Instinct 2X Satisfaction Check

Hey all,

I'm currently rocking a FR955 Solar. I picked this up because all the reviewers recommended the 965, but I decided I don't care about pretty screens and was pleasantly surprised by the solar panel — I am awful about charging my devices and nearly screwed up my training plan with my last watch (before the 955) by forgetting to bring the proprietary charger on a trip.

Now I'm seeing the Instinct 2X at a solid price. "Unlimited battery" sounds freaking outstanding. The majority of my most-used features are there.

Mostly, I'm worried about missing 2 things:

No SatIQ
This is my default mode and I really like it because I am a partial city runner — I run from the downtown area with skyscrapers out to the harbor or the wide open park.
There doesn't seem to be any indication that it's coming either, despite what seems to be compatibility.

Nap tracking
This is in release candidate beta for the FR955 Series now.

There are other things I'd be losing, which I only use sometimes — running dynamics, mainly. But I wanted to check in with folks here:

How are you feeling about your Instinct (2X)? Have you tried any of Garmin's more popular series? What brought you here?

Top Replies

bluefish over 1 year ago in reply to 5016816 +3

5016816 said:
"Unlimited battery" is a gimmick. Especially if you record activities.

There is obviously a misunderstanding here. Not even Garmin claims that you get "unlimited battery life" when…
7b206ec63b9b4fd7a6e1c29c585a0778 over 1 year ago +2

I went from the FR955 Solar to the instinct 2X Solar tactical for work (it was given to me as a gift, to be honest).

Honestly, I'm struggling because for my needs they're practically the same. I haven't…
Bullet over 1 year ago in reply to 5016816 +1

again about instinct and maps. Instinct uses DEM when connected to a phone. it does not need maps to get correct altitude! DEM is much more accurate than just using GPS for altitude. Watches that have…

All Replies

0 bluefish over 1 year ago

dizzzy said:
"Unlimited battery" sounds freaking outstanding.

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-2-series/336846/instinct-2x-solar-setups-for-ultimate-battery

0 dizzzy over 1 year ago in reply to bluefish

thanks for the heads up!

I’m actually not at all interested in phone notifications or most of the things that require constant connectivity anyway! So it sounds right up my alley.

I honestly wish there was a way to set it to “only enable Bluetooth during manual syncs” or something.

0 thin over 1 year ago

Don't buy 2X, they don't care about your needs. They're good at marketing.

0 dizzzy over 1 year ago in reply to thin

Hm. Do you have one and regret the purchase?

0 itisravi over 1 year ago

The unlimited battery life with solar charging under 3 hours of sunlight/50K lux is only in smartwatch mode without pulse-ox or GPS usage. So if you are a runner, don't expect solar to top up the battery drain due to GPS. But the 2x has good battery life compared to the other models, so solar efficiency is not a concern. In fact I wish they also had a 2X non solar version at a lower price point.

There are 2 major pain points for me currently with my 2X:

1. The alarm/pacing alerts tone is extremely low and you need to rely on vibration alerts instead.

2. Every time you charge the watch to 100%, you need to soft-reset it - otherwise features like solar charging or HRV status won't work. Check the other threads on the forum. It is a known issue and there's no ETA for a fix.

Other than that, the watch is mostly good. There are other minor annoyances like Bluetooth music control or flashlight control screens timing out after some time and the screen going back to the active watch face automatically but I think this is true across all instinct series or possibly their other watch ranges.

0 itisravi over 1 year ago

dizzzy said:
I honestly wish there was a way to set it to “only enable Bluetooth during manual syncs” or something

You can toggle Bluetooth connectivity on the watch via the control menu at will.

0 dizzzy over 1 year ago in reply to itisravi

itisravi said:
Every time you charge the watch to 100%, you need to soft-reset it - otherwise features like solar charging or HRV status won't work. Check the other threads on the forum. It is a known issue and there's no ETA for a fix.

Damn, this is significant.

I'm flipping through the beta release and it seems you're right — no mention of this. I'll do some more research, but thanks for bringing this up!

0 Dr Phil over 1 year ago in reply to dizzzy

dizzzy said:
Every time you charge the watch to 100%, you need to soft-reset it

Not everybody! I certainly don't, and feel certain that I am not the only one who doesn't out of the hundreds of thousands of users. Can't remember the last time I did a reset TBH.

0 itisravi over 1 year ago in reply to Dr Phil

Dr Phil said:
Not everybody! I certainly don't, and feel certain that I am not the only one who doesn't out of the hundreds of thousands of users

Yes, that is the nature of software (and even some hardware) bugs. They are not always 100% reproducible or affecting all users. That does not mean that the problem doesn't exist. Luckily, this particular issue has been acknowledged by the Garmin engineering team as being worked upon.

0 Dr Phil over 1 year ago in reply to itisravi

itisravi said:
That does not mean that the problem doesn't exist.

Never said that it didn't. But the comment

itisravi said:
Every time you charge the watch to 100%, you need to soft-reset it

Could imply a general state of affairs. I just wanted to point out that the issues is not applicable to all, as is usual with software.