Garmin Instinct Series Review

Designed with the rugged outdoor enthusiast in mind, the Instinct series combines a rugged wrist watch with a host of health and fitness features. The newest Instinct series offers an improved battery life, slimmer profiles, new training features and more. In addition, the Instinct 2 offers a host of new features designed for tactical use.

Garmin Instinct Series Review

The Instinct Crossover (not to be confused with the original Instinct) is a new hand-laden version of the Instinct that adds a GPS chip that’s more capable than the old Instinct. While it retains all of the features of the original Instinct, the new model has a sleeker design, an expanded GPS chipset and an improved battery. The design combines the features of the original Instinct with a sleeker casing and a more intuitive display. The new model is also compatible with Garmin Connect IQ, a new technology that offers third-party app support.

The Instinct 2 comes in two sizes and four vibrant colors. In the standard size, the Instinct 2 features a traditional 45mm bezel. For those who want to go smaller, the Instinct 2S features a smaller 40mm bezel. Although the Instinct isn’t as fancy as the Mobvio TicWatch S2, it’s a durable and well-built watch. It’s available in lakeside blue, graphite and sea foam.

The Instinct also comes in a Specialty Solar edition. It has a 10% solar panel that sits on top of the display and charges as the sun shines. Using this method, the battery life is said to last up to 14 days in smartwatch mode. The battery will also last up to 16 hours in normal GPS recording.

The Instinct features a handful of useful features, such as incident detection, automatic barometer calibration, VO2 Max estimation, and race predictor. The watch also offers all-day health monitoring. During some activities, it will automatically share your live location with select contacts. However, it lacks the more detailed data found on other watches. The screen is small and the display offers good visibility in bright light. The screen also features a small circular complication that highlights a single piece of information. The interface uses a series of data screens that can be accessed using the bottom two buttons on the left side of the watch. The interface also features a summary of activity levels, a calendar, weather widgets and a widget that displays sunrise and sunset.

In addition to these useful features, the Instinct 2 offers a new set of sports profiles for biking, hiking and swimming. Each sport profile has different data fields to categorize completed activities. In addition, the watch includes an Auto Climb feature that provides insights into elevation gain.

The Instinct is also compatible with Garmin Connect IQ, which offers a more customizable experience. The Connect IQ app store is a collection of apps that can be downloaded to your watch and used to add more functionality to your device. You can even use your watch to perform NFC payments and play music.