Garmin Instinct, Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, Features Glonass and Galileo, Heart Rate Monitoring and 3-Axis Compass, Graphite

LATEST UPDATE AT BOTTOM (5/11/2020) What a frustrating activity tracker/smart watch journey I have been on. Nothing seemed quite right for what I was looking for. I am an avid outdoorsman who likes to hunt, backpack, hike, bike, and occasionally run. Things that are extremely important to me are an accurate altimeter, barometer, and GPS. I first purchased the Fenix 3 HR. The watch was impressive in the beginning and I thought I had found the one. The issue turned out to be the altimeter. It was not accurate at all. I then waited for the Fenix 5. Same damn issue. Altimeter was worse than the 3. When I contacted Garmin, they told me to put the watch in warm soapy water. While this did seem to temporarily reset it back to normal, I continued to experience the same issue. As much as I would like to put my watch in a warm glass of soapy water every night, I decided to pass. The 5 plus eventually came out and appeared to solve these issues. But then.....Garmin realeased the Instinct. This watch (so far) has really impressed me. It is so light weight and comfortable. The Fenix watches, while premium, are a bit large and heavy to wear. You truly forget you are wearing this watch. The features are great. It has absolutely everything I need. I’m not a triathlete and could care less about some of the measurements the Fenix gives you. Some have commented on the grainy display. I completely disagree. I would liken it to E Ink from a kindle. It truly is a pleasure to look at and is extremely clear and readable. I love that it is black and white. The keys and apps are very responsive. The menus are so much faster than the Fenix. You can really whip through the widgets and settings to get where you want. The buttons are excellent and I have yet to accidentally press one while bending my wrist. I am still testing the accuracy of the GPS tracking and ABC sensors but so far it is looking great. I really can’t say enough about this watch. Knock on wood, it seems like a great model from Garmin that will feel a niche hunting/outdoors market. I will provide an update in a month after more usage. -UPDATE- I've now had this watch for a few weeks and have taken it on several hunting trips. I am truly impressed with this watch. I cannot emphasize enough how comfortable and light this watch is. Owning and wearing heavier watches over the years, I think I forgot how nice it is to wear a watch that you forget is attached to your wrist. I hated wearing my Fenix watches to bed. Too bulky and would dig into my wrist. Tracking appears to be very accurate. Attitude has been accurate for daily use and when you are tracking an activity. What I Love About This Watch: -Comfortable & Lightweight -Responsive Menus -Screen Visibility is Exceptional -Accurate ABC Sensors and Tracking -Recessed Buttons Avoid Accidental Presses -Battery Life Has Been Great I really only have a couple complaints or rather suggestions to improve the watch. When you lock the keys (which you don't have to too often because of recessed buttons), in order to unlock the watch, you hold any button for a short period. I wish Garmin would lengthen the amount of time it takes to hold the button. It takes about .5 seconds to unlock currently and that can be accidentally done pretty easily. This is really a minor complaint though. The screen is an unknown material or proprietary to Garmin. I do wish it was a Sapphire display but I put a screen protector on it and you truly cant tell there is one on the face. My last suggestion is I wish the battery indicator showed a percentage as opposed to the 5 bars in a battery indicator. Again, its a minor gripe but it would be nice if they changed that. Please ask me questions. Id be happy to answer. I've done a disturbing amount of research on these watches over the years and believe I have finally found the perfect watch for my needs. I've used all Fenix watches and a Suunto Traverse Alpha. This watch is my favorite. UPDATE 5/11/2020 Still an absolutely great watch. This watch is on my wrist every single day. It is still extremely comfortable. I have had a couple issues that I will address: -My "Back" button started to give out on me around July 2019. It is a very commonly pressed button on the watch. Luckily the watch was still under warranty. Garmin replaced the watch no questions asked and quickly. A+ to them on their customer service. If it had gone out after the warranty period though, I would most likely be SOL. I believe it is a one year warranty. With that being said, I do use this watch heavily. It is worn 24/7-365. All things considered it has held up extremely well. At the new price point, I still think it is an amazing watch for the price. -My other issue, and I stated it earlier in the review is the lock feature on the watch. Its great that you can lock the screen but it is extremely easy to unlock simply by bending your wrist and hitting a button. This could be a simple software fix. They just need to extend the amount of time required to press a button to unlock. It doesn't happen that often but if it does during an activity, it can be extremely frustrating. This will be my last update for the watch. It has been an amazing watch well worth the price for me and I will buy another whenever this one dies. I hope Garmin continues to offer and improve this watch. It checks all the boxes for my needs.

