Garmin Launches Instinct 2 Series With Solar Charging

One of the more irritating aspects of any wearable fitness device is the need to charge it every night or every few days. Garmin’s Instinct line of smartwatches attempts to fix that issue by adding solar charging to extend the battery life, and now the company’s back with the Instinct 2 Series that promises “unlimited battery life.” Yes, you read that right. 

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar (starting at $449.99; amazon.com and garmin.com) 

Before we get to the battery claims, let’s touch on the new design. The Instinct 2 is smaller than its predecessor thanks to a thinner design, and it comes in two different sizes — 45mm and 40mm. The display is new and offers a high-resolution AMOLED screen.

There are a total of five different models available, with the model that’s right for you depending on how you plan on using the watch. There’s the Instinct 2 Solar, Standard (non-solar), Surf, Camo and Tactical.

Other notable improvements to the Instinct 2 lineup include the ability to track your sleep and provide a sleep score, as well as VO2 Max, fitness age and daily suggested workouts. You can even use the Garmin Pay on the Instinct 2 Solar for contactless payments while out shopping.

The unlimited battery life claim has a couple of caveats, of course. According to the fine print on Garmin’s announcement, the claim was borne out of testing the 45mm Instinct 2 in smartwatch mode with 3 hours of exposure outside to 50,000 lux conditions.

If you opt for a standard Instinct 2 model, without solar, you’re still looking at a healthy amount of battery life. According to Garmin the standard model should get about four weeks of use before needing to be charged again.

Our favorite part of the new Instinct 2 Series isn't the new design or fancy new features, but instead, it's the new colors. There's an Electric Lime color that's bright and vibrant, as well as a Neo Tropic that looks amazing. Going beyond the standard colors Garmin produces, you'll soon have the option to use the company's Your Watch, Your Way customization tool to customize the look of the Instinct 2. For example, you can choose to have the bezel of the watch one color, and the band another color. Garmin claims there are 240 different color combos.

You can order the Instinct 2 from Garmin starting at $349.99 without the solar power feature and starting at $454 with solar charging.

Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publishing.