Instinct 2 dezl. Wanted an Instinct 2 with garmin pay, this one was on sale, 150€ cheaper than solar at the time. Has all of the features I want and need with awesome battery life. Also works great as a golf watch.
The instinct 2 solar has a solar panel over the main part of the display, which makes the display much less readable.
If I were going to save money, I would get instinct 2 without solar which has much easier to read display. If you want solar, I get the instinct 3 whose solar panel is only on the outer ring.
Was $300 for a few weeks Nov/Dec in USA. Not sure if it could be had for that much at the moment.
Garmin instinct 2 or instinct 2 solar.
You don't need instinct 3. 2 is cheaper than 3.
It has GPS to track run distance and pace and heart rate. But it does sometimes go into cadence lock as wrist heart rate does. Might do good to spend on a Garmin HR monitor.
Battery life is like 1-2 weeks if you're running daily using the GPS function for about an hour.
Are the higher models cooler? Yeah. Are the additional features worth 500-1000 more dollars? I personally don't think so.
What features were cut?
I recently got an i3 solar 45, have had i2 45 for 3 years, and noticed the battery life dropping off quicker than expected length.
I’m not quite 24 hours in, but love the display, and the light.
Also, got this through employee rewards program, and after scrolling through other options it was a decent “price”
Garmin instinct 2 (older gen) is 199 on Amazon at the moment. You won’t get maps at that price point but you’ll get built in GPS and the battery is 28 days watch mode or 30 hrs in GPS mode. The only negative I’ll say is the display is a bit basic but if you want it as a fitness tool that also has all the features of a smartwatch you can’t beat it for the price.
buneech
