Garmin 010-02064-00 Instinct, Rugged Outdoor Watch

Garmin 010-02064-00 Instinct, Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, Features Glonass and Galileo, Heart Rate Monitoring and 3-Axis Compass, Graphite

Despite being replaced by the Instinct 2, the Garmin Instinct still has a lot to offer as a tough sports watch in its own right. It is a solid addition to the wide range of outdoor-themed watches already available from Garmin.

The Garmin Fenix is a device for hiking, trail running, and swimming in open water, however it is not inexpensive. The Instinct provides an accessible alternative to the Fenix, offering the same basic features with the exception of a few more significant ones.

The Instinct features a design that stands apart from the rest of Garmin's watch lineup. It features a screen that uses a small sub display to showcase your stats in a more original way and a brighter, more colorful casing appearance. Because it is transflective, it enables good visibility in bright light and is always on.

It includes all the necessary sensors, including an integrated GPS as well as various outside and ambient sensors like a compass and thermometer for an extra data boost. For ongoing monitoring and heart rate during exercise, there is also a heart rate monitor on board, which can struggle for accuracy during high-intensity exercise but should be fine for long hikes and steady trail runs. The pulse oximeter, which is present on the more recent Garmin Instinct Solar watch, is one feature that has been left off.

Even though this device lacks the topographic mapping functionality found on Garmin's Fenix line, it still comes with real-time breadcrumb trails, TracBack, and Back to Start functions. It's a simple experience that might benefit from a bigger screen, but it manages to provide that additional navigation support enough.

Amazon has the Garmin Instinct at $159.17

 

It delivers a pretty comparable experience to your usual Garmin Forerunner watch if you're using it for traditional sports monitoring like running, swimming, and cycling. It provides you with accurate real-time metrics on land and in the water. Although it's a bit of a hassle to use the mode, you do have support for automatic rep counting. You can use it for both strength- and cardio-based workouts.

For displaying notifications, keeping track of weather updates, and choosing from a selection of watch faces with a plethora of onboard data, it performs best as a smart watch. Less expensive Garmin's lack the music player, payments, and—most importantly—compatibility with the Connect IQ store, which enables you to add extra apps, data fields, and watch faces.

However, the Instinct is a really comfortable watch to wear in general. Even without the capabilities you get with the solar model, the ordinary Instinct still has a lot to offer outdoor enthusiasts for less money.

Visualization with Garmin Instinct

Safe for swimming in pools and open water; interchangeable straps; 45 mm case; 1.3-inch color display; always-on mode

Five stars for design.

You may assume that the Garmin Instinct would be bulky and awkward to use because it is intended for outdoor use, yet nothing could be further from the reality. It satisfies the durability standards and does so with a style that distinguishes it in Garmin's portfolio for the appropriate reasons.

We could choose from one of four colors, including the pretty pastel blue Sea foam, which is available. It has a 45 mm polymer case, a 52 g weight, and a polymer bezel. This is coupled with a 22 mm silicone strap that employs Garmin's Quick Fit system and is detachable, making it much simpler to switch out for authorized and third-party straps.

The Instinct doesn't take up much room on your wrist as a whole. It's a watch that people with thinner wrists will undoubtedly appreciate, and it's also just a really enjoyable, comfortable watch to wear in general.

It has also been given a 10 ATM water resistance grade to increase its longevity, making it safe for swimming in a pool or other open water up to ten metres deep. You can also wear it while taking a shower.

Garmin Instinct: Visualization

• Compatible with iOS and Android

 • Displays alerts

• Displays weather forecasts

Score for smartwatch features: 5.0

While the more expensive Fenix offers pretty much all of the smartwatch capabilities that Garmin has to offer, the Instinct has a few fewer options. It can still send notifications, allow you to manage the music playing on your phone, and check things like your calendar. It still works with Android and iOS devices.

Payments, a music player, and the Garmin Connect IQ Store, where you may add more widgets, data fields, and apps, are not supported. Given its distinctive design, it may not come as a major surprise that the Instinct hasn't been made available to developers, but that doesn't make the absence of support any less tragic.

What is chosen generally works well and is made to look excellent on the screen of the Instinct. Initial concerns that reading notifications would feel a little crowded are unfounded; the Instinct successfully manages that feature and, when paired with an Android phone, enables message replying. For accessing your calendar or weather updates, the situation is same. The Instinct does a good job overall if you can live with the smartwatch fundamentals and can add extra widgets (screens) to display that data.

Garmin Instinct: Visualization

Battery life for the Garmin Instinct is 16 hours in GPS mode and up to 40 hours in Ultra Trac mode.

Score for battery life: 4.5

With the Instinct, you won't need to worry if you want an outdoor watch that you don't have to charge every day or care about carrying around a charger.

Garmin claims that the smart watch mode can last up to 14 days, the GPS mode can last up to 16 hours, and the Ultra Trace mode can last up to 40 hours. That will provide you longer battery life at the expense of more inaccurate distance tracking by sampling GPS data less frequently than it does in full GPS mode.

Of course, it lacks the Instinct Solar's Power Glass solar lens technology, which contributes to a battery increase with sufficient light exposure. Additionally, it is missing the Expedition mode that is also present on the Instinct Solar. The Solar's smart watch and maximum GPS battery capacities are essentially double those of the standard Instinct.

Even if you might be envious of such figures, the Instinct nevertheless performs admirably in terms of battery life. Even with frequent GPS use, sleep tracking, and use for indoor exercises, those stated figures appear to be met. With moderate usage, it will easily last you a full week, and longer if you use less features.

There are no battery-draining functions, such as audio streaming, the pulse oximeter, or complete mapping capability. It has the durability to last a whole day of tracking and more. A different Garmin running watch provided a similar drop down in GPS tracking.

Our only small complaint is that the solar version now allows you to monitor the battery status %. Naturally, it's not a deal killer, but it is a minor irritant that Garmin doesn't provide that alternative to the battery bars.