I bought this watch in 2019. It was truly built to last. The battery capacity has not lessened; I only need to charge it once every 12 to 14 days. It has taken many knocks and hits but appears otherwise unblemished. The display is clean, attractive, and easy on the eyes. The contrast between the text and background is sharp, making it easy to read in nearly all lighting conditions and the time is discernible to me when I'm not wearing my glasses - an important qualifier. The only weakspot is the rubbery wristband and the loops that hold the slack. I have had to replace the band twice, but the loops broke more often and I had to find and purchase an aftermarket version that is more durable. I don't consider that a big deal so long as the timepiece continues to function as designed. This watch is all function and no fluff...a total workhorse. I have no interest in replacing it with something newer but instead hope that it lasts forever. ...Best watch I have ever owned.

This model came out from Garmin at the same time I was starting to seriously want a device for a mixture of tracking activity, in my case most of which is outdoor oriented, like hiking and riding my mountain bike, plus I wanted to start exploring some physical data from a heart rate monitor as I get more active. When smartwatches first started becoming popular, I thought they were pretty stupid and redundant, and in my mind a teeny tiny 2" screen will never replace a phone screen which is small enough, especially for GPS navigation duty. However, the function of getting the sensors and GPS antenna in a more favorable location, plus heart rate monitoring, I could see the benefits of a smartwatch. I didn't like most of what was on the market until this unit. What I liked about this watch was it didn't have all the features and bloated interface to replace interacting with your phone for things a phone is best at. In some ways the Instinct is a throwback to older tech, but in a good way, the way anyone who has experience with GPS from the time it first became widely available for consumer use will appreciate. The interface will just make sense if you were used to the older devices. It does all the things you might want your phone to do, but a phone is not really suited to doing well. I disliked using my phone for tracking hikes and on my MTN bike because either the phone was safe in my pocket with a horrible view of the sky and where I couldn't see it, or I had it strapped on my handlebars where it could get knocked off. Or while hiking I had to pack it in my hands or strapped to my backpack in an awkward position. Not to mention if you use GPS on the phone and keep the screen on to see stats, it will hit the battery hard. With this, you can tuck the phone safely away but still see the info you want. This watch was the right combo of features for outdoor activities and activity tracking to get my attention and be a useful tool more than an expensive trinket. I did not wear any watch before buying the Instinct, and now I wear this most of the time for the last 2-3 weeks I've had it. While it lacks some features of more dedicated fitness devices, I got it mostly for what it did not have rather than what it did. Most criticism of this watch I read prior to purchasing clearly was because this watch has a niche and those folks didn't fit it. This is mostly for outdoor activities, it's simple, rugged, and doesn't do as much because it's made to do it's set of tasks well, and it's trade off is the things it does not do allow it to be smaller and use the battery more efficiently. You can read up on it's features and functions elsewhere, but a few things I will point out as exceptional. Some may harp on the old school LCD type display, but it's high contrast and the way the face catches ambient light extremely well makes it very easy to read. Actually I set the back light on 5%, it's lowest setting, because if it's so dark you need the back light, that is plenty to see it by. I like it's size, it's not huge feeling, and it's light. As I mentioned I did not wear a watch before this one, and I find it comfortable to wear despite a history of disliking things on my wrist. I had to get used to it yes, but it's not like having a rock strapped to your arm. Battery life has been great, using the GPS 2-3 times a week for an hour at a time pulls it down some but I still get over a week on a charge. I've yet to let it run down to the point it claims it needs charging, but so far I've yet to charge it in a period of less than 7 days. Definitely a personal preference but I also really like it's appearance. I got the Graphite colored one, it's not black but kind of a charcoal grey. It's not preppy looking or stylish, and that's what I'm going for. It does not give off that "oh look at me I'm athletic I have a fitbit" vibe, or look super snazzy and expensive, it just looks like a run of the mill boring watch if no one inspects it closely. For sure a more utility look, and for folks who would get the most out of this watch, that's probably perfect. Also will throw in there for my mountain bike, I later picked up Garmin's cadence and speed sensors, and they paired up effortlessly with the Instinct. GPS will cheat you distance on a bike especially and that is just the nature of the tech, I was getting some big discrepancies between the Instinct's recorded track and my wheel sensor bike computer. The trails I ride on frequently are a particular hardship for GPS anyway with heavy tree cover and tightly winding trails. With the speed sensor the difference is much smaller and I recommend it if you are going to use this on a bike. So far I've been very happy with the purchase and impressed with the device, enough to write this lengthy review, which I don't bother with often. (I did lean heavily on reviews deciding to purchase, so this is to help those like me.) If you fall into the niche this watch is intended to appeal to, I recommend it.

