Great video. One suggestion for Garmin Instinct 2 users: for me, I find it so much easier to do setup and change settings in the phone app. Its layout is far more logical and intuitive. Some of the watch's layout is confusing.

Flashlight tip: you can turn the flashlight on by double clicking the light button. Thanks for the video. Very well explained. Peace from Spain.

5 minutes in and I’ve learned more about this watch than i did the whole year of owning it

Thank you for making excellent, straight forward reviews without any babbling. Keep up the good work.

I purchased an Instinct 2 last week and ha e been putting it through sea trials since. SO MANY OPTIONS! This video is awesome in that I'm finding MORE options and capabilities than I've seen myself. I think it might be a few weeks before I truly get the hang of this thing. A note about points: I can't speak to how courses are created either from the watch itself or other apps, but I can speak to how it's done with Garmin Explore. Basically each click on the map generates a point. Generally you can get away with as few as 3 points for an out and back hike (start, turnaround point, end). With other routes you only need as many points as to generate the course. Hopefully that points you in the right direction as to how to clear that up.

This is the reason i watch your channel. In depth step by step walk through. I really learned so much about the watch. i like the secret flashlight function. i wish it had the real thing like the instinct 2X has.

just got this watch, i'd say a good bang-for-the-buck data recording watch, this watch is perfect for those data nerds that want a device that has a long battery life and doesn't mind the small and monochrome display if you are a cyclist and use garmin edge units, one important thing you must do to keep your training metrics accurate (recovery, fitness level, etc) is to ensure that before starting an activity on you edge device, you must successfully sync it first to garmin connect

My garmin fenix 6 tipped me off to my undiagnosed sleep apnea. Did a sleep study and had it confirmed - thanks, Garmin.

Bought one two weeks ago, very happy with it. The screen is (allthough black & white) better than expected, coming from a 235. The vibration is also much better, which annoyed me while working with the 235.

Just got my watch last week, was struggling to use. This is all I needed. Thanks a ton!

Wow! All my doubts disappeared here ❤ fantastic full review!

Without doubt this was the best 'how to' video I've ever watched.

Helpful video, thank you for taking the time to go through this. Just got my instinct 2x!

These are so helpful! Makes choosing and comparing watches so much easier. Thank you!

Really in depth and I appreciate you going through each and every menu. Thank you !

Just got the instinct 2 solar yesterday. Upgrading from Fitbit Versa 3. Been doing research for weeks and your channel has been very helpful. I’ve had my Garmin instinct 2 Solar 2 weeks now and it makes Fitbit laughable. I hike and run a lot and this watch reminds me everyday why it’s worth every Penny. Absolutely a great watch.

Just got my watch, so this couldn't come at a better time. Thank you!

That backlight flashlight trick was suuuuper useful!

DCR u r THE best reviewer outthere with insane details, loved ur content, kudos!!

Thank you for pulling this together. It is incredibly useful and concise

I have just ordered my first smartwatch, the instinct 2 surf edition in large part based on your reviews. I mostly wanted the tide support. I like your review style. Detailed, factual, experience based, practical and concise for the data you give. If Garmin is listening I wish they made the solar version cheaper. The price difference of over $100 between solar and non solar is to extreme, particularly with the pay feature not being easy outside of the US. Also I wish they added sailing as a sport/activity profile.

Thanks for the help! Really helped me understand navigation and where to go to find certain things on my new instinct 2!

One of the best watch Garmin have made .

My instincts 2 solar one piece Luffy edition is working well. Awesome feature!

Thank you for the video. I got the Instinct 2 about two weeks ago. It is packed with features. When I need detailed mapping, I just use my Fenix 5X.

Thanks for making this excellent in depth video.

That was extremely well done and informative, thanks so much!

Thank you for the video and kudos from Belize.

Amazing! Thanks

Very helpful video . Thanks for making it .

Thanks man you da boss in these kinda area

Great video. Thanks for that and congratulations for the work that you have done

Excellent review! Thanks a lot for the help!

Thanks for the detailed guide 👍

Really handy video thank you!

Fantastic resource. But I wish you could just slooooooowwwwww down a little maybe? I'm wearing out the pause button😅

Love my original instinct but the sleep tracker is garbage for me. It doesn't get sleep start time right. Like I can be watching TV, go up a flight of stairs get ready for bed and it sets me as asleep from when I was watching TV. Damsung thrash them on this. But for the GPS and battery power it's great. Also the solar isn't that useful in realistic use for me in UK working inside. But on holiday might have an impact. The only time it gets decent sun is during exercise and the burn from GPS outweighed any tiny gain from the sun. Great review! As a note to new users if you want the battery to last a long time switch off the sleep o2 measurements as they aren't that accurate anyway.

