Instinct 3 worth?

I came from I2X (given it to my son after he spoilt my previous 955 solar) and got the i3 solar. All the i2x bugs (sluggishness etc) are gone in i3 and big surprise is that GPS mode is as good as all satellite, multiband mode to trace my jogs through urban and wooded areas (can google for dcrain review), probably due to the antenna design. What this meant is that the batt burnt rate is less than 2%/hour of gps activity even w/o sunlight.. and from one charge every 2 wks (including quite a few hourly long jogs per week), i can now charge once every 3 weeks with similar number of activities between charges. It is also much lighter than i2x ...so i'm really happy with I3 solar.

I disagree with "solar charging is useless" as was suggested by others. I get 10-12 days with 20-25 hours of activities during winter, and I got up to 18 days with 46 hours of activities during the summer.

But I still have the occasional crash & reboot during long activities (> 6 hours). So you have great battery life with effective solar charging to make it even better, and when you want to use this for ultra running, you get crashes :-(

georgex said:

I disagree with "solar charging is useless" as was suggested by others.

When I wrote it was useless, I did not mean it did not work at all, but that even with the Solar charging, you get less battery life than with the AMOLED model. I had both models, and wore both of them simultaneously all the time for couple of months. And despite what the specs claim, I had to charge the Solar model more often than AMOLED. So if you really need long battery life, and do not mind that the display is not on all the time (illuminating your sleeve from the inside), then you are still better off with the AMOLED model.

If you read my posts, you can clearly see that I do not care about true AOD. And BTW, you will never get 240 hours with I3 Solar, even if you use it only when the Sun shines. The specs are overoptimistic at Solar models, and underrated at AMOLED.

If you are happy with your Instinct 3 Solar, I have nothing against it, it is not a bad watch. In sunny days I prefer the MIP display too, but overall, the advantages of the AMOLED model (and I do not mean only the display) overweight this small inconvenience greatly. And if someone buys the Solar model just with the hope that it allows for longer battery life, then he can be disappointed.

 trux you don't understand.

There are several use cases where AOD is NEEDED. It's not your use case, and that's fine. But there are use cases where you can't rely on wrist gestures or Amoled in general. I.E, running in very technical paths or in very sunny places (where MIP is clearly much better). 

And AOD in Amoled has a very important risk in burning and a serious problem with battery life (yet). Amoled colors are vibrant and beautiful but there are some limitations with the technology that makes Amoled not the good choice in several use cases. It's not your use case, but you should understand that perhaps can be others.

So at the end, is like reading on a tablet or in an ink paper screen. There are use cases that the second scenary is better and that should be understood, despite many people prefers the tablet.

And, as said. There's also people that has issues with black backgrounds or Amoled brightness and we should understand that also.

It is not Amoled vs MIP. Both technologies are here to coexist, not to force to use people the technology is not valid for their use cases.

It’s only worth the money if it’s 50% off.

dreamer_ said:

It is not Amoled vs MIP.

Exactly, both displays have their advantages. While the MIP display is definitely better under full summer noon Sun, if you do also evening and night activities, or use it in bad weather, do indoor activities, swimming, snorkeling, diving, then you'll appreciate the AMOLED display more.

However, when I tell I prefer the AMOLED model, it is because it is a quite a different watch overall, with a different hardware, not only the display. TBH, the best is having both of them (just like I do). Not only you can profit from the better hardware of the AMOLED model, and run the navigation and PacePro on it without long loading times, and without risk of crashes and reboots, but if you use it for races or other important activities, you have a backup, in case one of the watches fails for some reason. And you can profit from the advantages of both displays. Also for example, the navigation is much easier with the finer resolution and colors. I do not even bother starting it on the Solar model.

I Had Instinct (1)
Changed It some months ago to I3solar.

1)
Issues for update the first firmare, probably a bug with the old 5.21 version I had.
There were no way to update to the last version but bug resolved thanks tho this forum, now everything is ok.

2)
Some other little issues but resolved with newest firmware, more deep configuration, nothing serious.

3)
MIP.
For me It is irreplaceable especially in long trails, any annoyng gesture to turn the screen on, fantastic during the day.
Evening, night? Gesture and the light is on.

4)
Battery.
In comparison with my old Instinct (1) battery life has definitely improved, 30 days and 15 activities of approximately 3 hours with no charging.


Amoled would make sense with the available maps but I still wouldn't change it for my I3solar.
So, I prefer my I3solar, more rugged, "wilder", more suited to my needs.

Of course it's my opinion :)

4260884 said:

I3solar, more rugged

I have nothiing against your preference, but if you want a more rugged Instinct 3, then it would be I3 Crossover AMOLED. Unlike I3 Solar and I3 AMOLED with plain glass, and polymer+aluminium bezel, Crossover has Sapphire Crystal, and a stainless steel bezel. Otherwise, Solar and AMOLED are rugged in exactly the same way.