The Garmin Instinct 2X Solar Features an Array of Upgrades Including a Built-In LED Flashlight, Extended Battery Life, and Improved GPS Accuracy

You can tell a bit about a person just from the watch they’re wearing. A certain brand, particular style of watch, or a deep-cut reference can easily give away the wearer’s horology knowledge, adjacent interests, or occupation. To be fair, any ordinary person wearing a watch out in the wild could just have the watch on to tell the time, but watch enthusiasts in the room know what I’m talking about. This leads me to the smartwatch, and more specifically, the brand, Garmin. Does someone wearing a Garmin watch elicit that same mental process as someone wearing a mechanical watch? It does so for me. Whether it’s a waiter rocking their Garmin during a work shift or catching it on someone’s wrist during a casual grocery store run, in my head, I’m already painting a picture of someone who likes to “get out there.”

Garmin remains as one of the most capable outdoor adventure and lifestyle smartwatch brands in the market today. In my opinion, the Garmin Instinct in particular happens to toe the line between analog and smartwatch. Yes, there is not an hour, minute, or seconds hand in sight (actually there is a model called the Garmin Crossover that offers this type of display). But relative to the entire Garmin smartwatch catalog, the Instinct is as analog as it gets. There is no touchscreen at all and navigation through the Instinct’s multi-function features requires an actual push of a button. The monochrome screen display is absent of any colorful distractions and if set up properly, normal cellular notifications can be nixed, leaving only the important information you want to track including health statistics, GPS location, and of course, the time.

I own a Garmin Instinct 2S and it’s purely used with the intention to get moving. It’s the most compact model of the Instinct bunch. If you’re familiar with the different tiers within each collection, then you’ll know that the larger the watch gets, the more feature-packed the watch subsequently is. As the Instinct collection stands, there is the Instinct 2S (40mm), the Instinct 2 (45mm), and the recently released Instinct 2X Solar – the largest of the bunch spanning 50mm in width, but with the increase in size, Garmin throws in several attractive hardware updates and distinct features that make the newest Instinct more enduring, informative, and practical.

Endurance is the name of the game here with the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar. With the general footprint of the watch increasing in size, so does the footprint of the solar panel integrated within the screen display. In fact, the solar panel is 50% bigger to be exact, and as a result, the Instinct 2X Solar boasts an unlimited battery life in several modes including Smartwatch Mode, Expedition GPS Activity Mode, and Battery Saver Watch Mode. It’s worth noting that these battery life specs will vary based on the watch’s exposure to light. Using the similar modes referenced above and assuming that solar charging is unavailable, the battery life for each mode are as follows; 40 days in Smartwatch Mode, 60 days in Expedition GPS Activity Mode, and 100 days Battery Saver Watch Mode, respectively. All of that said, the jury is still out on the battery life while the multiband/dual-frequency GPS/GNSS (another new hardware feature) is in use, which should require a significant amount of the battery power reserve.

The integrated solar panel is constructed out of two layers. The outer ring surrounding the screen is a panel that receives 100% of light that hits the dial surface, while an underlying solar panel layer that spans the entirety of the screen accepts an additional 10% of light all around. The monochrome display remains, and so does the ability to fully customize your home screen display. A slightly brighter screen tone is provided by a backlight for low light conditions, however if you want a splash of color, you can opt for the Instinct 2X Solar Tactical Edition that emits a green backlight.

Like the Fenix 7X and for the first time within the Instinct line, the Instinct 2X comes with a built-in LED flashlight. The “Torch” wordmark locates the LED flashlight at the top the case and the feature itself allows the user to change light intensity, color, and mode including the ability to have the light match the gait cadence during a run.

In regards to size, this isn’t by any means a low profile watch. As mentioned above, the case spans 50mm in width, and is matched by a 50mm lug to lug, as well as a 14.7mm case thickness. Case material wise, the Instinct 2X is composed of a fiber-reinforced polymer which in theory, should balance out the largest Instinct in the collection. Like all the models in the Garmin Instinct collection, the Instinct 2X is rugged and robust enough to earn the MIL-STD-810 military specification based on its performance within various extreme conditions including extreme temperatures, shock, rain and sand.

To review all the features in the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar would probably lengthen this already lengthy introduction three-fold, so I’ll cover the exciting features that come with the new release. The Instinct 2X now provides a Training Readiness mode that informs the wearer if he or she should complete a workout based on sleep, recovery time, heart rate status, and acute load data. In addition to the endless amount of sport mode options you can select prior to starting an activity, the Instinct 2X can now cater to those keen on doing obstacle races. This new mode allows the wearer to manually split the tracking of each obstacle and then automatically tracks the progress of each obstacle from there on out. Finally, the addition of the multiband/dual-frequency GPS/GNSS seems promising, offering far more location accuracy compared to its Instinct 2 predecessor.

My Garmin Instinct 2S remains the closest thing that resembles an Apple Watch in the quiver. Sure, it’s a smartwatch, but I don’t use it in the way that one wears a smartwatch on a regular basis. I throw it on right before I head out for a workout, a run, or a hike. And usually it gets substituted for a mechanical watch when I get home. But if I happen to have the Garmin Instinct 2S on wrist, it doesn’t make me feel out of place if I do have to run errands in town. However, I might feel differently if I had on the Instinct 2X because of its larger case size. It all just depends on the person, I guess. Do you want a lower profile Instinct with simpler features, or do you want an Instinct with all the bells and whistles? If a watch’s size is inconsequential to you, and you want the most feature-packed Garmin Instinct to date, then I’d say go with the latter and strongly consider the Instinct 2X.

The Garmin Instinct 2X Solar retails for $449.99 and comes in four different colorways: Graphite, Flame Red, Moss and Whitestone. The Instinct 2X Solar Tactical Edition retails for $499.99 and comes in Black and Coyote variations. Both are currently available on the Garmin website and selected Gramin retailers. Garmin