Garmin - Instinct E
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Dec 30, 2025 Scoring
Liked most:
1964
80
"A good robovac is a life changer. Even a $350 basic S8. It is a great place to start. ... I promise you that you will not be disappointed by a basic S8. It will change your life even if it can't fit under every piece of furniture you own. ... My two S8s just finished vacuuming our entire house in about 46 minutes. ... While my floors were being cleaned, I sat comfortably on our patio in the cool shade with a slight breeze and composed my far too long response to you while sipping a diet soda and relaxing. ... I will have to spend about four minutes maintaining my two S8s. This will be my entire contribution to my home floor cleaning effort for today. Four minutes!"
"I got the Q5 Pro for $139. ... costs $450 less than what I paid for the S6 ... it is the best value option out there imo."
"Like 500$ these robots are currently the steal of the century ... You can get a mova p10 pro ultra (cannot remove its mops), equivalent to the l40/x40 for 500$ after a discount code"
634
109
"battery lasts me forever, I charge it once a week and I game every day."
"especially because of the battery life. ... The mouse I had right before this was the steelseries super light one, that was an every other day charge at minimum. Whereas this one is like once a week at most - and I work from home and game all night."
"Oh, and the battery lasts days even when exercising a lot (weeks without excercise)."
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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."
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21
"It will last through 3 good days of hiking while using the GPS, if each day is like 7-8h of hiking, and it goes some sun exposure."
"really happy with the tracking and training guidance it provides. ... Apple’s insights don’t even come close to the detailed analysis and guidance I get with Garmin."
"It's tough and has never failed me on a run or any tracked activity."
Disliked most:
58
121
"The thing whoop is giving me is wildly inaccurate HR readings. ... Did a casual bike ride with my child yesterday afternoon and whoop gave me a 187 high HR. This was a really slow like 4 block bike ride. ... AW said 108hr peak. Ive biked hard, ran as hard as possible doing max HR tests with my H10 chest strap and never hit above high 160s. ... Im not sure whats going on but its been doing this type of odd HR readings all week."
"I had Whoop for three months and it started showing a very bad data. Like catastrophicly bad. ... Bought Polar chest strap to check my HRV, it was VERY different and was showing me my normal data, data that whoop originally showed to me as well until three months into use it stopped."
"HR reading on Whoop are known for being absolutely aweful. ... Better having an accurate reading every 5 minutes than multiple bad readings every seconds. ... Whoop has awesome software and data analysis, but makes it somehow unusable because of bad hr data in. ... If HR accuracy is not a problem for you, and only follow "very general trends", yeah Whoop is a cool product. But if you are at some minimal point serious about HR accuracy, for real sport / performance / improvment, you cannot relly on it. ... If a Polar device, Garmin, apple watch says it's at 80 with readings every minute or so, and whoop says 65 every seconds, your "constant readings" are not worth anything. Garbage in, garbage out. ... Even counting it manually with a timer and my finger on my neck would be more accurate. ... their linear HR sensors are poor quality, and not the ideal way of positioning them (VS circular patern)."
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"I found the weightlifting module unusable"
"I'm very disappointed in my Fenix for gym (and it sounds like the same fault applies to all garmins) because of the logging of reps. ... When I do a workout it will assume I used the weights I specified, but then it seems to either auto-log reps, which is a disaster for things that don't involve hand movements, and require me to correct them, or assume I did zero and require me to enter the whole lot. ... If I'm doing 60 sets I honestly don't have the patience to manually enter the rep number, so I use a phone ap instead. ... The thing that really annoys me though is that it would be so easy for Garmin to make a tiny programing change and start with the assumption that you hit your target."
"strength training profile is bonked"
0
7
"But those are a fair bit bulkier."
"The Instinct was quite bulky and doesn't really 'dress up' very well."
"It's definitely a bulk "rugged" watch"
You could look at an instinct 2S or a Garmin instinct E, both are 40mm
r/GarminWatches • Coming from Fitbit... ->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 ->You can’t go wrong with a Garmin. The Instinct series is very rugged and reasonably priced. The fenix series is also super rugged but is at a premium cost
r/panamacity • FITNESS TRACKER/ SMART WATCH ->Not sure how long are your runs and hikes. If you are going for long hikes, can consider the Instinct series. Can take hard knocks like G-Shock and still function. The basic models with monochrome screen suffice for your needs and the battery is way more than enough.
r/GarminWatches • Best model if you don't care about smart features and want to just track runs? ->I would go for either the Instinct 3 or Vivoactive 6. Both new watches are great, no issues. Vivoactive 6 is just in your budget range but isn't very 'rugged', which is the perfect desciption of the instinct 3 (which is a bit more pricey). You can go for the black and white screen of the Instinct E ($299), but the tech is a bit more dated, and if you are coming from an apple watch, im guessing you like the bright screens. Another option is the Epix 2 (refurbished) from amazon for $349 (what I would go for). This is their top of the line watch from a few years ago, but still very advanced with most of the new features. [https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1316397/pn/010-02936-00/](https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1316397/pn/010-02936-00/) [https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1555457/](https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1555457/) [https://a.co/d/fs1SPqL](https://a.co/d/fs1SPqL)
r/Garmin • Help for Apple Watch replacement ->The instinct series is, in my opinion, by far the best. I believe this mainly due to the screen, which is not the awful LCD/LED stuff that most watches have. It's clear in all conditions, and extremely durable. I think the UI is also quite well done. Any of the instincts will fit the bill, but probably instinct 2 is the best balance of features.
r/Garmin • Can you recommend a mid-priced Garmin watch mainly for running? ->I only wear my Garmin Instinct when actually out for a run, or working out. If I wanted something to track my stats throughout the day, I would look into a Whoop. They don't have a traditional display, so it probably wouldn't feel as much like you're wearing two watches.
r/OmegaWatches • Fitness trackers and wearables. ->Check out instinct series if you concerned with durability
r/GarminWatches • First Garmin Watch - Shopping tips ->For running, the **Forerunners** win because they’re lighter, have better training tools (readiness, load, recovery, VO₂, etc.), and give you more run-specific metrics. The **Instinct/Fenix** are better for hiking/backpacking since they’re tougher, with longer battery and more rugged features. Animated workouts are more of a nice to have, useful if you like guided bodyweight or gym sessions, but most people don’t rely on them. Daily suggested workouts are hit or miss: they’re good for structure but not something to blindly follow. Maps are genuinely handy if you do trails or long hikes; on runs they’re mostly good for keeping you on a planned route. The 970 only records ECG if you start it manually, it doesn’t passively check like an Apple Watch. Smart features: you’ll see texts and calls, but RCS isn’t supported (just standard SMS/notifications). The mic/speaker are fine for quick replies or answering a call in a pinch, but not something you’d want to use all the time. Why Garmin? Mostly the depth of training metrics, reliability, and ecosystem, Coros and Suunto are good but Garmin still has the most polished data!!
r/GarminWatches • Too many watch models ->The I3 circle has lots of quality and software issues. The square does not…..I have both, I know…. But hey, great battery life on the Instinct series.
r/Garmin • Hey! New to the Garmin community and was wondering what everyone here likes about their Garmin watch? ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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