First glimpse review of the Instinct.

First day with the graphite Instinct. (I wanted the white tundra but it was not available...)

I come from Garmin Flagship the Fenix 5X Plus and I have decided to give a chance to the Outdoor watch.

Why ?
The price ! It is almost a third of my Fenix 5X Plus.
The lightness ! It is a watch to forget while on your wrist. It is not as huge as the 5X or 5X plus or Descent Mark 1...
The display !! No colors but so easy to read, I first thought the backlight was blocked on "on" !!! Stunning !!

Now I was not certain about the low resolution of the screen but eventually the display is so clever it is a pleasure to use: I don't mind about the low res... The fonts used are perfectly readable and the Instinct is generous in informations. The use of the "Eye" on the upper right with animation and pertinent information is absolutely brilliant.

The ergonomy is the almost same as the Fenix Series with little twists: for example hold the set key bring your to alarms/timers/stopwatch/GPS sync Time... And a long push on ABC get you to the ABC functions (a short press goes to the widgets like on a Fenix)
So the ergos are very clever !! And you got already a very easy to navigate into the menus and you can manage to be at a clock or two away from your favorite functions !!

Something I really appreciate: the watch is really responsive: no delay between the screens and menus. This is a pure pleasure to use it.

Black and white but gorgeous: there is something half vintage and half military in the way in this display almost like a e-ink watch. This is something to experiment in a shop to see how clear and and easy to read at any angle it is.

There is many more things I will re-discover on this very light (52 grams) and brilliant watch.

Now I will update this review after a trip coming this week end.

But right now I'm very very happy with my purchase !

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0 Rick11 over 5 years ago

Thanks, great review! Most likely, I will also buy an Instinct, just waiting to see the black friday deals first. The only major feature missing is VO2Max. But, who knows, maybe Garmin will surprise us.

0 Airmapper over 5 years ago

Very much agree with the sentiment above. It's been a while since I purchased a tech product and have been this pleased with it's design and functionality.

The internet can't decide who said it, or the exact wording, but whoever was the driving force behind the design of the Instinct I believe must have known this quote, and understood it's meaning:

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

0 Odie21 over 5 years ago

Fancy seeing you here Nemo...

Have you been able to test the GPS accuracy yet? I go back and forth with straying from my MK1 to the Instinct. I like the form factor of the Instinct, weight, etc. But I love the detailed mapping of the MK1

0 NemoSandman over 5 years ago

Fancy seeing you here Nemo...

Have you been able to test the GPS accuracy yet? I go back and forth with straying from my MK1 to the Instinct. I like the form factor of the Instinct, weight, etc. But I love the detailed mapping of the MK1

For mapping there is the Garmin Explore new app which is going to be used.
I have not tried yet the GPS but will do some "Track Me" later.

Knowing the Fenix 5X and the Fenix 5X Plus this Instinct is real pleasure to use, so fast and easy. I love the timer for example.
It's one of the tool I need everyday and this is so clever to gather alarm/stopwatch/timers together at one hot key (SET long press) also clever to regroup the ABC functions under the ABC long press button. Those "in-house" shortcuts are just the expression of the cleverness of the designers.

0 Kristian over 5 years ago

I very much share NemoSandman's impressions, coming myself from the FR 935 and now much prefer the Instinct - especially for the screen quality and the overall form factor and ruggedness for daily wear.
I think Garmin has been brave with this product in that they create themselves a good amount of competition for the Fenix series. That is great as it will (hopefully) ultimately push them to make the Fenix series more attractive based on substantial and well thought through elements that provide actual user value.

0 tmk2 over 5 years ago

If it only had multisport and twice the battery life, I'd be ready to pay double for it, just to have the high-contrast monochrome display.

0 NemoSandman over 5 years ago

Here is the Relive of my walk test this morning.

https://www.relive.cc/view/g26599481929

0 Odie21 over 5 years ago

So, I decided to give this a try and I noticed one minor “naming” issue. Under System/Time/Alerts/Storm...this is supposed to say Hourly Chime.

The Storm Alarm is under the Barometer options.

That said, the user interface is surprisingly user friendly. The functionality in GC is easy, in fact a little easier. I like the options that they included with the alarms and choosing which ones are active, vs the MK1 options.

0 NemoSandman over 5 years ago

I have also found some issues with the name of the day switching to English when the watch is set in French. But it is only cosmetic.
Now than I can easily transfer way point from Garmin Explorer, it is a great asset.
Example: I go in a foreign city. I can already upload the hotel coordonates into the watch.
I can always find out the bearing and the distance toward my hotel. This can makes the difference between going back by foot or taking a taxi. ;-) In a foreign country you need every tool possible. :-)
Of course having the Instinct saving automatically its Waypoints on the cloud is a really confortable way for any kind of "reco".

0 NemoSandman over 5 years ago

As promises this is my report after a week-end in a foreign city: Brussels !

I had pre loaded through explorer some waypoint/fav location: my hotel, the car park and a museum I wanted to see.

The fix was very fast in every condition even in some covered galeries : urban canyons with a glass roof.

The absence of cartography was not an issue as I just wanted the bearing and the distance.
The "Eye" displayed an arrow head which shows the bearing of my destination.
The screen display oriented North shows a line and an arrow of my position like on a map. It's very easy to read.
In the old city it was a bless !!

In fact at night I was carrying many bags and the rain was falling hard, the watch was my main navigation system in crossing the city.
And it worked just great.
:-)