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Coming from Fenix series to Instinct 2s. I am so torn. Garmin should adjust many things but they never listen....

9728506
over 3 years ago

Hi you all and Garmin,

I am a Garmin user for many many years, starting with some Forerunner 305 or something many years ago...

I was a Fenix Xs user for some years, first 5s, then 6s Pro. In between I owned Forerunner 245 and Venu 2s and others too. Mostly for a shorter timer as I like to try out new gadgets. Now my first Instinct, 2s, after trying the Instinct 1 Solar for a short time but returning it because of size. Now I got the Instinct 2s and I love the watch for it's light weight and small size. There is no other Garmin watch in this 40mm size with those training features and data. I love what they have done with the Instinct 2 series regarding making it a lighter and more affordable Fenix competitor. The watch has everything I need as I rarely use maps, never music. The only thing I really miss from my Fenix 6s Pro is WiFi sync which was very convenient to use. 

But as always Garmin doesn't do it the whole way. They release something really really nice and cool but it is half baked. The display on the 2s is very tiny, ok fine. But why do they just include the system UI of all other new Garmin watches and don't adjust ANYTHING? One thing is for sure, the Instinct 2 series IS different. It has no forerunner or Fenix display, don't let me even start with Venu 2 or Epix 2 display. But they just use the same UI and almost same text size. You barely can see something on glances on the 2s. It is so tiny and the bad quality display with much lower contrast compared to the Instinct 1 series doesn't help either. Why Garmin? Why don't you adjust the display settings and the UI to the Instinct 2 series? I know it takes time and work but the Instinct 2 series here costs around 300-450€, normal price is 350-500€. That is almost the price of a Fenix 7s I bought on sale. If it would be a bargain I would understand not giving that much attention. But 500€ and no adjustment of the UI, nothing? Just using the same UI? THIS IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF DISPLAY! You can't just read everything as you can on other Garmin watches. No single view widget setting which would make so much sense here and which the Instinct 1 included. No bigger font size. No nothing. No care.

I write this AGAIN because I love how comfortable the 2s is on my wrist. I always had to tighten the Fenix 6s Pro with Nick Mankey strap, and to make HR accurate I had to wear it very tight which would hurt my wrists and give me some rash on my skin. Not with the Instinct 2s. No problems till this very moment. It is not my kinda style but it is a sports watch so who really cares. Comfort and accuracy should be the most important thing here. This watch has everything I need but I can't read anything on it, and I have quite good eyes for a 40 something, not best anymore, true, but I am sure even teens have a hard time reading data on this watch. So sad and annnoying too. I love this watch for so many things and hate it for one thing: readability. PLEASE GARMIN, do something about it. Adjust it, we pay enough money for this plastic watch to make you care about this.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Try an Instict2 instead of the 2s.  It's slightly larger, and the display is noticeably larger.  The 2s is 163x156, while the 2, 176x176,  And that does make a difference.  Things like the fr245/945 are 240x240 and the venu2, 416x146.  I have an Instinct2, Venu2 and fr245 and have no real issue with the display on the Instinct2 and the battery life is amazing!

    - a guy in his 60's that's worn bifocals for many years

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    I really thought about it because yellow is my fave color and the yellow one keeps being my fave color of all. But it is too big, I had tried an Instinct 1 Solar before. I have 15cm wrist size and don't want a masculine  sized and designed watch on my smaller female wrists. The 2s is really perfect in size and weight. That's why I am so annoyed why Garmin does release half baked or thought out watches. There is no competition to the I2s at the moment unfortunately.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Would glasses help? That's my problem too. My sight is not perfect, but I do not like running with glasses, and do not use contact lenses. When I know, I'll need to read some tiny texts (for example when following a workout), I carry a plastic magnifying card with a Fresnel lens. You can hang it on the neck, or keep in a pocket.

    Another way around is customizing the most critical screens - for example I added couple of additional data screens to some of my activities, where I use huge fonts for the data I need to check frequently. Instead of seeing them all crammed with tiny fonts on the same screen, I simply scroll to the desired screen, if I need to check for example the distance, the pace, or the cadence.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    In these days where most companies take accessibility of their devices seriously, Garmin still seem to give this no consideration. This has always irked me with their bike computers, like (I imagine) a significant number of their customers, I'm at that age where reading gets more difficult but my distance vision is fine, so I don't want or need to wear prescription lenses for cycling. However, reading any message that pops up on my Edge 1030 is impossible as Garmin still won't accommodate variable font sizes.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to NeilJonesOnline

    Yeah, I don't get it either. Why not give us at least options/settings. Yes, it takes more work to do that but it is not like Garmin watches aren't expensive enough. I really don't get f.e. why they just use glances everywhere without single widget option like it is present on the Fenix 6 series and I guess more older watches. And font settings, at least one option like big/small text size. That would be a progress.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to NeilJonesOnline

    I had the same story with Oregon device I used with bike. Map scale info is quite important to me while riding to know how far is next turn or any other feature, but scale numbers are too small to quickly read it while riding.