Fantastic video. I will now confidently set up my watch.

now this IS what I like to see in my recommended

Love the video so much that I almost forgot to WHACK THAT LIKE BUTTON! Thanks for the reminder!!

Thanks so much for the review, loved it! Quick question: How do you get the watch face with a graph on it? It doesn't seem to be available on my watch. Is it through the Connect IQ store? If yes whats the name of the watch face?

so helpful! cheers man 🤙🏼

Quick tip: No need to change the hotkey for the flashlight. Just quickly double press the CTRL button. Top left.

Thank you for this. It was very helpful

I got this today's! 🎉

Also very good of you to deeply investigate what the course point limitation is. I find it very troubling that garmin could not explain their own technology. i wonder if the competition has the same problem with routes.

Excellent review and explanations

Thank you for your reviews. They cover all I need to know before a purchase decision. However, I would like to know if there is an option in the menu to type coordinates and navigate to that point. I understand there are no maps or something but would be useful if someone gets lost to ask for coordinates and navigate there especially in the mountains.

Great video, learned a ton

Nice one ☝️ very informative

Great review 👍 I have the older Instinct Solar. It's great, except for the control of the back-light. A solar Casio uses the output of the solar panel to determine whether the back-light is required. My Instinct does not do this, but instead uses sunrise and sunset information; obviously this doesn't work for dark areas during the day or light areas at night. I wrote to Garmin about this, as it seems to me that it could be addressed in software; all the hardware is there to make it work. Garmin didn't reply. Does the Instinct 2 Solar have the option to work the way a Casio works? ..or does Casio have this system covered with a patent?

Thank you

Great review.

Awesome!

Good job

Great video, but no one seems to include app connectivity in these reviews. Can all of these setting be done more simply through the app? Or is configuring dependent on digging into menus through buttons on the watch.

Good information

I have an issue. I disabled basically everything in my 2S solar and it says that the battery will last 133h which is roughly 5 days. I don’t understand what i’m doing wrong when it should last 21 days 😅 any tips ?

Thank you for this video! This was really helpful. I just got the Instinct 2 Solar yesterday. Coming from the Suunto Ambit Sport 3 this is something else. 😉 Very happy with it. One thing I noticed is that two buttons on the left (ctrl and menu) have a sort of double click. Like they are sticky somehow. Did you experience this Ray on one of your Instinct 2 watches? Thank you.

Thanks for the insights! Would you recommend buying the Instinct 2 now or do you think it's worth waiting for the next version?

Do you have any more videos going up this week Ray? There's enough leaks in the bucket already 🤣. Keen to hear more about how practical the solar functionality is on a bicycle computer

Don't Think I'm Active enough for that watch 😂

Thanks for the video!! I like the idea of a watch like this and I appreciate that they packed a lot of features in, but do you ever feel that it's a little convoluted?

Great review as always, I hope they do not do a software update that makes it crash during a workout, like my Instinct solar. A year later totally unreliable when an activity is started.

Who is the target user for Instinct 2 vs 965, Epix 2, Fenix 7, Tactix 7..? I find the Garmin range really confusing. Seems to be lots of overlap and very similar price points except for maybe Fenix 7 and Tactix 7 that are clearly premium devices.

thanks

I got the Solar version of this. Loved it BUT found my eyes are too old to read the info on the screen. Had to return it and go back to my Fenix 6X Solar.

Great review DC, thanks for sharing! I read that while on GPS tracking mode, the watch will not recharge with solar. Do you happen to know if this is true? I am thinking on getting it for a 10+ day hike in Greenland (summer) in which I want to track all day (I could slow down the GPS samples to one every 10 minutes, it doesn't need to do it every second) but I got a bit discouraged when I read that it wont charge while on GPS tracking mode. Is my understanding correct? Many thanks again for your review!

I still have my instinct 1 when it breaks lol ill get the instinct 2

At 0:12 there is also a surf edition, decent G1 edition,tactial edition and more.

Garmin is expected to release the 255 and the 955 in the beginning of June. If that would be true how long in advance would you have gotten devices to test out?

I was looking for something simple and rugged to replace my Apple Watch, Specifically was looking for battery life and monochrome display. Crazy how much features this thing packs!

