!

I knew I was getting a good watch from Garmin and I wasn’t disappoint, this has made my life very easy in my job when it comes to the GPS being very accurate for grid references and bearings. The battery easily last a week with out charging it and hasn’t been a problem in different climates. As my first Garmin watch I’m not disappointed and definitely recommend.

Got this for my husband’s birthday present after it was recommended by my BIL. He’s been wanting an apple watch for a while (which I have) but felt like he’d smash the screen on one of those within a day or two due to the nature of his work. So this Garmin looks and feels very sturdy – it getting damaged wasn’t a concern – and he works outside so the fact it’s solar powered is brilliant. He’d been wearing it out of the box for over a week straight and the battery life was ’10 days’ left on it. The tracking aspects are good too, though the screen and buttons are definitely not as simple to use as something like an Apple Watch. I am sure the tracking is more accurate on this than an Apple, too. I personally loved that the alarm setting can be set to ‘vibrate only’ so his loud alarms were no longer waking me up in the morning! Unfortunately this is another wearable that he cannot wear as it has burned him. This is now the third wearable I’ve gifted him and all of them have burned him right where the heat sensor is. This one took longer than a FitBit to do its damage but *sigh* here we are. Really unfortunate as this watch was ideal for him in every way. Of course I’ve missed the return window – so after reading up on this on Garmin forums it seems to be an issue some people have. I think some people just have ultra sensitive skin that doesn’t do well with heat sensors of any kind. I will be contacting Garmin Support to see if they can help with this in any way.

Love this watch, lots of features and most of all keeps going for ever. Not as big as it appears on pictures/videos. Usual great quality from Garmin, easy to set up/sync with your phone/app.

Good battery and plenty of choices for sport. Health monitoring is better than the previous versions

I had the non solar model previously and I enjoyed using it so naturally when shopping around I came back to the solar model and the instinct 2. A difficult decision was made easier with the price, there isnt much change to the new instinct 2 that makes me want to pay 280+ especially when this model is 100 less. Quite happy so far.

I’m moving to this watch from a Garmin Vivoactive 3. I’m primarily using it for running and the main reason for the switch was battery life as the Vivo was beginning to show its age and not lasting a 4 hour run unless the battery was absolutely full before I started and if you tried to wear it all the time it would essentially need charging every couple of days. The Instinct battery is a night and day difference. A full battery reports 16 days of normal ‘smart watch’ mode which includes phone alerts and constant heart rate etc. Then in GPS mode its looking like well over 24 hours. Neither of these include the additional solar charging too, which will add more to that depending on sunshine exposure, although it does look like you need reasonably bright sunshine to get much from this.

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.

Good smart watch , good tracking, the only negative is when a notification comes through the watch vibrates , dosent show the notification and then vibrates again and finally shows the notificatio

Battery life is superb I use it for cycling track’s the route perfect with the garmin connect app. No need to take your phone with you down loads all the route information when you get back very fast GPS hook up and very accurate. The watch is very comfortable to wear so light I wear it night and day keeps constant heart monitoring. Total water proof my last one only water resistant and gave up after a pool swim.
The only down side to this watch is the font size when a message comes through so small font almost impossible to read, it vibrates so you need to find your phone to read and reply to messages there is no way to make the font bigger Garmin needs to address this problem

Everything else is very good

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

North to south bike packing ride Wales. Good back up, with solar charge, battery lasts for ever.

This is everything i wanted in a smart watch. it does enough, it doesent do swirly graphics, funky noises, call long lost aunt aggy or calculate your weight on mars.

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

(Just to add)
After owning the watch for several months now the only negative is you need to wash the watch regularly as its white.
On holiday in kos, I left the UK with 28 days charge. 5 days into the holiday I had 41 days. Love this watch.

Most of the features are easy to get to but you need a good memory. Still can’t work out how to link a cadence sensor but it must be in there somewhere.
It’s a great watch & the solar face is brilliant, the battery lasts what seems like forever.

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.

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.

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.

This is one of those products you almost don’t write a review for because it does it’s job so well. You always hear about issues with products but when it works well people forget to give feedback.

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.

My two year old Vivoactive pete tong, so time for a new one. I’m one of those people who likes to wear the same watch for all my activities, so the rugged nature and solar capability are what attracted me to the Instinct.
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.

I’ve had lots of Garmin Fitness Bands/Watches over the years including the original Vivoactive with the Flat screen To Fenix 5 plus with Maps…
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