Garmin Instinct 2 Solar 6 Month Long term review

I have used the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar exclusively for the last 6 months and did not get fooled by its utilitarian appearance. This is essentially a Garmin Fenix 7 Light, with one exception—the battery life, which is absolutely incredible.

Specifications

Model	Garmin Instinct 2 Solar
Screen Resolution	176 x 176 pixels (45 mm) / 156 x 156 pixels (40 mm)
Sizes	Instinct 2S (40 mm, 42 g) and Instinct 2 (45 mm, 53 g)
Battery Life	Unlimited in smartwatch mode with solar charging
GPS Mode Battery Life	Up to 30 hours / up to 370 hours with solar charging
Sensors	Barometer, altimeter, 3-axis compass, thermometer, Garmin ELEVATE 4.0 heart rate sensor
Navigation	GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO; breadcrumb routing, TrackBack, elevation profile
Activity Profiles	Over 40 preset profiles (running, cycling, swimming, golf, yoga, etc.)
Health Functions	VO2Max, pulse oximetry, sleep score, stress level, energy monitoring
Smart Functions	Garmin Pay, smart notifications, Connect IQ (apps and watch faces), incident detection
Solar Technology	Power Glass for efficient solar charging
Water Resistance	10 ATM (suitable for swimming and water activities)
Price	From approx. 3599 NOK

Design and Build

I think the most polarizing part of the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar is its appearance. The screen isn’t high-resolution compared to other Garmin watches or competitors. It has a look that doesn’t necessarily fit into every situation nor everyone’s preference.

I’m really happy I got the white version. I feel that the black version has a more retro or Casio G-Shock look than this light grey version. To be honest, initially I thought the watch looked plasticky, and people were surprised when I told them about the powerful features packed inside. The design has really grown on me, but I’m aware of its limitations—you don’t show up with an Instinct 2 in a suit or dress attire.

The weight of the watch is very noticeable at 53g for the 45mm version. Something I noticed compared to the Vivoactive 3 is that the rubbery texture on the inside is a lot smoother and softer, and the raised sensor on top is barely noticeable. The backlight isn’t particularly bright, but it’s sufficient in dark conditions.

The watch is actually quite comfortable to wear, and the sides don’t feel as sharp compared to the Fenix. The Instinct has a plastic body that doesn’t get cold as quickly as the metal body of the Fenix line, which is particularly nice during winter months.

Battery Life

This is one of the most important features of the Instinct 2 Solar—with emphasis on “Solar.” It has lasted noticeably longer this summer in terms of general battery life as well as when tracking activities. When fully charged, it estimates 29 days left in smartwatch mode, and I noticed a couple of times this summer it showed 30 and 31 days of battery left when exposed to sunlight.

The battery life when tracking activities is so good that you really don’t have to worry about it, especially when exposed to both day and sunlight. It performs adequately now during the fall and upcoming winter months. I track a lot of activities on a daily basis—bike commuting, climbing, bouldering, strength training, running, and road biking—and with all those activities, I only charge it once every two weeks. This is with 1-3 hours of tracking activities EVERY DAY, even without solar panels helping out.

Screen and Interface

The 176 by 176 screen is a bump in resolution from the previous generation, but it is still quite limited. Garmin has made good use of the available space, though. You can fit up to 5 data screens on it while tracking, and the readability is very good with black text helping compensate for the small screen size and limited resolution.

The limited UI and resolution isn’t a big issue if you’re a frequent user of the companion app—Garmin Connect. From there, you can change activities, watch faces, and settings on the watch, as well as see all the data coming from your watch. I’ve been using Garmin Connect a lot more with the Instinct 2 given its limited screen size and resolution.

The UI is mostly fluid, but if you want to quickly navigate through the widgets menu and choose an activity, there might be some lag. Saving longer activities takes some time, as does entering them on the watch to see the stats. When entering the quick menu (by holding the CTRL button), there is no lag when selecting your preferred choice, which is especially important when using Garmin Pay.

The music controls are finicky. If possible, use your phone or Bluetooth headphones for music control instead of this five-button interface. It’s frustrating when the tracking button is positioned at the top during an activity, and you only want to press “next” but end up pausing the entire activity.