If I have a route I want to navigate, can I plan it out on my phone and then load it to the watch? Will it calculate pace count?

Is there a jump rope as a workout in the app?

I would love if the instinct 2 got maps in a simple way(compared to fenix7), with same colors as the display!!

Does this watch keep calorie count like the iPhone does?

Did the hr sensor improve from the 1 to 2? I remember the 1 was pretty bad. Also did the sleep monitoring get better? Thanks 💪🏽

Regarding the maximum number of points, I believe the Fenix 5 also had a similar limitation. I however used it as my only bike navigation and believe there was a little nuance. It loaded and showed the entire route BUT would no longer indicate turns after a while. It has been a while and I could be wrong but for some reason that's how I remember it.

My biggest problem is that my eyes are bad and the print in the instruction book was so small that I couldn't read it thank you for this video can you make one on how to control KZfaq through my watch? I'd like to be able to skip commercials.

I can’t figure out any way to disable the vibrations during strength training. Does anyone know if this is possible? I like to keep them on for running so I know when I have completed a lap.

I am trying to figure out how to obtain my VO2 max

Thanks for the vid! Which watch would you suggest for hunting? I need a watch to notify if I move quite off the right direction, but not alarming me if I'm abit off corse when walking around some obstackles in forest. So it's not like navigation for a specific path, but rather emulating compasses. So I got concerned about those track points limitation. Are there better alternatives for hunters?

Hi! Thanks for the great reviews. As you have all those devices, which one are using day to day? I really can't decide between fenix 7 and apple watch.

I love this kindle style watch, but enduro 2 looks like a better choice. I bet instinct 3 or 4x will have touch screen, just like kindle

Thanks for the review mate. Question though, is this the actual watch you use? Or is this just for reviewing?

Is there a way from keeping the seconds timer from disappearing at all? I know it stops to save power, but it is annoying when I look down at it and it’s off not to mention when taking vitals it tends to be a pain.

Hi. Thx for the review. Im curious, Is it easy to read during night time? Auto light during dark? Thank u

Is it possible to lock buttons while doing an activity? I always press them by accident while sailing. Thanks!

thank you so much for the video. i've been thoroughly searching the net for info regarding the 50 point limit coz it's driving me nuts when i go bikepacking lalong longer maps. do you have a recommendation of any other watch/device that does not have this problem? maybe even by a different brand? would really appreciate the help, thank you.

How do I set my watch for my sleep time of starting and waking ???

How long will the stopwatch run before starting over?

Hi, just get mi watch, does it have an alarm to wake up? not able to find it.

I have had one issue with the Instinct 2 Solar while swimming and wonder if you or anyone here has also experienced or heard about it: The Instinct 2 Solar restarting itself during pool lap swimming. I started using the device on 01 June 2022 and have done 29 swims with it. On three occasions, or 10% of the swims, the device restarted itself during the activity. On the bright side, the laps recorded before it restarted were saved, and as soon as I saw the watch face (instead of the data screen for swimming) I could start a new swimming activity to record the remaining laps I had left. The watch software has been updated once or twice since I started using it, the present software is version 8.66 In every other respect (running, bicycling) the Instinct 2 Solar has been fantastic, this occasional glitch during lap swimming is the only annoyance I have encountered.

Great review as always! I’m looking at this watch and the 945 and the Suunto 9 peak. They are close in price now. So, which one would you recommend for hiking, gym activities and for all around use? Thanks.

I've tried to use this watch over Apple Watch, battery is awesome, fitness metrics, app is great, but notifications, display and UX is much worse. Maybe I'll keep it just for holidays because I hate to charge Apple Watch every single day. Garmin Pay is ok, but you need to enter your pin (and it is cumbersome) every I think 24hrs, compared to Apple Pay it sucks. Yeah, that bezel is awful design choice, I second that.

Which is generally better? Instinct 2 on Venu 2? Is my assumption Instinct 2 correct? Has a Barometer etc?

Hello, Hello, great channel! what do you think on instinct 2 solar vs tactix delta? Thanks

I really love the solar but I really want the red... Garmin what are you doing!

Can't find a way to turn on the just for sleep battery saver as seen at 17:00 ideas why it's not there?

What was your battery life with pulse ox on all the time and pulse rate? Trying to figure out if i have a defective device or my set up just drains a lot of batter. Can only get 4 days tops with those settings on plus the smart watch feature