I tested the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar for 3 weeks — here’s why it might outlast every smartwatch you own

As a dive instructor and tech enthusiast, I tend to keep an eye out for good rugged smartwatches as some, like the Apple Watch Ultra, can double as dive computers.

The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar isn’t capable of calculating your dive profile or tracking your decompression limits, but it is a rugged, GPS-enabled smartwatch with training modes and tracking for just about every other sport you can imagine. Plus, it’s often on sale for $370 or less, making it a solid bargain. It offers over 3 weeks of battery life on a single charge, with solar power making it theoretically unkillable if you spend at least 3 hours in 50,000-lux conditions.

The only real drawbacks are the lack of colors on the display and how rapidly GPS functionality depletes battery life.

All that considered, is the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar destined to be one of the best smartwatches? Or is it doomed to be forgotten?

Let’s find out.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Price and configurations

The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar (45 MM) retails for $399, while the Tactical edition retails for $449.

If you’d prefer a smaller display, the Instinct 2S Solar comes in a 40 MM case for the same price as the 45 MM variant. If you’d prefer an oversized 50 MM case, the Instinct 2X Solar costs $449.

Right now, all available models of the Instinct 2 Solar are on sale for $100 off, bringing the Instinct 2 Solar to a price of just $299 through Garmin directly, while Amazon has the Instinct 2 Solar at just $249 right now.

Sales have seen the price drop to a minimum of $228, which we could see again during the upcoming Amazon Prime Day, though the most common sale price seems to be $370.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Design

The Instinct 2 Solar is one of Garmin’s rugged smartwatches, so it has a durable fiber-reinforced polymer case with a Power Glass lens and silicon strap. It’s designed to take a beating and stand up to rigorous training regimes, after all.

I tend to be hard on my wrist-based hardware, and even after dragging the Instinct 2 Solar halfway around the world on a trip to Taiwan, it looks as good as the day I pulled it out of the box.

The downside to the Instinct 2 Solar’s rugged design is that most of the watch is case and solar cells, with a smaller display than the 45 MM case size might imply.

The Instinct 2 Solar is water rated to 10 ATM (atmospheres) of pressure. Essentially, this means the Instinct 2 Solar can withstand a dip to a maximum depth of 100 meters (330 feet).

While the Instinct doesn’t have access to Garmin’s advanced scuba and free diving modes, it can track your swimming distance and time, so it is good to know the watch can survive the occasional jump off a diving board.

The Instinct 2 Solar is available in a Graphite or Mist Gray colorway. The Instinct 2S Solar comes in the same color options, while the Instinct 2X also offers a Flame Red option. The Tactical variants of all three solar-powered Instinct watches come in a pure Black colorway.

While I do prefer having extra color options to choose from, when it comes to rugged smartwatches, opting for gray or black generally looks better, whereas the Flame Red on the Instinct 2X is a bit much.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Display

The Instinct 2 Solar has a custom two-window display design, with a smaller, circular display in the upper right-hand corner and a larger rectangular main display.

You can customize the information on your display by changing the default options directly on the watch or by downloading additional watch faces from the Garmin ConnectIQ app.

The display is just black and white, which is ideal for the Solar’s long battery life and solar charging. While not particularly bright by default, the display is always on, and has a backlight if you need to make it a bit brighter in low-light conditions.

While the Instinct 2 Solar’s display isn’t bright, I didn’t have any problems seeing the display even under bright sunlight thanks to its high-contrast and minimalist default watch face.

Some of the fancier watch faces you can download from the ConnectIQ app are a bit harder to read under bright sunlight, as they can get a bit cramped on the small display.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Battery life

I took the Instinct 2 Solar with me on a business trip to Taiwan for Computex, and I charged the watch when I landed on May 17th. Since then, I’ve kept the Instinct strapped to my wrist or sitting on my desk overnight as I don’t enjoy sleeping with a watch on. The only charging the Instinct 2 Solar has done since is some brief solar charging as I wandered around Taipei (during monsoon season) and as I commuted to and from the Laptop Mag offices in New York.

