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help some questions before i buy

Nazar
over 3 years ago

I understand that the Garmin instinct 2 solar (small) is used for fitness, but with the long battery life/water resistant (10ATM)/very hardwearing/payment method (garmin pay) - this is the best one I have found.

My son has autism (hence I must be sure of purchase) phones at school are frowned upon and likely to get stolen or forgotten, desperately needs reminders to see speech (O/T) as teachers forget. Being a big school - text messages from parents would be really useful.

Questions - 

  1. other smartwatch - if the phone (that it is paired with) is in wifi at home, the watch will still receive a message being on (a different) wifi at school…… is it the same with Garmin smartwatch?.
  2. Will the smartwatch hold calendar notifications without the phone, or can it be updated using different wifi’s
  3. A review said “hard to see”, assume they mean in sunlight, can you press a button to make it more prominent or a backlight? Raise arm for backlight is not practical, hoping for a button or something like this only when needed.
  4. A review for a different smartwatch said “you have to set it to swim every time before going swimming” - is this the case with the garmin? Or is it sealed all the time?
  5. Can I turn off the fitness aspect of the smartwatch? I may use some of the features later, but it would be nice to know if I can turn it off.
  6. Not important but nice to know - the phone using bluetooth (and near the watch) can you speak through the watch? Not sure if the latest updates for the watch have a mic and speaker

Really appreciate any help

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  • 0 over 3 years ago
    Nazar said:
    other smartwatch - if the phone (that it is paired with) is in wifi at home, the watch will still receive a message being on (a different) wifi at school…… is it the same with Garmin smartwatch?.

    No.  Watch needs to be connected via Bluetooth to phone.

    Nazar said:
    Will the smartwatch hold calendar notifications without the phone, or can it be updated using different wifi’s

    The watch will need to be periodically connected to the phone via Bluetooth to update the calendar on the watch.  

    Nazar said:
    A review said “hard to see”, assume they mean in sunlight, can you press a button to make it more prominent or a backlight? Raise arm for backlight is not practical, hoping for a button or something like this only when needed.

    I believe the information you reference refers to the size of the text on some of the screens.

    Nazar said:
    A review for a different smartwatch said “you have to set it to swim every time before going swimming” - is this the case with the garmin? Or is it sealed all the time?

    The Instinct 2 is water proof.  There is no special care needed before swimming.  If you want to record your swim, you will have to start a swimming activity.

    Nazar said:
    Can I turn off the fitness aspect of the smartwatch? I may use some of the features later, but it would be nice to know if I can turn it off.

    In general, all fitness tracking is enabled.  However, if you turn off the heart rate sensor, most fitness tracking metrics will be disabled.

    Nazar said:
    Not important but nice to know - the phone using bluetooth (and near the watch) can you speak through the watch? Not sure if the latest updates for the watch have a mic and speaker

    No, the Instinct does not support this feature.  The Garmin Venu 2 Plus does support this feature.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Dan.Boilermaker

    wow, thankyou, such a complete answer, thankyou so much

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Dan.Boilermaker
    Dan.Boilermaker said:
    other smartwatch - if the phone (that it is paired with) is in wifi at home, the watch will still receive a message being on (a different) wifi at school…… is it the same with Garmin smartwatch?.

    No.  Watch needs to be connected via Bluetooth to phone.

    sorry to ask in a different way (this is the one sticking point - and trying to find a workaround) searching google for this doesn't give me a clear answer.

    1. does the garmin instinct 2 solar connect to wifi without the phone? after you set up the app "connect" with your phone to connect to a specific wifi, can you be out of bluetooth range of the phone but the watch is still connected to the wifi?

    2. assuming the top answer is yes, can i get messages through an app like "whats app" (or similar app) ... not sure how to explain this - either the phone throws the message to the garmin smartwatch via wifi or the watch picks it up via wifi.

    i don't think the smartwatch has its own wifi (and has to use the phones wifi), i just can't find a smartwatch as good.

    any help appreciated

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Nazar
    Nazar said:
    1. does the garmin instinct 2 solar connect to wifi without the phone?

    Instinct 2 does not have WiFi, so there is no Internet connection without a phone in a proximity connected over Bluetooth. Some other high-end Garmin watches do indeed have a WiFi or even LTE too, though.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    For those Garmin devices having WiFi it is only supporting

    • Automatically sends your activity to your Garmin Connect account as soon as you finish recording the activity.
    • Allows you to sync audio content from third-party providers.
    • You can download and install the latest software.
    • You can browse for and select workouts and training plans on the Garmin Connect site. The next time your device has a Wi‑Fi® connection, the files are sent to your device.

    For the notifications you need BT and your phone within range. You can't answer any message, just receiving the notification on watch

    Note: If using Android OS, there are Preset Messages in the Connect Mobile APP that can be edited. They can then be used to choose from when responding to a message.