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New chipset/HR/GPS in Solar...really more accurate?

Besides short term battery life (but i do care of battery life expectancy), the new hardware in the Solar really worth the price?

I guess if money is not an issue this question is pointless, but after reading/watching a lot of reviews it seems that the upgrade in accuracy is not that huge, or even noticeable...so im kinda looking for reasons not to go Solar, hehe.

Any thoughts on this from users who went through the same buying decision and opted for one or the other?
Thanks!

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0 sanic over 5 years ago

I don’t have an answer about the accuracy but I do agree they could have done a little more like adding vo2 max and some other performance/training metrics to the solar to make it more intriguing over the base instinct.

0 gaijin over 5 years ago

Who says there is a new chipset for GPS in the Solar version?

0 1705650 over 5 years ago in reply to gaijin

I think i read about a "new Sony GPS Chipset"...the same in other 2019/2020 models?

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

I found the gps in the original Instinct to be accurate plus or minus 30m over 10km for distance, but the track sometimes looked a bit wobbly or slightly offset. GPS for the Solar is pretty much identical for accuracy. HR for the original was good for day to day tracking, but at least with mine it always struggled during activities. The Solar HR may be just a bit laggy for HIIT but I have always found it spot on for any other activity. I really liked my original Instinct but a combination of longer battery life and much better HR are absolutely enough to make the Solar feel far more useful for me.

0 gaijin over 5 years ago in reply to 1705650

1705650 said:
I think i read about a "new Sony GPS Chipset"...the same in other 2019/2020 models?

It's the same Sony GPS chipset as in the non-solar Instinct.

0 1705650 over 5 years ago in reply to gaijin

From DcRainmaker:

"Internally the new Instinct’s got not just solar charging but an entirely different power management architecture that gets vastly more battery life, largely helped by the switch to the Sony GPS chipsets we saw in other Garmin watches in 2019. Additionally, it swaps out for the newer Garmin ELEVATE optical HR sensor, adding in PulseOX"

Same in what way then? Not trying to be an ahole...just want to know if its a new one or if im misreading something :)

0 gaijin over 5 years ago in reply to 1705650

1705650 said:
From DcRainmaker:

"Internally the new Instinct’s got not just solar charging but an entirely different power management architecture that gets vastly more battery life, largely helped by the switch to the Sony GPS chipsets we saw in other Garmin watches in 2019. Additionally, it swaps out for the newer Garmin ELEVATE optical HR sensor, adding in PulseOX"

Same in what way then? Not trying to be an ahole...just want to know if its a new one or if im misreading something :)

Instinct and Instinct Solar both have the "new" Sony chipset. Only the Instinct Solar has the new ELEVATE HR sensor and new power management software (because of solar charging capability). In your quote, "other Garmin watches" includes the non-solar Instinct.

HTH

0 4241327 over 5 years ago in reply to gaijin

No. Only the Instinct Solar has the new Sony GPS Chipset. I believe the original Instinct uses MediaTek.

0 1705650 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Very helpful, thank you!