Which is to say, I haven’t managed to charge the Instinct 2 Solar to full with just the power of the sun. Midtown Manhattan isn’t exactly known for its sun exposure, even in the summer thanks to all the skyscrapers in the neighborhood. Meaning I haven’t come close to the 3-hours in 50,000 lux conditions needed to charge the Instinct with only sunlight.

However, that does mean I’ve gotten almost three weeks of battery life with the Instinct 2 with just a brief bit of solar power top-off, and I’ve still got a battery rating of 7 days remaining. This isn’t quite the “unlimited” battery life Garmin claims, but it is still incredibly impressive, and if you live a more sun-soaked life, Garmin’s claims seem plausible.

If you do need to charge the Instinct 2 Solar with a power outlet, the watch comes with a proprietary USB cable that fits onto four contact points on the back of the watch case.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Health and fitness tracking

The Instinct 2 Solar is constantly tracking your heart rate with a sensor on the back of the watch case and will alert you if your heart rate dips too low or jumps too high.

The watch also tracks respiration rate, body battery energy, stress, and sleep. You can also use the Garmin Connect apps to track hydration and women’s health cycles with the Instinct 2.

The Instinct 2’s fitness features include activity profiles for sports and training regimens from strength training to triathlons to pilates workouts and even stand up paddleboarding. You can install additional sports and training features from the ConnectIQ app.

If you choose to enable suggested workouts, the Instinct 2 Solar comes with default daily suggested workout plans for runners and cyclists, along with Garmin coaching for running and cycling.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Features

In addition to its slew of health and fitness features, the Instinct 2 Solar also has some fun safety and tracking features.

You can use the GPS functionality to track your workouts, whether running, cycling, hiking, or swimming. While this does use more battery than just utilizing the Instinct 2 as a general smartwatch, outdoor activities are where the solar has its best chance of getting a full recharge thanks to the power of the sun.

So, if you aren’t a city-based vampire, GPS tracking can be helpful, and battery life losses should be at least somewhat offset by sun exposure.

The Instinct 2 also comes with incident detection and assistance for additional safety.

The Instinct 2 Solar can also function as a general smartwatch, bringing over all your phone notifications to the watch display so you can keep track of what’s going on with your family or with work, while remaining hands-free. Even if you’re a die-hard Apple fanatic, the Instinct 2 Solar has full integration for your smartphone notifications from iOS and Android devices. While you can’t reply to messages from the Instinct 2, I don’t find myself missing that feature from my Apple Watch 8.

But the quirkiest feature of the Instinct 2 is its gaming activity tracker, which can keep an eye on your vitals while gaming to let you know if you’re raging too hard during raid nights. It’s also compatible with the Garmin Gameon app if you really want to optimize your gaming health data.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Software and warranty

Like all Garmin smartwatches, the Instinct also benefits from a variety of smartphone app integrations, from the Garmin Connect, ConnectIQ, Gameon, Explore, and Messenger apps.

The Instinct 2 Solar comes with functionality for a number of activities right out of the box, with a large focus on running and cycling, though additional sports and activity profiles for triathlons, hiking, pool swimming, and tennis are pre-installed. You can also add additional activity profiles from the ConnectIQ app.

And since the Instinct 2 Solar is a Garmin watch, it has full functionality whether your paired smartphone runs iOS or Android.

Garmin has a 1-year limited warranty on the Instinct 2 Solar.

Bottom line

If you’re looking for a rugged GPS-enabled smartwatch and you don’t need it to have scuba or freedive functionality, the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar is a far better bargain than the Apple Watch Ultra 2. While its display is just black and white, it’s fully customizable and comes with Garmin’s massive smartwatch software suite to boot.

If you need a smartwatch that doubles as a dive computer, I personally recommend the Garmin Descent G2 or MK3, which come with scuba and free-dive functionality for tracking your depth, time, and deco obligations.

Even for vampires like me who don’t see enough daylight to keep the Instinct 2 Solar going without hitting a power outlet every 3-4 weeks, it’s hard to undersell that insane battery life. Few other smartwatches can even come close, and those that do often have fewer features than the Instinct 2 Solar.

And if you can get the Instinct 2 Solar for less than $300, hit that buy button immediately.