Garmin unveils a new rugged smartwatch with unlimited battery life… wait, what?!

By Scott Marlette Last updated Feb 10, 2022

Feb 09, 2022, 1:32 PM

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Garmin unveils a new rugged smartwatch with unlimited battery life... wait, what?!

It’s generally not a good idea to make any big product announcements while the entire tech world awaits the official introduction of something like the Galaxy S22 series, but in Garmin’s defense, it’s not like the new Instinct 2 smartwatch aims to compete directly against Samsung’s latest high-end smartphones in any way.

That’s not a massive target audience, but it is a very focused and devoted one, with a large chunk of said audience potentially looking for an upgrade over the first-gen Instinct, originally released all the way back in 2018.

Taking battery life to new heights without compromising functionality and design

The Garmin Instinct 2 is of course a natural replacement for that relatively affordable but outdated rugged smartwatch, and at $349.99 in two different sizes, it’s also fairly reasonably priced… for what it brings to the table. Compared to its forerunner, this bad boy is slightly slimmer and a lot more colorful while making what sounds like an impossible battery life promise.

In addition to improving the OG Instinct’s already impressive 14-day endurance rating in “smartwatch mode” to an outstanding four weeks of continuous use with no major functionality compromises, the Instinct 2 purportedly offers “unlimited battery life” in “select” Solar models. Yes, unlimited. As in, you’ll never (ever) have to take off your smartwatch and plug it in… as long as you spend enough time outside under abundant sunshine every single day for the solar charging feature to work its magic.

While that obviously sounds unfeasible in the real world, it’s still astounding that Garmin pulled off such drastic upgrades without adding bulk or cutting any durability corners. Yes, both the 45mm Instinct 2 and all-new 40mm Instinct 2S carry the same military-grade certifications as the single-size Instinct 1, guaranteeing top-notch thermal and shock resistance while surviving water immersion up to 100 meters with ease as well.

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar in Mist Gray color

The list of health and wellness tools included this time around is also pretty much as good as it gets (at least for Garmin devices), with in-depth sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, stress supervision, Body Battery, VO2 Max, and a bunch of other super-helpful stuff for getting and staying in perfect shape all covered.

It goes without saying that the Garmin Instinct 2 family also comes with built-in GPS, but on top of that, modern-day adventurers can rely on Glonass and Galileo technology as well to track and closely monitor their trips into the wild.

Customization, color, and affordability – what more could you want?

The display is still monochrome, mind you, which is definitely good for battery life, but the resolution and readability are also improved while the scratch resistance is retained to try to bring the best of both worlds together.

By no means what we’d call a “mainstream” smartwatch ideal for all types of smartwatch fans, the Instinct 2 comes in a multitude of versions (Surf, Tactical, and Camo in addition to Standard and Solar), as well as paint jobs as diverse as Graphite, Mist Gray, Tidal Blue, Electric Lime, Poppy, Waikiki (?!), and Neo Tropic.

Garmin will let you customize the heck out of the Instinct 2 and 2S as well, with a wide range of bezel and band options making “more than 240 different design combinations” possible, which is yet another sign this niche smartwatch is actually aimed at breaking into the mainstream.

While $350 is enough to buy you both the large and small new smartwatch in a standard edition, adding solar charging will naturally set you back an extra $100, with Surf and Camo variants fetching $400 and up right now.

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