Garmin - Instinct 2X Solar
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Nov 25, 2025 Scoring
Liked most:
32
0
"The extra battery is very nice and it has a better solar panel. ... With my current settings, I get 40 days of battery life. ... the battery and solar panel are worth it imo. ... For me, it was all about battery life when I got the 2X and the upgraded solar."
"I turn the GPS off at nights, but I get around 80 hours of GPS on time which would last me at least a week."
"40 days battery life ... 70 without hr"
1
1
"Buttons instead of touch so it can be used while sweating buckets"
11
1
"if I smash it to pieces (happens more regularly than I want to admit to) then cheap enough to replace and not fuss about."
"the screen, which is not the awful LCD/LED stuff that most watches have. It's clear in all conditions, and extremely durable."
"I’ve damaged walls, scratch my car, etc with the metal bezel on the Fenix, but that does not happen with the Instinct. The instinct also has a raised bezel so it protects the screen more, and you won’t get the metal on metal grinding feeling when working out."
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"There are actual activities that automatically track and assume the workout/strength specific exercise you’re doing. ... And if it got the wrong name, you can edit the name and how many reps you did as well as the weight used. It’s an extremely nice setup. ... the weight lifting tracking aspect is great as well as all the other activities you can track too."
"Exercise tracking and actually decent approx calorie burn estimates (I did the math with my CI and weight loss and found it lined up within a pretty good margin)"
"The watch will give me rough shot distances, distance to the pin, and let's you move the pin around the green. ... I find it pretty useful and it seems to be right inline with traditional rangefinders, give or take a few yards."
8
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"Also, having a flashlight/red light is the most handy thing ever. ... I never expected to use it as much as I do but the amount of times you’re there “man I wish I had a flashlight for a moment right now” is often frequent, and the red light for waking up in the middle of the night and being able to see while going to the bathroom without turning on a bright light that disrupts your sleep is amazing."
"it has a flashlight which is brighter than the one on your iPhone. ... when I’m trying to find my mouthguard at 3am my cycling computer isn’t going to come shine a flashlight under the covers. ... Crazy how many times a day I use this thing. ... The best is when I turn it on and blind the other people in the room with me. Nobody ever expects the watch flashlight…"
"I use the flashlight feature way more often than I thought i would"
Disliked most:
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3
"The HR sensor ... Garmin is always off or if not off inconsistent. ... I’ll have an average workout HR from the strap 134bpm, solar x2 will have 101-110. ... my Apple Watch wasn’t very far at all from the chest strap compared to my solar x2. ... A lot closer than 101-110 on the X2."
"the heart rate sensor is not the greatest and tracking hr is very important when training. ... I have a garmin HRM pro plus that I use tracking my heart rate and it was showing 182 during a training session a couple days ago when my watch showed 81."
"less accurate on hr reading"
0
2
"Integrations sucks. ... What I missed most on the Garmin was the ability to determine which apps were allowed to give notifications and which not. With a Garmin it’s all or nothing. You can choose calls, apps and system notifications, that’s it. Highly annoying. ... without that functionality I won’t even think about it."
"RCS isn’t supported (just standard SMS/notifications)."
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2
"as a swimmer I felt not worth for only swimming so I send it back"
"My Garmin Instinct 2X Solar is a great watch but it lacks precision in swimming situations where it's usually off by about 10%, both in pools and open water."
"In open water on a 100 m lap length and using GPS I need the watch to show about 1150 meters before I've actually done 1,000."
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3
"The Instinct was quite bulky and doesn't really 'dress up' very well."
