Of course, as should go without saying, you do also need some sunlight to rely on unlimited battery life. If you spend a lot of time indoors at a desk and you track your gym sessions in the evening, the watch is going to struggle to keep itself charged. If, however, you’re a bit outdoorsy and like to get outside during the day whenever you can, then the charge should stay nice and high for you – even if the days are on the gloomy side. 

Models

The screen on the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar pictured here measures 45mm in diameter. For those with daintier wrists, there’s also a smaller version with a 40mm screen, that’s called the Instinct 2S.

You can also then take your pick between the solar model or the cheaper standard model (that doesn’t have unlimited battery life) and there are then specialist options, either in Solar or standard, to cater for surfers, truck drivers and for the special forces too. 

Design

Unlike many GPS smartwatches, the Garmin Instinct 2 has the look of a real rugged watch made for the outdoors. And it is indeed built to withstand the rigours of life on the trail, being waterproof to 100 metres, dustproof, shockproof and highly scratch resistant too. By the end of our week in Albania’s Accursed Mountains it had come through looking as good as new.

The screen is monochrome and is visible even on the brightest of days. The strap is made from silicon and is removable so you can customise your watch if you so choose. 

With three buttons on the left hand side and two on the right, each one clearly marked with their functions, learning how to navigate through the various menu interfaces on this doesn’t take long at all and, as we found, it’ll quickly become intuitive. 

What Can You Use The Garmin Instinct 2 For?

There are a whole bunch of tools for outdoor enthusiasts here. We’ve mentioned that it has GPS tracking already and that’s via GLONASS and Galileo satellites – so expect an accurate reading of your location, altitude and co-ordinates. You can view a digital compass, upload routes onto the watch to follow a breadcrumb trail, record routes as you go and you can also use the watch for track back navigation. The Instinct 2 also has a built in heart rate monitor to help you track your fitness, performance and even stress and sleep patterns.

Over 40 different sports are catered for here, including hiking, trail running, climbing and mountain biking and then also things like treadmill and track running, yoga and road cycling. It’s a very diverse list. 

I’m a hiker and, unsurprisingly, I’ve mainly been using this for hiking. Out and about it’ll tell me how far I’ve hiked and how far I’ve got left, I can see my heart rate as I go, I can use the breadcrumb navigation and its little arrows to keep on track. I can see the route profile and the elevation ahead. I can even check the temperature and weather I can expect. The sunrise and sunset times are particularly handy for any hikes that involve a bit of wild camping. 

Afterwards, with the watch synched to my phone, I can use the Garmin Connect+ app to see my route in detail on a map and I can analyse the changes of my pace and heart rate throughout the day. I can also see the total ascent and total descent from the day. Message and call notifications can also be received through the watch, you can send pre-set messages and, with the solar versions you can stream music through Spotify and make payments through Garmin Pay.

Conclusion

Smartwatches with all the bells and whistles for fitness enthusiasts can be a little off-putting for outdoor enthusiasts who might just want something that they can use to follow a route, or even to just give them their coordinates quickly. With its rugged build and deliberately uncomplicated screen and metrics, the Garmin Instinct 2 does, however, come across as being made specifically for us mountain climbers, trail pacers and mud seekers. And that’s before factoring in that unlimited battery life. That aspect to this thing should be a surefire clincher for outdoor enthusiasts in the market for a smartwatch.

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