Garmin Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Built for All Elements, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing and More, Graphite

I've bought the same Timex Expedition model watch for at least 20 years. Simple, rugged, with just the features I wanted and little more. I did try a wearable monitor (very early Fitbit) years ago and found it a curiosity but not worth the charging hassle or having to wear something along with my watch. Recently though, now that I'm over 65, I've thought more about tracking health elements, especially as I would like to stay active as long as possible. I did lots of research on the new technology options. Soooo many out there. I narrowed it by some criteria: needs to be as much like my old Expedition as possible, meaning - can be worn all the time (in shower, hot tub, swimming, sleeping, exercising, doing yard work); has long battery life; is easily readable; rugged; easy to use push buttons to see various screens (not swiping on screen). I am more than happy with the Instinct 2S! I got the 40mm as I don't like a big watch face on my wrist. The band fit my 180mm wrist (but near the last hole). Everything about using it has been easier than I feared. Garmin's software connects easily to my watch and I can track all the things I care about. Battery life is sensational! It says 21 days possible, and maybe so with sun and less use for special purposes, but I've still gotten 17-18 days out of a single charge. I don't use GPS except rarely (for outdoor tennis tracking). I don't want a watch to be a phone (this isn't), and appreciate I can tailor and limit what kinds of messaging it notifies me of. I customized my screen to be simple, showing just a few things I care to see. Easy to read. I've learned a great deal about my sleep patterns and heart rates I didn't know. Can't say how accurate it is but feels reflective of what I thought anyway. So for me, two months in, this appears a great compromise between a regular sports watch and a very smart one. Hope it keeps me this happy for years to come! (Thanks to other reviewers who helped guide my decision.) 5-MONTH UPDATE: Now after using the watch in so many different scenarios, I am equally as enthusiastic about it, if not more. Given some of the edits to the main face (through Connect IQ), such as adding a constant heart rate display, I think I've reduced the battery life a bit, but still getting two weeks easy between charges. (I don't think the solar part charges much at all). The watch and the easy-to-use Garmin app helped me medically when I was playing tennis and couldn't get my heart rate down. I was able to send a graph from the app of the 45-minute period to my doctor. She ordered a more sensitive medical-grade monitor system to wear for 2 weeks. Turned out to be nothing systemic, thankfully, and probably due to a tooth infection I hadn't known about, but the watch now gives me a way to monitor in real time, just in case. Hassle free for all my normal activities, and the sleep monitor has been very revealing of my habits.

