Garmin Instinct Solar Review: 9 New Things to Know!
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- Опубликовано: 10 июл 2024
- Garmin Instinct Solar Review: dcra.in/InstinctSolar
Garmin Instinct Solar on Amazon: amzn.to/2VZ28M9 (link helps support the channel, thanks!!!)
The Garmin Instinct Solar takes the solar technology Garmin developed for the Fenix 6X Pro Solar last year, and now ports it into a much more budget friendly option. However, interestingly, the solar power in the Instinct is far greater than that of the Fenix 6 Pro Solar units. In this video I dive into all 9 new features of the Garmin Instinct Solar, plus tidbits from my review and plenty more. I discuss everything from how the solar panels work to the widgets, plus battery saver, power manager, the new Sony GPS chipsets, PulseOx, and then details on the Tactical an Surf models.
0:00 Intro
0:43 #1: Pricing & Variants
1:03 #2: Unboxing
2:24 #3: Solar Panels
3:34 #4: Solar Widgets/Info
4:32 #5: Power Manager & Battery Saver
7:55 #6: Battery Life Claims
8:44 #7: New Heart Rate Sensor/PulseOx
10:03 #8: New GPS Chipset
10:38 #9: Tactical & Surf Models
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Hey folks - Thanks for watching! Don't forget the full written review for even more details, including accuracy and tech deep dives: dcra.in/InstinctSolar
DC Rainmaker hey thanks for the review! But does it have vo2max though? Your written review didnt mentiomed it too.
@@johannnasir9452 No VO2Max.
Garmin pay?
@leicanoct Yup, hopefully this week!
Do these watches give speed in MPH or Knots??? I never see it in videos.
Man, I don't need this, but I want this. It's neat.
Yep! Me too. 👍
@Bilbo Faggins More importantly, think of all that data! My pace count! My HR! How will I know how much I exercised wandering around in the woods until the Civil Air Patrol found me or something?
@Bilbo Faggins use your phone
@Bilbo Faggins while I just bought this watch, I'm damn near sure I'd rather have my G Shock GW9400 in a stranded type situation. Only time will tell with use of the Garmin.
@@Team_Banchamek phone batteries die rather quickly. Best to save that power for when you have a signal.
"A manual you're never going to read??" Maybe I'm an odd man out but with something like this that's the FIRST thing I do, then go through it practicing the various functions from the manual.
FYI for anyone reading this the two little booklets it comes with are not manuals. They pretty much tell you where the buttons take you and if you want to read the real manual to go to www.garmin. etc etc etc.
Hats off to you, I was on the garmin site looking at these watches trying to decide what features are what...and you killed it! Hands down best description I’ve found so far, I think garmin owes ya a little kick back, you had better info than the manufacturer itself. Thank you!
My first experience with garmin was with the Foretrex 601 which I’ve used for a few years now in the military and when hiking. I loved it so got the original instinct. I almost upgraded to the tactical but held off and I’m glad I did because I was able to get the Solar Tactical. Fantastic. Most people don’t need the tactical so save your money. Most honestly don’t need the solar either but it is a great feature.
Fitbit ionic literally just broke tonight. Been riding so much more and this showed up answering everything I wanted to know. Thanks!
I am a convert from Fitbit, just bought the Garmin Solar Instinct. OMG if only I had known how great the Garmin is. Thank you for being interesting and right to the point.
This is the first review of yours I've watched and I'm glad I did. Very informative! I really appreciate the detail you put into this!
A year later, the original Instinct Solar is still relevant and a very good addition to your health “toolbox”. Not to mention it’s dirt cheap compared to the Instinct 2 solar.
Great, concise, informative video. Healthy sense of humor adds to the appeal. Thanks.
These new color options like (Tidal Blue and Camo patters) are awesome.. But that price of $399 is kind of brutal. I know it has more features... but 399 is very hard for me to swallow. I am happy picked up my regular Instinct a couple months ago for $199. I am very happy with my Instinct for all of my uses.
