Garmin Instinct Rugged Outdoor Smartwatch, Built-in Sports Apps and Health Monitoring, Graphite

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.

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!

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.

Great watch let down by distance inaccuracies. A really nice and tough outdoor watch with great battery life let down by its inaccurate distance tracking. I've now tested this watch on various known distance walks, but unfortunately it always gives the wrong distance by adding on about 50 to 100 metres, despite settings my stride length through the Garmin connect app as instructed. To set stride or stepping length, I walked 1.3k counted 1500 sreps, witch have a stride of 0.87 metres. The GPS was set for walk mode and tracking is saved on completion of walk. The tracking is output to Google map and shows the route. It appears that GPS tracking wonder's intermittently which may be the cause of distance tracking problems. Apparently this has been reported on the Garmin forum, which unfortunately I wasn't aware of before purchasing.

I stayed away from this watch for a while until the instinct 2 came out and the price dropped. This is the type of watch that you can wear everyday and forget that you have it on you. In a nutshell, this watch is very accomplished as it has so many features that will satisfy the climber, the runner , the explorer…… What I really love about this watch is it’s looks, and great readability in any light, and not to mention how amazing the battery life! The ABC is flawless, Storm alarm is on point and for any of you out there wondering what setting to use for early change in weather pattern, I experimented with many settings and the 3hPa drop per 3 hours works the best as it warms you that a L front is making land in the next 6h to 12h. Heart rate is by the far the best I have found to match my S6 during swimming!! During running and cross fit is also accurate. I am very impressed with this watch despite my wife’s comment on how ugly it looks 😂😂

I got this in the Black Friday deals, and glad I did. It’s on the cheaper side of the Garmin range, but still a useful, easy watch to use. It’s got all the basic things you want on a watch, with the option of having your phone connected, to get smart notifications. I wanted it for logging hikes, steps, heart rate. So, I’m happy with that. It links well with Strava, for those who wondered. The mobile app is easy as pie. I’ve read about other people not liking it, but it’s easy to follow and sync. So far, I can’t actually fault this watch. The battery life of 12-14 days is good too. Once it’s set up, I’d recommend this to almost anyone. It’s so so light as well.

I've been using this watch now for about 3 months, and I love it. It's lightweight, and very comfortable, I wear it 24x7 and have had no problems wearing it all the time. It's rugged and "no nonsense", the stying suits me. The poor thing has been battered by gardening and the odd bit of render dropped on it when I was repairing the garden wall. I run three times a week, and am really happy with the running stats its produces and the info and analytics available on Garmin connect. Battery life is fantastic, and I charge it once every 12-14 days or so. I've used it on a treadmill and running outside, as well as to record strength and aerobic workouts. Brilliant sports watch, and very happy with it.

I've had this for about 6 months now and good god has it been through its paces with me. It's been through mud, sand, you name it. I even accidentally got paint splattera on it while painting a garden fence which in time I managed to scrape off with my nail. It's waterproof and I can wear and wash it in the shower. The battery lasts for weeks depending on how you use it and atm I haven't charged it in a week and it's on half power. If you are in need of a budget-friendly tough watch, then this is the one for you. The app is pretty easy to use too and I've found it useful for logging my activities throughout the day. The one downfall is that it doesn't automatically track your workouts, you need to start it on the watch in advance, but it's great for hikes since it tracks you via gps and can give you the weather and your gps location in real time.