Garmin Instinct

[ScreamingPotato]

I haven't worn a watch for 25 years, can't stand having anything on my body other than clothes. I put on the new Solar yesterday and I'm gonna dig the sunrise/sunset and moon phase widgets. I plan to use the gps/nav as a backup to get back to the truck/camp if needed. Last night I fired up the Strength training app just to see what it was about, and although it didn't automatically count all the reps correctly the damn thing imported to Garmin Connect and somehow showed me which muscle groups I was targeting and worked primary and secondarily. This morning it tells me my body battery is 100% whatever tf that is I've no idea, and it said I was stressed last night for about half an hour which was right when my sons left Cheyenne to travel back to SA. I think once I get through the learning curve I may really like this gizmo.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

My Instinct Solar just arrived, charging it now. It's replacing a 7 year old Casio Pro-Trek PRW-3000 that I have worn daily for all 7 of those years. Interested in the heart rate monitor tracking during hikes and how it integrates with my Garmin GPS66i. The GPS based sunrise/sunset/moon phases should be helpful too during hunting season.

edit:


This thing is getting returned after a disaster of a trial run backpacking trip. I carry my phone and a Garmin 66i so adding the watch to the mix really just accomplished quickly draining all three batteries trying to keep them synced up. After using the watch to navigate to the coordinates (3 miles out, started with 85% battery), I was sitting at 51% 16hr left when I hit the sack. I thought I had turned off the nav but regardless the watch died at 5am. Finally was able to get enough solar charge to do a basic watch mode around 1pm.

I also realized how little I cared about what my heartbeat is, my sleep cycle, or my O2 reading and don’t need another device to futz with in the woods. Going back to my beat up Casio Protrek that has never missed a beat.

I guess I missed this post because it's the last on the 1st page. My first impressions of the battery life on this thing are pretty suspect. On a full charge it told me I had 23 days left, next day was 7 days, then the following day it was down to 1 day. I still haven't fired up any kind of navigation on it, it's only running the normal stuff with heartrate monitoring and such. We hit the coast Thursday through Sunday and being out in the heavy sun a lot it's estimating 30 days battery now but again haven't used any heavy features on it.

 

[pk_]

I have had the solar since Feb and I think I have charged the watch 3 times since I have had it. The battery lasts forever if you aren’t running GPS. Don’t expect it to ‘charge’ itself from solar, expect that it will ‘extend’ the charge based on how much sunlight it is getting.

I did notice it drains my phone battery quicker when they are synced. I do not like that, but not sure if I can fault the watch or if that is normal when you have a watch synced up to your phone?

Overall I feel I don’t need 99% of the functions on the watch, but it is kind of cool…

 

[Stalker69]

I’ve had the instinct for several years now. ( non solar) And I only use it as a watch 99.99% of the time. I have to charge it every five days. If I use the gps even for a few hours I have to charge it daily.

 

[Bdubwright23]

My instinct stays charged for at least 7 or 8 days I'd save my 100 bucks

 

[mtwarden]

I used mine quite a bit the weekend before last, peak bagging in the Bob Marshall, we had to navigate some dicey terrain and the ability to glance down at the altimeter to stay on elevation was extremely handy

I've checked the tracking feature against Gaiagps on my phone and using the route calculator on Caltopo- it's with a percentage or two of the others

Definitely one of the most comfortable watches I've worn.

 

[Slo2type2u]

If you are a long range hunter I'd get the solar. Otherwise I'd skip it.

 

[mtwarden]

I thought I had posted pics, whoops

watch

gps

 

[ScreamingPotato]

You, sir, are an animal! More specifically of the mountain goat variety or something like that. lol

 

[Kayl]

I have the solar and love it, but if you are relying on the solar to charge it you'll be disappointed. An hour of 100% sunlight gets you 1.5% of charge.