Yeah, I agree. $199 is a killer price. Even $249 is solid for the original Instinct. But $399 is a tough pill to swallow.
I bought it for 799...
just got it for 169 in 2023
Great review. Tossing up between this and the basic Instinct and you’ve sold me on this one!!!
Great review, thanks. I got the Instinct (non-solar) literally 2 weeks before the solar version announcement, a bit of a bummer. No trying to decide whether or not to return and upgrade. Add insult to injury, lost my receipt, which means I take a bit of a hit on the return price. Yet I'm still considering it.
It's a detailed and crisp review. It covered all my queries and perceptions. Thank you for your work.
Very well done, sir. To the point, information we want to know without wasting any time. Earned my subscription and this is the first video of yours I have seen.
Thank you for the content.
the man just answered all my questions about this watch, Good Job!
Finally a watch with the battery life I want. I been using an amazfit bip for what seems like forever.
What a great video. Answered many questions quickly with chapters in the video. Thank you
Not sure why anyone would dislike..? A decent review that covered just about everything.
Well done and much appreciated. 🇬🇧👍🇬🇧
My only reason would be to point out the false statement of a "100% efficient" solar input. Nothing in current tech exceeds about 25%, most are 21%. This is at best 18-19%.
My wife bought me the solar surf edition of this watch. I used the snowboard app last week and loved it.
Lost my fenix 5X by jumping off a cliff yesterday. Never make my mistakes and do not buy cheap wrist bands - it might cost you your watch. Fenix 6 looks great, but I'd hate forking out 700-900 dollars just to find out a few months later that there is fenix 7, which could be a game changer. Considering to get solar instinct as soon as I stop mourning about my loss. Great video btw! Keep up the good work!
Great video as usual. All the key info i needed. Thanks from London, England
Thanks!!!
Dude, every video you do is just so good. Thanks man.
Thanks!!!
Thanks so much. Informative and interesting video. Much appreciate you taking the time. I have the original instinct and love the rugged form factor and the light weight.
Thanks!!!
Very nice review. There is a bunch of info that I did not know I was looking for.
I like it. Battery life is my deal breaker when considering smart watches, and having the solar and options to get weeks of use is fantastic. I already see too many people not wearing their watches due to "oh...it ran it out'. I have a tri-sensor, solar Casio that has been my goto for any adventure, as I know I can rely on it...yet I think I need a bigger screen and a few more options which these offer while not bloating it with music players and all those other dumb things. Your review was great
But Garmin solar has much less battery life than Casio solar. If i understand correctly
@@okcomputer6033it also does much more than Casio solar. If you want a peer to peer comparison, compare it with a G-Shock G-Squad like the GBD-H1000/2000 and the Garmin blows them out of the water.
I really wanted one of these until you told me I'd be responsible for my own death. . . . The dying isn't a huge issue but, as a millennial, the responsibility part is a deal-breaker.
:) Epic!!
LMAO!!
😂😂😂
This was brilliant! Made me LOL for real 😂😂😂
I’d like ur comment but it’s at 69 likes and I don’t want to mess up a work of art
Thanks for going in depth about the updated features, i just couldn't make sense as to why such a big price hike
Thank you! This was a great review. Very helpful. I appreciate your efficiency, shirt and sweet. Searchable / Skipable...
Answered my questions regarding the differences between the Fenix line and Instinct line. Thank you.
Thanks!
Brandt, a few more details.. the instinct is also physically lighter and the material is what I would describe as scratch resistant. It is not metal, where the Fenix that I used to wear was metal with a dark paint that was very susceptible to scratching.
Thank you for making this video, it was very informative.
Kudos 👍 Straight to the point and no bullshit. Good job!
I bought a Instinct Tactical after watching your video and it’s been absolutely amazing!
I recently learned to surf a few months ago and definitely want these added features. Along with no longer needing to charge it.
How do you like it? I ended up getting the surf version.