I don't write a lot of reviews, but I thought I'd chime in about this. (Just a regular old customer here--no connection to Garmin or Amazon.) My point of view might be uncommon for Garmin owners: I actually don't think of myself as a Smartwatch guy and have actually turned down free Apple Watches (as holiday gifts) on two occasions. No interest in texting on my wrist. I'm a "watch guy" in the more traditional sense--a big fan of mid-tier to high-end mechanical watches. But I wanted one techy watch for when I bike and work out and for a long backcountry hike where GPS was going to be necessary. I've owned this watch for a couple months now and have put it through its paces: swimming (it's highly water-resistant), biking, lifting, and (as mentioned) in the wilderness. It hasn't disappointed. Set up is easy and intuitive: if you can handle using an iPhone, you should have no problem making your way through the process. Downloading the smartphone app on your device and syncing it is worth the trouble, in my opinion. Among other things, it will allow you to keep on top of software updates, control your music while working out (without having to touch your phone), and get whatever alerts (like texts or Ring notifications) you might want to opt into. I have it set up so that the Garmin app only seeks out my watch when I open the app---don't want this thing constantly searching and draining my phone battery when I'm not even wearing the watch. I do still fumble through the different buttons trying to remember what does what, but it is getting better. I usually only wear this for a few hours at a time a few days a week; if I wore it more regularly, I'm sure I would be far more fluent by now. And the good news is, you really can't mess anything up by pressing the wrong button. There's tons of customization that you can do (during setup or just whenever) to rearrange the main screen, add or remove activities and options, etc. For an entry-level smartwatch, it's impressively featured! Battery life is utterly insane. I charged it before a 10-hour hike where the GPS was going the entire time--that was in early May. Since then I've worn it several times for many collective hours, sometimes in GPS mode, sometimes not, and I only had to charge it again today--in mid June. Granted, I power it down whenever I'm not using it, but still, you get a lot of time out of a single charge. I have the solar version, and I suppose that extends the battery life in a limited way---can't say I've tested that or noticed strong evidence of it, but I'll take Garmin's word for it. The GPS tracking feature works very well once you get it dialed in to your preferences, which isn't tricky to do. If you get lost, you can flip to the screen where your track is: it's just a squiggly line on the screen---there's no map background on this plain-Jane, smaller, black and white display---but with pretty minimal brainpower, you can use it to retrace your steps, no problem. No chance of getting lost with this thing on, as long as you've got a signal---and I've never had any trouble acquiring one. Beyond that, just having it on your wrist as a trip computer, tracking how long you've been at it, how many miles you've covered, your elevation, etc, is really nice. It allowed me to provide very specific answers every time my kid asked "how many more miles do we have to go?" Note, though, that you'll need to activate the GPS mode when you start your hike (or ride or whatever). And you'll want to shut if off when you're done in order to extend the battery life. Nice to have the heart-rate and pulse oximeter features. Also reassuring to have the "incident reporting" feature, or whatever it's called. Thankfully haven't had to use it, but I've read positive customer reviews from folks who have. It's a comfort to know that my wife will get an instant alert on her phone if I crash my bike, for example. And I believe the alert will include my exact location. As for the watchy-watch stuff: this thing is very well built. It feels robust, but is as light as a feather. I mean, you can really forget you have it on, especially if you're accustomed to wearing a luxury sports watch that weighs more than 100g. I haven't tried swapping out the rubber strap, but I see no reason why you couldn't put it on a NATO or something if you wanted to. The integrated strap itself feels like it's good quality, though I imagine it will eventually need to be replaced after a few years of putting it on and taking it off. The overall look is very rugged and "tactical." At least with the black model, there's nothing refined or luxurious about it at all. The main thing I want to say about it as a watch per se is that the size is perfect, at least for me. A lot of these smartwatches nowadays are enormous: 45mm and super-thick. To me they look absurd. This one is about 40mm, which is by no means small, but it's sensible and while definitely "sized" for a man, could work well as an oversized unisex option. Point is, when I'm wearing it, it just feels like a normal watch, proportioned like several of my other, mechanical watches---not like a giant wrist computer. It calls no attention to itself. The screen isn't tiny or anything: the display is plenty readable. It's not touchscreen, it's not full color, you can't watch videos on it---if you want all of that, look at a different model. This is one of those "everything you need, nothing you don't" items. (Though, again, it has a pretty surprising array and number of features---most of which I've never used.) Big fan.

Exactly want I wanted. This is more of an exercise watch than a smart watch. I have turned off most notifications but still get calls/texts. Heart rate monitor seems to work fine. Love the gps and hiking functions. While the display is black and white, it is easy to see. Back light for night use. I get about 18 days battery with the sensory turned on, around 40 days with them off. Solar charging helps extend some, but not a ton. I did get the smaller version, instinct 2S. I have about a 15 inch wrist. Little small, but the normal would’ve been too big. The band for the Instinct S is smaller than my old vivoactove 3 band. If you have larger wrist (I would say larger than 16.5-17) it may be a tight fit. Lots of different exercise options to choose from and ways to track activities. Update: 7/19 Still love this watch. Have tried out several features/different workouts such as run, walk, hike, kayak,etc and it seems to track everything well. Heart rate monitor seems to be accurate. I have been exploring the suggested running workouts and have been enjoying those. Only complaint is that the smaller watch size cannot accurately use the track back feature when hiking. The screen seems too small to load the whole map when retracing steps. Because of the small screen size, it is hard to see everything on the track back feature. Every other screen is easy to use/read. Save money and don’t get the solar option. I have not noticed a very big difference even when leaving the watch in the sun all day as an experiment.

