Customer Ratings & Reviews

Wore it for a month, awesome features, awesome battery life, terrible rash from the exposed charge port. This was a great watch, the detail of information I received from the app for my workouts was outstanding. The rash I received from this was crippling, still battling it. Whoever though it was an awesome idea for an exposed charging port, with cheap metals, I wouldn’t buy ya a beer. If you care about your skin health, if you don’t want to gamble with a possibility of a rash, don’t buy this watch.

Dec 30th I decided to purchase it and so far I am Very unsatisfied with this watch I basically purchased a watch that my skin is allergic to …. I from what I see I can’t return it anymore or get my money back

Garmin likes to spend on advertisements more than quality. I used fitbit surge for two years and never felt outage but within six months there have been two server outages with Garmin so not sure if our data and information is safe. Also it my Garmin instinct doesn't tell resting heartbeat accurately and doesn't track sleep as accurate as fitbit or may be other competitors in the market. Instict will be my last Garmin device I will go back to fitbit or Apple or some other smart watch brand.

This was my first step up to a dedicated "fitness tracker" wearable and it's safe to say I'm pretty disappointed. Sure this thing has 14 days of battery, and super accurate GPS, and all those other wow features but if wanted to use it to track your HR during workouts- forget it. I've had this thing a little more than a month and I've yet to have it accurately track a strength workout. You might say: "are you wearing it right?" ,"is it snug but not too tight?", "is the sensor clean?", and trust me I've done it all. Worn it higher, lower, on the inside of my wrist, tighter, looser, "snug", and I even went as far as shaving my wrist to see if it helps. You might ask "well how far off is it?" and my example would be 40 mins into a workout where I'm gassed this thing is telling me my HR is 100bpm. I'm flattered my watch thinks I have the heart of Michael Phelps, but come on. When it reads that low it throws off your calories burned and other metrics which is the whole reason I bought this thing! When you buy products you expect them to just work (i.e., Apple) yet this thing just doesn't work. I wanted an all-in-one solution to track my activities and fitness without having to buy more accessories (e.g., chest-based HRM) and unfortunately this isn't it. If I were you, seriously consider looking elsewhere, supposedly the Solar version of this "has all new sensors" but at this point, I'm very skeptical of all things Garmin.

I purchased my watch to monitor my heart rate at night and during my workouts. I started getting a rash on my right arm. I cleaned the watch and loosen up the band same results. I switched arms same results. I am still healing from the rash after 2 months of not wearing my watch. I am not happy with this watch and serves no purpose to me if I can't wear it. I would not by this watch.

This is my second instinct with the same reliability issues. Everything is great until my heart rate goes over 120 bpm for more than 5 minutes, then it reads me at lower activity than while sleeping. Bought a garmin chest strap, which helps accuracy, but at $300 I expect more. I am returning this instinct to try something else. The garmin app is fantastic, but heart rate is the foundation, so a bit of a problem...

I been using this watch for about 5 months now, and i can honestly tell you to avoid this watch if you are looking for a reliable heart rate, pulse monitor. This heart monitor is so inaccurate it will just cause you unnecessary stress and to obsess yourself about your heart. This watch has told me readings of 40 or 150; if i test myself with a blood pressure machine or oximeter at the same time, its way way off. I also had my Dr. tested and this company Garmin should avoid putting heart monitors on watches because they are completely inaccurate and will cause you unnecessary worries and stress and money. The box states is not a medical device but you kind of expect some sort of accuracy. Also this watch appears to test your pulse based on your movement and not your actual pulse or heart rate. I would avoid because if this function is that inaccurate, odds are the rest of the functions (trail, steps ect.) are as bad to.

Much inferior craftsmanship and materials in comparison to vivi fit 3. Tiny watch face too. I took it back immediately and recharged my 3 yr old Garmin.

Purchased for my husband and he was not able to receive messages from Apple IOS system...phone worked but not messages. Item was returned.

This watch is absolute garbage compared to other options out there. While the Apple Watch I was attempting to convert from showed a 2 BPS higher heart rate than my manual calculation, this watch showed 11 BPS over manual and 7 BPS lower than the Garmin app connected via my phone. Really? C’mon, choose a side. Also after pairing this device to my phone the watch was 9 degrees higher than the phone I paired it to was telling me. I also checked weather.com and this source confirmed the Watch was 9 degrees high while the app on my phone was spot on (I spent 20 minutes searching the watch options and the manual to confirm the device driving temp was my phone - which it was - and that the app on my phone was the only driver of outdoor temps). I was really hoping for a tactical appearing and functioning replacement for my Apple Watch in this device but after 4 hours of use this watch will be returned to Best Buy with a negative, yet honest, review placed. I tried to convert to Garmin 4 years ago and once again, quickly disappointed. Cheers to 2022 Garmin. Hope the KC crew can do better.

Did not like anything about it the name is deceiving because nothing instinct about it.

Watch too expensive to have a basic DISPLAY. I RETURNED IT

To get support for setting up the email and voice mail was so difficult. The customer service for Garmin was non-existent and 3 weeks later, I still do not have the watch fully working with all of the features. I am terribly disappointed and I paid too much money for the email portion not to work properly.

First I never got my order because the company lost my package that was bad because I wanted for Christmas gift so I had to call corporate to get my money back and that will take 5 to 10 weeks wow I had to go and get another gift. It’s sucks I made my purchase ahead of time to not have this issues but never again

Not a very good battery. Only last about half a day on full charge.

Worked great for almost two months, but now has failed beyond repair. The adhesive holding the battery in on the bottom has plainly failed. What a waste of money.

Its a nice watch but battery life is horrible. I can't even get 3 days of.light use

Bad bad bad that is all I gotta say about this watch does not last long, not good!at all!

Honestly when I removed the watch from the box and was able to touch it I knew then the flimsy feel of the watch was not going to win me over so I simply put it back in the box and I'm going to return it. Maybe smart watches are not for me. I'm more of a rugged and weighty watch wearer.