Instinct Solar - Recent Threads

RE: [SURF] "Error: Tide information request failed"

7925240 — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 16:17:14 GMT

Same here! Not working since 2 weeks ago

[SURF] "Error: Tide information request failed"

3000610 — Sun, 23 May 2021 15:09:02 GMT

This is a recurring issue for me (and from what I've read for more people). Although hard-resetting may solve this issue, it is most likely to come back again in a couple of weeks time (as this is what happened before). After a hard-reset I have to reconfigure quite a lot of personal settings (even though I back-up most of the settings: Thread: Back - up of all user settings ) . Honestly I don't feel this is the way the product is supposed to work and I was hoping it could be resolved in a more sustainable and permanent way. I'd be more than happy to provide a diagnostics report via GC if that would help any. Looking forward to getting some feedback on this.

RE: [SURF] "Error: Tide information request failed"

4338545 — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 22:30:00 GMT

same here....1 surf and 1 2ds. 3 days with this error! Garmin? Hello? Anybody home?!

RE: [SURF] "Error: Tide information request failed"

4338545 — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 22:28:58 GMT

same here...1 surf and 1 ds

RE: why is my Instinct solar 2 consistently overestimating distance on mountain hikes?

trux — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 20:15:53 GMT

[quote userid="2026426" url="~/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-solar/419787/why-is-my-instinct-solar-2-consistently-overestimating-distance-on-mountain-hikes/1965533#1965533"] the mileage should not be longer[/quote]

I meant that if the 3D distance option is enabled, it necessarily results in greater distance reported by the watch, than when only the default horizontal distance is used. In real world, the distance between two places is always greater if you include the 3D path with ascents and descents, than if it were on a completely flat surface.

why is my Instinct solar 2 consistently overestimating distance on mountain hikes?

1432869 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:15:26 GMT

I have now done a handful of hikes with elevation (Utah and New Hampshire). My Instinct solar 2 constantly overestimates the mileage compared to the official maps.For example, a 6.1 mile hike should really be 5.2 miles and one that came in at 7.4 miles should really be about 6.4 miles. I am not going off trail, and it doesn't seem plausible that additional steps throw it off that much. The elevation gain seems pretty accurate with GPS knowing where I'm at and what trail I hiked. I did make sure that the GPS fully engaged these last two hikes.

Thanks for any insights!

RE: why is my Instinct solar 2 consistently overestimating distance on mountain hikes?

1432869 — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:34:13 GMT

Interesting, the mileage should not be longer. The description of GPS drift in the manual makes it seem like that probably the leading cause of the discrepancy. Thanks.

RE: why is my Instinct solar 2 consistently overestimating distance on mountain hikes?

trux — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:03:58 GMT

[quote userid="2026426" url="~/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-solar/419787/why-is-my-instinct-solar-2-consistently-overestimating-distance-on-mountain-hikes/1965446#1965446"]I didn't have it enabled. I just found it, so I'll try that the next hike I take.[/quote]

With the 3D option the distance will be even longer. If you post a link to one of your activities, we can probably tell you what's wrong. Since it is not the 3D option, it could be GPS drift while you rest. Using the auto-pause (an option in the activity menu), or pausing the activity manually while you rest, will eliminate the extra distance due to the GPS drift.

RE: why is my Instinct solar 2 consistently overestimating distance on mountain hikes?

1432869 — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 15:11:54 GMT

I didn't have it enabled. I just found it, so I'll try that the next hike I take. I also see in my Connect app info on my hikes an option to link the hike to existing trail maps. I will have to see if I can do that link before I begin my next hike to see if that also helps. Those maps are much more accurate in terms of distance. Thanks for your suggestion.

RE: why is my Instinct solar 2 consistently overestimating distance on mountain hikes?

trux — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:03:04 GMT

Do you have the 3D distance option enabled? Could you post a link to the activity?

RE: Instinct surf solar

7889214 — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 15:02:06 GMT

The first time I used my watch for surfing, it died. Full battery depleted after a 1.30-hour session. I can't believe I spent money on this, and now when I call,l They say they can change it, but only if I am in the US; if not, I have to pay. I don´t know why I keep trying with Garmin. I used to have a forerunner that went crazy and started vibrating non-stop. PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE should be the name for this brand.

Instinct surf solar

6958740 — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 21:17:41 GMT

Hello,

I just bought a brand new pipeline edition of this watch. The tide function, doesnt function at all... It shows me a "error tide information resquest failed".

I'm very concerned about the surf functionality as well, i was customizing my watch face for that particular activity and there was no mention about wave counting, meters traveled, (basically what they advertise.

Really thinking about a refund on this one...

If somebody can help me i'll be so gratefull.

Best of regards,

Joms

RE: Instinct surf solar

7889214 — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:58:32 GMT

Mi Instict solar lasted 1 session of 1.30hours that consumed the whole battery and now it dosen't work any more. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE HOW CAN YOU SAY IS FOR SURFING IF THE FIRST TIME YOU TAKE IT TO THE OCEAN IT DIES

RE: Sudden battery drain on Instinct Solar

8082307 — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:56:01 GMT

I had this happen to my Instinct 2 Solar Surf. Garmin said that you should only charge the watch with a very low power charger (not these 30W chargers) and for a max of 2 hours at a time. When I reported this, they connected to my garmin account stats (with my approval) as they can see the detailed USB battery charging history and can detect if the watch has been left charging overnight etc... In summary, use an ancient lo power USB charger and set an alarm to disconnect it after maybe 90 mins max if a full charge was required or less if only 50% discharged. They ended up replaing mine under guarantee as I hadn't been overcharging the watch but it was very interesting to be able use the garmin connect app to see the watch charging history for myself. If you buy a 2nd hand watch, you've no idea how it's been getting charged. They took a good while to check my charging history and I got th feeling they were looking at every single monthe since the watch was first registered to see my charging behaviour. Hope this helps shed some light on the subject!

