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Germin Instinct Solar Review one year later

5943057
over 2 years ago

I feel compelled to give a detailed, honest review of the Garmin Instinct Solar that I purchased (from Garmin) in July, 2020. Current software version is 14.20.0.0. I bought this watch because I love to hike and backpack in remote areas, and for that it seems to work pretty well, tracking my route as well as details like speed, elevation, heart rate, etc.  But I also like to track my sleep, and for that this watch is pathetically poor. I had a Fitbit Charge 3 prior to this watch, and it seemed very consistent with my perceived sleep patterns. The Garmin Instinct shows my sleep when I get up, but if I check in a few minutes it will be different, and an hour or two later it will be different yet, sometimes different by as much as an hour. I called Customer Support multiple times and all they said was that the device re-evaluates your sleep several times during the day. WHY??? When I get up I exercise vigorously for 90 minutes, there should be no reason to re-evaluate, I’M UP, CASE CLOSED! (N.B. I sometimes use the pulse oximeter feature to monitor sleep pulse ox since I have moderate sleep apnea, and that seems to function pretty well, and is consistent with a finger pulse oximeter I have.) The other dismally pathetic feature is stairs climbed. It is supposed to use the altimeter to record changes in barometric pressure to detect slight changes in elevation, as in going up a flight of stairs. There have been days when I get out of bed, go down two flights to the basement to work out for 90 minutes, and before I come up at all it has recorded 4 or 5 flights of stairs. This feature is totally and consistently unreliable. And yes, I have made sure the altimeter port on the back of the watch is clean, as dirt there can adversely affect readings. For the hefty price tag I expect better…

PROS: decent tracking with GPS, sleep pulse ox seems to work fine, steps walked seems consistent with other devices I have used, heart rate is consistent with my palpated carotid pulse

CONS: sleep monitoring is horrible, stairs climbed is totally useless

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Agreed regarding the sleep and stairs climbed. Mine is rarely correct. Fitbit does a much better job. My altimeter can swing +/- 200ft when I'm at home all day. The pulse Ox is kind of pointless because nothing is done with the data (the single use feature). I do like the solar aspect and the 14+ days between charges is really the best feature.
    Puts me off purchasing something like a Garmin Enduro though. At $400 for the Instinct Solar, all the above features should be accurate, but aren't. I can't see the Enduro being any better, even at 2x the price. Nor would I take that chance.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    It's a banana product, as we say in Germany. (It will ripen after it's been sold.) The Wikipedia article links to English "perpetual beta".

    I really like the instinct solar (tactical), but if you read through the forums... honestly, it's obvious that Garmin makes a lot of mistakes and marketing can't cope with it. May it be the corona virus, may it be money talk, but there's just not enough quality control here.

    I was very disappointed by the closing comment on the compass issue telling us there is no firmware bug. How can someone type this *** while someone else mentions a fix in the change log?

    I always thought you'd lose citizenship if you worked like that in Switzerland (or Germany!). ;).

    Anyway, there's hope. It actually DOES get better with every firmware update, and I appreciate that.