Garmin Instinct GPS watch

[Jordan Budd]

Hey sliders! Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas.

A couple days ago I received the new Garmin Instinct watch sold by S&S Archery and wanted to give an initial impression. I also wanted to open a discussion on this thread for questions and specific things you’d like to see for the final review in a few months. Here is a link to the watch: Garmin Instinct GPS Smartwatch – S&S Archery

For the review I will be doing some comparisons to the Suunto Traverse Alpha watch that I already own and have used this year. While it’s not an apples to apples comparison I wanted to approach it for the backcountry hunter, but also as a regular day to day watch for when we aren’t hunting.

Initially my thoughts after opening the box were holy cow this thing is light and the wrist band is really stretchy, it should be comfortable. Which it is very comfortable. After turning on and playing with it yesterday I’m super impressed. I haven’t dug into the GPS functions yet, but for the menu layout and features I’m sold on it for a day to day watch. I’m a bit of a techy, so being able to pair with my phone and read new texts, alerts and have control over the music I’m playing is pretty cool. Adds value to how I look at the watch because it won’t only be a backcountry tool for me, it’s going to be a tool for everyday use. So far between the two for everyday use, I see the Garmin being more user friendly with more options over the Suunto.

I’m really excited about this watch, especially at the price point. Rokslide members are eligible for a discount over at S&S so if it interests you, send S&S Rob a PM on the forum.


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[tdhanses]

Only thing I dislike is the little bands used to hold the wrist band in place constantly move, coming either undone or moving to the buckle letting the extra length of the wrist band to easily catch on stuff or flop around. Other then that this watch does everything I need and easily connects to the Garmin Mini, which is really cool. It’s nice to not have to get your phone out to read a message quickly and isn’t hard to respond even though to respond the layout of the letters is just like on the mini, just old school but not hard to do.

As far as the functions I find them very user friendly and I prefer the mono screen to a color touch screen, super easy to see. It did freak me out a few times at first when it said erratic heart beat, yes it has that warning which is great when exerting yourself, but it’ll do it sometimes if it loses contact on your wrist. I don’t wear mine super tight. Battery life has been spot on if not a tad better which surprised me. I’ve had mine for awhile now and so far it is well worth the price.

I really like the dark gray color, has black and dark gray together and when you look at Garmin’s product pictures or online reviews it looks all black but it’s a dark gray.

 

[Boxerboxer]

I just got one yesterday and so far I'm really happy, although I haven't left the house with it yet and haven't used the hunting oriented features at all. I'm subscribed as I'm interested in everyone's take on it.

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[S&S Archery (Rob)]

Coming from a guy who has the Fenix 5x plus, my favorite feature on the Instinct is simply the easy to read screen. I can pretty much look down at any time and see the display. I can't always say that about my Fenix. Add to that the price point, which is perfect for most hunters who don't need all that the Fenix offers. To be honest, i don't know of, or use probably 50% of the features my Fenix has. Can't wait to see your take Jordan!

rob

 

[NickID]

Really like the watch and available features. I’m happy it does not have all the features of the smart watches, but has a few functions that are really nice. I do not like watching people constantly on their phones and smart watches. The battery life is awesome compared to the wife’s Apple Watch.


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[twall13]

I just got one of these for Christmas and it's my first "smart" watch. As Jordan mentioned, I really like how lightweight and comfortable it is to wear. Compared to my old, heavy Casio that I've used for hunting, etc. I forget this thing is even on. I'm not sure how accurate the heart rate monitor is but it's better than I expected and the GPS seems to track right on for the couple of trail runs I've done since getting it. I got it on Christmas and it had three of five bars left on the battery gauge. I've tracked two trail runs and a hike since then plus just every day use and I'm finally down to 1 bar on the battery more than three days later so I'm pretty impressed with the battery life as well. I haven't dug in to the instructions much yet so I'm sure there are features I haven't figured out yet but it checks the boxes for ease of use and tracking the things I felt like I'd actually use a smart watch for so I'm happy with it so far. Thanks for the discount S&S!