Smart Features

Garmin Pay

Even though you can now make payments with both your phone and various smartwatches, being able to pay with my watch is incredibly convenient. Garmin Pay only comes with the Solar version of the Instinct 2. The freeing feeling of not having to pull out your wallet whenever you’re paying is fantastic. I almost never use any of my physical cards anymore.

Notifications

As a smartwatch, you can answer or decline texts or calls. What I really like is that you can block the apps you don’t want notifications from. I only let through text messages and calls as I think notifications are quite distracting already, and I don’t want an extension of that on my wrist.

On a daily basis, I use Garmin Pay, the alarm, the timer, and too often, the “find my phone” function. These are useful tools in everyday life that I really enjoy having as substitutes for my phone. The Instinct 2 Solar helps me limit my phone use by providing fewer reasons to pick it up.

Activity Tracking

Strength Training

Strength tracking has gotten a facelift. It’s much more simple and dynamic than it used to be, and now you can quickly edit repetitions and weight after completing a set. The Garmin Instinct 2 does a fair job of detecting what kind of repetitions you’re doing. I now have everything I need in Garmin Connect rather than using a dedicated notebook.

Indoor Cycling

Connecting to an indoor bike is quite easy, but you need to know the number of the bike if you’re in a spinning class with multiple active bikes. When connected, you have access to the power meter of the bike, which is a nice addition. To get the distance from the ride, I had to manually input the number from the bike. I might have overlooked something, but I would also like to get the speed data from the indoor bike.

Bike Commuting

I always track my bike commuting every day. It’s nice to see how much I’m actually biking per week, and I’ve assigned my bike to the bike commuting tracking, allowing me to see the total distance I’ve ever biked on that specific bike. Occasionally when I brake hard before a roundabout or when waiting to cross the road, the incident detection sometimes activates. It’s a bit annoying, resulting in me turning that feature off for this particular type of tracking.

I really hope the next version will include some degree of cellular support or even satellite coverage. Being able to bring only your watch for a trail run, or knowing that your watch can keep you in touch with the outside world, would truly be a great feature I would easily pay a few hundred dollars extra for.

Running

Anyone who has been running with a Garmin device will be familiar with the running interface of the Instinct 2. I’ve changed the data screens from the default 3 fields to 5 fields for more information when running.

If you bring your phone for music during your run, the Instinct 2 Solar will be perfect for most runners. I really miss having the ability to load my running playlist from Spotify to the watch and run without my phone. The lack of cellular coverage is also a general safety concern, especially if you’re trail running alone.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the next generation Instinct introduces dual input with both buttons and touchscreen, similar to what we’ve seen on the new Forerunner series and Fenix 7. The Instinct 2 cannot do trail running as well as the Forerunners, Epixes, or Fenixes due to the limitations of its screen technology. You have the ability to load a course and follow a line, but I honestly don’t see much potential in doing that.

Hiking

This brings us to one of the activities I tested most heavily: hiking. When hiking, you can follow a preset course that you create in Garmin Explore. I modified my hiking tracking with the data screens I wanted and tracked quite long distances. Our longest hike was 40 kilometers.

I tracked from day to day, as I wanted a more accurate representation of our trail than what the expedition mode can provide. In expedition mode, the watch consumes much less battery, but it only gets your GPS position every 10 minutes. Given that battery life wasn’t really a concern, I decided to track from day to day and merge all the GPX files afterward using third-party software to get the complete trip.

Climbing

If you have a data-driven and methodical approach to climbing, then the Instinct 2 Solar might be the best watch for you. You can track bouldering and indoor climbing. I think the lack of outdoor climbing features is by design from a safety perspective.

The tracking feature is quite nice to have to track progress, but for many people, it’s not a must. For some, it might not make any sense at all.

Road Biking

My 66-kilometer trip from Copenhagen to Oslo was tracked using the Instinct 2 Solar. One of the features I liked most was the “resume later” function that allowed for a more accurate representation of the actual speed we were biking at.

We had mostly sunny conditions during the trip, and combined with the already excellent battery life, battery concerns were non-existent. I don’t recall exactly how much battery the tracking consumed, but I remember that at each destination, I had more than enough battery for two or maybe three days of 12-hour tracking.