"for someone who isn’t use to large watches, it’s for sure a lil on the large size"
"Instinct 2x was chunky"
What Garmin claims and real world texts are not the same. Real world texts are showing the 3 to have worse battery than the 2x
r/GarminWatches • Best Garmin for Military Purpose ->Garmin instinct 2x solar. All the stuff from getting calls at work through pulse point, hrv, sleep, all the workout stuff, text and calls, wallet etc. But the most used function that no one talks about that I use the most? The flashlight! Don't want to turn the lights on in the bathroom at night, use the flashlight! Also use the find my phone as well. Most smart watches probably do that though. I charge once a month. Also ditch the silicone watchband, get a fabric/Velcro one.
r/Firefighting • Looking for a decent smartwatch to use on shift ->The first and arguably best choice id recommend for anyone is the Garmin Instinct 2 (or the larger Instinct 2X), that’s about it, check it out and see what you think Yes it has smart notifications but you can fully turn off Bluetooth at the system level, and when you do, those notifications are completely gone just like many other models in the market, they’re not as intrusive as you think If you want something even simpler, check on the Suunto Core and if you want to go for something a bit more on the high end side, check on the Coros Vertix 2 which is a premium option but has an insane battery life, dual-band GPS and amazing performance over smart features. Funnily enough, I got both the Instinct 2 and the Coros Vertix which I alternate between but the Coros hits differ with the premium feel idk. You can try [9 Best Smartwatches Worth Investing in 2025: Hiking and Running](https://alaskanarrows.com/best-smartwatches-in-2025-for-hiking-and-running/) for others though Cheers, hope this helps!
r/backpacking • GPS watch recommendations for backcountry hiking/climbing withOUT notifications/texts/calls ->My 2X Solar does a great job of recording my heart rate and other raw data. Garmin claims that the watch can automatically determine which lifts you’re doing and count reps/sets. These functions have always been inaccurate for me. I prefer using the “free” strength session mode with autodetect turned off. You just use one button at the beginning/end of each set to time sets and rest periods. After I’m done, I use the app to manually enter movements, weight and rep numbers. The odd thing is, even though the autodetect claims were a major reason for me to buy the watch, I still love the thing and find I get more out of manual logging. It forces me to think about how I did and take notes for the next session.
r/Garmininstinct • Planning to buy instinct 2 solar, need advice of workout tracking ->Ditto. I have an instinct 2x solar and it ROCKS. The "worse" display isn't a bug, it's a feature. My battery will go 40-ish days with very little sun exposure. I'd like to see a Fenix try that.
r/hikinggear • Best watch for hiking/skiing? ->I also use the Garmin Instinct 2x. It actually helped my game because instead of hyper focusing on one yardage to the pin, I started thinking about front and back of green. Dropped handicap into single digits.
r/golftips • Smart Watch vs dedicated Garmin Golf Watch? ->Me. Had instinct solar upgraded to a 2x Solar.
r/Garmininstinct • Any other women who wear the Garmin Instinct solar 2 in 2025 I got this as a Christmas gift in 2024 lately I only see women buying the Apple Watches or Fitbit or the ring trackers for style and colors. I’m simple I don’t care for all that just curious if it’s odd that I still wear mine? ->Battery life. AW would not last thru a hike and I would have to charge every night. Instinct 2x Solar has held up with all the abuse it gets and I might charge it once every 2-3 weeks depending on gps use.
r/Garmin • For those with iPhones, why did you choose a Garmin watch? ->Instinct 2x solar, reporting for nighttime duty 🫡🫡 (the stupid flashlight is so useful at work, and when camping/caving its insanely useful and two friends have gone and bought garmin watches only for the flashlight)
r/GarminWatches • So for someone who does absolutely no exercise at all is fenix 8 over kill haha ->Well u can’t compare both because their are designed to fit different categories of clients. I went for instinct 2x because I do a lot of trips which exceed one week + I like to go offline and I hate having another phone on my wrist however I bought my girlfriend Apple Watch because she likes checking stuff non stop u know how it is xD
r/Garmin • Day 2 vs Day 14… say no more 😅 ->Instinct Solar 2x is the greatest device I’ve ever owned. 40 days in between charges and it has a flashlight which is brighter than the one on your iPhone. It does everything I need for cycling and running but did I mention that it has a flashlight?
r/cycling • Which Garmin watch for cycling ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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