 

[Dkd]

Been watching comments since it was released but just came across the fact that smart notifications won’t work with IPhone. Anybody know if there will be a update by Garmin to change this? Is there a work around?

 

[PMcGee]

Been watching comments since it was released but just came across the fact that smart notifications won’t work with IPhone. Anybody know if there will be a update by Garmin to change this? Is there a work around?

Not sure what you mean doesn’t work with the iPhone. Seems to work fine with mine. Unless I’m missing something.


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[tdhanses]

Been watching comments since it was released but just came across the fact that smart notifications won’t work with IPhone. Anybody know if there will be a update by Garmin to change this? Is there a work around?

That isn’t true, works fine with the iPhone X.

 

[Boxerboxer]

Not sure what you mean doesn’t work with the iPhone. Seems to work fine with mine. Unless I’m missing something.


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Do you get notifications for texts and such on the watch?

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[PMcGee]

Do you get notifications for texts and such on the watch?

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Yes


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[Boxerboxer]

Yes


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Cool. I know in the early stages when I watched DC Rainmaker's review that was not yet the case.

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[tdhanses]

Cool. I know in the early stages when I watched DC Rainmaker's review that was not yet the case.

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I think he had a prototype, not the final version. So while I like his reviews they aren’t always accurate.

 

[Dkd]

You can do quick replies from watch connected to iPhone?
Garmin website specs says not compatible with IOS, wasn’t sure what that meant.

 

[Jordan Budd]

Do you get notifications for texts and such on the watch?

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Yes! Works great.


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[Boxerboxer]

Yes! Works great.


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Can you do replies from the watch?

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[Jordan Budd]

Can you do replies from the watch?

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No you can’t. I’m pretty sure you can reply to messages on the mini InReach though... I don’t have the mini so I won’t be able to test that though


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[tdhanses]

You can do quick replies from watch connected to iPhone?
Garmin website specs says not compatible with IOS, wasn’t sure what that meant.

Hmm... not sure, never tried that I just look at the notification and if an immediate response is needed use my phone as it’s better then any watch at responding

- - - Updated - - -

No you can’t. I’m pretty sure you can reply to messages on the mini InReach though... I don’t have the mini so I won’t be able to test that though


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Yup you can with the mini Inreach.

 

[Jordan Budd]

UPDATE:

Have been playing with the Instinct a lot of today because of our current blizzard situation. One thing that was really lacking for me was a map ability. Suunto has an online program I had used that I could see the points I had marked on my watch, on a map. I did some googling and came up with the Garmin Explore app. Currently downloading and will update when I can with use-ability but the Instinct is looking better and better all of the time for me.

I'm not sure where the watch weather app gets its weather either, hoping to figure that out. It seems like the weather that the watch shows isn't as accurate as I had hoped for. It also doesn't update like I had hoped, so far you need to open the app on your phone and let it sync before it shows the most recent weather. Then, the Connect app has been crashing on me when I try to go into the settings. I'm sure its a bug that will get fixed eventually.

 

[tdhanses]

UPDATE:

Have been playing with the Instinct a lot of today because of our current blizzard situation. One thing that was really lacking for me was a map ability. Suunto has an online program I had used that I could see the points I had marked on my watch, on a map. I did some googling and came up with the Garmin Explore app. Currently downloading and will update when I can with use-ability but the Instinct is looking better and better all of the time for me.

I'm not sure where the watch weather app gets its weather either, hoping to figure that out. It seems like the weather that the watch shows isn't as accurate as I had hoped for. It also doesn't update like I had hoped, so far you need to open the app on your phone and let it sync before it shows the most recent weather. Then, the Connect app has been crashing on me when I try to go into the settings. I'm sure its a bug that will get fixed eventually.

Download the Garmin Expolorer app (which looks like you found it), I haven’t used it much but it works but believe this is what your talking about.

Yeah I’m not a fan of the weather either, probably will get the tempe sensor as I had one but can’t find it, that worked well with my gps for current temps and the Inreach can get forecasts, this is more for when away from civilization, don’t use it much when in civilization.

Yup connect has had issues for me as well lately.