Garmin Instinct - Tactical Edition Rugged GPS Watch - Black

I already have a fancy time piece or two, what i needed was a strong, accurate and durable watch to exercise in and be fairly accurate at recording my heart rate. - 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 Update 2 - had this watch four years now and still going strong! Annoyingly so, as I'm after an upgrade but it's hard to justify when this one is working. -the solar does not seem to work anymore though, but the battery still holds great charge. - id like maps which some newer versions have. - an updated hr sensor - probably worth noting i only use this watch for exercise and on holidays where i don't mind if I break/lose it

I bought this watch in Dec 2020, so it's had 2 years and 4 months of everyday use! I've wated a good length of time to review it to hopefully give you a good idea of how robust the watch is etc. Not after a weeks use!! 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.

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.

These are excellent if like me, you just needed something reliable and with a huge battery life, both of which this has. It tracks everything very well although you do need to rely on the app in order to view the data and make general changes to the device. The one thing that is a little frustrating is having to try to remember a vast amount of different button presses for each function you want to use, and there are a lot! Those minor issues above can be tolerated, well by me anyway but there is one huge thing that I just cannot forgive Garmin for with this model - the charging connnectors are probably thee most useless pieces of excrament I have ever had to use on any device I have ever had, they are that bad!! Literally nothing happens when you plug the cable into the watch, even if you jiggle it about to try to get it to make contact. If you are really lucky, you can try unplugging, then plugging the USB connector back into the charger itself, and sometimes this works. But mostly it is beyond my comprehension how something to critical to get right, was designed so appallingly that I now dread when the watch needs recharging again as this is such a frustrating ordeal. I have even tried various other replacement cables but all of them have the same issue. I believe it's a design fault within the watch itself rather then the cable or charger components. So to summarise: GREAT watch / AWFUL charging system.

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.

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!

My first smart watch and it is great. The software for Garmin connect went straight onto my ageing Galaxy 4 android without fault and seems to work very well. Only had it a couple of days and was expecting it to be a nightmare to get used to but actually it is very easy and the steps tend on the whole to be common sense. It came in Fahrenheit and miles etc. but was easy to change to centigrade and kilometres. The compass can be set to true, magnetic or grid north as well as degrees or mils. The deal breaker for me was that it gives a good accurate grid reference for the British Ordnance Survey maps and a very accurate sunrise and sunset time. The screen is monochrome/blue and it won't accept pictures on it's screen of your friends sent to your phone but will notify you of the same by message. I only have ugly friends anyway so that is not a problem. On the whole it seems to be very good and accurate with the battery doing well and lasting longer than I expected. When I am rich I will get a Fenix 6X pro but until then this is great. I like Garmin as I got a Garmin 38 handheld GPS back in the 90's and it was great. It still works....! If this watch lasts 25 years then in the year 2045 I will get a Fenix 93X pro with time travel/teleport powered by dylithium crystals. Garmin will probably have that one sussed by then.

I've been looking for a smartwatch for ages that is durable enough to take a few knocks, is reasonably priced and doesn't look like you're carrying a brick on your wrist. This one does all that perfectly! 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!