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.
Solar charging, barometer, gps. . Everything i have ever wanted in a watch. A great replacement for my old casio pro trek prg-80t & my garmin foretrex 401 gps. . Its like haveing both these devices all in one with the garmin instinct solar.But with the added benefit of it being a smart watch & haveing the latest heart rate sensor built in. Haveing something that can take excelent advantage of solar energy but also has a built in gps & bread crumb map for waypoints is something iv been deraming of for about 16 years. The only downside i have for this watch is the build quality. . Definitly well build but i do wish it wasent an all plastic desine and instead incorperated metal to give it that beffer, tank feel. Not that thats rely needed tho . Im sure it will last a long time.
Does everything i want, no fuss. Looks even better in real life than in the pictures and yet doesn’t look pretentious. The training zone indicator helps me balance the perfect training spot to maximize workouts (i have a habit of overtraining). App has all the info you could want. It did go down for about 30 mins but after 1-2 mins the app warned me that garmin were doing maintenance, with a bit of patience it was back and i didn’t lose anything. Function:price ratio excellent.
Ver y accurate and links straight to strava. Lasts an easy 3 weeks with use. Definitely worth the extra for the solar.
I’ve had the garmin instinct gps watch for a few months now and have been impressed with it. It is a very rugged smart watch that can withstand knocks and bumps no problems. More importantly, it provides all the useful information required for keeping track of your sports performance e. Pace, distance, average speed, elevation, etc. The battery life on this watch is also very impressive, depending on your usage of watch. If it is used as a standard watch the battery can easily last over a week on a full charge. Compared to other gps watches the battery also lasts a very long time with the gps functioning. I used the gps to track my cross-country skiing performance for 12hrs in -5c temperatures and it still had battery remaining at the end. Having physical buttons to press is also more practical when wearing gloves than a touch screen, although i did find that the buttons were pressed once or twice by movement of my gloves during skiing; which was a little annoying.
I was unsure about this watch on first viewing. It had an old lcd screen, no touch screen etc. However, the more i used it the more i liked it and realised that i didn’t want/need a touch screen or colour display etc. Its primary job is to track my heart rate, gym sessions and steps/pace etc and it does all of these brilliantly and accurately and uploads to my phone for me to delve into the stats at a later time. The fact that it also has gps, tactical mode, parachute jump altitude mode (not sure i can test this one), compass, map track back, record your location, altitude, temperature, read phone messages, control phone music, sunrise/sunset, moon rise/set, as well as the usual stopwatch, alarms etc. My personnel favourite feature that i never knew i wanted is the locate my phone whereby up on pressing makes your phone ring. I think it will take a while to fully understand all the features but so far to me, i think its money well spent. If you leave on the gps tracking i get about 2 weeks before i need to recharge. On the plus side it only takes about an hour to charge fully. A fantastic fitness tracking watch, buy one now.
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Garmin Instinct – Tactical Edition
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everything i’ve ever wanted in a watch!
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Amazing battery life and GPS accuracy
Tortuous menu system- even though i’m a long term garmin gps user it too me quite a while to find my way around the instinct options. On the plus side i’ve found the hrm and gps surprisingly accurate when compared to other much larger garmin devices such as edge and montana (using hr chest strap) as it doesn’t have a ‘proper’ map presentation i can’t see it being useful for pre-planned cycling navigation but it’s just as good as the larger devices for recording rides. An excellent product for the price and virtually unnoticeable on my wrist.
Having been a casio watch user for many years, i was at first a little sceptical about garmin trying to capture some of casio’s g-shock ‘toughness’ style, tactical looking watches. But the quality, light weight and comfort of the watch won me over and i have to say it is an excellent, all round sports watch. I have bought and then returned, garmin fenix 5, vivoactive 3, casio gg-1000. These watches were good but either uncomfortable/too big to wear everyday or the screen was not easy to see in sunlight. The instinct is the opposite and superb in all these areas. Highly recommend this watch, does everything you need. 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. Looking at fenix 6 now for better battery.
Features of Garmin Instinct
- Rugged GPS watch with vastly extended battery life through solar charging Water-rated to 100 metres and constructed to US military standard 810 for thermal, shock and water resistance
- Built-in 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter plus multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) track in more challenging environments than GPS alone
- Track your activities for running, biking, swimming, strength and more
- Help understand your health and wellness better with all-day health monitoring and Pulse Ox
- Monitor how your body uses energy by tracking heart rate, stress and sleep with Body Battery energy monitoring
From the manufacturer

Instinct is a GPS smartwatch built to break convention, conquer the elements and endure longer.
It’s taking battery life to a new level by harnessing the power of the sun.
A non-traditional smartwatch that turns heads at every glance

Compare the Instinct Range of GPS Smartwatches
![]() Instinct Solar |
![]() Instinct |
![]() Instinct Solar – Surf |
![]() Instinct Solar – Tactical |
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Solar Charging
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Power Manager
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Built to Military Standard 810
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GPS, GLONASS and Galileo
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ABC SENSORS
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TracBack Routing
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Sports Apps
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Smart Notifications
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Body Battery
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Stress Tracking
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Tide Data and Surf Activity
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Tactical Features
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Rugged GPS watch with vastly extended battery life through solar charging Water-rated to 100 metres and constructed to US military standard 810 for thermal, shock and water resistance
Built-in 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter plus multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) track in more challenging environments than GPS alone
Track your activities for running, biking, swimming, strength and more
Help understand your health and wellness better with all-day health monitoring and Pulse Ox
Monitor how your body uses energy by tracking heart rate, stress and sleep with Body Battery energy monitoring
The post Garmin Instinct –
Amazing battery life and GPS accuracy
appeared first on gearsholic.co.uk.
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