When it eventually comes to charging or syncing the watch to a computer, the USB cable plugs into the port on the back below the heart rate sensor. Sensors: GNSS (GPS, Glonass, Galileo), compass, thermometer, heart rate, pulse Ox

The solar charging would add at least 24 hours battery for each sunny spring day spent outside, too. Turning off the Sp02 sensor added days to the life as did limiting workouts. I wore it 24 hours a day with message alerts, heart rate, stress, calories, general activity and health monitoring, plus sleep and blood oxygen (SpO2) tracking overnight. On a sunny winter’s day in London the watch received 40,000 lux of direct sunlight through a window, so if you spend your days outside rather than locked in an office it seems more than feasible.įor mainly indoor usage during winter without much in the way of solar charging, the watch lasted about 15 days between charges, including five hours of workout-tracking. How realistic that is depends on your day-to-day activities. There are plenty of high-contrast watchface designs to choose from with more available in the Connect IQ store, each of which can display data such steps, calories or battery life, too. The solar version, which charges using a transparent “power glass” covering the screen and panels around the edge of the display, promises to keep the battery topped up for essentially unlimited battery life as long as you spend at least three hours in direct sunlight (50,000 lux of light). The standard 45mm model without solar will last up to 28 days used as a general smartwatch, which is 10 days longer than the already impressive Fenix 7 and about 14 times longer than an Apple Watch. It is very similar to many other Garmin sport watches, but what sets the Instinct 2 apart is its promise of incredible battery life even without the power of the sun. It has smartphone connectivity for notifications, alerts and syncing your data via the Connect app on an Android or iPhone. Underneath the rugged exterior is Garmin’s smartwatch tech, featuring market-leading sport, health and location-tracking.

The Instinct 2 comes in various two or three-tone colours, all with a similar rugged or standout aesthetic, here shown in mist grey.

Solar 2