Garmin - Instinct 2S Solar - Surf Edition
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Jan 5, 2026 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"
I took a Garmin Instinct Solar in 2022 and loved having it. I used a small USB-C adapter-dongle to charge the watch and carried either one or two 10,000mAh power banks, along with an iPhone and InReach Mini 2, so similar power demands. While watch settings were heavily changed to optimize battery life, I was able to keep GPS and heart rate tracking active. I don't recall a single day where I ran out of battery after pausing during big breaks like lunch, and didn't find it annoying to do so. The stats were useful for managing my heart rate when things were tough, knowing roughly where I was (mileage or elevation-wise) without needing to check FarOut, and helped me understand and develop my pacing and pacing prediction accuracy (short legs). I've also found the data to be great post-trail. Sometimes, I'll look at my trail journal and have a question about the day (weather, distance, difficulty, start/stop location, detours or side-quests, etc.) - days can blur together, or specifics can become vague over a couple of thousand miles and 100+ days. The tracking provides answers if not strong hints. As a stupid but personally worthwhile example, I used this info to drive hours east to an access road north of Truckee and visit a camp spot I couldn't remember, despite speaking to multiple people in the group, even after looking at their photos and videos 😂
r/PacificCrestTrail • Do you record your PCT thru-hike on a fitness tracker / smartwatch? ->This! I have a Garmin instinct Solar and I can’t wear it all the time because it starts rubbing my skin off. lol
r/whoop • Fitness Tracker: Pros and Cons ->While I agree having come from a Garmin instinct solar with incredible battery life. The pixel watch 4 needs to be charged every ~2 days and has fast charging. So take it off, pop it on the charger, have a shower and it's back to 100%. It's seriously impressive.
r/GooglePixel • The Pixel Watch 4 Is the Most Repairable Smartwatch on the Market ->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? ->Same. I still rock an original instinct solar. Love having all the basic stuff and the solar is super helpful. If I needed maps I have a forerunner 955 as well.
r/hikinggear • Best watch for hiking/skiing? ->If you want max battery life and don’t care about smartwatch features other than fitness tracking get the instinct series. There’s several options based off of your preferred display and it gets up to 28 days of battery with notifications turned off
r/Garmin • Help me pick a Garmin because I am over my Apple Watch ->Forerunner 955 as my main watch. Refurbished Instinct 2 as a backup and for pool swimming (chlorine destroys everything, so I wanted something cheaper than the 955 to use as a semi-sacrificial watch).
r/Garmin • Do you have more than one Garmin watches for your activities? ->I use Garmin Instinct Solar and pretty happy about it :)
r/surfing • Surfing Watch Recommendations ->I got mine about 2 months ago. I've gone from a Pixel watch, to an Instinct 2 to the X1. When I got it I was looking at the Fenix, Epix range, but just came away feeling that they were simply too bulky. Then I went back to a local streo for another look and by chance saw a couple of boxed X1s in the Garmin display cabinet, they weren't on display and the staff didn't want to open one up for me to take a look. I hung around a bit and read the DC Rainmaker review in the store and just bought it on the spur of the moment. So light! I use the LED torch much more than I though I would. The battery life is fine, I plug it in when I shower and that's it. Sure, it does't look like I've got half a kg of apocalypse-proof steel strapped to my wrist - and some might think it looks like a $50 Apple knockoff from Temu - but in my opinion, it's still one the best tech purchases I've made. I love it.
r/GarminWatches • Venu X1 - Impressions ->man fuck Garmin on the ass. my very first fitness watch instinct solar was a pita since the first year. worked great a few months and then charging issues and after a few weeks, randomly dying while tracking workouts. oh also it bloody changed hr depending on the workout chosen??? I asked customer support about these issues and they're like meh . this single watch haa completely put me off from fitness watches so ty Garmin:)
r/Garmin • The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has a 42hrs battery life! 🤪 ->Man I had the solar instinct. Problems with charging in the first year itself. Year 2, watch started randomly dying while tracking activities. I assumed updates might fix it but never did. Customer service wasn't helpful at all. Asking me to pay for a refurb and other nonsense.
r/GarminWatches • So much Garmin hate ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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