I have used this watch for several months now and really enjoy the smaller size as I don't have large arms. I find the simplicity of the watch features great as I did not want touch screen or a bunch of extra frills I did not need - the basic Bluetooth connectivity with phone/text notifications works well and was all I really cared about (you can have other notifications as well) . The GPS tracking is pretty accurate especially when compared to other tracking watches around the same price point. Additionally, it is very durable, I am always working on things and have hit the watch off of many various objects and have yet to scratch the sapphire glass. The Solar is a nice option/feature to have, but unless you can get it for just a few dollars more than the regular version like I was able to, I don't think it's worth it as it does not affect the battery charge noticeably (at least for me). The only downsides I've noticed is that the outer coating of the watch band wears rather quickly and in order to remove/stop unwanted app notifications from displaying (at least with using an iPhone), you must remove those apps/notifications from the iPhone's "Notification Center" - this isn't the end of the world since they still show on the home screen (until you unlock the phone) I just wish there was a way to remove them from showing on the watch but still be able to look back at them later on the phone. Overall, the Garmin Instinct 2s is a great GPS/Tracking watch and I will certainly consider another one in the future if/when this one stops working.

First of all, know what you are getting with this watch. I have had several Garmins, most recently a Forerunner 965, an Apple watch, and a Coros Pace. Here’s what you get with the Instinct 2S: 1. Always-on, MIP display. Not colorful or even bright, but always accessible at a glance without having to flip your wrist. 2. Small size. It is small and lightweight. Will only fit smaller wrists and the display size means only basic metrics can be displayed at all times. I don’t need to see my heart rate, my miles run this week, or my Garmin vo2 max at any given moment. 3. Long battery life. The solar charging works ok, but you’ll get 2 weeks or more if you’re using it regularly. 4. No touchscreen. I don’t want one, I know the Garmin buttons and how to drive one. I bought the watch to track my road and trail running and so I can simply see the time on my wrist when I look. Tired of huge AMOLED displays with a bunch of metrics I can’t read in time before the display shuts off. I don’t even want that much data available at once, I can look on the Connect app and see all I need. Always-on mode for an AMOLED always seems to come with the cost of a rapidly dead battery. You might be different from me. If you want a bright colorful display, touchscreen, and AI training metrics, get a 65 or 70 series Forerunner. If you want an always-on MIP display but also a big watch face with a lot of metrics AND insane battery life, Enduro 3 is the one. If you want a smaller (and cheaper) Enduro 3 with less metrics on the watch face, Coros Apex is worth a look. I think that’s it. The worst this thing will see is a 50k trail run, and it isn’t even getting started when that is complete.

Nice watch: great features and fairly easy to understand on how to operate. The size is perfect for my small wrist. Granted because of its smaller dial, the more information you want shown on the watch face, the smaller the font and you’d have to squint to read. But, comes with the territory. The strap seems a bit flimsy: it’s comfortably soft, but scared it could tear easily if caught on something, especially with the work I do. I’d still recommend it though. Watch is packed full of features and the app is great too. Update: So far, so good. It’s much easier using the app to check out the chock full of features the watch is able to measure. One of the main reason I bought the 2S is the solar charging ability. It’s an important feature I look for in timepieces simply as it’s a pain going around to replace watch batteries. I understand certain features drains the battery, and I minimized certain features it has to conserve power. Anyway, under ~5 hrs of direct sunlight, it yielded ~20% charge. Window charge on a sunny day didn’t yield anywhere close, but I really like the app’s ability to measure the charging intensity. Because of the watch’s solar limitations, I have not gotten a full 100% charge when I left it out in direct sunlight all day on weekends.

First, what I like about this watch: 1. Very long battery life and solar charging. 2. Smallest (40 mm) of all ones in that line. 3. Rugged design. Why I returned it: 1. At night battery drained fully, apparently trying to connect to my phone or PC. No indication on screen that that is the case. Ridiculous! 2. Heart Rate Sensor is as bad as it was 5 years ago in my Forerunner 35: accurate when heart rate is steady, and has an error of 30-50% (!!!) when heart rate changes rapidly. But that was the most critical application during my exercise when I needed to control my heart rate and not over-train. 3. It took me three hours of fiddling with the watch and the manual to disconnect all garbage apps and functions... Why not sell the watch with ALL (except the watch) disabled and then allow the user to turn on what he needs? Garmin: wake up! Smartwatch needs either - to be human smart or be simple to allow humans to use it. Anything in between is a slap in the face.

