Instinct surf solar

Hello,

I just bought a brand new pipeline edition of this watch. The tide function, doesnt function at all... It shows me a "error tide information resquest failed".

I'm very concerned about the surf functionality as well, i was customizing my watch face for that particular activity and there was no mention about wave counting, meters traveled, (basically what they advertise.

Really thinking about a refund on this one...

If somebody can help me i'll be so gratefull.

Best of regards,

Joms

  • EDIT 11:19/2020: - This issue has now been resolved.

    11/18/2020:

    Hi Joms. I am sorry you are receiving the error for tides information. We just opened a trouble ticket earlier today for the exact issue you are describing. Our engineers are looking into the issue and hope to have it resolved as quickly as possible.

  • Hi Joms, 

    looking at the others thread on Instinct Solar Surf ed, it seems that nobody is really happy with the surf functionalities... I was going to buy this model but I think it's better to wait the officlal answerd from Garmin

    Tony 

  • Hello tony,

    My problems have been solved in 24h, they even sent me a report data log of the error going on with my device. I cant complaint about the watch, the solar feature is definetly the best feature. The surf app/widget needs some work, the information on the fly during the surf session is not the greatest.

    But afterwards you can check on the gatmkn connect app all the waves caught and all the adjacent data. The only thing is that sometimes the watch has some difficulty to understand whats a wave or not, i had like a session with 51 waves but i didnt caught half of that.

    Still needs some work but overall im happy with the watch, super durable, confortable and great for lazy people ( you dont have to charge every week)

    Cheers,

  • Thanks Joms, 

    the wrong number of counted  waves ridden is actually the main issue for me , as it seems really a common problem among the surfers that have purchased this model.

    Tide is important for sure, but for me not as much as the activity recorded in the water and, if it's sistematically wrong,  I'm wondering if it makes sense to spend the money. 

    If I'd like to have just a surf watch I'd probably go for the Rip Curl, but I need somethig more versatile so I'm considering the  Fenix 6 PRO, that's much more customizable than the Solar.... what do you think? 

    cheers

    Antonio

  • The rip curl looks like a good watch choice if you are an IOS user, they havent come up with an android app.

    I dont know much about the phoenix but what i found across the internet is that the solar feature is not as good on that watch. Its gonna offer you more than this instinct version for sure.

    But if you value the ruggness for this type of products, the instinct its a safe bet  has the military grade proof. Wich for me being an active guy, means a lot.

    If you find a good deal on the phoenix, the lowest i saw this black friday was around 550€, i guess it worths the extra 150€. + you get a fancier watch screen and graphics, etc..

    Hope i could help you ThumbsupThumbsup
    Cheers

  • Got a new surf solar and overall its great. Multisport, stays charged and the data when you review is good. The surf part needs work. Surfed 2 hrs and caught 4 waves. It all comes down to the threshold values and for every session the waves are different. Shold be menus that allow you to pick a close match for the conditions on hand. An 8 second windslop or 12 second  glass. And an orientation so you can see when you're paddle g out or surfing back in. A small red square compared to its dawnpatrol is not really close.

  • As you can see in the link, the device just never count a wave in Castellon, Spain, I had my previous vivo active HR and with surf tracker it just works. The problem was the battery etc... So when I saw in summer this divide and because vivoactive was broken I decided to buy Surf instinct, never though I would have a problem of not working at all.

    Firstly because they need to program different activities, one for surf, and another for SUP waves.

    Secondly, it is not accuracy even at surf main purpose.

    So, Why they pñromisee a surfing device and do this trash? NEver will though that Garmin can fail in this way.

    Expecting sending or a fix...

    Link

  • Yesterday I got maybe 5 waves. My Instinct solar showed 65 waves!!!! What a joke. Garmins remedy is to keep watch out of the water and paddle "softer" Obviously the engineers did not talk to any competent surfer. Completely useless for surfing. Got it as a present, but still bummed about this watch.

  • Tony T

    I have the Rip Curl and had the Apple watch. (Apple watch has since died)

    Rip Curl fixed a lot of the GPS issues when this watch first came out. When I first got this watch it was worthless. Now the bugs have been fixed it seems and it counts waves perfectly. Battery life is decent but its not a smart watch.

    Apple Watch with Dawn Patrol App worked great. Big issue with Apple watch was it would barely last a 3 hour surf session before GPS drained the battery.

    Instinct Solar so far is the worst of the three for surf data. It appears obvious that Garmin did not consult any surfers. I caught maybe 5 waves yesterday and it showed I caught 65!!! Also showing top speed 2 mph when the graphs shows my top speed was 29.2 MPH 

    Good luck finding a watch!!

  • Good evening,

    Its true that the watch has some work to be done but they provided a new update, version 12. Theres some fixes on the gps meter that maybe can improve this matter that is so impkrtant for us surfers.

    They have a huge potential with the surf industry, hope they see that it moves alot of people and money, therefore i dont believe they aren't going to neglect this matter because if all users complaint, nobody gonna buy again, and that is a serius mistake.

    I installed this update today, preety easy to do. I hope i have a chance to try again the surf widget this week. Fingers crossed for more usable and thruthfull data this time.

    I wanna love this watch, please provide that Garmin!

    Best of regards,

    Joms