Sudden battery drain on Instinct Solar

9220842 — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 15:04:30 GMT

Hello

I've recently noticed that my Instinct Solar suddenly started to loose battery drastically (e.g., 10% during night). Normally, I'd go with 2 weeks without charging, now it has to be done every 3-4 days. The device itself is only half-year old so this is not related to loss of capacity in battery (also this was completely sudden). Along with this problem, I've noticed that the device displays completely inaccurate solar intensity signal (some background signal of about 10% is noticeable thought the night or indoors). As many others, my device has also a problem with altimeter readings during the activities.

Following actions did not fix battery drain which is the biggest problem to me:

- soft reset

- factory reset

- update to 18.01 beta

I'm currently trying the roll back to 17.0. Do you have any other options if this won't fix battery drain?

Thanks !

British National Grid Reference

ChrisB — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:56:10 GMT

Hi,

I'm really struggling to understand how to input co-ordinates on my Garmin Instinct Solar.

I've selected British Grid Reference in the settings, but when it asks for the location it wants the SS ref and the BNG ref? If I use the same for both it doesn't recognise the location.

If I change the setting to decimal degrees minutes, the number of digits to input is different to what comes up on Google searches?

I'm trying to input Summerlease Beach in Bude which has an SS of 2045 0662, or decimal degrees minutes of 50.8302 / 4.5519?

Can anyone advise how to input this into the watch?

Thanks.

RE: British National Grid Reference

kochmans — Sat, 09 Aug 2025 19:13:32 GMT

Not trying to pretend that I'm an expert, but looks like a bug on garmin's side.

RE: British National Grid Reference

ChrisB — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 18:01:08 GMT

Yes, where the Cuckmere Haven enters the sea is my local surf spot. Not sure why the co-ordinates are not working?

RE: British National Grid Reference

kochmans — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 13:09:04 GMT

Two things I need to clear first:

I am no specialist on British Grid, so whatever I write here is just an educated conjecture based on my general experience with various coordinate systems.
Without knowing what exactly you type into the garmin it is hard to tell where the problem is, if any.

Anyway, the coordinates you provided seem to point to a point on the English Channel about 250 m south of Cuckmere Haven beach. Am I correct? I tried typing TV 51679 97450 into my garmin, and indeed, garmin seems to show this point much further west, somewhere in the Celtic Sea, in an area which actually falls outside of the British Grid coverage, and certainly outside the TV square. So this seems incorrect, i.e. garmin for some reason incorrectly interprets those coordinates, unless there's a flaw in my line of thinking.

RE: British National Grid Reference

ChrisB — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:16:02 GMT

RE: British National Grid Reference

ChrisB — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:06:04 GMT

Thank you so much! This has now worked for the beach I was attempting to input, but is not working for another location. Any idea why it fails to find tide location if using the same format?

RE: British National Grid Reference

kochmans — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 11:15:39 GMT

I don't have the Instinct, but my Fenix 7 has similar functionality. When British Grid is selected the watch expects you to input coordinates with 5-digit precision, which gives 1-meter accuracy. Your example is 4-digit, which means that it has 10-meter accuracy. If you don't have more precise coordinates, then just enter 0 (zero) as the last digit. So in your example you need to enter "SS", then "20450" in the first field, and "06620" in the second.

[quote userid="357062" url="~/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-solar/417972/british-national-grid-reference"]it wants the SS ref and the BNG ref?[/quote]

You misinterpret what is shown, which - I admit - might be confusing. It wants two letters, and then two sets of 5 digits. The "BNG" is there just to indicate that BNG is selected.

[quote userid="357062" url="~/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-solar/417972/british-national-grid-reference"]If I change the setting to decimal degrees minutes, the number of digits to input is different to what comes up on Google searches?[/quote]

First make sure that you have selected the correct format. It can be ddd.ddddd, ddd mm.mmm or ddd mm ss.s. These are not interchangeable, and you need to match this to whatever google shows. Then, again, there can be the matter of different precision. If garmin wants you to enter more digits than are provided in google coordinates, then just enter zeroes for the least significant digits.

RE: Instinct Solar EU firmware 16.00 / GUPDATE.GCD

bluefish — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:13:37 GMT

https://app.box.com/s/sfuq9ihurieiwfgwucom0mw23qdcmo1k

Instinct Solar EU firmware 16.00 / GUPDATE.GCD

1462039 — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:59:52 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for the firmware version 16.00 for the Garmin Instinct Solar (European model). The official download link for Instinct_1650Beta.zip is no longer available on Garmin’s servers.

If anyone still has the original ZIP or the file "GUPDATE.GCD" from the "System_Backdate_1600" folder, I would really appreciate if you could share it.

This version is known to fix random shutdown issues, which I am currently experiencing.

Thanks in advance!

Instinct 2S solar do not work after charging via USB

6049082 — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 13:22:20 GMT

I recently bought Instinct 2S solar watch, and I was not aware that this is an ongoing issue.

The problem is:

When I charge the watch with USB charger to 100% the solar power stops working. It will discharge without it and never switches it backs on. The solution is to power-reboot your watch by pressing "LIGHT" button for ~10s. After reboot, solar starts working again.

The issue has been reported for over 3 years in multiple threads, and it isn't fixed yet. Reproduced on Software version 16.11.

Is there a permanent solution being worked on? Or maybe if it is not possible to fix via firmware update, is it possible to add a pop-up: "reboot your watch to enable solar" after full charge.

Referenced posts with the same issue: