Garmin Instinct 2 Solar review

Garmin has returned with the Intuition 2 – and given its outside watch a model new lease of life.

Within the steady of Forerunner, Fenix and Venu sports activities watches, the Intuition model has been one thing of a footnote.

The primary Garmin Intuition (launched in 2018) was billed as an outside different to the Garmin Fenix, at a lower cost level.

However the Intuition 2 has shifted. Garmin’s not-so-subtle tribute to Casio G-SHOCK watches is now an all-rounder GPS sports activities watch, with extra focus placed on health metrics, and sports activities like HIIT and golf added to the ensemble.

It is in some ways a mini Fenix – with some key compromises. And to decide on the Intuition 2 is as a lot a mode proposition as it’s a sporting one.

We spent three weeks with the Intuition 2 – . are our conclusions.

About our evaluation

All of our critiques advert. to our strict in-depth testing coverage. We check each side in-depth, and benchmarking towards key rivals so you can also make an .rmed selection. You possibly can learn our editorial coverage to search out out why you’ll be able to belief Wareable critiques.

James Stables is Wareable’s editor-in-chief and co-founder, and has examined almost each wearable over the past decade.

Value and comparability

At $349/£299 the Intuition 2 is not low cost – however by Garmin requirements that is fairly mid-ranged, and we do suppose t.’s some first rate worth .. That rises to $449/£329 for the Intuition 2 Photo voltaic examined ., which allows the prolonged battery life – most notable throughout Ultratrac exercises.

The Fenix 7S is available in at $699/£599, with a greater display screen, much more sports activities monitoring knowledge and mapping options.

The Forerunner 245 can be a comparable system for these which can be primarily highway runners, and beginning at $299/249 is a little bit cheaper. It is much less rugged and a bit extra refined than the Intuition 2, however battery life can be considerably diminished. You will get music functionality, nonetheless.

Away from Garmin, pure rivals on the Coros Tempo 2 which is $199/£179 – and the Polar Grit X Professional additionally catches the attention at $429/$379.

Design and luxury

The Intuition 2 actually appears to be like rugged, and acts it, with a 100m water resistance ranking and MIL-820 army normal shock and mud resistance.

However this ruggedness can be a part of its identification, with a fibre-re.rced polymer cladding and massive pushers that simply shouts Casio G-SHOCK. And it’s aimed on the identical all-adventure crowd.

At 52g it’s considerably much less weighty than a Fenix 7 – however we nonetheless discovered the 45mm model a little bit cumbersome to sleep with.

Type is a giant a part of the proposition ., and t. are a number of vibrant colour choices to select from.

The most important distinction over the primary Garmin Intuition is a brand new case dimension. Becoming a member of the 45mm is a brand new 40mm aimed toward thinner wrists – and ought to be rather more snug for each women and men that covet the rugged model of the Intuition 2.

The display screen is a low-res 176×176 pixel transflective show, and that is the key behind the Intuition 2’s battery life prowess. It’s extraordinarily low energy and always-on, providing nice visibility in direct daylight – however it’s monochrome and uninteresting – a world away from full AMOLED smartwatches such because the Apple Watch or Garmin Venu 2.

However the neat little inset display screen stays, which affords helpful .rmation and navigational hints – and is a novel and wonderful addition to the Intuition.

T.’s no touchscreen, however the 5 buttons on the bezel will likely be acquainted to any Fenix/Forerunner consumer.

You get an interchangeable strap with a considerable buckle which supplied an excellent match, though we did discover the tip of the strap might flap round a little bit after slipping out from the loop.

The Intuition 2 will not go well with everybody style-wise, however it’s rugged and cozy to put on – and the daring colours add a dose of enjoyable not seen elsew. within the Garmin choice.

Sport monitoring

The primary Intuition was plainly an outdoor watch, that was geared in direction of providing climbing, navigational options and lengthy battery life, at a extra affordable worth level than the Fenix 6.

The outside prowess of the Intuition 2 nonetheless exists, however it’s been widened to develop into extra of a common curiosity GPS sports activities watch.

So what’s modified? Firstly, Garmin has added extra of its Firstbeat health metrics together with VO2 Max, restoration time, Coaching Impact and Coaching Load. This actually caught our eye when the Intuition 2 was introduced, being a few of our favourite options on the Fenix 7.

This knowledge will likely be of curiosity runners and cyclists particularly, and makes the Intuition 2 a extra critical sports activities system.

One odd factor is that, by default, VO2 Max and efficiency knowledge isn’t proven on the watch itself, and solely offered after a exercise or on Garmin Join. In actual fact, they are often added as widgets on the watch through the system settings within the Garmin Join app.

