The Garmin Instinct hits the sweet spot for both features and price. It offers a number of practical outdoor and sports features that’ll certainly keep outdoor adventurers happy, yet sports a price tag that won’t give you pause.
First and foremost; the Instinct is an outdoor watch. It’s quite durable – it features a fiber-reinforced polymer casing that is highly resistant to scratching and is worn on a soft silicone band making the 1.8-ounce Instinct comfortable to wear both day and night. The monochrome display is easy to read and features two customizable windows allowing you to view the information of your choosing.
As the instinct is a Garmin® product, it should come as no surprise that it’s loaded with tracking and navigation features; however it lacks onboard topo maps which are not compatible with the non-color display. But, for that which it lacks – it more than makes up! It supports GPS, GLONASS and Galileo and will connect quickly with these satellite systems, keeping you more than covered, navigationally speaking.
If you’re an avid activity tracker, the Instinct has over 25 different activities that you can track from running to swimming to rowing. During the activity you’re engaged in you can scroll through different data screens designed for the activity. Enhanced optical heart rate1 technology gauges the intensity of your fitness activities. Heart rate variability is even used to calculate your stress level score, so you can see if you’re having a calm, balanced or stressful day.
And, speaking of tracking, you can pair your Instinct with your dog tracking devices to receive dog status updates and alerts right on your wrist!
Priced at just under $300, the Garmin Instinct is a great-looking, affordable outdoor-focused watch with many of the features found in more expensive outdoor activity watches.