Garmin Instinct 2S Solar Rugged GPS Smartwatch, Graphite

Product Information

The Instinct 2 series significantly expanded the sport types, notably now including triathlon/multisport modes, as well as a slate of cycling-specific modes (like MTB with MTB-specific metrics). Here’s your complete look at all the sport modes you can configure (some of these fall within the sport menu, even if they’re more like utilities, but I’m listing them here for simplicity’s sake): I just want to make sure, we can make workouts in Garmin Connect and push those to this new instinct watch, right? Let’s say I want to break my PR in the 5k and would like my watch to give me the paces per Kilo to hit during the race, this new watch can now do this right? Realistically speaking, it’d be best to just have a tiny USB charger. For simple real-world testing context, if you were to put your Instinct 2 outside in 70K lux conditions (so fully sunny, virtually no clouds), and do so for about 14-16hrs per day, you’re going to gain about 20-25% battery per day. This is all in addition to the internal compass, barometer, altimeter, and optical HR/PulseOx sensor. You can pair and configure sensors, such as tweaking the crank length on power meters. Further, you can save multiple sensors of any given type, as well as enable/disable as you see fit. For today’s route, I’m going to create it on Komoot first, and then let it sync over – but the end resultant is the same no matter which route option you choose above. Here’s my planned route up on Komoot:

Instinct 2S Solar Smartwatch | Outdoor Life Review: The Garmin Instinct 2S Solar Smartwatch | Outdoor Life

With the Instinct 2 Solar series, Garmin has basically doubled down on that. They’ve done it with two specific changes: And then there are plenty of times, where like above, we see those undercutting on the Vertix 2 and the Instinct 2 is fine. For this entire run, it’s mostly in tree cover, though, given it’s winter there aren’t as many leaves. There’s specific profiles for road, gravel, MTB, e-MTB, commuting, indoor, triathlon, e-bike, cyclocross and bike touring. Next, there’s both altitude and heat acclimation. These are based on time spent at altitude (namely during sleep), and then also time spent in hot weather (above 70°F). You’ll acclimate bit by bit over time. Also, the temperature data isn’t from your watch, but rather from nearby weather stations during the activity. Here you can see when I took this photo I had spent one night thus far at about 915m (3,000ft), so I had acclimated thus far to about 850m. Going up to ‘just’ 3,000 feet is pretty easy to acclimate, whereas going up to 10,000ft is a different ballgame. Those are the most impressive figures we've seen for any running watch to date, and Garmin assures us that for the solar 45mm model, indefinite battery life is a real possibility,

The I wasn’t about to test out the most exciting new development in the 2S Series because I’ve been using the 40mm 2S Solar, but the theoretical “unlimited” battery life of the 45mm Instinct 2 Solar watch is intriguing. Given how rarely I have to charge my first-gen Instinct Solar (about every two weeks in the winter), I could see a Florida fishing guide or an Arizona bird hunter go months without needing to charge their 2S Solar. Final Thoughts

Garmin Instinct 2S Solar Rugged GPS Smartwatch, Graphite

Overall, it feels like a hardy expedition watch which in my view wouldn’t be out of place in an army training environment, an ultra-endurance cycling race or even something like 10-day hike through the Gobi Desert. Before we move on to the test results, note that optical HR sensor accuracy is rather varied from individual to individual. Aspects such as skin color, hair density, and position can impact accuracy. Position and how the band is worn, are *the most important* pieces. A unit with an optical HR sensor should be snug. It doesn’t need to leave marks, but you shouldn’t be able to slide a finger under the band (at least during workouts). You can wear it a tiny bit looser the rest of the day. Next, this section is only applicable to the Solar edition, because…well…its got sun-soaking-solar-specifications. Or something. I ran out of S words. Mid-price. A very nice feature set, but some “premium” things missing like premium metrics, Garmin Pay, offline-HR, etc. One thing I should mention is that the Instinct 2S offers storm notifications. This means that should a storm be approaching, the watch will buzz and let you know.Thank you Storm Eunice for helping me test that out.

I think the Instinct is meant as a 24/7 watch. Quite sufficient battery for that, not as bulky as the Fenix 7X (and arguably somewhat less bulky than Fenix 7). It might not fit perfectly into every environment but it’s casual enough to not cause a disturbance anywhere…