Garmin Instinct 2 Solar, Smaller-Sized Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Built for All Elements, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing and More, Graphite

Garmin Instinct 2
I purchased this watch on a great sale earlier this year to replace a fading Samsung galaxy watch. I have no regrets purchasing this watch after having it for several months. There is a steep learning curve in using this as it is so much different than my galaxy watch. It is not a touch screen and you use physical buttons only. This was annoying at first, but I’ve gotten use to it and I actually prefer the physical buttons. I didn’t realize how many times I would accidentally press something on the touch screen during the day.There are so many functions on this watch. I would recommend watching instructional Youtube videos to help. Initial setup of the watch to your phone isn’t great. It took several times and getting the phone app to synch correctly was cumbersome. However, once it was synched I haven’t had any issues since. I purchased the non-solar watch due to the price as the solar was still very expensive. The battery life is great. You don’t realize how annoying it is to charge your watch every night or keeping track of your watch battery so it doesn’t die on you. Carrying charging cords is annoying. It’s great to go on vacation and not have to worry about bringing or forgetting your watch charger. I’ve turned off a lot of battery draining settings on my watch and it says it will get 31 days of battery life. You have to keep in mind though if you use the GPS or anything that uses the GPS this will drain the battery very quickly. I mainly use it for working out, hiking(GPS), receiving text messages, timers/stopwatch. These activities will drain my watch a bit, but I don’t have to charge my watch for several weeks. Amazing! Like I said you will have to adjust the settings to get the best efficiency for your watch. There’s almost too many things to adjust.The GPS is somewhat accurate. I’ve been on multiple long hikes at Zion park and Bryce Canyon and it was kind of accurate. My wife has a Apple watch and my two boys have a Garmin Forerunner 55 and 245 and each one of us had different readings. I just assumed my watch was the most accurate, but when I looked up the GPS map on one hike it was all over the place and not that accurate. I’m not sure if that was because we were in a canyon and the GPS signal was too weak. The heart rate monitor and O2 sensor seems accurate. I use the different work out settings on this watch almost daily. It is much more expansive and descriptive on the app than the Samsung Galaxy. There is so much more data given. As a fitness tracker it is so much better than the galaxy or Apple watch. Since you don’t have to charge the watch I can take advantage of the sleep tracker. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but its nice to use.The weight of the watch is minimal. I don’t think it’s heavy for the size of the watch. It’s definitely bigger than my old Galaxy watch. I like the big watch face as my eyes are getting old and reading the time is getting more difficult. The watch faces are customizable, which is a surprising feature. There are many choices and you can download new ones thru the Garmin app.I do miss answering calls thru my Galaxy watch. I was able to talk thru my watch on the Galaxy. You can answer calls on the Garmin, but it has no speaker/mic so you need your phone next to you. You can reply to text messages with pre-programed answers. I also miss using my watch to pay at the cashier. The base Instinct 2 watch does not have the Garmin pay option. I have a Samsung phone so if you have a Galaxy watch it will unlock your phone automatically if you are within a certain distance. I didn’t realize that I’d miss this feature until I had to unlock my phone every time I picked it up.It is waterproof so you won’t have to worry about swimming or getting it wet. Apple and Samsung say their watches are waterproof, but I’ve heard one too many stories about water issues with these that I would always take my watch off if I got in the water. It’s definitely rugged and durable. I already have a lot of scratches and scuffs on the watch and band. I have a screen protector, which is a must. I’ve had to replace the screen protector, but they are cheap and replaceable. The cost of these smartwatches are too much to risk damaging it. I only wish that the longevity of smart watches was greater. I have an old solar casio G-shock that is almost 20 years old and it’s still working. I would definitely recommend this watch to someone who is active and wants something different than Apple/Samsung. I can’t see myself ever going back to one of those watches again.

Amazing battery life!
I got this watch after being frustrated by my Apple Watch’s 6-8 hour battery life. Yes, out of the box. Yes, it was sent in for repair and they said it’s working as designed. No more Apple Watches for me. In fact, no more new Apple products. Nice job, Tim Apple.I digress. The Garmin watch does what I need it to do and has a real-world battery life of around 19 DAYS for me. That’s constantly monitoring my pulse rate, keeping Bluetooth on, and getting notifications from my phone. NINETEEN DAYS!Is it perfect? No. The monochrome screen is functional and high resolution. It is very readable in bright sunlight, unlike the Apple Watch. But the backlight leaves something to be desired. Even at its highest brightness, it’s a bit dim for my eyes.The user interface takes some getting used to. Pressing buttons is different than holding buttons. So each of the 5 buttons has two functions. Once you get the hang of it, though, it’s pretty intuitive, but do expect a learning curve.Garmin Pay works… if your bank is supported. None of mine were supported until I changed banks. (Not for the watch alone, other reasons too.) Even then, it was a manual process on my bank’s side, causing me to have to call them up. Apple Watch just works better in this case.The solar panel does function, but do not expect to reach 100% battery, even outside all day in the direct sun. You may see several percent increase, but unless you turn almost everything off except the time, the solar cell will not provide significant charge. With nearly everything off, however, you can attain “unlimited battery” being in the bright sun for several hours a day.The app was just updated recently. It works well, but isn’t as intuitive as the previous version. Learning curve again, I think. I manually sync my watch daily (or when I remember). This works well.There are ways to customize many watch faces, and there are a few apps available on the Garmin store to add functionality to the watch. It’s a little challenging as it is a separate app for the Garmin store on your phone, and you have to look for apps that run on your specific model of watch. I wish it could filter by the watch you own, but alas they haven’t done that yet.Overall, this is an excellent watch with a wealth of features. Just expect to study the manual and memorize buttons and other functionality. I highly recommend this watch.

Great watch that does everything I need.

I bought this for running, but it instantly became a classic for everyday life and even at night. The fitness and health insights are valuable, even if they don’t qualify as medical knowledge. The device is very rugged and the battery lasts weeks (probably months if I didn’t use the GPS for tracking my trail running and mountain biking). I do regret I didn’t get the solar version because I’d probably never need to charge it, since I’m outside a lot. There are many cool and useful watch faces for download. The monochrome screen looks traditional in a 1990s way, a bit like the dashboard on an old Mercedes: no-nonsense, every pixel purposefully exploited. I recently got a HEMSUT nylon velcro band and it’s a big improvement on the silicone bracelet regarding comfort. The software is highly configurable so there’s practically nothing to complain about: everything can be tweaked. For me, the monochrome screen and lack of touchscreen are actually pros, not cons, so it’s a no-brainer for me. Think about those two things first, if you’re hesitating.