Garmin - Instinct 2X Solar - Tactical Edition
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Feb 15, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
40
3
"the battery lasts 2 weeks, that's with 5 days worth of tracking runs and day to day use. Incredible."
"My instinct 2 lasts 23 days without tracking activities. ... With regular activities it’s more like 14 days."
"I’ve had mine last around 15 hours of gps on a bike packing trip ... If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t even bother with any of the regular garmins and would opt for something like an instinct solar. ... Well, unless you’re looking to do ultras like the Bigfoot 200, but even that would take out most garmins unless it has solar."
4
0
"the screen, which is not the awful LCD/LED stuff that most watches have. It's clear in all conditions, and extremely durable."
"Buttons instead of touch so it can be used while sweating buckets"
"Had a nice mbip display"
36
1
"Altimeter and barometer and compass (ABC). More butch design and more shock, cold, heat dust and dirt resistant. Feature set more for stuff INCLUDING running. More suited backpacking and hiking which I've used it for a fair bit. Great tool watch"
"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."
8
0
"I only use my Instinct Solar for exercise (running, mtn biking, weight training) and activities such as hiking, skiing, and kayaking."
"It’s does what you you need for the events you mentioned."
"lots of activities to chose from (cardio, indoor climbing/bouldering, runs, strength, swimming)"
Disliked most:
8
5
"But after my both very dark sleeves were finished 6 months ago the heart rate sensor didn't work."
"the heart rate feature during activities is suspect, especially with wrist position on handlebars."
"oh also it bloody changed hr depending on the workout chosen???"
2
2
"The Instinct 2 is fairly chunky, so you may or may not feel comfortable with it if you've a small wrist"
"it was too bulky"
0
1
"If I needed maps I have a forerunner 955 as well."
0
1
"RCS isn’t supported (just standard SMS/notifications)."
Dry-Engineering1776 1.0Instinct 2x tactical is your answer. You can’t beat the battery life. Truly, it’s the most impressive feature
Good_Ad_6717 1.0Still sucks compared to the 22 days I’m averaging on my Solar Tactical Instinct 2x that I use daily for running
hallmark2368 1.0I switched to a garmin instinct 2x tactical mostly for exercise and partially for work. 44 ish day battery life (usually about half that or less if you use really precise gps tracking to long exercise). Only caveat is no 4G/LTE support and no offline music as it pulls both those from your phones. I would look at the other models tho that have better screens and UI and are actually smart watches, unsure if they make any with cellular support tho
So it does have a pretty readable screen and you can play around with your backlight for different lighting conditions (top left button turns on backlight for a couple seconds). I keep mine at 5% and it does enough for me but you can set it higher. Also the newer instincts do have amoled screens but I have no experience with them. I’ve heard pretty good things about the forerunner it just didn’t make sense for me personally. My brother also has a fenix that he swears by but is gonna be way out of that $300 price range. My personal take on wearing it to the office is to just get a black watch and strap and it’ll just go with anything, but I also wear this 24/7 unless I’m going to a wedding or formal event
IronCross19 1.0Instinct 2x tactical checks all these boxes for the cheapest budget. There are other models that's do more that are significantly more expensive
The 3 is slightly better all around, but the 2 has better battery life(due to some more modern features on the 3). You can't load music on either but you can control it if you're listening from your phone(but it is NOT very intuitive). Neither has maps per se but they have "breadcrumb navigation" which essentially points you in the right direction and gives you a path to follow to a predetermined point. If money isn't an issue you should look at the tactix 7
Johnny5908 1.0I had a Garmin Instinct 2x Solar Tactical Coyote tan, I was in love with that watch, and I didn't need detailed maps and a color screen. But...that watch is not for longer trips with routes loaded, say over 130km with GPS on. My watch froze twice. That day the watch and the navigation were unusable. Then I bought a Garmin Tactix 7 Standard Edition, for me it is the best Garmin watch I have ever had.
MightyBeasty007 1.0I am having garmin instinct tactical 2x later moved to Ultra 2 for last 8 months . I still love to use Garmin but the ease of notifications and operating system forced me to stay with ultra 2 ..
Straight_Main_4365 1.0I hope you like your Garmin, I felt like the heart rate monitor was absolutely terrible on x2 tactical, no where near any of my Apple Watch’s or whoops. I’m excited To have ecg on a whoop.
TheBlyatinator 1.0You think so? I went from an apple watch to the instinct 2x tactical and now the fenix 7x pro SS. I find it an improvement in almost every way compared to the apple watch. I mean sure you can‘t unlock your iphone with face id while wearing a mask with the garmin but other than that… It does everything i want my smartwatch to do while having at least 15x the battery life of an apple watch. But enlighten me why you find it lacking maybe i am overlooking something
AdBig2355 0.5What Garmin claims and real world texts are not the same. Real world texts are showing the 3 to have worse battery than the 2x
AgitatedEntrance2481 0.5Garmin 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.
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