Garmin - Instinct 2S Solar - Surf Edition
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Dec 15, 2025 Scoring
Liked most:
46
9
"those physical buttons are SO much better than touch, swipe, pinch and just anything else. ... Like, want to adjust volume through your hat with gloves on riding your bike? no problem at all"
"physical buttons are far superior to touch or swipe gestures during workouts (think sweaty hands or gloves during the cold season). ... Pressing physical buttons can be done without even looking at the watch, whereas touch gestures require a high degree of dexterity."
"Button operation is also a big plug for the Garmins. After pouring a few cups of water over your head, touch control of the Apple Watch doesn't work well anymore."
184
24
"I am a power lineman, so I needed a rugged watch that could get banged around, be exposed to energized high voltage, and very harsh conditions. The TREX has worked flawlessly through all that."
"it’s super durable. ... The watch clasp has gotten scratched up but the face is still fine after nearly a year of climbing inside with it. ... instinct is very durable"
"tanky ... Only thing you really lose is a touch screen but that's better for it's ruggedness and water resistance."
300
22
"the battery lasts 2 weeks, that's with 5 days worth of tracking runs and day to day use. Incredible."
"16 days battery life on my fenix. ... The other aspect I really appreciate about my fenix is the battery life. 16 days or so. With everything I have to change these days (laptops, mice, keyboards, headphones, watches, phones), I appreciate not having to worry about it too often."
"Oh, and the battery lasts days even when exercising a lot (weeks without excercise)."
Disliked most:
25
26
"For me the biggest problem was how big and heavy the 255 was. ... I believe it's very similar size/weight to the 265, and the 955 is even larger/heavier (by a bit)."
"I still miss how the 245was disappearing on my wrist in terms of weight, bulkiness and band size."
"wearing it was bad (thin wrist)"
20
47
"I used to find that wrist HR sucked for rowing"
"the hr reading is incorrect. ... 20 dollars band from Samsung does a better job"
"The discrepancy is much higher for HR than running dynamics. ... I think it is straight up irresponsible to rely on wrist-based HR is you’re using HR as a part of training"
0
1
"it's very tedious ... I simply use a notebook for weightlifting."
4
1
"yes but with a lot of restrictions... no continuous gps"
All true except advanced metrics. They are also present in Fenix (it has even more features for hiking) and Instinct. Forerunner is not more advanced. The rugedness is mostly about the bezel. In fenix and instinct it has a rim which gives extra protection to the screen. But that means rugged watches are more bulky what can be a problem in the gym. The real question is lightness of forerunner vs battery life of fenix /instinct
r/GarminWatches • Too many watch models ->Garmin instinct is often with me, only thing I do is turn my watch the other way bc the radiant heat from my stove cooks it and heats my arm up. The max I've seen the sensor say is 113, that's when it's 200+, average is about 104, your body temp will help moderate the watch temp. In the gym saunas is usually more of 108 max on the sensor. It goes in the hottub with me at 104 as well, garmin just makes solid products.
r/Sauna • Do you wear your smart watch / fitness trackers in the sauna? ->The main thing I was looking for with mine was battery life. I might have overcompensated after dealing with Apple Watch battery life, but still. I have the Garmin Instinct with the black and white screen and solar charging and it is probably the longest lasting model It was 28 days out of the box, and I believe that’s assuming no sun on it.
r/flying • Smartwatch ->The garmin instinct is for forest people, the longest battery life for backpackers.
r/Strava • Most energy efficient way to Strava several days of backpacking? ->Instincts are not good for strength in my experience
r/Garmininstinct • Planning to buy instinct 2 solar, need advice of workout tracking ->Instinct will do you fine. I have one I take camping and backpacking. It’s the original instinct and it works great. My everyday watch is geared for the gym, but the only thing it really does that my instinct doesn’t is hold onboard music
r/Garmin • i dont run, i mostly walk/hike and do some gym stuff. should i get Instinct or another Garmin? ->Honestly your best bet would be a Venu or an instinct, Venu is Garmin's health and fitness while instinct is there more traditional "G-Shock" style (best way I can describe it) watch, they don't really do the fitness tracker it's mostly all smartwatches. I have the Venu 4 coming from an instinct 2 solar. The vivo moves might also fit you well but they are older in comparison. If you are set on not having a smartwatch you may have to look into another brand, hope this helps, if you have any questions about the Venu or instinct let me know!
r/GarminWatches • Coming from Fitbit... ->The smartwatch stuff can be very distracting. I just turn on DND most of the time on my Garmin or even disconnect the phone. These are sports watches and when I'm exercising I just want to focus on the moment. If I'm hiking then I have my phone on airplane mode since weak signal drains battery like crazy too. Plus there's people who hike/bike/trail run with just breadcrumb maps on their Garmin Instinct. There's people that maybe sync their Instinct with their phone once a week or never at all. If you prefer design and minimalism above bells and whistles then it can be better even.
r/Suunto • Like the look of the Vertical 2 but is the software really that bad ? ->I KNOW. It’s so hard to go back. I had a Garmin instinct before buying my first Apple Watch back in 2021 I think. The Garmin seemed awesome coming from a Fitbit Ionic before that I had forever. But now, trying to go back to even a Fenix 7 feels like I’m going back in time. The only time I’ve really been able to break away is while wearing my Garmin on vacations. For some reason I like it because it can get dirty (especially at the beach) and the charging is basically nonexistent.
r/AppleWatch • Apple Watch Ultra 3 - New Details ->Same, but I'll buy the previous model on eBay for a fraction of the price (like I did with the s40)
r/golf • What golf watch are you using and recommend? ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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