Whats the difference between the solar and the tactical?
Brilliant watch the moss green I reviewed is the best colour in my opinion. Garmin have done a brilliant job with the solar instinct.
The red light, cool man. Heh, great and informative. Thank you.
Any time!
I just picked up an Instinct for 199 a few weeks ago so I don't feel too bad about the upgrade. If I were to buy one today, I would still pick the Instinct at a discount instead of the Solar at full price. It will be a while before the Solar Instinct is going on sales and I can live with charging it once a week.
As always great review !!! Thanks 🙏
No problem 👍
Thanks men , it helped me with my doubt's
I picked up the Instinct tactical (non solar) a few weeks. Great watch I wish it had high low tide feature.
As usual excellent video from the Best.
This is a great video. I've been watching your reviews on many gps watches. Your video editing and commentary I enjoy the most. Well explained. I'm on the market for a gps watch and am most likely going to get this watch. However, the Garmin Foretrex 601 is also on my radar. Though I know it is a very differen watch and market, it would fit my needs, I think. Can you please do a review on the Garmin foretrex 601? That would be awesome! Thanks mate! Keep up the great work :)
I can’t wait for the new Garmin Instinct Solar. As far as I saw from the photos leaked on the Internet, the new Garmin Instinct 2 and 2S, which will be shown at CES 2022, will have a barometer moved to the very edge of the clock and also a new heart rate sensor.
Original instinct's battery is already good but underwater hr is something I'd like like to have. By the way I didn't expect the cameo to look that cool on the wrist..
I have been following your DC Rainmaker site for years! great review as always. I have a random question, what is the watch you are wearing on your wrist in this video? do you have a review of that also? it looks good!
A Garmin Fenix Light...?
I like watching your videos for it lets me know quickly how to use the Garmin gadget I just purchased. Thank you for the details you always put into your smartwatch reviews. And yes, your chapter shortcuts were great 👍👍
Excited for the Forerunner solar!
Caleb Chapman but you need really strong sun for long time to charge it, new forerunner *45 have great battery lifetime, why you think it will be a good deal ? I live in Moscow , you know bears, snow, vodka a little, cold sun and it useless for us , but even in Australia 🇦🇺 with big ozone hole under head you need 5 hours in day for week to charge it, it’s can practical only on long hiking 😅
Crossing ones fingers!
Thanks great review, will probably purchase this badboy. A little correction however, there is no such thing as a photovoltaic cell capturing 100% of incoming solar energy and converting that to battery charge, especially not on a consumer gadget.
Thanks for starting with the price.
Wish they would bring that display and solar charging to their bike computers.
8638marc man, don’t give them free great ideas, they get enough money on overprice toys 🙄😅😬
Makes so much sense for those long days in the saddle. My edge doesn't last long enough for some of my rides.
I am pretty sure, they will. F6Pro was the test. I'd assume, that as they get more experience, data, etc, they will put that into all of their units. At least above a certain pricepoint.
Mate Hegyhati I think they will just because they have not more new great ideas, but need updates. edge 1030 plus and 130 plus was very minor update
Indeed! Though, in doing the math I suspect the mAh requirements would be pretty tough to make work in any meaningful way.
Ray, thanks for another great video. You are the #realdeal
Solid review my dude!
Thanks!!!
I just ordered this watch I think that will be my replacement for the Samsung Frontier hopefully I'm impressed with it
Hi from Bulgaria. Here everybody likes DC rainmaker. So far, so good. Let's go back to Instinct Solar. I liked it and went straight away to the local Garmin dealer. But i am kind old and became clear that digits/display are designed for younger people. Ok, but we don't give up. Fenix 6pro solar is the next option. I do want a solar device. I have my Fenix3 for 5 years now and It is time to replace. The solar option trills me for sure. So i would like kindly to ask you for a review of Fenix6 pro solar and comparison with Instinct solar. All the best and keep safe
Feel like they are going after some of the Gshock crowd. GShock has much deeper experience with solar and BT - in fact just released the new Glide with a really good watch display that does most of this except obviously not in the Garmin eco-system which so many of us have invested in. Thanks for the quick review! Well done as always.