Garmin has additionally added some new sports activities modes to the Intuition 2, which makes it a significantly better all-rounder.

The brand new HIIT 2.0 mode is current, and you may monitor exercises comparable to AMRAP and EMOM.

And golf additionally debuts on the Intuition 2 – and you may add any of the 40,000 supported programs through Garmin Hook up with get distances to the pin and hazards, in addition to scoring and a shot measure characteristic. We examined golf mode, and it labored solidly and precisely, with the precise expertise you’ll discover on Fenix, though you don’t get options like inexperienced mapping and good caddy that you simply’ll discover on Garmin Method golf watches.

Biking has additionally been given an replace, with Garmin’s proprietary Grit and Move metrics added to the mountain bike profile, which charges the issue of a prepare and the way easily you descend.

Swimming is supported, backed up by 100m of water resistance – and is similar expertise you’ll get on Fenix and Forerunner 745. Meaning detection of strokes, stroke price and the Garmin SWOLF measure of effectivity, though you’ll be able to’t monitor swimrun classes.

Operating

We ran extensively with Intuition 2 – and located GPS accuracy to be high notch – thanks partly to the multi-channel GNSS on-board. Throughout 5km and 10km runs we had no qualms about accuracy, even on measured programs throughout races.

The information you see stay is pretty fundamental. You possibly can scroll via to get stay tempo/distance/time and cut up instances. You may also get a coronary heart price widget – however that’s your lot. The second inset display screen is used nicely to point out stay coronary heart price, which is a pleasant contact.

Afterwards you get the juicy knowledge. VO2 Max is proven, and whereas these are estimates, we now have discovered Garmin’s to be correct towards a lab check Up to now.

You may additionally get Coaching Impact knowledge – how a lot the exercise affected your cardio and anaerobic health, and recommendation on restoration time.

This places it forward of Garmin’s Forerunner 245 and Forerunner 55 when it comes to tracked knowledge – though Forerunner 245 does have PacePro, which helps you handle race pace. However the upshot is that the Intuition 2 is an efficient GPS look ahead to runners.

The Each day Exercise Suggestion additionally kicks in to counsel a exercise goal tempo and distance to maximise coaching impact. At some point we’d give ourselves as much as the logic of Garmin’s exercise coach, however primarily our working is predicated on how a lot time we now have between work, childcare and different commitments, and having to dismiss the suggestion was an unwelcome interruption.

Climbing

Climbing can be a reasonably easy on-watch expertise – with distance, timer and ascent augmented by a breadcrumb and compass, due to the The ABC (altimeter, barometer and compass).

You possibly can add additionally GPX information through Garmin Join, so you’ll be able to observe breadcrumb waypoints for pre-prepared routes.

And t.’s trackback, which is able to direct you again to the beginning (because the crow flies) – for those who determine you’ve had sufficient of the wilderness, which is a helpful security characteristic.

Nonetheless, you don’t get mapping on-board, which is reserved for the top-of-the-range Fenix 7 and Epix watches.

Wellness and coronary heart price accuracy

The Garmin expertise additionally incorporates rising quantities of wellness options, they usually’re all . on the Intuition 2.

T.’s a coronary heart price monitor that can preserve tabs on 24/7 bpm and monitor resting coronary heart price as nicely.

Coronary heart price variability (HRV) can be tracked and offered as Physique Battery knowledge – which is a measure of vitality ranges and restoration. That is an fascinating determine, however one which must be offered with extra perception to be one thing we take note of.

And t.’s additionally Stress Monitoring, once more through HRV, that scores your stress ranges out of 100. Once more, the quantity can come throughout as arbitrary, and with little read-world use.

The numbers additionally tended to be fairly static over lengthy durations with stress often round 20-30/100 and physique battery round 60 – and we didn’t derive an excessive amount of usefulness from the information.

A lot of that is underpinned by sleep monitoring – however we had a combined expertise with this on the Intuition 2 that additionally calls into query the validity of the above knowledge. In fact, and not using a sleep lab then evaluation is subjective, however we in comparison with Whoop 4.0, which has appeared a dependable indicator.

Time asleep was tracked nicely, however our sleep was topic to some absurdly low evaluation and sleep scores that decision all the knowledge into query.

An excellent night time’s sleep of 8 hours was rated as ‘honest’, and Garmin registered 0 minutes of deep sleep, which appears inconceivable provided that we woke fairly nicely rested. Whoop recorded a way more sensible 90 minutes for a similar night time.

