Customer Ratings & Reviews

I love this watch. This is my 3rd Garmin watch. I bought this one to replace the Garmin Venu, which I liked. The Venu is more attractive (according to my wife), but I prefer using the buttons on the Instinct over the touch screen on the Venue. The black and white screen provides all of the functionality that I need and extends the battery life. There are many activities available for the watch which will definitely cover my needs. The watch works well with Garmin Connect for tracking activities. I was a little worried that it would be hard to use with Garmin Coach activities as I am currently in a 10K training program with Garmin Coach. However, the transition was seamless. I just selected a run activity and the very next question was if I wanted to start my Coach activity or view the steps. The solar charging feature is also amazing. When I first charged the watch it said there were 23 days left on the battery. However, I have been wearing it for 5 days and it now says 20 days remain. Skip the math...that means that the charger has gained back 2 days since I started wearing the watch. Granted it is full summer I drive my Jeep around topless and have been spending a lot of time outside, but that is still awesome.

This watch is great! It keeps a charge for sooooo long! The solar charging feature is fantastic! It tracks so many metrics and activities, that I have been trying new things other than my normal running, biking and swimming just to try out new features on the watch. I love it! The only knocks I have are that the display isn't great and it could be more fashionable, but I guess you can't have everything.

This is my third Garmin watch. It feels more like a watch than a smart watch. It’s more durable and has the essentials for an active person and nothing more. The solar charging and battery life are great. If you’re into lots of features and perfect displays this isn’t the watch for you. If you want something rugged that gets the job done this is it.

My 7 year old Forerunner 230 served me very well. I wanted some extra features like heart rate monitor and altimeter. A month ago I managed to buy Garmin Instinct Solar for approximately 215 dollars out of door. Great sales price. I have been using it to record bike rides, running and walking with activity downloaded to Garmin Connect and Strava. Positives The watch is extremely robust just like the Forerunner 230. It has all the extra features I was looking for. Negatives There was a slight learning curve for first couple of days as it is definitely different from the forerunner 230. The watch is also not as handsome as the Forerunner 230. The display panel on coveys limited information at a given time. But this could also be a plus as you are only looking at the information you really need when running. Like pace, distance, speed and hearts rate. The straps two retainer rings tends to slide away while running. The quality and functionality of the strap on Instinct Solar is not as good or comfortable as Forerunner 230

Got this as a gift and it works super well. As long as you don't mind the simple display I think its the perfect smart watch, especially for this price. The solar charging works really well and there are so many useful features, including being able to find your phone through the watch and vice versa.

Love the battery, features, and lack of touchscreen

Works great. First one cracked the screen, had to get another.

I had a Samsung active 2 before this, and the technology on the Samsung is way better than this Garmin. The screen is so hard to read, it's not touch screen, and it's confusing. I just got it today, and I literally have a headache from trying to use it. Because the display is awful. You can't adjust any watch display settings from the app. Way too expensive for the limited technology. The watch is comfortable and seems durable, but you have to hit the backlight button to see it. There's no way to get your steps on the main screen. Returning this in a couple days.

For the price I paid, this watch is a disappointment. All Black screen at 350$, not a good deal. At this price just buy an Apple Watch, you wouldn’t really be missing out on many functions. This is not a user friendly watch. You will need to invest some time in to learn how to use it. I could not get it to do something simple like show me on a map where I was walking and hiking. I asked for help on forums to learn how to do it and I still couldn’t figure it out. NOT WORTH IT.

The watch itself is alright. It tracks what I aimed for but I thought it would be touch screen. For the same price, I might as well should’ve gotten the apple watch