Definitely going after G-Shock crowd. The Casio has better solar right now, though I think the BT integration is definitely better on the Instinct than the Casio (at least on my GBD-H1000 - some of the Wear OS ones are better of course). New review on the watch side is the GBD-H1000.
@C Pautler - you nailed the intersection of timing and product direction of this unit and the Casio GBX-100 (both have MIP). Upgrading from a Gshock square and a Garmin Vivoactive to only one these watches is tough since form-factor, display price and functionality make them both strong in different ways. If Casio had made the GBX-100 Solar (not battery) for under $200, i would get another gshock...but the solar Instinct checks a lot of boxes. I would never put Fenix over a wetsuit, and the Casio GBD-H1000 is too bulky and blocky to wear around.
But those Casio models are no fitness recording watches and they have no GPS / breadcrumb map and also no solar. Closest would be Casio GBDH1000 but bit bulky and no map display and it only supports 1 activity.
Casio gshock have very limited multisport and health monitoring system compared to garmin. Their bluetooth connection also suck. Otherwise their build quality and solar power is excellent
After owning Instinct the only Casio I want is their Vintage line.
That's one good looking watch!
Thank you much for your reviews, pulling the trigger and changing from an Apple Watch, something I haven’t been able to find though. Does it sync with Apple health, my coworkers and I like to compete and do workout challenges.
I would love this watch if it had all the features of the forerunner 945. Common Garmin. You can dooooo it!!
That's the Fenix 6 pro solar.
Useful as always sir, thank you! Just bought this one on sale as version 2 is now out...let's see how i get on?
Hi, great review.
I wanted to ask you if the VMAX function for running is present in the solar device.
Thanks for the video
Thank you Sir.
great. best. informative. loved it.
Dang! I just bought the older model a couple weeks ago, still a great watch though.
Thanks!!!
Great review! I'm looking for a watch for road biking, mountain biking and backpacking. Is this what you would recommend for these activities?
C'mon Ray, you know we always read the manual 😬
I don’t know what you’re talking about. 🤣😂🤣
THANK YOU SIR!
Great video, mate! Quick question: is the Fenix 6S Solar worth the extra 450$ over the Instinct Solar?
Wow, amazing. I wish I had one
Great review. Did the surf program come to the Fenix line in the end, and do you think it will be available on the new Descent Mk2?
You say it's like the Fenix Lite, but I feel the excellent battery life puts this in a category of its own. For my purposes this makes the Instict more like the Fenix Ultra 😄
My fr645 battery life is terrible as soon as I turn on GPS 😅 patiently waiting for fr655 to come out.
The surf features are cool but dang can we get some support for our river sports? I'd love some flow rate data or flood warnings for major rivers across country for those of us that live in a kayak!
Gonna buy soon.
Thank you
This seems like a good choice for mountaineering because of the ABC features and long battery life, especially at the price point. Would you recommend it for that, or are there better choices?
many thnaks！
Thanks!
Hey LeeLoo! Huge thanks! Sorry, I was out of cell-phone range on a hike for a bit! Very much appreciated!
Great video, thank you. Why not presenting the screen details with a screw driver, that´s cool.
hey what an amazing and informative review on the new instinct solar!
please advise with the watch color name thanks.
Thanks for the review! Three questions for you - 1) Does the NON solar watch have more room on the screen since it does not have the solar ring around it?? 2) another review of the solar version said the backlight was “washed out” and not real effective compared to other watches. Again, is that related to the solar screens? Does the NON solar version have a better backlight?? 3) How much connected user interface exists between the Instinct and iPhone?
No, no more screen on non solar. But the solar has solar panel under the screen so it's a bit less readable than the non-solar. Still good in most cases but not quite as class leading level of readability.