Once more, on barely unsettled night time with a head chilly, Garmin recognised 6hr 32, which was rated 39/100 and “poor” for being “unbalanced” – with no deep sleep tracked in any respect. Whoop recorded 1:42 of deep sleep.

The problem is that sleep knowledge feeds into Physique Battery and into the exercise suggestions – which then instructed a restoration exercise as a consequence of poor sleep. So for those who’re basing your coaching round sleep monitoring that is producing fairly excessive evaluation, that would trigger points.

Respiration price was additionally recorded and in-line with Whoop – which we’ve discovered to be dependable. This knowledge is sort of buried in Garmin Join, so its usefulness is questionable.

And resting coronary heart price was additionally tracked between 45 and 50 – which is the traditional vary discovered on Fitbit and Whoop.

Intuition 2 may even monitor health age as nicely – nonetheless, after three weeks a d a number of run monitoring it nonetheless caveated that it wanted extra knowledge to estimate.

Coronary heart price accuracy

As regular we in contrast the accuracy of the Garmin Intuition 2 Photo voltaic to a coronary heart price chest strap – and acquired some shocking outcomes.

One in all our comparability runs noticed the Garmin HRM-Professional garble the primary 10 minutes of the run, proving that chest straps aren’t infallible towards dangerous knowledge.

However the Intuition 2 Photo voltaic has been a dependable and correct coronary heart price monitor.

We’ve discovered regular runs to be inside 1-3bpm of a chest strap, which is just too near derive any accuracy superiority.

Among the malfunctions we’ve seen early in Garmin wrist-tracked run appear to have been ironed out, and the Intuition offered steady and dependable knowledge all through our testing time.

Total it’s an excellent performing coronary heart price monitor in a number of various actions, however as ever with optical coronary heart price expertise – it is suited to regular exercises, and any HIIT exercises that flex the arm could cause points – and utilizing a chest strap is advisable.

Smartwatch options

When it comes to smartwatch options, the Garmin Intuition 2 is as much as spec with most of Garmin’s options.

You get notifications on the wrist – that are well-presented and easy-to-read.

It’s a little bit all-or-nothing, and t.’s solely gentle modifying of notifications accessible in Garmin Join.

You possibly can toggle off/on calls, texts or apps – however that doesn’t differentiate for issues like WhatsApp. Any app that buzzes your smartphone will hit the Intuition, so if you wish to trim issues down, you’ll have to chop them off at supply in your smartphone.

Basically, we discovered the notifications a little bit intrusive, and used the don’t disturb characteristic extensively, earlier than simply turning notifications off. That’s actually private choice.

T.’s Join IQ on board, so you’ll be able to add to the expertise from Garmin’s retailer of apps and watch faces.

T.’s no music assist ., so you’ll be able to’t offline sync Spotify.

Garmin Pay is accessible – however it is advisable go for the dearer Intuition 2 Photo voltaic to get that. We’ve additionally discovered banking assist, within the UK a minimum of, to be pretty patchy.

Battery life

One of many largest speaking factors of the Intuition 2 Photo voltaic version is battery life – so we put it to the check.

First, the traditional Intuition 2. We discovered 3% drop off per day, which equates to round 28 days battery life, which occurs to be precisely the promise from Garmin. Tremendous stuff.

Three hours of working with full twin band GNSS will take 10% off the Intuition 2. Once more, that correlates with the 30 hours promised by Garmin.

And energy administration options additionally make it over from Fenix, which can be very welcome.

Now onto Photo voltaic. The Photo voltaic 45mm version has the attract of having the ability to supply limitless battery life in smartwatch mode – if subjected to three hours of daylight per day. Straightforward proper? Really, not a lot.

It’s onerous to quantify how efficient Photo voltaic is in actual life given the variables at play, however sadly it does appear unrealistic to by no means should cost your Intuition 2 Photo voltaic.

In UK winter, most adventures exterior noticed our garments blocking the watch – and thus getting no-w. close to sufficient publicity to maintain the degrees topped up.

That made it very onerous to check the validity of Garmin’s claims that Ultratrac GPS exercises could be subjected too limitless battery life.

In fact you possibly can put on it over your coat for those who really need that cost time – however that’s not for us.

Inserting it on the windowsill on a sunny day additionally didn’t actually work, so whereas technically the Intuition 2 Photo voltaic might be able to maintain itself on three hours of out of doors use, that was extraordinarily troublesome to realize in February.

Maybe in summer time issues will likely be completely different, and we’ll be testing and updating on our experiences.