Health Features

Sleep Tracking

Sleep tracking has been quite different from what I experienced on the Vivoactive 4. The Instinct 2 sleep tracking claims that I am awake a lot more during the night than reported on the Vivoactive 4. It is more or less accurate about when I fall asleep and wake up, but I do take everything else with a pinch of salt—especially the part about being occasionally awake for 15 to 45 minutes per night. Sleep tracking falls into the category of “indicator data” that guides you toward understanding how well you slept but comes with a major accuracy disclaimer.

Relax Timer

The watch comes with many standard Garmin features such as the relax timer. My biggest problem is that I often forget it exists and end up using Spotify instead. For meditation and mindfulness, I think this could be a really simple and effective way of having a meditation timer.

Software Ecosystem

Connect IQ

I looked at the apps available for the Instinct 2, but it seems like it’s a bit too early before we get any useful apps—except for third-party watch faces. You may find some you like more than the ones that come with the watch.

Garmin Explore

Garmin Explore is a nice companion to have when using the Instinct 2 Solar. I appreciate having the ability to load routes, even though they’re mostly just a way to confirm you’re on the right track. Drawing up routes is quite nice, and I like that it follows the trails without requiring you to make many small waypoints along the trail for the best accuracy, which could be cumbersome.

One thing I really miss is the ability to load third-party maps onto the Garmin Explore app. But I suspect the reason this doesn’t exist is to avoid cannibalizing their handheld GPS devices or bike computers. All higher-end devices have the ability to load custom maps, such as the Fenix line.

New Features

The Instinct 2 will be getting even more features in 2023, with Morning Report being one of them. The Instinct 2 got HRV status added in the summer of 2022, which added to an already great set of fitness and health features.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Class-leading battery life with the solar version

• Garmin Pay

• Reliable for long-haul tracking

• Rugged body

• Lightweight

• Powerful fitness features

• Many of the outdoor, sports, and fitness-oriented features of its higher-end siblings

Cons

• No local music storage

• No cellular coverage

• Sometimes lags with longer loading times in UI

• Polarizing design

• Finicky music controls

• Limited screen size and resolution

Final Verdict

I think the Instinct 2 Solar is an excellent outdoor and sports-oriented adventure computer that sits on your wrist. Its 176 by 176 pixel display truly can’t justify the amount of features and power that lies under the hood of this rugged device. If you can deal with the aesthetics, you’ll get a lot for your money.

The Instinct 2 Solar is now cheaper than it was at release. You’ll enjoy having a device where battery life isn’t even an issue in most cases—even during heavy-duty activities such as long-haul biking or hiking trips, tracking activities 8 to 12 hours a day over several days without charging. The solar panel really keeps its promise! Under optimal conditions, you will get unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode.

What are you sacrificing with this watch? You get a watch with a very specific look and aesthetic. This watch is a matter of taste, with a rugged appearance resembling a Casio G-Shock rather than what people typically associate with a Garmin watch. If the design is too much for you and you want something similar but more anonymous and less expensive, I recommend looking at the Garmin Forerunner 255 or 955 Solar editions. They’re very similar in terms of features to the high-end Fenix 7.

I do miss having local music storage to carry less when running, but I also feel that cellular capability would make sense from a safety perspective. I wish there were better access to music controls, but that’s wishful thinking given how the touchscreen made that possible on the Vivoactive 4.

Another consideration is how people perceive you and your gear. Most people will think you’re wearing just a basic watch with the Instinct 2. For me, that’s not an issue, but for some, it might be.

If you’re into the outdoors, hiking, or biking, get the Solar version. You’ll also get Garmin Pay with the Solar edition, which has almost completely made my physical cards obsolete.

If you’re considering the Fenix 7, Epix Gen 2, or other high-end smartwatches with more features and bigger screens, I recommend taking a good look at how much you actually need those features. For me, battery life and reliability are more essential than many of the other features of high-end Garmin watches. When hiking, I don’t need access to maps. When long-distance biking, we use our phones for navigation.

I honestly think this watch is for anyone deeply into adventure and sports who needs great battery life and a rugged case. The Forerunner 955 is probably the only competitor with the same amount of features but different aesthetics. It’s more expensive, but you’ll almost get a Fenix 7 at a more reasonable price.

The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar excels at what it’s designed to do. It always felt like the right companion when it mattered most during my big tracking projects this summer. It’s also the only watch I’m not worried about wearing while climbing, thanks to its rugged body and smaller screen size.