Nice Review
I bought a Fenix 1 with a similar display and basic Open Street Maps capabilities, navigation, barometer, thermometer, accelerometer, compass... almost 7 years ago for 280€!
No you didn’t. The Fenix series didn’t get mapping till the Fenix 5 lineup. And even then, at launch it wasn’t 270EUR either.
@@Dcrainmaker www.gmaptool.eu/en/content/maps-garmin-fenix
I bought my Fenix 1 when the F2 was launched for 280€ at Amazon and it was new! Fenix 1 and 2 definitely had basic map features, which was very helpful for track navigation. Maybe this was before your time....
Don't you know the Epix????? Maybe Garmin didn't tell you, because they cheated the users by not fixing even severe bugs!
The F5+ was just the 4th Garmin watch with maps!
@@alancampbell6236 I'm well aware of the Epix troubles and have alluded to it numerous times, but that was a legit watch that did have usable maps. However, the Fenix 1 didn't ship with maps, and list price for the Fenix 1 was $399. The maps hack was an option, but the amount of maps you could load was tiny, and was more of a background feature than anything you could leverage.
The Camo looks sweet
You had me at solar....great review, going for the tactical!
Btw, my current is a silver metal casio solar gshock I've had for 10 yrs, hope this tac lasts as long. Thanks for the review.
S E mate let me know how you like the watch
@@Kryptix ended up getting the original chargeable on sale 2 weeks ago, Awesome watch, in black, synced to iphone through Garmin app, super easy. So, price on new solar was a deal breaker but waiting for black Friday to get the solar. Did I say awesome watch?
I hope that the Fenix 7 (Tactix Delta) has some sort of similar solar capability. Not sure how they are going to have to solar panel capability with the TOPO map screen though. But it would be pretty cool.
Is the tide feature on the Instinct solar Surf edition Something that’s just in the watch Or is it something that can be downloaded to the Fenix 6X pro solar?
Thanks sir.
Is the newer GPS worth the upgrade over the regular Instinct? I just got the regular Instinct on July 7th and wondering if I should return it for the solar. The GPS seems to fluctuate on the regular Instinct at times when I'm not really changing elevations. Having accurate elevation is an important feature to me so want to know if it's that much better. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the review
How accurate the altimeter is?
I have a G-Shock Mudmaster, I've been waiting for a good Solar/Atomic(GPS) watch to come along for me to play with. Just trying to find one in stock!
Thanks for the detailed in-depth review. How does this Garmin Instinct Solar integrate with Apple Health and Fitness apps please?
Nice review: which would you deject between the Instinct Solar or the Fenix 6. Mainly used for Hiking/backpacking.
I’ve been eyeing the Fenix 6 for a long time, but the Instinct Solar seem awesome.
Get the Garmin Tactix Delta if money isn't an issue. Otherwise get the instinct solar if you can live without real maps.
every time i watch your videos, im baffled on why you dont have more subscribers.
Do these watches have a regular countdown timer though? Which you can set down to seconds accuracy? I like sprinting intervall traning.
Does this watch have a basemap? I can't figure out if it has a basemap and that's the #1 feature I want in a smartwatch
I wish they would bring those power save mode options as a firmware update at least to the previous Instinct.
3:00 "captures 100% of the sun's energy"
Haha all energy of the sun?!
I know what you mean that it uses all sunlight energy absorbed it's funny to point out how you said it
Nice clean video bro.
Just missed. Does it have Temperature sensor also VO2 max, jump rope counter inbuilt (I downloaded tht it from IQ app to my Fenix3 hr). Also if u could post size comparison pics of instinct vs Fenix3.
Thanks bro
Would you take the instinct solar over the fenix 5 plus if used mostly for hiking, running, and everyday wear?
Hi @DC Rainmaker what would be the Best Buy for solar charging if wanted to rely only on solar charging between the instinct solar and the Casio GDB H1000? I heard people saying that the Casio can run only from Solar power? That’s what I want. Thanks for the time