The title might sound alarming, but to be clear, this was not Garmin’s fault. My first watch was stolen after I accidentally left it at a college gym. I absolutely loved that watch. It was the Garmin Instinct 2S non-solar version. About two weeks after losing it, I bought the solar version, which is nearly identical to my original watch but adds solar charging and Garmin Pay. The images show are the solar option with the 40 mm bezel. I’m 5’9 155 pounds. My wrists are small if the watch was any bigger I’d look like a dork but I think the 40 mm bezel fits nicely. I believe the battery life given this watch is size is probably its main selling point for me. The non-solar option had me charging about twice a month for about three hours max. Pros Both watches have been extremely durable. My original watch never got a single scratch on the face, bezel, or body. The strap did show some wear over time, but straps are replaceable, so I consider that a non-issue. I also experienced very few software issues overall. Garmin pushes software updates frequently, so any bugs that do appear tend to get fixed quickly. The watch is also highly customizable. Activities, watch faces, data fields, and external sensors are all easy to configure. Connecting to chest heart rate straps or ERG machines is incredibly simple and reliable. The profile is slim, lightweight, and comfortable. It weighs about the same as my G-Shock, and I barely notice it on my wrist. It is also comfortable to sleep in. I believe the optical heart rate monitor is very accurate for everyday use and training. Compared to a dedicated chest strap, I usually only notice a difference of a few BPM. Most inaccuracies seem to happen when sweat or wrist pressure interferes with the sensor, such as while gripping handlebars or machine handles. Cons There honestly are not many. The biggest annoyance has been Bluetooth connectivity. On a few occasions, I had to manually reconnect the watch through my iPhone’s Bluetooth settings. That said, this only happened a couple of times over the past three years, so it was very minor overall. I also experienced a GPS issue a handful of times where the watch stopped tracking GPS properly during activities. This happened maybe two or three times before I decided to restart the watch, which completely resolved the issue. Another small issue involved the optical heart rate sensor. On two rides, I took the watch off briefly to clean my wrist and then put it back on. Afterward, the watch displayed an obviously inaccurate heart rate reading, around 70 BPM when my actual heart rate was probably closer to 150 BPM. The sensor corrected itself after about five minutes of riding, so it never became a major problem. Overall I am extremely satisfied with the functionality, durability, and ease of use of this watch. It is a fitness tracker first and foremost, and it does that job very well and very reliably. Yes, this is a lot of Garmin praise, but I was honestly a reluctant buyer at first and initially scoffed at the price. After owning two of these watches over the past three years, hiking up mountains, swimming in the ocean, riding up mountain passes sweating all over, and occasionally knocking or dropping the watch and its face on various sharp objects which would’ve definitely broken a more fragile watch, I’m sold.

un excelente producto, volveria a comprar, llega en tiempo, ha funcionado correctamente.

Very happy with garmin watch, does everything I want and more. Purchased a refurbished instinct 2x, looks brand new.

There are a few features I need to work out . For eg how to pay. How to use the light. Watch is too small for the person I bought it for. I returned it on the 19 May 2024 and are still waiting for a refund. Leone

I got this on sale and I would say it’s worth it. Does everything I need and more. It is “Basic” if you’re used to other watches with colour display and a host of other phone apps. However don’t take that for a lack of features. If you have an activity you do chances are you can track it. HR tracker works excellent. I have my watch set for a night mode so it doesn’t track my sleep. This extend my battery life even further! That being said I have heard that it’s not as good as apple or fit bit for sleep tracking. If that’s important to you I would search there first. I am a fan of this watch. Serves its purpose and limits distractions for me. Love it.

The Garmin Instinct is a solid choice if you’re looking for a rugged, reliable outdoor watch. Its durability is one of its strongest points. It’s clearly built to handle tough conditions without any concern. The addition of solar charging is also a big plus, helping extend battery life and making it ideal for long trips where charging isn’t always convenient. On top of that, the health and activity tracking features are dependable, with sensors that deliver consistent and useful data. That said, the design is where it falls short. While it embraces the rugged look, it leans a bit too far into a low-end, rubbery and somewhat basic appearance. Even for an outdoor-focused watch, it could benefit from a more refined design and higher-quality materials to make it feel more premium. It’s also quite bulky, and despite that size, the screen feels relatively small, which affects the overall user experience. Another downside is the limited control over smart features. Basic functions are there, but more customization, especially for notifications, would make a big difference in day-to-day usability. Overall, the Garmin Instinct excels in durability, battery life, and tracking capabilities, but it compromises on design, comfort, and smart functionality. It’s a great tool for outdoor activities, but not the best option if you’re also looking for something stylish and versatile for everyday wear.