Pre-purchase questions - navigation, displayed data, Connect app

Hello good folks,
I am going to buy Instinct (probably Solar for newer hardware) and I would like to ask users a few things to know if it will meet my expectations (because they do not provide such things in the reviews).
First, info on how the watch will be used: creating a route in the computer (or even better in the app), uploading it to the watch and hiking in the mountains.
1. During the activity, is it possible to see how many total ascents there are and compare it with the total value planned in the course?
2. Can I start navigation (with the entire route planned) at any time during the route and it will take into account that I have already gone, for example, half of the route and I have the other half? Or will it tell me to go back to the starting point first?
3. In other words - can I run the route pre-loaded on my watch at any time while recording my activity and display how much distance, time and ascent I have left to the finish line?

Additional question - is it possible to use maps other than Google Maps in the Garmin Connect App for iPhone? There is OpenStreetMap in the web version, which is also not perfect, but better.
And yes, the integration with Komoot gave a lot, but Komoot does not allow me to route on a regular street (it sticks to the trail) and I often have to return from the mountains along the street, but that's a topic for another discussion.

Anyway, thank you for all the answers, I am sure that they will help me make my purchase decision.
Stay safe and in good health!

Top Replies

Dan.Boilermaker over 4 years ago +2

Answer to #2: Yes, you can start an activity or even navigation of a pre-loaded course once the activity has begun and the watch will navigate you for the remainder of the course. I do this all the time…
kabjac over 4 years ago in reply to DieterFass +1

DieterFass said:
Don't take this wrong, I love the watch for the fitness functions, GPS sports, phone notifications and simply as my watch, but the features you seem to look for are not strong points.…

All Replies

0 RickDog1 over 4 years ago

Maybe this will help. Navigating with the Instinct is performed as an activity. Therefore you have to start the activity and then select the course. As far as I can see this watch does not have navigation separate from activities. When I begin my course, no matter how it got on my device, it tells me to go to the starting point, even if it is 1 mile away. I know, because I checked it when I bought it. I walked out of the garage and started the course and it pointed to my course starting point at the end of my neighborhood.

1. I have not found any way to access the ascent profile that is expected based on a route/course. The watch does not contain maps so I don't see how that function would work like other devices.

2. No, route is started as an activity.

3. Not that I can see.

0 kabjac over 4 years ago in reply to RickDog1

Well, this is rather disappointing and a deal-breaker for me. But thanks for your answer and explanation.

0 RickDog1 over 4 years ago in reply to kabjac

I totally understand, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I have a separate mapping GPS to accomplish ascent profiles on route. This watch is more of an activity tracker with limited navigation tools.

0 kabjac over 4 years ago in reply to RickDog1

I totally understand it, I'm not looking for colorful navigation with pre-installed maps like in Fenix, hence my interest in Instinct. I just wanted to have an emergency option to check if I was going along the planned route and possibly once in a while how much time / distance was left to the end.

Thanks once again.

0 trux over 4 years ago in reply to kabjac

kabjac said:
how much time / distance was left to the end.

You can customize the concerned Activity screens so that they do show the remaining time and distance. Probably not the elevation though, but I'll try to find out.

Edit: so the "remaining vertical distance to the target" is available too, as a custom field.

0 RickDog1 over 4 years ago in reply to kabjac

So i just went and tried an active course to see if I get could the info you were asking. I changed some fields and saw the active ascent profile with ascent remaining number.. And I was able to change nav fields to get standard ETA, Time to next, distance to next, distance remaining, all of the standard stuff. So it shows quite a bit. As far as the map it shows a bread crumb with saved waypoints, I have Home marked, so it showed relative position to saved points and the course start.. So if you put waypoints in it will show you relative position. Not sure if that helps any more.

0 kabjac over 4 years ago in reply to trux

trux said:
so the "remaining vertical distance to the target" is available too, as a custom field

Now is it? Thank you kindly Sir, that is a great news.

trux said:
You can customize the concerned Activity screens so that they do show the remaining time and distance.

That is even better. This is all I wanted.

The only question is: remaining time and distance to...? End of course as I understand?

Lets consider a scenario: I create a course that stars in A, goes through B and ends with C, upload it to watch, start activity in A without starting navigation. By the time I get to B I want to be sure I am on the right track and check distance/ETA. If I start nav will the watch recalculate route and tell me distance/ETA from B to C, or will it rather tell me "go back to starting point"?

This is important for me, since there are no maps in Instinct, so I cannot just save the target point and start navigating any given time, it will give me a straight line, nothing like real values of distance/ETA

Or maybe I am just overreacting, maybe easiest solution is always start course at the very beginning of the track since it does not impact battery life (since the GPS is working all the time anyways)?

0 kabjac over 4 years ago in reply to RickDog1

RickDog1 said:
Not sure if that helps any more.

It does, a lot, thank you very much.

Do you happen to know if nav in background of activity recording will impact battery life significantly?

0 trux over 4 years ago in reply to kabjac

kabjac said:
The only question is: remaining time and distance to...? End of course as I understand?

There are multiple options - to the next waypoint, or to the end. You can choose. You can also use a screen with higher number of fields and display multiple values on the same screen, or you can define a screen for the next waypoint, and another one for the end of the course.

0 RickDog1 over 4 years ago in reply to kabjac

The biggest drain is GPS. What I have read is that all sensors that are on have the same drain even if you do not access the data. So if Altimeter is on, it will use power, but every thing I have read is that it is insignificant compared to the GPS.