I've had this watch for years now and it's been effective. Hence why I'm writing this review years later. This watch is rugged. I mountain bike with it, I golf with it, I play soccer with it, I swim in the ocean with it and not once have I found any wear to the actual body of the watch. The strap did give out just a couple months ago, but you can find replacement straps (off brand) on Amazon that work great and for cheap. To be frank, I don't know how accurate the heart rate monitor is, but through watches you can never be 100%. The GPS works fantastic both during workouts and for backtracking hikes. The compass I find can be quite weird. I'll reporting North and it won't exactly read that. The battery's fantastic -typically lasts 14 days wearing everyday sleeping with it every night. The Garmin app is the user friendly and I love how it tracks sleep and sleep cycles and body battery. For the price, I would much rather this watch over an Apple watch despite the fact that you can't send typed messages on Garmin. Note that this watch does not work with the Garmin golf app. There are several other cool features that this watch can do. It can find your phone. You can select individual workouts for it to track your movements. You could send brief text messages. It even gives you weather including sunset and sunrise. It tracks your steps and calories burned. Overall, it is so worth the price. Highly, highly recommend.

Ho acquistato questo orologio approfittando di un’offerta davvero vantaggiosa, ma lo conoscevo già perché lo utilizzo da diversi anni e posso dire con certezza che è uno dei migliori acquisti che abbia mai fatto su Amazon. La costruzione è solidissima: i materiali trasmettono subito una sensazione di robustezza e resistenza, perfetti per un uso quotidiano ma anche per attività all’aperto o sportive. Dopo anni di utilizzo, non mostra segni di cedimento, né graffi rilevanti o difetti di funzionamento. È stato sottoposto a pioggia, sbalzi di temperatura e urti occasionali, ma continua a funzionare alla perfezione. La batteria è un punto di forza assoluto. Anche dopo tanto tempo, mantiene una durata notevole, molto superiore alla media di prodotti simili. Non devo ricaricarlo spesso e questo lo rende estremamente pratico, soprattutto in viaggio o durante escursioni lunghe. L’altimetro è discreto: non sempre precisissimo al metro, ma comunque utile per avere un’idea generale delle variazioni di quota. Per il resto, tutte le funzioni sono affidabili e reattive, con un’interfaccia semplice e intuitiva che non ha mai dato problemi. In sintesi, è un prodotto eccezionale per chi cerca qualità, durata e prestazioni nel tempo. Nonostante piccoli margini di miglioramento, rimane una vera bomba: robusto, efficiente e praticamente indistruttibile. Assolutamente consigliato!

Simple and reliable. had it for three years now. Running in the jungle, Kayaking and swimming with it. It never let me down. My colleague has the more expensive Garmin and it stopped working after a year. But I do avoid having it exposed to the sun too long, I rinse the sweat and sault after use and I am careful not to knock it with hard objects. However it is my daily watch as well, so, great product. I had Sunntos before, they were good but they always end up with elevation problems. My Garmin is half the price and after over 3 years I still love it. There is a reason for that. They have a great market making aviation instruments. Well what is good for airplanes is certainly good for me.

I used to have apple watches series 1 and 4. I am using this Garmin for one month now and I am very amazed by the quality products. It has all the cool stuff I used to like with Apple Watch and which are really useful: - watsapp messages, all notifications mirrored from an iPhone - call and ID notification, though you cannot speak through the watch (which honestly I hardly never used) - music control from the watch (any app, Spotify, Deezer, music app) so you can change a song and control the volume in a shower or from your sofa In addition it is better: - battery life, this is really great not to charge it for 8 to 10 days in my experience and usage, especially if you travel for 2 / 3 days, no need to bother for a charger, - stronger, no worries if any shock while doing outside activities, - time is always on display (no need to lift the harm), - water and shockproof, can go deep and in the sea, - strong / rugged design - internal sensors (temperature, altimeter). Of course it has no coloured / touch screen, so you have to do everything with the buttons but honestly it is less fragile / sensitive and i prefer it like this. It sometimes loses Bluetooth connection, but I restart it and it is fine. It restart very fast anyways (20s).

Love it so far. Haven’t tested with much abuse so will see how it goes. But overall, the watch is light, looks good, the strap is very comfortable and I tested the battery once, it went exact 14 days until the watch told me to charge (I didn’t use GPS during the period, I do use phone call notification and did some workout with it so the usage was pretty battery-friendly but still 14 days long is amazing)